Sorting Fun

This student first sorted by color and then buy shape.

MATHEMATICS
2.PK.1 Sort objects by similar attributes (size, shape, and color.)
4.PK.1a Identify circles, triangles, and squares.
4.PK.1b Begin to recognize two and three dimensional shapes in the environment.
SCIENCE
P.PK.1 Sort objects according to observable properties (shape and color).

Then he showed another student how to sort by shape. They even made up a little song amount it as they went along.

LANGUAGE
8.PK.4b Share ideas and information from personal and share group experiences.
SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL
5.PK.1b Play in pairs and small groups.
5.PK.1d Initiate play, or enter into play with a group of children already playing.
6.PK.1a Attend to a task for at least 10 minutes.
6.PK.1c Use verbal and non-verbal conversation skills.

Letter Ss....summer...shaved ice...FUN!

Shaved ice is like snow in summer!  This week our  pre k students  were experiencing the sound of Ss as well as the blend sh.

SCIENCE
E.2.A.2 Students know water on Earth can be a liquid (rain) or a solid (snow and ice) and can go back and forth from one form to the other.
P.PK.5 Identify hot and cold
LANGUAGE
1.K.3  Recognize and name upper and lower case letters of the alphabet.
SOCIAL STUDIES/SOCIAL EMOTIONAL
G8.PK.1 Identify weather conditions (rain, sunshine, snow, fog).
4.PK.1b Express common courtesy to others (saying "thank you", "please", and "excuse me").

Nothing better on a HOT day!

Letter Puzzle

How fun to do puzzles outside enoying the beautiful weather!!  Look at the students matching the tops and bottoms of animals, learning alphabet letter names and sounds including phonetic sounds, and using eye-hand coordination to complete each puzzle!
PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
6.PK.1 Demonstrate skills in eye-hand coordination (stacking, sorting, complete six-piece puzzle, etc).
SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL
5.PK.1b Play in pairs and small groups.
5.PK.2a Participate in cooperative groups to complete a task.
LANGUAGE
1.K.2 Demonstrate phonemic awareness of spoken words through matching, isolating, blending, segmenting, deleting, and substituting.
1.K.3 Recognize and name upper and lower case letters of alphabet.
1.K.4 Comprehend vocabulary using pictures, sumbols, environmental print.
2.PK.3 Identify pictures to aid in comprehension.
SCIENCE
L.PK.3 Identify humans, animals, and plants.

Butterfly Life Cycle

We were busy busy last week working on our life cycle of a butterfly project.  The project is a great example of scaffolding our learning.... or emergent curriculum.  While you won't find "make a caterpillar" on our curriculum guide it does list noticing change of season.  After reading Eric Carle's, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" we talked about changes that are happening around us.  Changes in season from winter to spring we see more insects, changes from night to day, days change from Sunday-Saturday, caterpillars and people change in size by how much we eat, caterpillars change into butterflies.  Loads of Pre-K Standards were met during this fun project! 

LANGUAGE
7.PK.2 Listen and respond appropriately to stories and group discussion.
SCIENCE
L.PK.2  Explore and identify a variety of animals and plants.
L.2.A.2 Students know differences exist among individuals of the same kind of plant or animal.
L.2.B  Students understand that living things have identifiable characteristics.
L.PK.6 Identify animals and their homes.
E.2.A.3 Students know weather changes from day to day and seasonally.

 One student described the change of a caterpillar as magic. Thus, we introduce the huge word "metamorphosis" then start of our metamorphosis project.

SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL
G8.K.1 Recognize weather changes with the seasons and how people adapt to those changes.
Ec10.PK.1 Decide between two choices involving classroom resources.
6.PK.1d Demonstrate ability to delay gratification to complete a larger task (Waiting for paint to dry!)
6.PK.1a Attend to a task for at least 10 minutes.
2.PK.3a Use toys and materials with care.
2.PK.3b Clean up or put away toys and materials when finished.

CREATIVE EXPRESSION
5.PK.1 Recognize their own and others' artwork.
5.PK.2 Demonstrate respect for the artwork of others.

  We learned a moth makes a cocoon and a butterfly makes a chrysalis.

