What's Up!

We finished our focus on Outer Space at the beginning of January, but I have been remiss in blogging to all of you about what transpired as we navigated the stars. The above photo is one example of the many projects we undertook. We made a solar system model with the sun in the middle and the eight planets orbiting. You'll see that Saturn has pipe cleaner rings. And Uranus' rings are rotating at 180 degrees, because that planet has a tilt that makes it spin as if it were a bowling ball.

We also went stargazing in the bathroom--the one room without any windows. When the light was on, we talked about how that is very much like the daytime on earth when the sun is shining so bright, we cannot see the stars, even though they are still there. Then, when we turned the light off, simulating night, glow-in-the-dark constellations appeared on the bathroom ceiling. They were placed in the "relative" positions to where you might see them in the winter sky. We included The Big Dipper, Aquila, Bootes, Orion, Leo, The Serpent, Lyra, and Cassiopeia. 

We did an experiment with gravity that helped the kids gain a concrete understanding of this force. I asked them to jump up and then stay there. Even though I asked them to stay up, they all came back down to the floor. We tried it a few times, but they still came down to the floor every time. We even tried it outside in the wind, but we discovered that gravity is stronger then the wind, which is why we really don't blow away in strong winds. 

We learned there are about only a few people who do not live on the earth--those are the scientists on the international space station. Otherwise, all humans live on the earth.

There was a lot more to absorb as we rocketed through the universe: meteors, comets, galaxies, rockets, shuttles, satellites, and moons. It was a wonderful time of learning about what's out there.

Holiday Concert

Here are the preschoolers performing at the Fairfield holiday concert.

The really rock, don't they?

Family Getaway Deal

I just saw this deal on Travel Zoo and thought of you preschool families. This is a sweet way to enjoy an indoor water park on the cheap in January. Here is the the link:

The Great Escape Deal

Hopefully, this is useful. It is a fun family getaway in the winter.

Election--Preschool Style

In order to practice voting, we chose the design for our two preschool Jack-o-lanterns. At meeting, the kids each got two "voters," a small animal to mark their vote. 

I showed them six pumpkin designs. They were: The Skeleton, Sharp Teeth, Cyclops, Kitty Cat, Goofy Gus and Happy Hal.

The kids got two votes each (one for each pumpkin). I called them up one or two at a time and they placed their "Voters" on the two favorite designs. When everyone finished voting, we counted up the number of voters on each design. Everyone helped with the counting and the figuring out of which design had the most (we have been working a lot on the concepts of more and less).

The Kitty Cat design came in first, with 9 total votes, and Happy Hal was the runner-up, with 7 votes. They became our two designs.

As in a real election, some kids were very happy with the result, and others were disappointed. My number one choice, Cyclops, tied with Goofy Gus for third.

The kids helped me carve the pumpkins into the two Jack-O-Lanterns. 
 

We think they ended up looking pretty awesome. Laurie toasted up the pumpkin seeds and we all got to try tasting them at the end of the day.

Barn Raising

Back in mid-October, we put together a new toy barn. The barn was made by one of the kid's grandfathers. He made it so that we could actually build it together in preschool. 

The kids got to help me figure out how to fit it together. Then, everyone who wanted to try, used the power drill to screw all the wooden pieces together. 







  

The result--with all of the helpers. I still hope to paint it the same colors as The Big Red Barn, from the book we read.

Playing Games

We play a lot of different commercial games in preschool that support a variety of learning goals. The general pattern for playing games goes something like this:

1. I put a game out, open and with all the parts and pieces on a table. Then I let the kids explore and play any way they want, without teaching them the "traditional" rules of the game.

2. Use the opportunity of small group time to teach traditional rules of games, and how to "break" and "change" the rules is they prefer. 

3. Put the games out for free choice time and watch how the kids decide to play.

The games we choose for preschool support different skills including matching, counting, taking turns, following rules, making patterns, learning number and letter symbols, and starting to recognize words. 

Here are the games the kids have learned this fall and what skills they practice when playing.

Zingo: This is a bingo game which has tiles come out of a chute two at a time. If you have the picture on your board, which is a 3 x 3 grid, you say the name of the picture first and get to put it on your board. It teaches motor coordination to slide the chute back and forth to get the tiles. The kids need to have quick naming of pictures, so they need to pay attention. They learn "all" (by filling all the boxes in their grid), and they work on matching pictures.

Pop Up Pirate: In this game, a pirate in plunged down into a barrel that has a bunch of holes for swords. the swords are red, green, yellow and blue. The kids take turns impaling the barrel with one sword at a time until the pirate POPS out. Sometimes it takes 1 sword and sometimes it takes 10 and sometimes it takes all of them. This game teaches turn taking, counting, sorting colors (the swords) and predicting (how many do you think it will take this time?).

Memory: This game is a classic. We play it with commercial memory cards, as well as cards I will hand make to go along with our learning focus. The cards are all face down and each child takes a turn and flipping two cards over at a time. If they match, the child keeps them. If they don't, they get turned back over again. Sometimes we play that we are all working together to find all of the matches. Sometimes, each child keeps his own matches and we count them at the end to find out who "won." This game helps kids use their memory, problem solving, matching, and counting skills.

Connect Four: This is a game they have not been taught how to play by traditional rules, yet. At this time, kids are filling the Connect Four grid with the red and black checkers to make designs, fill up stacks and make patterns. We will teach how to see the Four in a Row patterns a little later. This game helps them learn visual discrimination and strategy, much the same way the Tic Tac Toe does. 

Lucky Ducks: This game is a lot like Memory. The ducks swim in a pond that moves. They all have a color on the bottom. The kids each have a board with one of the colors. They have to find all of their ducks by picking up a duck each turn and checking the bottom to see if it matches their board. This game teaches matching, counting, knowing "all" and memory skills.

Fudge For Funds

     Everyone should have the Fudge for Funds order forms. The whole idea of this fundraiser is to get more technology for the preschool and to help fund future field trips. The more we sell, the more we can do. Last year we raised over $900 and we were able to get a digital microscope and Bee-Bot robots as technology additions to the classroom. This year we are thinking about investing in an iPad or acquiring an LCD projector. 

     We would also love to get ideas for who to donate 33% of what we raise to. I am looking to parents for ideas for a deserving charity. Last year, we donated to the Franklin/Grand Isle Bookmobile.

Here are the criteria:

1. It needs to benefit children

2. It needs to be a non-profit

3. It needs to be local (at least Vermont local).

     Bring your ideas into preschool over the next few weeks. If you are able to gather a little information on the cause of your choice, that would be great. We will be letting the kids know about the different places and how they help kids. On Election Day, (November 3), the kids will vote for the organization to which we will donate.

     Fudge order forms are due on Thursday, October 14. The fudge will be ready for distribution on October 26. For anyone interested, here is more information on Snowflake Chocolates Fudge for Funds program.