Courage and Community
1/26/2018
This week was PNA's Brown Bag Concert series (an informal talent show), and my first time experiencing this school-wide event. Our mission at PNA is to educate students to be exceptional learners and independent thinkers of vision, courage, and integrity. Brown Bag demonstrates what an amazing school community a mission like this builds. Not only did our young Explorers get onstage to perform as a class in front of the whole school, but 5 of our kiddos wanted to get on stage individually to share one of their creative talents. This takes so much courage, but PNA's school community (teachers, students, staff, and parents) is filled with kindness and love. So much so that even our preschoolers felt safe and supported enough to be able to take big risks. And they even discovered that it can be fun to be courageous. I read a quote the other day that fits with why courage is such an important part of childhood: "Challenges make you discover things about yourself that you never really knew." (Cicely Tyson) In preschool, we are trying new things everyday, and trying to learn who we are in this world, but it is a truly special day when your whole school community can get behind you and support you in facing a challenge and discovering something new about yourself! Our kids just beamed afterwards. I am looking forward to seeing what new challenges our Explores will take on next. Highlights from the Week This week:
~We watched a giant crane install a huge HVAC system ~Explored how balls and wheels are different ~Investigated what wheels are like ~Learned the parts of a wheel ~Used our knowledge of wheels, hubs, and axles to build vehicles ~We discovered the dinosaurs on the move again, this time on the Brown Bag stage Wheels, Friendship, and Dinosaurs!
1/20/2018
We began this week with our school wide Martin Luther King Jr. celebration. Our explores did a wonderful job joining the lower school for singing and signing "It's a Wonderful World." I am continually amazed at how brave our students are in performing at such a young age. This is truly an asset of being at PNA, where they get so many wonderful opportunities to practice courage. If you haven't seen the performance, there is a live stream on the Facebook page. To further celebrate, we made "Friendship Trail Mix." Each student added a different food item to make one delicious snack. We talked about how we are all different, but that together we can make something more wonderful than on our own. This week also marked the beginning of our Wheels study. As we explored this topic, we talked about what we know about Wheels and what we want to learn as we study Wheels. Our study of Wheels will provide a meaningful way for our Explores to further expand their skills in mathematics, literacy, the arts, and technology. This study will also provide an exciting way for us to learn physical science and social studies concepts. One way we investigated wheels this week was by using paint and wheeled vehicles. As we ran the cars through paint we talked about what type of tire tracks the cars were making, how the tracks changed with speed and direction, and we compared the different vehicles' tracks.
In our books, we are learning that all the capital letters can be made out of 4 shapes: big lines, little lines, big curves, and little curves. Knowing these shapes help us to make letters we don't have as much practice with or can't remember very well. It also helps us guide our pencil when we say the shapes of the letter as we write. For instance, this week we practiced the letter "F" and learned that it's shape is "big line down, frog jump up, little line, little line." This phrasing helps to keep our "little lines" (short and not extending into space), as well as to remind us to pick up our pencil in between strokes. If you are interested in an alphabet copy of this phrasing to help your child with writing at home, please let me know. We were surprised when we went to look for Ms. Bookman in the Maker's Space by rogue dinosaurs that had made a mess of the lego wall! We don't know how these dinosaurs did this, or with what class they were collaborating, but we plan on finding out next week!
Deepening Friendships
1/13/2018
This first week back we spent a lot of time catching up (I loved hearing all their stories about winter break) and talking about friendship. It was wonderful to see all our explores again and watch them reuniting with each other. I am excited about this next semester; I think we will be able to explore our study topics even deeper and continue to expand our learning outside of the classroom. I am so glad to be at PNA where even the Early Childhood Program is fully integrated into the school's vision of creating exceptional learners. To be included in Project Based Learning and standards based report cards allows me, as a teacher, to provide our explorers with a classroom environment that both prepares them for kindergarten and engages their curiosity and creativity. We are going to have a great rest of the year! Using liquid watercolors to make hands for a friendship mural and The Dinosaur Museum, a group building project.
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Anna RamseyArchives
April 2021
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