Using droppers and small motor skills of pinching, the students their choice of colors of paint, then fold, (another developmental skill) rub, and open.....ta da!
PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
6.PK.2 Demonstrate the muscle strength, dexterity, and control needed to manipulate items (scissors, writing utensil, paint brushes, play dough, buttons/snaps, etc.)
6.PK.3 Use fingered or tripod grasp with drawing, painting, or writing instruments.
Look at that satisfaction!
CREATIVE EXPRESSION
2.PK.2b Express satisfaction when accomplishing a task and achieving a goal.
2.PK.3 Demonstrate persistence by trying again when faced with challenges.
5.PK.3 Use language arts, math, science, and other disciplines in dramatic play (finger plays, counting, grocery store, life cycles!)
2.PK.4 Identify color, shape, and texture through art experiences.

The finished product!  What's hiding inside that chrysalis?  A caterpillar!  And when the "chrysalis" is unfolded it's a butterfly!

 

Effects of Media

Hi everyone,

In my field of teaching children and their parents I am always learning new things (that I wish I knew when my kids were little!) Following is a very powerful TEDXRainier on the effect of media on children and brain development. It is a MUST see in my opinion.

Dr. Dimitri Christakis is a pediatrician, researcher and parent that shares:

"There are certain things we can do early on in our children's lives that enhance their ability to pay attention and certain things that we can do early on that actually impede them." "The more television children watch before age of 3 the more likely they were to actually have attention problems at school age. For each hour per day a child watches before age 3 it increases the potential by 10%, 2 hours equals 20%. Compared to a child who watches none. Cognitive stimulation reduced the chances by 30% " (like reading to them, taking them to a museum or singing to them.)

Television is not the only culprit. Recent studies are referring to it as any screen time ie; computers, games, etc., (yes, even educational games and music videos)

see: http://youtu.be/BoT7qH_uVNo

While some of our children are over the age of 3, brain development is on going and needs positive HUMAN interaction.

These statistics are worrisome, especially for young children, says Dr. JoAnn Deak, author of The Fantastic Elastic Brain. In the first 10 years of a child’s life, the brain is designed to learn by doing—by interacting directly with people and things. In terms of language development, brain growth is only impacted by in-person talking. Brain scans show that young kids do not learn at all from a screen. “Language-acquisition centers show no change when language is being received by video or audio,” says Dr. Deak. They do show a change when another person is in the room speaking with the child.

 

At HO4K we spend lots of time reading, playing, and singing with the students. (the 3 main things that reduce the chance of impeding attention span in children.

 

The following is from Work and Family Life...

No matter how old we are, we want to keep our brains sharp, right? When you read the front page article in this issue, you'll catch up on the latest brain research and find out what to do to keep your brain (and heart) going strong for as long as possible.

http://www.workandfamilylife.com/os/apr2013

Third Annual Screen-Free Week: April 29–May 5

What can we do about the excessive media trend? One thing is to take the third annual Screen-Free Week challenge from April 29 to May 5. It’s a national campaign to encourage families to turn off their TVs, computers and video games for seven days and to explore other ways to enjoy family time together. For more information, visit www.eyi.org/screenfree.

The "screen smart" message reminds us that there is indeed a life away from screens. Screen-Free Week is coordinated by the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. See www.commercialfreechildhood.org.

 

I extend the challenge for the screen free week starting April 29 !!!! 

The benefits are worth the challenge....I see it everyday!

Ms. JoAnn

Making Tortillas

Last week, two of the students were reading Highlight magazine and noticed a recipe for tortillas.

SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL

1.PK.2a Express ideas for activities; initiate and participate in discussion with teachers or peers.

 They asked if we could use it in our next cooking class. We read and followed instructions and made our own tortillas.

LANGUAGE
4.PK.1  Demonstrate and understand that printed material contains information.
4.K.7 With assistance, listen to and follow pictorial and written directions to complete tasks.

 PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
6.PK.2 Demonstrate the muscle strength, dexterity, and control needed to manipulate items.

We didnt quite master rolling them into circles... but that's ok,

our shape was oval last week anyway!

