Sand Table, a chance for cooperative play!

Children listened to the story "Footprints in the Snow" and recalled facts they learned from the story about how animals live outside in the cold.  We learned that squirrels have nests in trees, that bears sleep in dens, and that foxes and rabbits sleep underground in burrows.  Looking at the illustrations gave us lots of information.  Many children pulled in their prior knowledge about Connecticut wildlife to add to our "KNOW" chart, part of the shared writing project.
Here, children are playing with our tree blocks and play animals in the Dramatic Play Center.  There are also puppets of forest creatures.  We will be creating an animal feeding station as part of our "informed action."

Sorting in our Classroom, by color or shape.

Children are given a sorting tray to assist them in organizing their items to sort.

Performance Standard Cognitive 3: Sorts Objects

Consider sorting activities that meld into your day at home.  Children can sort silverware, buttons, toys, clothing articles and other artifacts in their daily environment.  You can prompt with "What do you notice?"  "How are these things the same?"  "How are they different?"

Performance Standard Creative Expression 1 "Builds and constructs to represent own ideas."

Children's play is more than play.  Here a child has created a construction to represent his own ideas.  This was part of a train, complete with multiple cars and drivers.  Teacher observation of this type of building is used to assess skills as part of the Preschool Assessment Framework.

Snow was brought inside for some cold fun. 

Creating winter trees as part of our "Seasons" project.  Students have created a Summer tree, Fall tree and now a Winter tree and when compiled with our Spring tree, we'll have a personal representation of our wonderful seasonal changes here in Connecticut.

Creative Expression 1 , building and creating after perusing a book of the World's Wonders such as the Taj Mahal.

ANIMAL SURVIVAL-HOW DO ANIMALS SURVIVE IN WINTER?

Animal puppets and a "cave" help children familiarize themselves with local fauna.  We will be learning about animal adaptation, migration and hibernation. 

We've finished with our Grocery Store unit, now on to Animal Survival.

Outdoor recess this afternoon, Monday, January 25.

2016 Peace Bells

We have created a stunning display of Peace Bells to add to our classroom community of Peace, Love and Happiness.

Painting the "beads".

Stringing the beads and the bells.

Friends made a stand with modeling clay to hold the beads for drying.  Tricky work!

Scientific Inquiry using a Terrarium-getting ready for our Animals in Winter unit.

Two students looking at our terrarium.  In the foreground is the chunk of ice we found and decided to keep in the room as a pet.  The next day it was gone, and there was just sandy water left in the dish.  What happened?

Building with wooden blocks and boxes.

Pajama day and getting comfy and cozy for Instructional Circle Time!

PLEASE REMEMBER WE GO OUTSIDE FOR RECESS ON DAYS WITHOUT SPECIALS, SO WINTER CLOTHING IS ESSENTIAL!

Building with objects found at the Grocery Store.

Performance Standard Creative Expression 1: Builds and constructs to represent own ideas.  Friends building with wooden blocks and containers from the grocery store.  Environmental print and creative expression, two for one objectives!

Independence

We finally saw some snow, it was very exciting...

Physical Performance Standard 1: Uses coordinated large-muscle movements.  

Grocery Store Dramatic Play-Reading, Writing, Arithmetic and FUN!

Instructional Centers

Children participate in instructional centers 3-4 days per week.  These centers are typically supported by a teacher or by a clinical specialist such as a Speech/Language Pathologist, Occupational Therapist or by one of the paraprofessionals in the classroom.  Learning by doing!

Our Second Steps Socio-Emotional curriculum is a great way to build upon the concepts of Peace, Love and Happiness and how we can make that happen in our classroom.  Your children will be finishing PEACE bells shortly.