Category Archives: Classroom Posts

Today the teachers tried inspiring the children in a new way in the open-ended natural materials area.  The Program Specialist sent the teachers a website that had images of “Mandala Art” created with sticks, shells, rocks, etc…  These images were displayed at the open-ended materials table.

To see what happened, view this photo album:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.580896455303502.1073741872.213823248677493&type=1

It was exciting to see the children considering shape and patterns, two things that are important mathematical concepts (geometry and algebraic thinking).

We hope you enjoy seeing what value open-ended materials have for learning!

Today I wanted to highlight something new we have in our manipulatives area.  We are calling it a “container station.”  It has different containers.  Some have lids and some don’t.  Some press on and some screw on and off.  In the “container station,” we also have tongs, spoons, and different natural materials like shells and pebbles.  Baskets are also there for the children.  There is a photo album with photos of what the materials look like here at the below link:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.578578602201954.1073741871.213823248677493&type=1

For this blog post, however, we wanted to highlight how children are learning things like science, language, mathematics, fine motor skills, and social skills (e.g., teamwork) while using the materials.  Here is a conversation one of the teachers overheard in this area today:

Child 1: Well, take all this out and close this.

Child 2: We need another jar.  Let’s see if we need another one.  I think we’ll need to add more big ones.

Child 1: We’re gonna need some more and stuff.

Child 2: That’s mine.  That’s mine….

Child 1: She took mine.

Child 2: No, that’s mine, I collected that one.

Child 1: Well, then I’ll take this one.

Child 2: Then we have the same amount.  You have two and I have two.

Child 1: We need to find more collages.  Why do we need more?  I think we’re gonna need more collages.

Child 2: This is all the things.  Ok.  This is all…

Child 1: Where’s the lid?  I need the lid.  I think we got all of them.

Child 2: So, tap tap.  Rocks?  Yeah.  Rocks?  Yeah.

Child 1 and 2: Woah!  Woah!

Child 1: There is a lot.  We have to put everything there.

Child 2: You think we got all of ’em?

Child 1: I think we got all of them.  I don’t think it will work.  Not that.  We’re gonna need all of them.

At this point the children left the area.  Child 2 called to child 1 and asked if they could still do “the collages.”  One of the things the teacher is wondering is if the idea of calling it “collages” is from the fact that sometimes they use those kinds of natural materials to make collages.  Also, it is interesting that they could work out their difficulty with sharing the materials without the teacher helping and they even used mathematics to figure out that they could still have the same amount.  They talked about the size of materials for each of the containers, too, showing an idea of what would and would not fit.  It was exciting to see these two children explore, but almost all of the children have tried out this area of the classroom since we have added it.  We can’t wait to see where our exploration of open-ended materials take us next.  We are also considering prompts the teachers could offer to the children to get them thinking even more deeply about the materials.

Today we took our first class walk on campus!  We had excellent family volunteers and we walked over to the Horticulture area.  The teacher took photos of plants the children liked during the walk.  So far the teachers have noticed that the children talk about flowers the most.  When we asked what to plant in our garden at school, a large portion of the children said “flowers” of some sort.  The children asked the teacher to take photos of flowers today during the walk, too.  You can definitely see that represented in the photos uploaded to our Facebook page.  Here is a link to that album:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.578165082243306.1073741870.213823248677493&type=1

We will have to see what kinds of flowers we may end up planting in our garden!  Working on the soil definitely comes first, so we are hoping to get some safe soil for the children to handle and possibly some compost.  Oceanside offers free compost if you are a resident!  If any of you are able to pick up some for us, we (and our plants) would greatly appreciate it!

Here are our activity plans and environment plans for the week.    We are excited for the possibilities and for our walk this week!

Environment Planning- August 27

Room 4 Planned Possibilities- August 27

The children are becoming more and more comfortable in Room 4.  We are using our large group gathering times to continue to learn one another’s names, do fun literacy activities, and to learn about the classroom routine.

Today the children practiced picking up their toys.  At group time, we played a song from the 1970’s called “Pick Up the Pieces.”  This is our auditory cue to clean up the classroom.  It makes picking up fun because we can dance while we clean up!  After group time, the children talked about what and where they cleaned.

We also added a new sign-in area outside of the classroom door.  Now, in the morning, please take a moment to have your child sign in the book when you arrive to school.  This is something new to add to the routine, but several children are familiar with signing in from last year.  We hope you enjoy the new sign-in spot outside our classroom door.  There’s a small documentation display there about the developmental stages of writing, too.  Everything from scribbling to writing one’s own name is considered within what we would expect in the preschool years.  If you have questions about it, please let a teacher know.

The afternoon is adding something to their routine, too: tooth brushing!  Today the children started to practice brushing teeth after lunch.  It was a lot of fun seeing them brushing their teeth in circles.  Thank you for bringing in toothbrushes if you are in extended care.

Thank you for reading our update!  We are excited to begin week 2 with all of you.

(NOTE: Photos of the environment to come in later posts- there are still some technology issues we are ironing out!)