MATHEMATICS

4.K.1 Identify 2-D shapes.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

1.PK.1 Demonstrate personal hygiene skills (hand washing).

1.PK.3 Identify healthy foods.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Recently, we discussed that preschoolers start reading pictures before sounding out words and can use the pictures to help add clues as they decode the letters to make words.  During reading time, one student found something in the Highlight magazine that had instructions with words and pictures on how to make a caterpillar (demonstrating a Social/Emotional Pre-K Standard 1.PK.2a Express ideas for activities; initiate and participate in discussions with teachers or peers; and several Language Pre-K Standard 1.PK.4  Recognize environmental print and symbols; 1.PK.5 Demonstrate awareness that print carries a message; 2.PK.3 Identify pictures to aid in comprehension.) 
He enthusiastically brought it to the creating table and started his construction.

Soon others wanted to make one too. So he instructed them what to do....(demonstrating a Pre-K Standard in Science-N.PK.2 Share ideas with others.)

  he carefully, cut, curled paper, and glued...(demonstrating a physical development Pre-K standard 6.PK.2 Demonstrate the muscle strength, dexterity, and control needed to manipulate items.)

And ta da! He shows his rendition of his fantastic caterpillar totally created on his own! Wow!!

Pre-K standard Creative Expressions

2.PK.1 Select progressively more challenging tasks.

2.PK.2b Express satisfaction when accomplishing a task and achieving a goal.

2.PK.3 Demonstrate persistence by trying again when faced with challenges.

Tt, Trucks, Tractor, Tracks

This week we focused on the letter Tt and the color brown. 

LANGUAGE

1.K.3  Recognize and name upper and lower case letters of the alphabet

CREATIVE EXPRESSION

2.PK.4  Identify color, shape, and texture through art experiences.

The students got to experiment with different types of Tires on Trucks and Tractors and see what kinds of Tracks each one made in Brown paint! 

SCIENCE

P.PK.2  Explore and demonstrate how objects move

SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL

G5.PK.1  Identify direction and location (up/down and above/below).

LANGUAGE

6.PK.1 Experiment with writing tools and materials to communicate.

5.PK.2b Trace and progress to copying basic shapes (horizontal line, vertical line, X. plus sign, circle, etc.)

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

3.PK.1  Demonstrate locomotor movements such as up, down, forward, and backward.

What a fun educational mess!

SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL

2.PK.3b  Clean up or put away toys and materials when finished.

Address Field Trip

We focused on addresses this week.  We wrote each student's address on a paper and they each worked on memorizing it. 

 

MATH

1.PK.3a  Recognize and read numerals 0-5.

 

Then we walked around Ms. JoAnn's neighborhood to see actual numbers representing addresses. 

 

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

2.PK.1  Demonstrate a basic form in walking, running, climbing, jumping, hopping, and walking up and downstairs.

5.PK.3  Interact positvely with others regardless of personal differences.

1.PK.5  Identify some safety rules (pedestrian safety).

 

SCIENCE

N.PK1.a Observe their world.

N.PK1.b Ask questions about their world.

 

Some addresses were on the curb..

LANGUAGE

1.PK.4 Recognize environmental print and symbols

1.PK.5 Demonstrate awareness that print carries a message.

 

some were by the front door...

SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL

H3.PK.1 Begin to understand that differences exist between home and school.

and some were on a mailbox.

Happy smiling faces!  The students love being outside!

What is Play?

As you read and explore HO4K you see the children play!  and play!  and play!  Our wonderful teachers facilitate learning into play and play into learning.  You'll notice at the bottom of most posts what the children are learning as they're playing.  The following is a great perspective from Exchange EveryDay on play:

"Historically, play has been viewed as a frivolous break from important endeavors like working and learning when, in fact, a child’s ability to fully and freely engage in play is essential to their learning, productivity, and overall development," observe Steve Gross and Rebecca Cornelli Sanderson in their article, "Play is the Way," in the Beginnings section of the September/October 2012 Exchange magazine. They continue:

"A natural drive to play is universal across all young mammals. Children from every society on earth spend time playing. Why? Because play is a crucial vehicle for exploring and learning, developing new skills, and connecting with others. From an infant’s first smile to a preschooler’s careful construction of a tower, children use play to engage with and learn about their world. Play has key neurological, cognitive, socio-emotional, and physiological benefits for children’s health. Most importantly, play is the way in which children form loving, trusting relationships.

