Week in Review: 2/8- 2/12

Week in Review: February 8th- 12th 

Puppet Theater

Last week, we projected images of familiar places (park, school, city) on the screen and gave the children cut-outs of people. The children were very interested in having their puppets interact with one another versus the projected background. This week, we put on a show for the children with both animal and people cut-outs. After group time, the children explored how the animal and people cut-outs could interact with one another. The children enjoyed re-telling the story we created, as well as, creating their own dialogue between the cut-outs. 

Early Childhood Standards of Quality Met: 

1    Participation-Cooperation-PlayNetworking-Contribution. Demonstrate increasing ability to be together with others, in play or intellectual learning opportunities and/or making positive efforts for the good of all; join a community of learners in person and digitally as appropriate.

          

         Dramatic Play. Children show how they feel, what they think, and what they are learning through dramatic play.

1    Spoken Language: Receptive. Children grow in their capacity to use effective listening skills and understand what is said to them.3

1     Spoken Language: Expressive. Children develop abilities to express themselves clearly and communicate ideas to others.

Exploring How the Intensity of Our Flashlight Changes in Different Lighting

When we previously explored the flashlights, we noticed that many of the children were shining their flashlights on various parts of the room. They shine their flashlights behind furniture, underneath tables, and in the bathroom when the lights were off. We wanted to extend the children's thinking about how the intensity of the light from flashlight can change depending on the surrounding lighting.  The children use their flashlights to explore the gross motor room. They compared how their flashlight looked near the windows versus in the dark closet. They very curious about how the light from their flashlight traveled through the white screen, and the person on the opposite side of the screen was able to see the light. 

Early Childhood Standards of Quality Met: 

Observation and Inquiry. Children develop positive attitudes and gain knowledge about science through observation and active play.

Curiosity–Inquiry-Questioning Tinkering-Risk Taking. Children demonstrate an interest and eagerness in seeking information (e.g., be able to see things from a different perspective, fiddling with something to figure it out or attempting a reasonable solution).

Initiative-Engagement-Persistence Attentiveness. Children demonstrate the quality of showing interest in learning; pursue learning independently.

New Addition to Our Classroom

Ms. Phee picked out a new fish for our classroom. The children have observed it and discussed it's physical features. To develop a better understanding we used felt tip markers and white paper to draw the fish. We are currently working on a name for the fish. We have narrowed it down to "Blarggie, Blarggie," "Dorthy" and "Mo."

Early Childhood Standards of Quality Met: 

Living and Non-living Things. Children show a beginning awareness of scientific knowledge related to living and non-living things.

Observation and Inquiry. Children develop positive attitudes and gain knowledge about science through observation and active play.

Valentine's Day

As a class, we talked about how Valentine's Day is a time to show friends and family how much you care about them. We went on to discuss how we can create a card/message to show our appreciation. As a class, we talked about the different symbols we could use in our the message. During explorations, the children used a variety of different materials to create their Valentine's message. 

Early Childhood Standards of Quality Met: 

Visual Arts. Children show how they feel, what they think, and what they are learning through experiences in the visual arts.

Writing Skills. Children begin to develop writing skills to communicate and express themselves effectively for a variety of purposes.

 Fine Motor Development. Children experience growth in fine motor development and use small muscles to improve a variety of fine motor skills both in structured and unstructured settings.

 Creativity-Imagination-Visualization. Children demonstrate a growing ability to use originality or vision when approaching learning; use imagination, show ability to visualize a solution or new concept.

Week in Review 2/1-2/5

Week in Review: February 2nd- 5th 

Exploring Force with Hand Pumps

Our students have recently been interested in force and how it works in different ways. We introduced some hand pumps to them and talked about how we could use them. The children experimented with them and noticed the air coming out of the nozzle. We tried to use the air to move materials across the floor. They saw the materials move differently depending on how hard or soft they pushed on the pump. "Whoa! That one went really far!", said Miles when he hit the pump hard. We were excited to hear everyone talking about what they saw and how they could make things move.

Early Childhood Standards of Quality Met:

    1. Early Learning Expectation: Creativity-Imagination-Visualization. Children demonstrate a growing ability to use originality or vision when approaching learning; use imagination, show ability to visualize a solution or new concept. 

2. 2.Early Learning Expectation: Initiative-Engagement-Persistence Attentiveness. Children demonstrate the quality of showing interest in learning; pursue learning independently. 

3  3. Early Learning Expectation: Curiosity–Inquiry-Questioning Tinkering-Risk Taking. Children demonstrate an interest and eagerness in seeking information (e.g., be able to see things from a different perspective, fiddling with something to figure it out or attempting a reasonable solution). 

   4. Early Learning Expectation: Resilience-Optimism-Confidence. Children demonstrate the capacity to cope with change, persist, move ahead with spirit, vitality and a growing belief in one’s ability to realize a goal.

    5. Early Learning Expectation: Reasoning-Problem Solving-Reflection. Children demonstrate a growing capacity to make meaning, using one’s habits of mind to find a solution or figure something out.

    6. Early Learning Expectation: Spoken Language: Expressive. Children develop abilities to express themselves clearly and communicate ideas to others.

7.  Early Learning Expectation: Body Control and Activity. Children increase their ability to understand and control their bodies and learn that regular physical activity can enhance their overall physical, social, and mental health.

