Weekly Letter 3.25

This week we continued our unit on Moving by focusing on how vehicles move. We spoke about different kinds of vehicles, such as vehicles that move on land, sea, and air. We also spoke about parts of vehicles.

We read a variety of books about vehicles. The children got into a discussion about what type of vehicles are slow and fast, as well as why they think that.

In the Art Center, the children had an opportunity to create a type vehicle of their choosing by using various items to make that vehicle. Some of the vehicles that were made were from recycled materials, collage materials, or simply a drawing of a vehicle.

The children had an opportunity to act out different types of vehicles during a movement session during our day.

Next week we will be continuing our unit on Moving by investigating how we move through the city.

Family Engagement 3.25

 

Weekly Letter 3.18

This week we started our unit on Moving by focusing on things that move. We spoke about the difference between pushing and pulling something. We also brainstormed vocabulary words that has to do with moving, such as throwing, bouncing, kicking, twirling, and so on.

We read a variety of books that spoke about movement. We also read Push It! Pull! Move It! by Bob Taylor The children had an opportunity to safely act out what the idea of pushing and pulling is.

In the Art Center, the children had an opportunity to create a painting using a tin and marbles to roll around. The children observed how the movement of the marbles went faster, slower, and turned as they controlled the tin with their hands.

The children explored how objects move down ramps in the Block Center by observing the speed of the type of object they used.

Next week we will be continuing our unit on Moving by investigating vehicles.

Family Engagement 3.18

Weekly Letter 3.11

This week we ended our unit on Buildings by focusing on what construction is and why it’s important. We spoke about different kinds of construction vehicles, as well as types of tools that construction workers may use to do their job.

We read a variety of books that spoke about construction and construction vehicles. The children had an opportunity to express what their favorite vehicle was and why.

In the Art Center, the children had an opportunity to create different types of construction vehicles using 3D materials from recycled items, such as paper towel roll cans and drink containers.

The children enjoyed pretending to use their vehicles in the Block Center to create different types of buildings.

Next week we will be starting our unit on Moving by focusing on things that move around us.

Family Engagement 3.11

Weekly Letter 3.4

This week we continued to explore our unit on Buildings by focusing on buildings. We reviewed different types of buildings and spoke about what makes a good building.

We read The Three Little Pigs and the Somewhat Bad Wolf  by Mark Teague. We spoke about what materials could be used to make a good building, such as wood, brick, and so on.

In the Art Center, the children had an opportunity to create different types of buildings using 3D materials from recycled items, such as paper towel roll cans and drink containers.

We also explored different types of materials by looking at, feeling it, and discussing our experience with it.

The children were encouraged to make a blueprint of what a building that they could create would look like and then used that blueprint in the Block Center to create it.

Next week we will be finishing our unit on Buildings by focusing on construction.

Family Engagement 3.4

Weekly Letter 2.18

This week we continued to explore our new unit on Buildings by investigating buildings. We reviewed different types of buildings and spoke about what makes a good building.

We read books on grocery stores and discussed how we could make part of our Dramatic Play area into a grocery store. We added a cash register to buy groceries, as well as items that the children can buy in the grocery store.

In the Art Center, the children had an opportunity to create different types of groceries using 3D materials from recycled items, such as paper towel roll cans and drink containers.

We also encouraged the children to make different kinds of buildings using 3D materials in the Art Center by planning out what building they would like to create and what parts will that building have, such as doors, windows, rooms, and so on.

Next week we will be continuing our unit on Buildings by focusing on buildings.

Family Engagement 2.18

Weekly Letter 2.11

This week we started to explore our new unit on Buildings by brainstorming what we know about buildings, such as parts of buildings and what we use buildings for.

We read books on a variety of buildings. The children noticed that each building had windows, doors, a roof, walls, and even stairs. We discussed that not all buildings will have stairs or even windows!

In the Art Center, the children had an opportunity to create a building mural based on the types of buildings we read about. They were encouraged to think about what building they would like to create and plan out how they would represent that building in the mural.

The children also had an opportunity to create buildings using craft sticks, Q-tips, and pipe cleaners.

The children had fun creating buildings in various centers throughout the classroom. They were encouraged to think creatively on what they can use to make buildings in the different centers.

Next week we will be continuing our unit on Buildings by investigating buildings.

Family Engagement 2.11

Weekly Letter 2.4

This week we continued to explore our unit on Investigating by continuing to make predictions and testing them out.

We read a book about snowmen and discussed that snow was made from water. We reviewed what had happened to the water we put in the freezer last week. The children then had an opportunity to create their own snowman using glue and shaving as a base.

The children continued to make predictions in the Science Center by exploring what would happen to different kinds of food samples left in a ziplock bag not refrigerated. They also predicted what would happen to an avocado pit soaked in water.

The children made predictions on whether or not they thought the groundhog would see its own shadow for 6 more weeks of winter. They were very excited to find out whose predictions were correct!

Next week we will be starting our new unit on Buildings by focusing on noticing buildings and what we know about them.

Family Engagement 2.4

Weekly Letter 1.28

This week we continued to explore our unit on Investigating by focusing on creating ideas and testing them out.

We read a book about how water can change based on the temperature. The children predicted what would happen if we put water in the freezer and then what would happen to it once we took it out of the freezer. The children were very excited to see if their predictions were correct!

In the Art Center we continued to explore making predictions by mixing different color paints to see what new color we could make.

 The children have started learning about ramps in the Science Center by exploring what a ramp is and does. They extended this by predicting what would make a good ramp and what would happen to the objects when they were put on the ramp.

Next week we will be continue this concept by making and sharing conclusions based on other ideas that we could explore.

Family Engagement 1.28

Weekly Letter 1.21

This week we focused on Artic Animals. We read the book Polar Region and discussed why we think artic animals live in the polar region area. We also discussed how these animals are able to live and survive in such a cold place on the Earth.

At the Art Center, children drew pictures of artic animals on a Polar Region mural. They got to decide what animal they would like to draw and investigate the characteristics of this animal, such as feathers, tusks, fur, and so on.

The children also reviewed their shapes by creating shape penguins. The children got to choose and identify the different shapes that they would like their penguin to be.

Next week we will explore different kinds of concepts by experimenting and testing out our ideas of what we think will happen to various things.

Family Engagement 1.21

Weekly Letter 1.14

This week we started our unit on Investigating, by looking at and discussing famous artists and paintings.

In the Art Center the children had an opportunity to observe a famous painting and try to recreate it by identifying the colors that they see and describing what the picture was of.

The children also had an opportunity to explore various ways of painting, such as with a Q-tip or a clothespin with a pompom. The children got to discuss their experience while using this by explaining things such as, was it easier or harder to paint with than a paintbrush? What was their favorite tool to paint with?

Next week we will continue to explore our unit on Investigating by focusing on artic animals.

Family Engagement 1.14