"People often think of play in terms of specific ‘play activities’ such as tag, soccer, or playing in the sandbox. In contrast, they think of work in terms of activities like raking leaves, cooking, cleaning, or doing homework. It is our belief that any activity, as long as it is done with a playful approach, is play. In other words, it’s not about what you do, it’s about how you do it. Playfulness is the expression of our natural drive to freely and joyfully explore, engage, and connect with the surrounding world."

The above picture is a perfect example of impromptu play that the students came up with on their own and Ms. JoAnn and Mr. Eddy facilitated their play into learning.  Everyday the students play outside at HO4K.  This particular day in the giant sandbox was windy.  Despite the wind, the students still had a blast using their imaginations throwing tissues up in the air and watching them fly!  One student also learned on his own if the tissue has sand on it that it will not fly.  This activity worked for every age and the children and teachers had an unforgettable time!  Now the question is, do you think March will come in like a lamb or a lion this year??
...And here's what the students learned:
PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
2.PK.1  Demonstrate a basic form in walking, running, climbing, jumping, hopping, and walking up ad down stairs.
2.PK.2  Perform a variety of large motor skills (throw a ball in purposeful direction, attempt to catch a large ball, etc.)
SCIENCE
E.PK.1  Observe and identify weather from day to day.
P.PK.2  Explore and demonstrate how object move.
P.PK.4  Explore what happens to objects in relation to other forces.
SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL
G8.PK.1  Identify weather conditions
2.PK.1b  Move through routines and activities with minimal adult/teacher direction.

Jumping, Rumbling, and Rolling

Check out our new fun!  The students use their imaginations coming up with different ideas and activities to play.  Not only are they jumping, rumbling, and rolling, they're also cooperating, waiting their turn, and talking to friends to work out who's turn it is and how much longer, etc.
The students are also learning to follow our 3 rules by looking at the sign:

• 2 people at a time
• Can jump, rumble, roll when both friends have smiles and are having fun
• If friends are waiting for a turn, the longest turn is 5 minutes

MATHEMATICS

1.PK.3a  Recognize and read numerals 0-5

5.PK.1  Identify and sort information (interpret quantity in pictures).

LANGUAGE

1.PK.4  Recognize environmental print and symbols

1.PK.5  Demonstrate awareness that print carries a message.

4.PK.1  Demonstrate and understand that printed material contains information (illustrations, graphs, and charts).

4.PK.5a  Recall information from an event, text, or picture related to self and the world around them.

4.PK.5b  Respond to or ask a question about an event.

4.PK.7  With teacher assistance, follow, a simple pictorial direction.

SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL

H2.PK.1  Begin to recognize that problems can occur in groups.

H3.K.4  Demonstrate respect for each other in the classroom and school.

C13.PK.1  Follow classroom and school rules.

C13.PK.2  Participate in group decision making.

1.PK.1a  Make independent choices from diverse interest centers or activities.

1.PK.2a  Express ideas for activities:  initiate and participate in discussions with teachers or peers.

5.PK.1b  Play in pairs and small groups.

5.PK.2b  Take turns with teacher support.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

2.PK.1  Demonstrate a basic form in walking, running, climbing, jumping, hopping, and walking up and down stairs.

2.PK.2  Perform a variety of large motor skills.

4.PK.1  Engage in daily moderate to vigorous physical activity.

5.PK.1  Participate appropriately during physical activities.

5.PK.2  Demosntrate turn taking and cooperation during physical activities.

5.PK.3  Interact positively with others regardless of personal differences (skill level, gender, race, and disability).

Matching Colors of Gloves

Who knew gloves could teach so much? 

Matching colors! 

Using small motor skills to put fingers in!

How we can dress for cold weather and keep our hands warm!

How we dress ourselves!

Cooperating with each other!

Using our talking words!

 

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

3.PK.1  Demonstrate the ability to follow basic movements (over, under, in, out, in between).

