One of my goals is to send emails to parents summarizing our school day. The following is one of my summaries, followed by a response from a mom:

Yesterday we started off with letter builders and paper houses on the tables. The children could sort bears and cubes according to color, match one to one on the windows, etc. The paint easel was also available.

At circle, I had three different sizes of pictures. Teddy bears, polar bears, bowls and spoons. We described one picture, then added another. I’m never content with just “small, medium and large,” because as you know, size is relative! What is large with two pictures, could end of being “medium” if you add another! So we brainstormed different words for different sizes. Big, huge, enormous, etc. medium, middle sized…you get the idea.

The children matched the sizes.. Where should this spoon go?

We read “Dustylocks and the Three Bears.” Dustylocks hadn’t had a bath “in a month of Sundays!”

Which took us to snack time.

(After children’s choice) I had planned a couple of learning stations, but children’s choice was so rich with imaginative play, I just couldn’t stop them!

Around noon, we cleaned up and did some gross motor activities on the gym mat. We did a pencil roll. (The children lie on the mat, arms overhead. They then roll down the mat! I’m observing their sense of kinesthesia; body movement. The goal is to be able to roll in a straight line! Very interesting to watch! Please encourage your children to do this at home, on the bed, on the floor, better yet, outside in the grass!

We then did a bear walk… hands and feet on the mat, bottom up in the air! (They’re looking down at the mat.)
The hardest of all was the crab walk. From a sitting position, put your hands behind you, feet flat on the ground. (Face is looking up!) LIft your bottom. walk!

While we were waiting for pick up, we read “Rolling Along with Goldilocks and the Three Bears.” Baby Bear is in a wheel chair and goes to physical therapy, and he and G become good friends!

Lots of smiles, lots of fun!

G

This is a response I received from a mom of a three year old… (reposted with permission!)

It is so interesting that you mention sizes being relative. Last night, S had a bunch of little trucks out and I asked him to “clean them up all your little trucks.” I left the room for a minute, and he had put away about half of the trucks. I came back in and asked him to finish cleaning up, he pointed to them and said “but those are my MINI ones. you said put away my little ones.” He said it so matter of factly an emphatically that I laughed. But I also just assumed he was being a wise guy and forced him to clean all of them up. Next time I will consider maybe he actually was applying something he learned to his every day life:) thanks for the rundown of the day — I would have never been able to connect this home event to school without your summary.

We like to experiment with different types of homemade “dough.” In addition to measuring, stirring, etc, the children get to compare and contrast texture, how well it molds, the feel, the smell, the look…
This week’s adventure was “cloud dough.” It’s similar to “moon sand” that you buy in stores, and simply made with flour and baby oil.

And, if you give preschoolers a bag of flour and a bottle of baby oil… they’re going to make a mess! No problem here!

At RHCNS, children experience developmentally appropriate, hands-on learning.
“Science” isn’t a separate activity, it’s part of what we do everyday.

Children can choose to paint:

And choose from a variety of brushes and texture tools.

Or dig:

We make things:

They can play the piano:

Or play musical instruments to the babies after they’ve taken them to the doctor’s and the truck has made a delivery!

We haven’t had any snow since October, so we’ve been making some of our own! Today the children had a chance to make their own batches of salt clay dough.
We read the book, All You Need for a Snowman, and I’d anticipated seeing a lot of little snow people and creatures! Instead, we had wonderful creations with very detailed stories!
First, we had to make our dough.
Then we mixed and kneaded….

Added glitter:

And a lot of imagination!

What did this activity require? Measuring, counting, following written directions, following verbal directions, tactile stimulation, fine motor development, estimation and a LOT of creativity! Their stories about their creations are amazing!

Come and visit and find out about our program!
Saturday, March 10th, 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM

After reading No Two Alike by Keith Baker, we compared different objects with our younger group. After comparing and contrasting some wooden blocks, I brought out our toy guinea pig.

I asked them to tell me about it.
“It’s black and brown and white. It has four feet. It has two ears. It has two eyes. It’s fuzzy. You can squoosh it. You can put it on your head. You can throw it!”

Then I brought out Courtesy, one of our guinea pigs.

“We can’t squoosh her! We can’t throw her!” (Can you put her on your head?) “NO!” “She has four feet, two eyes, two ears, she’s soft, she’s black and brown and white and black!”

The discussions continued, using words such as similar, alike, alive, pretend, soft, shiny, and many more.

Are they alike?

“Almost, almost, but not quite!”

What about….

Often we take ideas from books we’re reading and expand them! We read No Two Alike by Keith Baker. No two snowflakes are alike, no two animal tracks, “almost, almost, but not quite!”
In our Pre-K class, we also read, Big Tracks, Little Tracks, and learned about how to tell which way animals were going and even how fast they were going!
We tried making animal tracks in different substances.

Then the children “tracked” animal (and human) “tracks” in the classroom… (and practiced writing their letters, too!)

When we went outside, we found REAL tracks!

Today we went to Stonebridge Assisted Living and had Music Together with our wonderful grand friends. They even had cookies and juice ready for us!

Absolutely! I’m posting from the NAEYC conference, and have been in workshops since 8:00AM. It’s vital that I keep up to date and learn new techniques! I’m staying in touch with the children via email! So far today I’ve learned about marketing, big body play, parents, teaching approaches and now waiting for “Adapting the classroom for boys!”