Happy New Year 1/4 &1/5

Ms. Leigh, Ms. Laura and Ms. Iris came back to school on Tuesday, January 2nd, full of energy and looking foward to working with our children. We missed learning from them!

Over the vacation, the Golden Owl Teachers went shopping with some of the money that was generously given to us by our Owl families. We will be sharing the new materials with you in our Daily Happenings as the children discover them throughout the classroom.

Although this was a very short week with the children, we wanted to keep up with our Weekly blog. We spent both Thursday and Friday reacquainting the children with the room, with each other and with us.

We offered the children 12 fabric squares in assorted colors along with the costumes/clothing in the dramatic play area. This open-ended 'material' allows the children to use their imagination, problem solve, and collaborate as they negotiate how the fabric will be used. Is it a dress or a tent? The fabric squares were found all over the room! The children used them in the block area for tents. They used the squares to create a barrier so we couldn't see in the loft. It seems like they used it for everything except clothing....

We also put out peg boards and rubber bands for the children to use. The plastic boards have little pegs sticking up in a grid which allows the children to stretch rubberbands across the pegs to create different shapes. These materials allow the children to develop their small motor control, as well as make connections about how shapes are made. On Friday, EKS came to school with her parents to show them how to make a square using the rubberbands. Her parents couldn't figure out she made a square out of rubberbands as EKS forgot to mention she used a peg board!

RB discovered our pattern blocks. She placed the matching shapes on the paper pattern. Ms. Iris asked RB if she could make the same shape using different blocks. RB came up with 4 different ways to make the same design! This material not only helps children learn shape names, but help children better understand other aspects of mathematics,such as spatial regularities and relationships among the blocks, i.e. fractions and geometric understanding.

BH and CL had this conversation while using the pattern blocks:
C: "Are you making a '5'?"
B: "No, it's an 'L'."
C: "No, it's a '5'!"
The interesting thing is that BH had only covered part of the pattern, which to him looked like an 'L' (the orange blocks). CL was looking at the whole pattern which, when finished, does make a '5'.
After BH finished covering the pattern, Ms. Iris asked him what he had made. He said, "If it's like this, C said its a '5' but if it's like this, (turning the pattern upside down), C said it's a 'S'."
Again, it's all how you look at things! Children see so much more than we give them credit for!

We started using a daily planning board and calendar during our Morning Meetings. The daily planning board is still developing as we find what works best for the children. The calendar will help with number recognition as well as allowing the children to know when special days such as holidays or field trips are coming up. Our daily planning board lets the children know what groups will be meeting and what choices are available to them during Discovery Time.

Our Reflection meeting is a thoughtful procedure that explores means-ends connections, in other words, we not only share what happened during our Discovery Time, but also evaluate and talk about what we need to do next. When children plan, carry out, and review their own learning activities, their behavior is more purposeful and they perform better on language, literacy, social skills, and overall development.

One of the common questions asked at our parent/teacher conferences was "How can I support my child's learning at home?" We will try to put an idea or two in our weekly blog. This weeks idea is simple and easy: tell your children what YOU have planned for the day, especially when you will spend time with them. It's easy to just DO things with your children, but if you tell them what you have planned, you will be modeling "planning" for them at home. Or, you could ask them to make plans for the time you spend together.

Finally, Ms. Jordan mixed a new palette of paint with the children. Having the children mix the colors of paint not only provides the children with a sense of ownership, but the children also learn that colors have different tones and shades of colors and how to create them.

The teachers discussed ideas for our next Parent Night. We would love to have the next gathering as soon as possible. We welcome any ideas, suggestions, comments regarding Parent night as the night should be a learning experience for all.

Just a few reminders: Wednesday, January 10th is Ms. ' birthday.
Monday, January 15th is a holiday.

Posted on January 8, 2007 6:43 PM | Permalink