5.PK.2  Demonstrate turn taking and cooperation during physical activities.

5.PK.3  Interact positively with others regardless of personal differences (skill level, gender, race, and disability).

6.PK.2  Demonstrate the muscle strength, dexterity, and control needed to manipulate items.

CREATIVE EXPRESSION

2.PK.3  Demonstrate persistence by trying again when faced with challenges.

SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL

G8.K.1  Recognize weather changes with the seasons and how people adapt to those changes.

2.PK.2  Demonstrate self-help skills

6.PK.1c  Use verbal and non-verbal conversation skills

5.PK.2a  Participate in cooperative groups to complete a task.

LANGUAGE

7.PK.1b  Listen and follow a two-step oral direction with the use of formal and informal language.

MATHEMATICS

2.PK.1  Sort objects by similar attributes

 

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!!

The students have each made envelopes to put valentines in.  Your child is welcome to bring Valentine cards any time between now and February 15.  (NO gum or candy please.)
We will be putting them in the class mail box, then delivering them throughout the day.  This is a "hands-on" experience of our mail system as well as a wonderful reading/language experience as the valentines are read throughout the week.
Thanks! 
Hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day!!

Chocolate Moose

We just LOVE a good book! What fun we have when we learn after reading a book that motivates us to explore and play!

. 

This sweet children's book is about a chocoholic moose who accidentally misreads a help-wanted sign for a mouse job at a bakery! In such a small mouse-sized bakery, this large moose runs into problems, making many mistakes and plenty of messes! But his sweet boss Mrs. Mouse, is patient and clever in helping him to feel useful! This wonderfully illustrated book helps children learn more about friendship and even the importance of reading!

After reading the story Chocolate Moose we were inspired to use our 5 senses in creating a project! First we ate chocolate "mousse" pudding. Boy, was it yummy! Next we used our fingers and the left overs to finger-paint brown paper to be used in the future! This was messy, delicious, and most of all FUN!

Throughout the story, the author uses colorful onomatopoeia (“Slurp, gulp, burp!”). We had fun coming up with our own sounds as we tasted our pudding.  This story really was silly!

Look at those sweet messy faces!  

                            After tasting and painting, we made moose antlers with our brown paper!

What a great story and what great fun we had making our very own moose antlers! This story is now one of our favorites!

Learning With Blue Jeans

Every child enjoys tearing and ripping things! So when learning about the letter J this week, students loved the hands on activity of pulling at and ripping old jeans. Some students had  to work together and some were able to do it alone! Students used their small motor skills, determination and strength to tear small pieces of jean material to later glue inside the letters Jj.

 

Anything that uses small motor skills such as pinching, is a great pre-writing skill. It helps with the pencil grasp and prepares students for writing skills. Of course it was a great time to also review the color blue. Wow, what fun we have!

Such Hard Workers

Children have the amazing ability early on to explore and play using their imaginations! Research has shown that dramatic play can affect a child's learning and ultimately impacts their success later in school. This form of "play" provides opportunities for students to imitate, combine both spoken language with imagination, and pretend to be someone or something else. Often, children pretend or act out "real life" situations, and change things from reality to their own perception of the situation.

 

 

 The students above are "car workers". They are changing tires and fixing the cars that are broken. Together, they learn how to manipulate the tires, remove them, rotate and replace them. The cars are fixed, washed and ready to play with again!

 

 

Part of dramatic play is assuming roles or positions of others. Students initiated "grocery store" play. They organized it so that there was a cashier, a helper and a customer. One student even declared, "how bout we wait in line, that's what we do in real stores."

 Students learned to take turns participating in the various roles and worked together to organize this form of play.

 

 

Learning the role of a consumer and understanding that money is needed in exchange for goods and/or services, is one of the Nevada Preschool Standards that is explored over and over again through this type of organized dramatic play! Students also demonstrate the roles of different jobs in the community and appreciate the work as they imagine themselves assuming that role.

Some of the other skills enhanced through dramatic play can be, cooperation, communication and problem solving skills. Not only is it fun to pretend and play, but it is a great educational and life learning experience!