Girls and Blocks

Most of the photos of block structures featured on this blog have been built by boys.  Girls are just as capable of building amazing structures as boys!  These girls worked as a team to build this house and they knew specifically what each room was and who lived there.  Way to go, girls!

Sizes

There are many, many ways to teach the concept of size.  Being able to accurately compare and order items by size is a typical preschool skill.  This is a skill that most children learn easily by simply playing.  Many of them naturally line up toys by size even before they know the words "small", "medium", and "large".  At SLC we provide opportunities that reinforce the skill in FUN ways.  One day we painted with small, medium and large balloons.  The children dipped them in paint and pressed them onto paper.  Math through art is a powerful learning experience.

Feeling the Love

We celebrated Valentine's Day in several ways.  The Bunnies made lots of interesting things with hearts.  The most popular item to make was heart garland.  They figured out how to use tape to connect hearts together in long strings.  There were some hearts in the window with the letters L O V E and some of the children copied the letters on to their garlands.  Yay!

  The Bunnies exchanged Valentine cards with each other.  This was so fun!  They just couldn't wait to see what was inside their own Valentine bag.  Don't you remember the anticipation from your days at school?  I do!

The children also made a HUGE heart mural.  It took several days and this photo shows one of the middle stages.  They had opportunities to contribute to the mural with paint and rollers, with tissue paper, with glitter, and with foam shapes.

Busy, Busy

Two seconds before Mrs. O'Connor snapped this photo each child was busy.  Head-down, focused-on-the-task, BUSY!
On the red tray is an alphabet pop-up toy.  On the blue tray is a fine motor activity in which you use small tongs to pick up little dog bones and puppy paws and place them in a tiny tray.  On the yellow tray is another fine motor game in which you use tongs to feed bananas to a monkey.  On the green tray are Oreo shape puzzles in which you must match two shapes and fit the top and bottom together to make a cookie.

In our class, we refer to these as "puzzles and games".  They don't fit the narrow definition of a puzzle (such as a jigsaw puzzle), but they fit the broader definition as a task that is puzzling and needs solving.  These types of activities rotate each week so there is plenty of opportunity to try new and challenging tasks. 

Something Different

This week in Bunny Rabbit class, there were some neat Fisher Price toys.  They are little buildings, people and furniture for various facets of city life.  They are called Sweet Streets, but I don't think F-P makes them any more.  Anyway, the scene on our rug this week looked much different than usual.  GIRLS!! 
What a welcome change!

Sign Up!

Parents, we have two exciting things for you! 

First, you may sign up for a week to take home Benjamin Bunny.  Our stuffed bunny will come to your house for a week and experience life in your family.  Parents should snap a couple of photos and include them in Benjamin's journal with a brief description of what occurred.  Simple and fun!  This children LOVE reading about Benjamin's adventures.

Second, sign up for a Parent/Teacher conference.  The dates are Friday, February 25 and Monday, February 28.  Conferences are brief (20 minutes) and are an opportunity to visit about your child.  Please make plans to attend without your child.

Look for a pink sign up sheet for Benjamin Bunny and a green sign up sheet for conferences!

Teamwork

This is the time of year when we really begin to see children collaborating together.  These two Bunnies worked as a team to solve this darling puzzle of Little Bear characters.  They were so proud of themselves when it was all done!

Light and Joy

I adore this photo.  Just look at the joy on her face as she plays at the light table.  Can't you just imagine how good those little stars feel falling through her fingers!

A Complete, Correct Example

When children are introduced to a new toy or puzzle, they don't necessarily know how to play with it.  For open ended toys with infinite possibilities, free exploration is the best way for a child to learn what to do.  That means, just dump it out on the table and have fun. 

For toys that have a specific purpose or order, it is important to provide a complete, correct example.  A child may not follow your example, but at least he or she will have an idea of the reason for the toy and an idea of what the end product can be as a reference point.  In the photo above, we provided a complete, correct example.  The tower on the left is stacked in size order and the other towers should be stacked in a similar way.  Guess what?  Not ONE child followed the example to solve the puzzle of stacking. 

And that is perfectly fine.