welcome back march 2016

What Do You KNOW About

CHANGE and STREWING?

Change: become or make different

Strewing: leaving things of interest for children to discovery

Over the recent break, the preschool room CHANGED. Multiple learning centers were relocated, displays depicting students’ discoveries were hung and interesting objects were thoughtfully placed throughout the classroom for students to discover (STREWING).

 The notion of CHANGE can be unsettling for young children, however when we look at our past preschool curriculum, CHANGE has been embraced and a recurring theme. In the autumn, caterpillars CHANGED into butterflies and our classroom CHANGED to a golden shade chock full of seeds, pods and leaves. Over the winter months, preschoolers’ muscles CHANGED growing stronger and writing became an everyday activity. Many science experiments resulted in ice CHANGING to water and our flat block structures CHANGED to three-dimensional enclosures. With the arrival of spring, students’ independence, curiosity and perseverance have CHANGED and peeked and finicky weather CHANGES every hour and will lead discussions, interests and projects!

 

I look forward to guiding your child’s learning and interests as they continue to CHANGE over the next few months. Our evolving curriculum will include exploring WIND, MUD, SUGARING, EGGS, SOIL, RHYME, GROUPING NUMBERS and the CHINESE NEW YEAR.

 

 

FRIENDS, FRIENDS, 1…2…3…

ALL MY FRIENDS ARE HERE WITH ME!

    

Young children typically anticipate holidays with great enthusiasm and envision a day filled with surprises and sweets. This year’s Friendship Day celebration at Richmond Elementary School, A.K.A. Valentine’s Day, surpassed Preschooler’s expectations. Playing Friendship Musical Chairs (above photos) and participation in Vermont Writes Day provided an additional bonus last week as students focused on PEOPLE, PLACES and THINGS they cherish.  Young writers met the

7-Minute Writing Challenge which was a perfect venue to showcase student’s literacy learning!

Over the past five months, RES Preschoolers have prepared for Friendship Day (a day renowned for sharing student made notes with peers) by participating in cooperative play activities that promote the development of fine motor muscles needed for paper and pencil tasks. Hard work and engagement with various materials and mediums have resulted in strong fingers and hands ready for WRITING!

   

PART 2 students joined us for the seven minute writing challenge! ALL 15 writers focused their energy on WRITING!

Friendship Day festivities also included the making of a RED and PINK INITIAL necklace. Scholars counted out beads and added them to a piece of ribbon to create symmetrical necklaces that included patterns!

   

To warm up strong fingers for the writing challenge, writers created MAPS OF THEIR HEARTS. Each writer wrote about People and Things they Love!

E

EMMET featured his MOM, Mac and cheese and climbing mountains on his MAP!

Afterwards… students fueled their bodies with sweet, Friendship Fruit Salad, created patterns with fruit, opened handmade cards from friends and received a festive snuggle gnome!

    

                            THANK YOU FOR ALL OF THE FRUIT DONATIONS!:)

FRIENDSHIP DAY… AKA VALENTINE’S DAY

Preschoolers at Richmond Elementary School prepare for a day to honor the PEOPLE, PLACES and THINGS they CHERISH

Each year on February 14th, many people exchange cards, candy, gifts or flowers with their special “valentine.” The day renowned for romance dates back to 269 and is the result of Saint Valentine, a priest who found himself in jail after he continued to marry people after a Roman Emperor banned the marriage of all people.  While Valentine was in prison, he sent out letters to his friends and signed them by writing... “Remember your Valentine”. He died on February 14th… and we remember his acts of kindness by cherishing loved ones on 2/14.   

Why is this note of history important to PRESCHOOL DEVELOPMENT????

In the preschool classroom, I continue to find Friendship Day, to be “THE DAY” that represents a literary milestone for young learners. Each and every year when I turn the calendar to the second page and find a grid depicting 28/29 squares, I also find preschoolers READY! Since birth, a child has prepared his/her ten fingers, two hands, arms and shoulders and one torso to become strong enough to WRITE and magically without a hitch in FEBRUARY it happens! This observation and statement (children find success with writing letter formations by FEBRUARY 14th) are not depicted on any child development continuum; however I have found it to be 100% accurate! Years of lifting, twisting, turning, stretching, pinching and, pulling result in a four and half year old body that is ready, willing and able to WRITE! Saint Valentine most likely did not realize his WRITING and passing would be connected to child development by an early educator, but I find the connection noteworthy :)!

To celebrate our annual preschooler’s literacy milestone, young writers will participate in VT Writes Day on February 11th and do one THING they CHERISH…WRITE! We have marked our calendar for this amazing, fun annual day of writing and will stop everything in our classroom for JUST SEVEN MINUTES of WRITING! Our writing prompt will be to write about the PEOPLE, PLACES and THINGS you cherish! I feel confident our young writers will surpass the seven minute challenge… results will be posted early next week!     

This week, we will also played our SEE, THINK and WONDER Game by using the following photograph as a prompt. I look forward to hearing about our Preschooler’s observations, thoughts and wonders!

   

Please remember to have your child return their friendship cards by Thursday. Also, it would be helpful for fruit to be cut up in bite size pieces verses sending the unprepared fruit to school. Children will be making individual pattern fruit kabobs with the fruit salad.  

