Trios and the Sticky Easel!

Here's a look at two of the most popular activities in our classroom over the last couple of weeks.  The sticky easel and Trio building pieces.  It's been really fun to watch the kids work together and create with these items.  They have put together some amazing things that I wanted to share!

The sticky easel is made by taping clear contact paper to the easel sticky side out.  The kids have added foam shapes and numbers, straws, strings and laces, clear colored plastic pieces, popsicle sticks and colored plastic shapes.  They have worked in groups and alone to fill the easel and explore the materials.

TRIOs are small building pieces that snap together and can incorporate gears.  Most have step by step instructions for building items from bugs to space ships.  We have been working with the kids to teach them to read the instruction sheets.  Others like to build their own structures such as drills, houses, periscopes, and many flying objects.

The kids have been very proud of their work and love to explain how they made it and what it can do!

Sensory Play

The sensory table is almost always busy in our classroom.  It's a very important part of a preschoolers day.  We try to vary activities so that all children are drawn here.  For children that don't like to get their hands messy, there are things like sand, rice, beans or bird seed.  For those that relish the mess, there's jello, shaving cream, and different doughs.  At the sensory table children are able to experiment, refine small motor skills necessary for writing, develop hand eye coordination, cooperate, observe and discover.  Sensory play is also a very calming, relaxing experience for many children.  We use both the sensory table and smaller containers that are usually limited to one child at a time.  Here's a look at our recent sensory activities.

Water Beads

Water beads are traditionally used to keep house plants moist.  They are very small until water is added.  They slowly absorb water until they grow to about the size of a marble.  

The children added them to water in the sensory table.

After lunch, they had grown to this size.

The children enjoyed scooping, squishing and exploring them for a few days.

Gingerbread "Dough"

One morning the children wanted to make something new in the sensory table so we dug through the cupboards until we came up with gingerbread mix, oil, flour and water.  They dumped and mixed with their hands.

We decided it still needed something so we added lots of sprinkles.  What isn't better with sprinkles??

They scooped, sifted, packed and made ice cream cones for the entire morning!

Jello

We recently made Jello for the sensory table and added a potato masher, some scoops, bowls, measuring cups and a mesh produce basket.

The kids loved this activity!  Unfortunately, the Jello only lasted a day but we will do it again soon!

Water

Currently, the kids are playing with water, bobbers, plastic fish, fish nets and pails.  The table stays busy all day!

Bird seed with bugs, magnifying glasses and bug boxes and catchers.

Individual Sensory Boxes

Colored pom poms, plastic tiles and textured balls with sorting cups and tweezers.

Wooden beads and thimbles with lacing string and pipe cleaners.

Colored popcorn seed with a scoop, small pitcher and different containers.

Colored rice with small containers and scoops, people, animals, fence pieces and trees.

Jobs Chart

Recently, we began a new classroom care system.  In previous years, a Friend of the Day was chosen every day who helped out with setting the table and our daily calendar and weather.  The Friend of the Day was also our line leader and helped care for the fish, Rainbow.  I have recently noticed how much the kids like helping out in the classroom and how hard it is for them to wait their turn to be Friend of the Day.  In order to share and expand our classroom duties and instill more of a sense of ownership to the room, we are now using a Jobs Cart.  Every day the children rotate jobs and so far we have been able to make sure everyone has a job every day.  The kids feed the fish, water the plants, set the tables, wash the tables, help with the calendar and check the weather.  They also check after clean up time to make sure everything is put away in the appropriate place, manage the lights and lead the line when we venture out.  As an added bonus, I have notice that the children are becoming familiar with the spelling of not only their own names, but also those of their classmates.

A look at our Jobs Chart, which can be found in the calendar area.

Feeding the fish.  I am hoping to expand this job to include helping clean the fish bowl!

Working together to set the tables before lunch.

Watering the plants.

As a side note, I thought I would include a list I recently made for a parent detailing the tasks children perform in our classroom.  As a parent myself, I've come to understand that we often do not necessarily realize what our children can do because we are so used to doing for them!  I thought this might help to show you what your child does independently when with us.

Children’s Responsibilities in the Desert

Meal Times

• Wash their hands before meals
• Use silverware at the table
• Clear and scrape their plates and bowls
• Help set the table
• Help wipe the tables after meals
• Learning to pour milk and water from small pitchers
• Serve themselves some portions of meals with spoons and tongs
• Kids can get their own cup and get a drink from the sink at any time during the day

During Free Choice Time

• Clean up by putting things in their proper place before moving to a new activity
• On free choice art days choose their own materials to work with and help clean up
• Help each other put on art smocks

Bathrooming

• We encourage them to be independent but will “check” after they have attempted to wipe their bottoms
• Wash hands after using the bathroom
• Change clothes if necessary

Nap Time

• Spread blankets out on cots before laying down
• Get any items from cubby that they use at nap time
• Learning to fold blankets after rest 
• Return items to cubby

Outdoor Play

• Put on own coats and snow clothes
• Zip if they can, if not we are working to teach them 
• Put boots on
• After returning to the classroom, kids remove their own coats, snow clothes and boots
• Hang up all items
• Place wet mittens on the heater
• Put on shoes
• During warmer weather, the children take their shoes off on the playground to dump the sand out and then put their shoes back on 

In general we are trying to teach the children to care for items in the classroom, treat materials gently and be as independent as possible!  Please feel free to ask any questions you may have!

Welcome to our Blog!

Hello!  I'm excited to get this project up and running so you can see how your child spends his or her day while they are with us!  It is my intention to post photos of our day including our center activities, our sensory play, art projects in the making and any special moments I am able to capture.  I also want to keep you up to date on important info and any changes to our classroom.

To begin, here are some photos of our day to day activities.

Matching words to body parts.

Working together to count candies.  The children took turns choosing the number and counting the correct amount.

Decorating the Valentine's tree.

Rainbow tracing the letter W.

We have ben using Duplos to build number rods.  Some children are using them to learn about quantity and number names.   Others are using them to begin learning about addition.

Geo Boards have been popular in our classroom for the past month.  We are using them to make designs, shapes and letters. 

Many of the kids like to watch the happenings outside our window!

We have also been using popsicle sticks to make shapes.  Each color has a the required number of sticks to make a specific shape.