Creativity
2/21/2019
This week we spent time exploring our creative sides. The Beginners spend a lot of their center play time at the art area, drawing, taping, gluing and creating. It's a very busy area and often times, they tell me they don't have enough time to finish what they are working on. In an article in the greater Good magazine, published by the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, it explains why young children need opportunities for creativity: "Because it is a key to success in nearly everything we do, creativity is a key component of health and happiness and a core skill to practice with kids. Creativity is not limited to artistic and musical expression—it is also essential for science, math, and even social and emotional intelligence. Creative people are more flexible and better problem solvers, which makes them more able to adapt to technological advances and deal with change—as well as take advantage of new opportunities." For one project, we used Kool-Aid to make bright watercolor paints and painted them onto an absorbent paper drop cloth. It smelled delicious and was fun to watch all the colors blend and swirl together.
To tie some creativity into wrapping up our clothing study, we traced the children's bodies onto big paper, and then let them decorate their bodies. It was so fun to watch them decide what colors and outfits they wanted their bodies to wear. Small World Play
2/16/2019
"Small world play" is a type of imaginative play that children engage in using small toys to act out real or imaginary scenes. Small world play, like all play, is important because it allows children to develop in many ways. Socially, by encouraging children to share and communicate with each other. Emotionally, children learn to deal with the emotions of others, and of themselves. By listening into their dialogue, you can understand how they feel about certain topics through concerns that are brought up through the well-being of the character a child has created. The demands on children physically during small world play allow them to strengthen fine motor movements, through manipulations of small toys, cars and other trinkets that are apart of their scenes. There are many more benefits to this type of play, but those are just to name a few.
Small world play can include legos, doll houses, small animals in a bin with hay or popcorn kernels, sand and glass beads with turtles, or any other type of "scene" that encourages children to create worlds that come alive and are real to them. This week we had a bit more down time than usual, and in that time, I tried to encourage some more small world play. Here's what we saw: Laundry Science
2/6/2019
This week we did a science experiment to see which type of laundry soap made the most bubbles and which one worked the best. Before starting the activity, the Beginners explored 3 different types of laundry detergent- powdered, solid bar soap, and liquid detergent. We discussed the difference between solids and liquids and made guesses as to which kind of soap would make the best bubbles. Many children guessed that the liquid soap would make a lot of bubbles, as they compared it to bubble bath and dish soap. We filled up 3 different buckets with warm water and added grated bar soap to one, liquid soap to another and powdered soap to the last one. The Children were split into groups and given spoons to mix the water and soap mixtures. It took a while to get going, but eventually, the bubbles started forming. After we had some suds worked up, we added some of our doll clothes from the dramatic play center to each bucket to give them a good washing. After the Beginners had mixed up their clothes, we looked at each of the buckets to see which one had the most bubbles in it. The bucket with the grated bar soap had the most bubbles and the powdered laundry detergent had the least. Surprisingly, though, the powdered laundry detergent had the dirtiest water. We talked about the results and decided that more bubbles doesn't necessarily mean it will make things cleaner. We weren;t sure why the bar soap had the most bubbles, but thought it was interesting that the liquid soap didn't "win" in this experiment. Experiments like this are fun and exciting for young children. Preschoolers learn by doing and hands-on science encourages the children to do several things– observe, ask questions, touch, smell, and experiment. Allowing children to really get into science gives them the chance to make discoveries on their own. They’ll be more likely to remember a learning experience if it’s a real experience.
Critical thinking skills are enhanced during such science activities. Children are able to ask the why, how, and what questions. Even better, they can help answer the questions themselves. They can learn the scientific process along the way! Making Clothes
2/1/2019
Last week the Beginners learned about different parts of clothing, particularly buttons, pockets, collars, zippers and other types of fasteners. This week we talked about different sizes, Small, Medium and Large. We used the story of Goldilocks and The Three Bears to make comparisons and logical conclusions. We also did a math exercise where the Beginners sorted and counted different sized buttons. We then moved on to learning about how clothing is made. We talked about 2 main fabrics- cotton and wool. We looked at pictures of sheep and discussed how the fur is taken off the sheep, sent to a factory, turned into yarn and made into clothes. Some children mentioned that they have seen family members knit or crochet items from yarn. We also looked at pictured of cotton fields and watched a short video of how it goes from the field, to the factory for processing, and then dyed and sewn into clothing. On Friday we tie-dyed our own t-shirts to make into costumes for an upcoming Beginner Production. We also touched on the subject of who wears clothes and how there are some people who may not have, or be able to afford clothes. We will talk more about this next week!
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Annalee JohnsonEK Teacher Archives
January 2021
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