THANK YOU

Suzanne   

OUR STUDY OF MATTER

ICE…SALT…WATER

 

Last week, scientists had a firsthand experience with learning why ICE turns to WATER (H2O) when it comes in contact with SALT (sodium Chloride). Initially, when scholars were presented with blocks of ice and a salt solution they predicted the salt would MELT the ice. Their prediction seemed to be correct as scientists witnessed large chunks of ice form crevasses and holes and eventually turned to a puddle of water. However, after learning about the molecular structure of ICE and WATER students are beginning to understand that SALT really doesn’t MELT ICE, it actually breaks apart the organized MOLECULAR structures in ICE. An easy way to understand this concept is to visualize the above SOLID green and blue SALT STRUCTURE bumping into the hexagon shaped ICE molecules with many air pockets… it breaks the ice molecules that are spread apart with ease.

BELOW, students join hands to create an ICE MOLECULE (the MOLECULE is spread apart leaving an air pocket in the middle). Another student pretends to be a strong, BIG, BAD SALT MOLECULE and breaks the student made ice structure apart!

Scientists observe ice turning to water after applying a salt solution

Scientists observe the results of adding a SALT solution and SUGAR solution to a block of ice… the salt solution leaves large holes in the ice and the sugar solution carves teeny tiny holes.

Scholars also experimented with ICE by using ice cubes to write! First, students were given a NAME CARD and after reading their names and identifying each letter in their first name, they traced the letters with an ICE CRAYON!

Interesting things started to happen!

Letters started to move!

Letters got wider!

Colors started to mix!

Names disappeared!

Hands got wet and cold!

Bird Feeder Projects

OUR BIRD FEEDER PROJECTS

Last week, Preschoolers enjoyed following simple multi-step directions to construct a food garland and individual bird feeders. A BIG THANK YOU to STELLA, BEN, ALICE, JAMES, HARPER, QUINN and JACK for supplying an assortment of materials needed for our Fine Feathered Forest Friend projects.   

FOOD GARLAND

STEP 1…Peel a Clementine and place segments into a cup

  

STEP 2… Place Clementine segments and cheerios onto a piece of wire

Can you see a pattern?

  

STEP 3… Connect each piece of wire to create a long garland

STEP 4…Place the food garland outside to assist forest friends during winter weather

HOMEMADE STUDENT MADE FEEDERS

After reading HOW TO MAKE a BIRD FEEDER and looking at numerous photos of homemade feeders, preschoolers choose from three types of bird feeders to construct;

• pinecone feeder,
• tube feeder
• yogurt cup feeder

STEP 1… THE PLAN

Our project included completing a planning sheet (see example below).

After the children choose the design that appealed to them, they set to work creating their plan.

I encouraged the children to label their plans with the materials they would need to build a feeder.

S=string, PB=peanut butter, P=pinecone, BS=bird seed

STEP 2… ADDING THE STRING

Cut string the length of your arm and tie it to a pinecone, tube or cup

STEP 3… ADDING the FUEL

Spread peanut butter onto the feeder and roll the feeder in seed

   

 

 

STEP 4…TASTY FUEL FOR FOREST FRIENDS

Take home the feeder and place it outside for animals!

Preschoolers connect with the Commander in Chief

INSPIRATION from the O  V  A  L OFFICE

 

Political venues are in our everyday experiences due to the upcoming presidential election. Politicians may vary in their message to the public, however there is one common goal they all agree upon: young children play an important part in shaping our future!  Last week we decided to connect with President OBAMA and called him during our morning meeting. We wanted to reassure him that at RES preschoolers are growing healthy bodies. We also shared that we continue to work and PLAY hard in being productive and respectful citizens. We informed him that our efforts would result in creating a bright future for us as individuals and globally for our world!  

In case you are wondering how to contact to the Commander in Chief it is easy… he spends most of his time in the OVAL office so dial O... V... A... L… and you will be directly connected to him:)

                Above a student made a sign and illustration that depicts President Obama in the OVAL Office. He is wearing a striped tie! We use the sign to help us dial the letters... O V A L on our pretend phones when we call him!

This week when we connected with President OBAMA, he was eating his breakfast and we found out he likes oatmeal and fresh blueberries. He was happy to talk and listen to us as we excitedly shared information of a new movement dance we are learning. The movement keeps us in constant motion for three minutes! We continued by telling him that not only does the movement dance strengthen our legs, arms and trunk muscles… the exercise helps us to be better writers! Without strong arms, shoulders, wrists and fingers it is impossible to hold a pencil. President Obama complimented our healthy lifestyle and learning efforts and told us to keep up the GOOD WORK! He challenged us to lengthen our movement routines to five minutes prior to the start of February! The challenge left us energized and eager to continue to MOVE our bodies!    

Afterwards, while researching the oval office to see if the physical space of the room was shaped like an OVAL… we found a photo of President OBAMA… HE MUST BE TALKING TO US in this PHOTO:)!  

    

Throughout the month of January we will spend ample time learning a variety of movement routines including the CHA CHA dance. Below are a few photos depicting us stretching and building strong bodies.

A CONDO for SNUFFLES

Snuffles the hedgehog has had a strong presence in our classroom for the past two weeks. Engagement has been so dramatic that our classroom rules needed to be stretched to accommodate high interest in the block area. Typically THREE FRIENDS CAN PLAY in the moderately small learning center, however this week as many as eight preschoolers collaborated as they constructed detailed ENCLOSURES for SNUFFLES.

The PM session children created the below CONDO complete with cozy warm beds and chose to keep the structure in place so that when the AM session builders arrived to school the next day,  they would have an opportunity to add to the structure.    

   

SNUFFLES was also more than happy to share his lush new living space with many new relatives. Earlier in the week, students were eager to create hedgehogs of their own by felting wool balls into hedgehog bodies complete with quills!