Teachable Moments

During our morning outside, the children were using the crayons at the easel and wanted to try them out on the floor. In order to pursue their interests, Miss Michelle brought chalk out onto the cement for the children to explore. We talked about drawing around ourselves and a child asked Miss Michelle to trace her.

The children took turns tracing each other — and their teachers!

As part of our project on giraffes, Miss Maria brought our large giraffes out and we worked together to gently lay them on the ground and trace them from their horns to their hooves. This activity was a great opportunity for their language development. We compared and contrasted ourselves with the giraffes and talked about how the giraffe is much longer and taller than they are.

We look forward to exploring giraffes even further!

The first few days of school the children learned the new routine and reconnected with their peers. They have enjoyed playing with the new cozy spot under the tree, building with blocks, and using animals as props in their play. They have made the new members to our classroom feel welcomed. It’s amazing to see how much they have grown, not only physically, but how much they have improved in their communication with their teachers and peers.

Out bubble table was a hit! They had an opportunity to practice negotiating space and materials with their peers and exploring the properties of bubbles. We came together as a team and decided to introduce the book Bubble Bubble Pop.

A new addition to our classroom is a four foot tall giraffe that the children have grown very fond of. Some greet it in the mornings, feed it, groom it, and hug it. We added a smaller giraffe to the classroom and some children refer to them as the mommy and baby. The teachers have been pointing out how tall they are, how they have long necks and horns, “spots” all over their bodies, and that they eat leaves off of trees. As a team, we have done some research on this interest of theirs so that we can talk about it to them in greater detail. Part of the Reggio Emilia Approach is that teachers become researches as well when implementing projects along with children — we are all learning along with them. As we grow this project together we will keep you updated on things that we are exploring in case you would like to continue it at home.

Welcome to Spring 2014.  We are truly looking forward to seeing all of you next
week.  January 13th is almost here!  We have been busy setting up the classroom
for the children all week this week.  It’s ready to go… and so are the teachers! Here a few pictures of our interest areas.

With the children’s continued interest in art materials and nature, Ms. Maria
offered the children glue and natural materials for them to glue onto a canvas.
Creating art activities that are based on the children’s interest also fosters
peer relationships. Here the children collaborate to create an art piece that
represents all the children. Also, by using natural items found around our
classroom or our community we are encouraging the children to observe their
surroundings, such as colorful leaves, twigs, flowers, rocks, bark, and all the
textures nature has to offer. While the children worked on spreading the glue
with the small brushes and finding items to place on the glue they worked on
their fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination. Here are a few pictures of the chilren working on our collage piece.

On Tuesday, November 12 the teachers from Room 2 brought out empty boxes for the children to explore. A simple empty carboard box can bring out endless learning possibilities for young children. In these pictures you can see the children using the carboard boxes as hiding spots, places to store sand, and for making music (tapping). Next time you have empty boxes at home give your child a chance to explore them and enjoy seeing them learn while they play with the empty cardboard boxes. Here’s a link to great article on what children learn while playing with empty carboard boxes.

This week the children had the opportunity to explore corn husks in the sensory tub. The children pulled the husks off of the corn, picked off its kernels, and placed them into different containers. While doing this the children were able to practice using their fine motor skills. They were also exploring cause and effect by seeing what happens to a piece of corn when you take all of its pieces off of it.

Related DRDP-IT Measures:

COG1: Cause and Effect

MPD3: Fine Motor Skills

MPD3: Eye-hand Coordination

This week the teachers from Room One and Two brought our new water pump for the children to explore. Room One children enjoy waterplay everyday. The waterpump was a great addition to our classroom enviroment. Pumping the water was not an easy task. It requires the children to stabalize the pump and push the lever up and down to have the water come out. The children need to use all their muscles, problem solving skills, turn taking, and patience. We can’t wait to see what else the children do with the new water pump!

During the week of October 21st we brought out pumpkins for the children to explore and also use them in different ways. Here a few picture of the children using pumkins to make pumpkin prints with ink pads, hammering golf-ts into the pumpkins, exploring the pumpkins outsides and inside, and drawing them. Lots of learning was involved while we explored the pumpkins. The children praticed using words such as heavy, light, rough, bumpy, big, and orange. They also had to practice waiting for their turn to hammer the golf- t’s into the pumpkins.  We hope you enjoy looking at the pictures.