Texas Long Horns!

Every month I enrich what we are learning through the environment. I have no clue what my neighbors think of me? Random objects are constantly coming and going from my house. I am not afraid to ask to borrow something if I feel it will extend the children's experience. I am a firm believer in teaching the senses. It is one thing to learn about a cow on paper or extend it through a picture book but it is an experience when they can touch it, see it, feel it, smell it and taste it. I feel this way of teaching is crucial if you want to instill the love of learning into a child for a lifetime.

Cowboy Up!

This months theme is cowboys and deserts! We have our very own cowboy tracker. The children love talking to him, playing with him and posing by him as if he is a mascot(he kind of is).
This theme is rich in new vocabulary! Lunchtime has now become chow, howdy, chaps, cattle, feed store, burro, bolo and many many more.
Last month we explored how animals can vary from continent to continent. This month we will discover that every continent has a desert.
So far this theme has exploded with learning opportunities and I can't wait to see what kind of journey it takes us on.

Color Equations!

Red + Blue= Purple

Yellow+ Red= Orange

Blue +yellow=Green

Learning is messy!

I filled an old liquid laundry detergent container with water and gave each child a watering can. They filled their own watering can with water from the recycled detergent container and made mud. The purpose of this activity was to teach them about mud huts and how some villages in Africa make their homes. This activity also provided opportunities for the children to use their fine motor skills, explore and work together.

Food Revolution

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution has inspired us to cut through the government red tape and try to present healthier food to our children! We have donated our old colorful kid plates to the Goodwill and replaced them with everyday salad plates. We also replaced our miniature forks and spoons with small standard utensils. We have also started our garden. We have starts in the house and have planted onions and broccoli outside. I can't wait for the children to see how food grows!
♥Romaine lettuce
♥Grapes
♥Whole grain angel hair pasta
♥Marinara sauce with fresh veggies and lean meat.

This was her own idea. After playing with our safari fridge puzzles she observed the mom in the puzzle carrying her baby this way. Children learn so much from dramatic play. It means the world to me when they observe something new, using the skills and curriculum we explore during class time.

The Water Hole!

We have been reading The Water Hole by Graeme Base. We extended this book through dramatic play. The children picked a safari animal and acted out the story in the book. We also used this book to encourage the children to drink more water. We purchased a brand new water can(rain) and used it for fill or glasses(waterholes). The kids loved this activity and it worked to help them stay more hydrated through the day.

Fly to Africa!

♥African map
♥Plane tickets
♥ Sign
♥ stamps
♥Taking turns

Black light

Is there a better science experiment for preschoolers than exploring black light?

♥We put butcher paper on the walls and let the kids paint under the black light with fluorescent tempera paint.

♥We also dumped out a new box of crayons and counted 6 glowing!

♥We bought special black light reflective face paint.

♥We played with shaving cream under the black light.

To be continued

Safari

It is on my "things to do list" to blog more. I wish I could post all of our activities and every clever phrase that comes out of a mouth of a young person. Like most months this one has come and almost gone. We have been all over the African map! We explored ways to travel, people, food, clothes, new words, new letters and read some fun books.

Relationships

We have turned our pink shop into a friendship house. This is my favorite thing the pink shop has been so far.......wait I say that every time. Anyway we will be using the friendship house to provide a safe place for teachable moments and bonding with our school family. Our first circle time activity using the Friendship House was talking about words. We can use pillow words or sand paper words. I had a fuzzy cozy pillow and asked all the children.... Do you like pillows? How does a pillow make you feel? We passed around the pillow and talked about what we liked about it. I passed sandpaper out and let the children feel and talk about the sandpaper. After we explored the two objects we talked about how we can use pillow words or sandpaper words to talk about our feelings! So far it has been a hit! The children are being more conscious of their language with their friends and dishing out compliments(pillow words) like they are going out of style.

We will keep building on this idea until the kids are ready to move on. It will be interesting to see everything we decide to add and explore. More importantly I can't wait to see the children's friendships blossom and their life tool box full of tools they will use for the rest of their lives!

Dinosaurs

Our January theme was "DINOSAURS." We had a blast learning about all different kinds of dinosaurs.
♥We prepared and ate different dinosaur foods.
♥we paper mached giant dinosaur eggs.
♥Made dinosaur feet, dinosaur exhibits.
♥Tied pterodactyl's in our tree outside our classroom.
♥Put footprints leading to our front door.
♥Made dinosaur noises.
♥Moved like dinosaurs.
♥Dinosaur egg store