 8. Early Learning Expectation: Gross Motor Development. Children experience growth in gross motor development and use large muscles to improve a variety of gross motor skills in a variety of both structured and unstructured and planned and spontaneous settings.

 9. Early Learning Expectation: Fine Motor Development. Children experience growth in fine motor development and use small muscles to improve a variety of fine motor skills both in structured and unstructured settings.

1.       10 .Early Learning Expectation: Observation and Inquiry. Children develop positive attitudes and gain knowledge about science through observation and active play.

Reflecting Light in Mirrors

Our classroom is familiar with manipulating the light from the light table. This week we introduced flashlights to the children. We provoked their play with mirrors set at a 90 degree angle. The boys and girls were curious about how the light reflected in the mirror. Many of them used the flashlights to shine lights in different parts of the room. Ayden C said "My light is soaring like an eagle!" when she shone her light on the ceiling. Some used the lights to help them search for things. Ethan told us "I'm going to find something with this light" when he shone it in a dark corner. 

Early Childhood Standards of Quality Met:

    1. Early Learning Expectation: Creativity-Imagination-Visualization. Children demonstrate a growing ability to use originality or vision when approaching learning; use imagination, show ability to visualize a solution or new concept. 

2. 2.Early Learning Expectation: Initiative-Engagement-Persistence Attentiveness. Children demonstrate the quality of showing interest in learning; pursue learning independently. 

3  3. Early Learning Expectation: Curiosity–Inquiry-Questioning Tinkering-Risk Taking. Children demonstrate an interest and eagerness in seeking information (e.g., be able to see things from a different perspective, fiddling with something to figure it out or attempting a reasonable solution). 

   4. Early Learning Expectation: Resilience-Optimism-Confidence. Children demonstrate the capacity to cope with change, persist, move ahead with spirit, vitality and a growing belief in one’s ability to realize a goal.

    5. Early Learning Expectation: Reasoning-Problem Solving-Reflection. Children demonstrate a growing capacity to make meaning, using one’s habits of mind to find a solution or figure something out.

    6. Early Learning Expectation: Spoken Language: Expressive. Children develop abilities to express themselves clearly and communicate ideas to others.

1.     7  .Early Learning Expectation: Observation and Inquiry. Children develop positive attitudes and gain knowledge about science through observation and active play.

Extending on the Mail System 

After seeing how engaged students were while delivering mail last week, we decided to extend on their play. We showed a video about how mail is sorted and gave the children an opportunity to sort their own mail into mail boxes. We also revisited writing messages. During group time, we looked at a letter and talked about writing who the letter is to, our message, and who the letter is from. We will continue to follow the class's interest in creating, sorting, and delivering mail.

Early Childhood Standards of Quality Met:

1.       1. Early Learning Expectation: Participation-Cooperation-Play Networking-Contribution. Demonstrate increasing ability to be together with others, in play or intellectual learning opportunities and/or making positive efforts for the good of all; join a community of learners in person and digitally as appropriate.

2.       2. Early Learning Expectation: Respect for Self and Others — Mental and Behavioral Health. Children exhibit a growing regard for one’s mind and capacity to learn; demonstrate the capacity of consideration for others; show a growing capacity to self-regulate and demonstrate self-efficacy.

3.       3. Early Learning Expectation: Responsibility-Ethical Actions. Children are becoming accountable or reliable for their actions to self and others.

1.     4. Early Learning Expectation: Writing Skills. Children begin to develop writing skills to communicate and express themselves effectively for a variety of purposes.

1.     5. Early Learning Expectation: Viewing Images and Other Media Materials. Children begin to develop strategies that assist them in viewing a variety of images and multimedia materials effectively and critically.

2.     6. Early Learning Expectation: Positive Attitudes about Literacy. Children develop positive attitudes about themselves as literate beings — as readers, writers, speakers, viewers, and listeners.

3.     7. Early Learning Expectation: Diversity of Communication. Children begin to understand that communication is diverse and that people communicate in a variety of ways.

Adding Friction to our Ramps

As part of our interest in force, the children have been looking at gravity and ramps. They liked the way their cars would roll down ramps and worked on pushing them up ramps as well. We added "speed bumps" to the ramps and observed how it affected the children's play. They noticed that some cars could roll over the bumps while others would stop. They used their problem solving skills to use different cars or try pushing their cars over the bumps.




Early Childhood Standards of Quality Met:

       1. Early Learning Expectation: Creativity-Imagination-Visualization. Children demonstrate a growing ability to use originality or vision when approaching learning; use imagination, show ability to visualize a solution or new concept.
 

     2. Early Learning Expectation: Initiative-Engagement-Persistence Attentiveness. Children demonstrate the quality of showing interest in learning; pursue learning independently.

     3. Early Learning Expectation: Curiosity–Inquiry-Questioning Tinkering-Risk Taking. Children demonstrate an interest and eagerness in seeking information (e.g., be able to see things from a different perspective, fiddling with something to figure it out or attempting a reasonable solution).

       4. Early Learning Expectation: Resilience-Optimism-Confidence. Children demonstrate the capacity to cope with change, persist, move ahead with spirit, vitality and a growing belief in one’s ability to realize a goal. 

       5. Early Learning Expectation: Reasoning-Problem Solving-Reflection. Children demonstrate a growing capacity to make meaning, using one’s habits of mind to find a solution or figure something out.

      6.Early Learning Expectation: Observation and Inquiry. Children develop positive attitudes and gain knowledge about science through observation and active play.