Our PreSchool Blog

We experimented with gelatin today by using a dropper and squeezing a variety different liquid water colors inside the gelatin.  It created an “explosion” of color within the gelatin that looked liked veins of color running throughout the mold.

We read the book, Celebrating Thanksgiving:  Giving Thanks during group time today and shared what we were thankful for…

Ms. Courtney’s sister joined us to make a special Thanksgiving Turkey out of popcorn, tissue paper, and a medical glove.  It’s amazing what little creativity to create!

In preparation for a successful future in writing children must, regularly, be using the small muscles in their hands and fingers to strengthen them.  We used small blocks today during small groups along with shaving cream and wooden spatulas to help build these muscles.  Children are also acquiring knowledge and skills which will provide an important foundation for later learning.  From the wooden shapes, your child solves problems and gains confidence.  Building with blocks helps children learn what numbers stand for, and it encourages children to practice scientific, trial-and-error thinking as well as critical-thinking and decision making skills.  And of course…it was a lot of fun!

Thanksgiving is just days away and we have already begun cooking in the Creative Tots kitchen!  Today our little chefs whipped up a delicious pumpkin pie.  As a chef, it is important to know what ingredients you are using, and how much to put in.  Each child helped to measure, pour, stir, and even crack eggs as we made our pie filling.  After pouring the filling into the pie crust, we popped it in the oven and enjoyed the sweet smell.  Thanksgiving is a time to appreciate all of the good people and things in your life.  We read a story about the first Thanksgiving, and discussed what we are thankful for and why.  We hope that everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

We fine tuned our sorting skills today by identifying and sorting our buttons by their various attributes.  The children decided to sort them by color, size, shape, number of holes, and number of sides.  Sorting is a great activity to do at home.  You can sort most anything!

The PreK children strengthened their fine motor muscles and had some holiday fun today creating their own turkey treat for snack time.

What is on your Thanksgiving plate?  Mr. Turkey!  Today, Ms. Lori worked on fine motor with the boys and girls as each child painted his/her own turkey.  Using water color paint, the children did an excellent job of dictating where the paint should go with a very tiny brush.  They made quite the array of Thanksgiving masterpieces!

As the season of thanks gets into full swing, we have been discussing things that we are thankful for.  We worked together to come up with our favorite things that we are thankful for.  The children did an excellent job telling why they were thankful and drawing a picture to represent that.

Running Deer and Dancing Moon visited our classroom today to teach us about the Native Americans of the Southwest.  We have been talking about the pilgrims traveling to America and meeting the Native Americans that already lived there.  This was a great connection to what we have been learning about the first Thanksgiving.  We had the opportunity to visit four learning centers during their visit as well as hear a old Native American Cautionary Tale.  We learned about a variety of hunting tools they used to survive and how they made them out of items found in nature in around where they lived.  We also learned about the importance of corn.  We shelled corn and ground it into cornmeal using a mano and matate.  In the jewelry center we discovered the different types of items they used to create their jewelry, then tried our hand at making our own piece of jewelry to take home using duck feathers.  Lastly, we shucked our own corn and ate right off the cob for a snack.

As Thanksgiving nears, it is that time of year to learn about Native Americans.  Ms. Penny and Mr. Ron joined our class today to teach us all about the Native American culture.  The children rotated between four centers: crushing corn to make corn meal, jewelry making, learning about weapons used to hunt, and corn shucking & eating.

In the first center, the children learned how to pick the corn off of the cob, gather it onto a rock (similar to a mortar) then using another rock (similar to a pestle), crush the corn into cornmeal.  The children learned how to work together towards a common goal by helping each other pick of the corn and crush it.

In the second center, the children learned Native American traditions when it comes to jewelry.  The boys and girls were able to try on different pieces, learn about the different textures, then make a necklace of their very own!

In the third center, the children were able to discover bows and arrows, arrow heads, different animal skins & furs, and real bear claws.  The children enjoyed learning about the need for Native Americans to hunt and gather their food.  Holding a bow the proper way showed the children just how difficult hunting can be!

In the fourth center, the children were able to shuck the corn, just like the Native Americans did, and eat it right off the cob.  This was our most delicious center!