Moments in Learning

As  part of our sharing group, we invite children to ask their classmate questions about the sharing item brought in for show-and-tell.  We noticed that the children were still making more statements than asking questions, so there are a few things we are doing.

1. The teachers model what a question is by asking a question of the classmate (e.g., “Where did you find that rock?”).

2. There is a small group this week where the children are being asked questions from a grab bag of questions.  The questions are things like “What is your favorite color?” and “What do you want to be when you grow up?”  Children take turns answering the questions.

3. We are doing a family take home project where we are inviting families to fill out a short questionnaire with their children.  The questionnaire is below and we will also put them in the families’ mailboxes!

_________________’s Favorites

Family Take Home Project – Room 4

We thought it would be neat to see what the children say about their favorite things during this first semester and then we can see what they say at the end of the year, too.  We were going to do this at school, but thought that it would work much better as a take-home activity.  It will be neat to hear what you and your child discuss in response to these questions!  Please bring this back when it is complete.

1. What is your favorite thing to play or do at school?

2. Who do you like to play with at school?

3. What is your favorite song that we sing or dance to at school?

4. What is your favorite book at school?

5. Where was your favorite field trip we took at school?

6. What is your favorite food to eat at snack time at school?

Teacher Planning Document November 12

The above link will bring you to our planning document for the week of 11-12-13.  We are excited for the small group experiences this week and to start our “show and tell” or sharing group at the beginning of the day!

Hi, everyone!  We just met today as teachers and came up with some ideas for the classroom.  We are planning to move some furniture and some areas a bit and also to start over with fresh walls and look at the ambiance of the classroom.  We want to create an area where children can hang their own artwork in the library area.  We are also planning some new sensory experiences in the sensory table: different recipes for goop!  The children have been using the restaurant upstairs a lot.  We are thinking of expanding their interest by doing noodle tasting activities where we can graph the results.  These are the largest environment changes we have discussed.

SMALL GROUPS: Next week there will be three small groups.  Children will still be going to the art studio to explore magnet marble painting.  This is a great activity for printmaking, but it also teaches children about physical science concepts (magnets) in a hands-on way.  Another group will read The Paperbag Princess and then make outfits out of paper bags.  Following up books with activities that relate to the story can be helpful for children to make strong connections to the literature.  The third group will be doing some experiments with polymers.  A large Ziploc bag filled with water will be something we explore by trying to poke pencils into it without it springing a leak.  The children will be asked to hypothesize about what will happen and we will record our results.  The activity involves a lot of science and mathematics.

MUSIC/MOVEMENT: We added letters to the piano keys and color-coded sheet music.  Children have still been exploring the piano.  Ms. Leslie, our new extended care teacher, will be doing some Simon Says beanbag activities during dismissal group next week, too!

REUSABLE RUBBISH: The children have been exploring boxes, bottles, and other items that could typically be called “trash” or “recyclable.”  They are using glue and tape to connect these items in different ways.  We created a three-dimensional art display in our classroom where we can highlight their constructions.

Some children are drawn to three-dimensional artwork over two-dimensional artwork, so we consider how we can tap their own unique preferences when we plan as a teaching team.

See the photos below (and thank you for reading our blog post!).

We made a few adjustments as the children’s interests and needs have been changing.  Here is our new morning routine!

Room 4 Daily Routine-Updated-11-4-13