As we usher in a new month, the children have the opportunity to discover new things in our centers. All of our centers have new items, but today we focused on the math, literacy and art centers. Learning how to do new activities is just one more way to practice/learn a skill in a different way.
Our little scientists geared up to learn about two of the three properties of water. We started with measuring an ice snowman first thing in the morning. By the time we were ready for small groups, our snowman shrunk! Discussing temperature and how ice turns into water (and vice versa), the children discovered why the snowman was melting. We also compared a glass of ice to a glass of water in height and weight. The boys and girls did an excellent job of recording their findings. What budding scientists!
Our fine motor skills are really shining through! The boys and girls did an excellent job getting those little fingers moving while practicing their cutting. Cutting out and decorating a mitten was a fun way to get those little muscles working!
Finding items that are equal in weight takes these scientists some trial and error. Using everyday items, the children made a hypothesis on which items are equal in size. If they are not equal, what can be added to help balance? The children became very creative in problem solving!
Today we had a special guest: Ms. Penny! ms. Penny made our classroom colorful by teaching the children about Franz Marc. Franz Marc was a German painter who contributed to the German Expressionist Movement. The boys and girls did a fantastic job drawing the outline of their picture, then using watercolors to make a beautiful masterpiece!
Today we made….you guessed it! Patterns! Using our pattern blocks, we created ABABAB patterns using shapes and colors. We also used pattern block templates to discover the shapes and how they work together. They also learned how to use simple objects at home to create a pattern.
With our mitten activity today, the children were eager to not only sort and graph our mittens, but talk about giving the mittens to boys and girls who need them. With so many mittens, the children did an excellent job of sorting them by color and graphing each one by categories: Does it have a design on it? Stripes? Is it a solid color? After sorting the mittens, we then decided which category had the most, and which has the least. We then took the category that had the most (the design category) and counted how many there were. We are so proud of how excited and eager the children were to donate to the children of First Step Home. A big thank you to all of you who brought in your generous mitten donations and for helping us teach your children such a valuable lesson!
As January comes to a close, it is clear that we have pre-writers emerging into eager little writers! The boys and girls did an excellent job practicing V, W and X, along with other letters we have introduced. The magnet boards that we used offered a fun and unique way to practice our writing!
Creative Tots has specialized in the private education of both toddlers and preschool age children for over 15 years. We began in the heart of Madeira and now also have a new Mason location. We are specifically designed to focus on early childhood development for children ages 18 months to 5 years.
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