The History of Wheels
2/22/2018
Insight Into What Project Based Learning Looks Like In PreschoolThis week we explored the history of wheels. We talked about what the world would be like without wheels and how ancient peoples didn't have wheels. We looked though non-fiction books to find pictures of people moving things with horses, sleighs, and on their backs. We learned that before wheels when people wanted to move really really heavy things, like building stones, they used special types of sleds called sledges to drag the rock. Over the week we followed the development of wheels from sledges to the addition of rollers to help move the sledges more easily, and then the transition of making rollers into wheels. We explored this history in many ways, but most excitedly we experienced and compared each of these methods with a laundry basket and our friends as weights. What the Explores told me they learned was that dragging the sled took the most energy and was the slowest. Using rollers was much easier, but not any faster. Wheels were the fastest and took the least amount of effort. Physically exploring the history of wheels with our own selves was engaging and meaningful way to teach social studies, physics, and history to children who many would think too young to understand these concepts. Using rollers to move heavy objects What Does Project Based Learning Look Like in Preschool?Project Based Learning in preschool follows a model based on units called investigations, or studys. We spend 4-6 weeks exploring, experimenting, and seeking answers to the questions we have about our study topic. This month we have been investigating wheels. Wheels are everywhere and children love wheeled objects. Wheeled toys give children mobility, ignite their imaginations, and enable them to get places more quickly. Wheels are a good study topic for preschoolers because children are already familiar with them and can explore them first hand. Preschoolers can investigate and examine them first hand without depending totally on adults. Wheels also provide an interesting way for us to explore physical science concepts as we learn about the characteristics and properties of wheels, how wheels move, the construction of wheels, and friction. Wheels also help us explore social studies concepts about how people live, work, and travel, and how wheels have changed over time. Throughout our study of wheels we have worked on oral and written language skills, learning new vocabulary, and reading fiction and nonfiction books. We used mathematical skills in counting, comparing, measuring, and organizing data from our experiments. Our Early Kindergarteners have represented their learning through the construction of models, drawing and painting, and dramatic play. Highlights From Our Wheel StudyFixing a Flat
2/17/2018
In our wheel study we have learned a lot about wheels, but we hadn't yet seen what was inside a wheel. This week we had a bike commuter visit our class to talk about how he uses wheels to get to work, to show us what was inside a bike wheel, and to demonstrate how to fix a flat tire. Our explores were excited to see the different type of bikes, naming the parts, explaining what they did, and comparing it to their own bikes. They were enthusiastic to help take a bike wheel apart and see all the components. The students had lots of good questions informed by what we had already learned about wheels, as well as their own experiences with bikes. We love having guest speakers come to our class. Guest speakers allow us to connect to our community, interact with experts on the topics we are studying, give us hands-on learning, and apply our studies to practical and real world situations. We are not just learning about wheels because they are cool toys, we are studying wheels because they are the simple machines that allow so much of our world to function. Guest speakers are also an important part of project based learning. Elevating our students' study means helping them learn from as many resources as possible. Adding conversations with experts to our learning, enhancing what we already do in the classroom with fiction and nonfiction books, experiments, collections, art projects, making models, and dramatic play, allows for deeper investigations and more memorable learning. Taking what we had learned from our bike commuter guest speaker, we drew our own models of bike wheels. Art projects are a great way for preschoolers to represent their learning. Our students decided whether their tires would be road tires or winter tires, how big and numerous to make their tire treads, how dense to draw their spokes, and what details to add (tube valves, hubs, tire color). Valentine's Day Celebrating Friendship and Learning the Value of Written Language How Long Can You Make a Tower? A Student Initiated Project Involving Teamwork and Engineering Family Breakfast
Thank you to everyone who came. I know it isn't always easy to attend, but it is validating and empowering to our students to be able to demonstrate and share their learning with you! Our next and final family event will be a lunchtime celebration in May. Wheel Day!
2/9/2018
In the beginning of every investigative study we spend a week as a class talking about what we already know about a topic, what questions we have, what we want to learn, and even how we want to explore the topic. During that first introductory week of our wheels study, the Explorers came up with, and suggested the idea of having a wheel day. They talked excitedly about bringing in bikes and scooters. As a teacher I was thrilled to see their interest. I was also excited because I knew that we could make wheel day a reality. It was a perfect opportunity for student led learning and a perfect way for preschoolers to explore and learn about wheels. And explore we did. Wheel Day was a wonderful experience. The students were able to try out many different types of wheels. Wheels you made go by pushing with your feet, wheels that went because of pedals, wheels that went fast, and wheels that went slow. They rode on two wheels, three wheels, and four wheels. Everyone tried a new type of wheels that they hadn't ridden before and learned that some wheels are harder to balance on than others. This week we celebrated the 100th day of school. We made hats and necklaces, counted 100 steps down the hall, shared our 100 things collections, and practiced our estimation skills with a game where we tried to guess which bag had 100 items in it. We also joined the beginners, kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade for special 100's Day activities in the gym. It was great to get to interact with students from different grades, learning new ways to stack tall 100 cup towers and to compete with them in the bean bag toss for 100 points. Our Explorers cherish these experiences where they get to learn with the "big kids." Highlights from the Week
We painted our pinewood cars this week. In the sensory table we explored how water wheels work. We used our knowledge about axles to help us make pinwheels. And we celebrated a birthday. Exploring Our Creativity
2/2/2018
Child Lead LearningLast week I noticed a lot of creative and collaborative play centering around "doggies" and "families." We had dogs in the wheel center, dogs on camping trips, dog nests on our bean bags, and many moms and dads caring for these dogs. Our Explorers were clearly into dogs. After seeing this interest, and how detailed they were getting in their pretend play, I knew we needed a center to allow them to further explore this play. We now have a vet and pet center with doctor tools, bandages, a pet washing station, towles, brushes, blankets, costumes, and more. And our Explores have been loving it. I have noticed how their vocabulary is expanding and that they are communicating more detailed messages to each other "Dr. please give my bunny a check up. She hurt her paw." They are also drawing on their own experiences at the doctor's office; many of our pets get flu shots. I love being able to adapt the classroom to the students' interests. It makes for some wonderful, unexpected learning. WheelsIn our Wheel Study this week we focused on what objects have wheels. We started an ongoing list of "Things That Have Wheels and Axles." We looked at what powers wheels and sorted our wheel cards based on what makes them go: motors, pedals, or pushing. We also talked about how gravity can make wheels go. We then used our ramps to experiment with how different materials affect how fast wheels go. Our first experiment was with a blank ramp, a ramp with a towel. and a ramp with a rubber mat. We found that the blank ramp allowed the cars to go the fastest. Our Explorers had lots of great ideas about why: "the plain ramp is smoothest," "the fur on the towel grabs the car's wheels" We learned that in science the word for what we were seeing and describing is "friction." We have been making lots of vehicles with wheels and axles. This week we made cardboard vehicles with wooden axles from an art kit and we made clothespin button racers. The students expressed both this week and last week that these cars were too wobbly or that the wheels came off frequently. We needed cars we could make that could also withstand play. So on Friday we made blueprints of the type of cars we would like to design. I then showed them pinewood racing blocks for making cars. Our Explorers worked hard sanding down the blocks to get them ready for painting on Monday. What Learning Looks Like in Early Kindergarten |
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April 2021
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