Preschool II Newsletter
April 2014
Dear Families,
Thank you to all of our guest readers who read in our classroom throughout
March. We enjoy having guest readers and always have an open invitation for
families to share stories in our classroom.
Children continue to explore the
new spaces, such as the larger
and combined block and
dramatic play area, in the
classroom. Our goal in making
these environmental changes is
to support collaborative play in
these spaces. Children are
building intricate block structures
with one or two of their peers.
They are able to save this work
and return later to add materials
or re-create their structures.
As the warmer weather is approaching we are thinking about our outdoor
learning spaces. We are asking for school-wide donations of pots, pans and
kitchen utensils. Our thoughts are that these can be hung on the posts of the
tree house for experimenting with sound and music. Also, we are asking for
donations of natural materials (native to NH) such as shells, stones, and pine
cones to use as loose parts for investigations. Thank you in advance for your
help with this request.
Curriculum
Student Investigations~ Carly and Callie continue to work on their investigations
with children. Carly is investigating coloring mixing and Callie is working on
representing photos of buildings with various mediums.
Carly~ The question guiding the investigation is, “How can making predictions
help children develop hypotheses and theories, which then creates a better
understanding of information?”
In Preschool 2 we are working on color mixing! We first began mixing the three
primary colors. When the children first experimented with these colors they
discovered that they could make orange, green, and purple. After the children
were introduced to color mixing I asked them to make predictions before they
mixed two colors. When students make predictions it activates students' prior
knowledge and helps them make connections between new information and
what they already know. When this information was new some students were
unsure or forgot how they had previously made a secondary color. Most of the
responses I received were, “Maybe orange?” After making their predictions,
students were able to go back and refine, revise, and verify their predictions. As
we continued mixing primary colors, the children’s predictions became more
developed. They were able to recall what they had done in the past. Answers
were stated as, “I know how to make green. I remember last time I made green
I mixed blue and yellow”. We are now experimenting with black and white,
creating tints and shades.
Callie~ Hello families! My
name is Callie Harbert and I
am currently an intern in the
Preschool II classroom. After
being in the classroom for a
few weeks, it became
apparent to me that many
of the children are
interested in creating and
building different types of
structures. Over the past few
weeks the children and I have been working on activities that center around the
idea of representing their knowledge of buildings using different materials. As a
class, the children brainstormed a list of all the types of buildings that they know.
In small groups we then worked on finding images of these types of buildings on
the Internet. The children printed these images to use as a resource. We are
currently working on representing buildings by creating the structures using small
blocks. The children have been using the images they found on the Internet as a
reference tool to help them create their building. Next, the children will be doing
representational drawings of the buildings they created with the small blocks as
another way to demonstrate their ideas and knowledge of buildings.
Collage ~The author visit in March inspired children’s curiosity about the medium
of collage. We are reading Eric Carle’s books, such as Brown Bear, Brown Bear,
What Do You See?, specifically talking about the materials we think Carle used
to create his illustrations. The children thought he used paper, glue, and paint.
Teachers set-up an environment at Message Center to support the exploration
of collage including strips of paper that children have painted, glue, tape, and
scissors. We photocopied pages from Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You
See? and displayed them at Message Center. Children have been using them
as a reference as well as inspiration. Elyse said, “I don’t have to make a fish. I
can make anything I want. Maybe a whale!” Children are labeling their
collage work and displaying it at Message Center.
A Collaboration with Preschool 1~ Our
neighbors are also exploring color mixing and
collage work, specifically learning about the
color wheel. We saw this work as an
opportunity to promote collaboration and
peer modeling between the two classrooms.
Both classrooms came together during a
morning meeting to share their knowledge
about color mixing. The Preschool 1 children
talked about their knowledge of the color
wheel such as explaining how to make
secondary colors with primary colors. We
used the color wheel Preschool 1 created as
a visual reference. Preschool 2 children
began to talk about the connections in
knowledge between the two groups of
children. Next, children decided which colors
they would make together and formed
purple, orange, and green committees. Children spent time in both classrooms
exploring their committee’s color with their mixed-classroom group. Teachers
carefully documented the children’s ideas about the process and the colors
they made. For example, a child named his shade of orange “fire orange.”
Throughout the coming month children will continue to re-visit color mixing in
groups and will eventually, circling back to their work with paper at Message
Center, use their work to create collages.
Ramps~ Children continue to be interested in creating long ramps and tunnels
that stretch across the rug. We decided to move this work to the large room to
support children’s ideas about long ramps with turns. Small groups of children
are now spending some of center time creating these ramps in the large room
using new materials including foam half-pipes and curved PVC pipes. They
continue to test their work using a variety of things that roll. Teachers noticed
that children were creating ramps that reached a target such as a basket or hit
a particular block. At meeting we introduced a new provocation of a target
landing zone or to knock over an object.
Children continue to use their knowledge about ramps in understanding how
materials move. Problem solving using materials such as marble mazes helps
children test out their theories and then apply these theories to using a variety of
materials.
Camping and the Store~ While pretending to camp one day, a child said, “I
think we need to make the top of the climber into a store.” Children began to
talk about how they would need a store to buy supplies for camping. A small
group of children met to brainstorm ideas about what the store would look like.
To support all children’s ways of learning some children talked, some children
wrote, and some children did both.
A child draws and says: We could use the big blocks to build more
shelves.
Parker: Food! Applesauce and yogurt. And there’s drinks. They’re kind of
like yogurt. They’re smoothies!
Jamie: How can we put these things in our store?
Parker: We could buy it. We could try to find it.
A child: We could eat it and use it.
Based on their ideas children added blocks to create shelves on the top of the
climber. They decided the oven would be a place to buy the groceries. They
placed plastic food and recycled items saved from lunch on the store shelves.
The children also added canvas shopping bags to gather their food to bring on
a camping trip. After a few days of playing in the space, the whole group
brainstormed ideas about what would be in a store. The children decided they
needed a cash register and money. A group of children began working on
making a cash register with a screen and a scanner using recycled materials
from the Art Room. At large group Riley also shared his ideas about money. He
said, “It has our first president on it.” Children used the iPad to research what a
dollar bills looks like. They gathered green markers, paper, tape, and playing
cards to create green money that was rectangular shaped with George
Washington’s face on it.
Drumming~ Thank you for your donations of
recycled cans to create drums! Children
have finished creating their drums using the
containers and packaging tape. Our
classroom is filled with the rhythmic sounds of
drums and singing. We will use these drums
during the Week of the Young Child events
as well as throughout the day in our
classroom.
Birthdays
Happy birthday to Arwa who turned 5 on April, 1!
Upcoming Events
We will celebrate the Week of the Young Child from Monday, April 7 through
Friday, April 11. The following is list of events during this week.
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Tuesday, April 8 at 10:30: Community Sing on the Murkland Courtyard (in
front of the library). We will be taking the shuttle to the T-Hall stop and
walking to the Courtyard. Please join us if you can.
Friday, April 11 from 8:00 – 9:00: Center-wide coffee hour
All week: Scholastic book fair in the studio. Please see Alice in the office, if
you would like to volunteer to help with the book fair during a time slot.
Spring Parent Conferences will be on Thursday, April 30 and Friday, May 1.
Please sign-up for a half hour time slot. The sign-up sheet is hanging on our
classroom door.