Our PreSchool Blog

Today the preschoolers had a very exciting day with a special visitor and celebration. We learned about the act of storytelling and listened to Dancing Moon and her helper, Bright Rainbow, share a story with a very valuable lesson.

The preschoolers enjoyed peeking into the lives of Native American children. We learned all about the importance of corn. The children husked and enjoyed corn on the cob just like Native Americans daily meals. Ask your preschooler the Native American word for corn!

Another chore for Native American children was popping kernels off the ear of corn to grind it into cornmeal for eating and storing.

The preschoolers explored beautiful Native American jewelry and artifacts. Then they got the chance to create their very own necklace with feathers and beads.

Arrowheads, spears, and bow and arrows were big hits this morning. The children loved learning about Native American weapons and materials they used to hunt and feed their families.

We ended our special day with our Painted Pony project. We looked at pictures of Native American celebrations with horses painted with beautiful designs and images. Ask your little one how they painted their pony!

The preschoolers learned about the importance of corn to the Native Americans. Next we rolled ears of corn through paint to create a beautiful print. Ask your preschoolers what Native Americans call corn!

We learned last week how some Native Americans, long ago, used to use large tree trunks to carve  into boats, called canoes.  We also reviewed the symbols that some native americans used to communicate and tell stories.  We incorporated some of these symbols onto our own canoes during small groups.

For the first day of November we started studying Native Americans with a festive craft. The preschoolers practiced their scissor skills and strengthened fine motor muscles while creating a fringe head-dress.

Dancing Moon and Running Deer came to visit us today to teach us all about the Southwest Native Americans.  We had the opportunity to pop the dry corn kernals off the cob and grind them on a matate.  A matate is the large stone on which the grain is placed. A mano is a smaller stone used to grind corn or other grains. It is rolled over the matate to break down the grains into a powder.  The powder is then used to cook many different things with.  We talked about all the different uses the native americans had for corn then we husked our own piece of cooked corn and enjoyed it as a snack.

Running Deer showed us all of the different types of tools and weapons that were used to hunt and provide food for the native american families.  We also got to see and feel a real deer fur and antlers along with a fox fur and skunk fur!  We explored and dressed up in native american jewelry and clothing and had a chance to make our very own piece of jewelry.  We learned that native americans would have used many different things to make their jewelry including shells, feathers, animal claws other things they would find in the area where they lived.

We learned that native americans did not have books like we do, they had “storytellers,” or people in their tribe that told stories to the young children.  These stories always had a lesson that the children could learn.  Dancing moon told us the story about “How Chipmunk Got His Stripes.”  It was an exciting story that taught us that we should not tease others or to brag about ourselves.  We will be reading other Native American Folk tales later in the week, including How Jackrabbit Got His Long Ears and Kissing Coyotes.  The preK children got to listen to a story on tape about another native american legend…The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush.