Captain's Log:

Our crew: Seventeen rookie astronauts
Our equipment: One rocketship (upside-down table), spacesuits for each crew member, puppets, camera
Our rations: Food (pretzels, graham crackers), Water
Our mission: Travel around the universe, learn about the infinite darkness above


As you can see from our brainstorm web below, we are already familiar with many space terms and concepts. From meteors to martians, stars to our solar system's eight planets (sorry, Pluto), we have been having great discussions about everything space-related.
We have been noting basic characteristics about the planets, such as size, color, distance from the sun, general temperature, number of moons, and terrestrial planets vs gas giants.

Back on Earth, our lowercase letters have been coming along quite nicely. By now, the children have become more comfortable with proper pencil grip, and have been coming up with some great words that contain the letter sound.

We discuss how some letters make more than one sound, such as 'G.' However, one child was able to suggest a word that has two G's, each making a different sound (juh and guh)....
Give up??......

GARBAGE! (also: gauge, gunge... I think the latter is a British term...)

The class also helped to create a new activity for freeplay: a color-matching game. Using the corks you generously (and merrily) donated, the children painted the bottoms different colors. We can use remaining corks to play other matching games (letters, numbers, shapes, etc), so keep drinking, people!






















Some of the children were making the most delicious pizza during freeplay, and were truly generous in sharing with others. Pepperoni-carrot, anyone?


And lastly, here are some oh-so-precious photos of the children dancing. While we have been working on our dance steps, the children have also been singing along to "What a Wonderful World," by Louis Armstrong, both in dance and music class. They are pretty familiar with the song by now, so if you want to have a sing-along at home, go for it!

Three, two, one....

....and we're back!!!

I'm thrilled to report that everyone came back to school ready for action! Our first week of the New Year has been very exciting, and we are all back in our preschool groove.

Our curriculum is soon heading to the final frontier: OUTER SPACE !! Before the break and even since we have come back, there has been much chatter about the infinite darkness above. There is much to talk about, including astronauts, spaceships, stars, planets, galaxies, asteroids, orbits, eclipses, comets, and even aliens.

With preschoolers, I find it particularly challenging to convey ideas such as size, scale, and perspective with these subjects. To show a child an inflatable model of Earth, telling them that "This is where we live," must be confusing in some way. However, group discussions, exploration, and inquisition hopefully make this clear. Outer space is fascinating, and can be difficult to grasp even as an adult.

We will be taking trips on rocketships (we've already gone to Neptune, and there is even talk about the mysterious 'Planet X'), to explore uncharted territory, so be sure your child comes to school with plenty of oxygen tank reserves.

One activity from before the break involved making marshmallow sculptures with toothpicks. The children had lots of fun with this, and we can revisit this project when we begin talking about stars and constellations.











We've been having all sorts of fun in the classroom this week. During Freeplay, there has been such a great deal of bookmaking that I think we need to create an extension of the library to house the students' work.

Thanks to the freakishly unseasonable weather, we were able to take two trips to Central Park this week, and the children had LOTS of fun with bubbles. Note: making your own bubble solution if far superior to anything you can buy in the store.
Dish soap + water = gigantic bubbles.
We used Palmolive, at about a 1:10 ratio. We were able to make bubbles inside the classroom as well, in the water table, which was a big hit with everybody.


We have been bringing small parts of the gym into the classroom as well, and during extended day (as a trial), we played some parachute games. Here is another important equation, that I'm sure most of you are familiar with:
Children + parachute = guaranteed fun
We also gave the ring toss a try, with surprising success.


Also on Friday, we had some surprise visitors from next door. Dean, Charlie, and Liam came to our class and each read us one of their favorite stories. Sitting for three stories back-to-back can be very trying for the attention span of the average four-year-old, but the children did a FANTASTIC job of listening, and we are all very proud of them for being so polite (and patient).


And here is a picture of our most recent Math workshop, which is as beautiful as it looks. The children really look forward to this, and work very well with Shannon's class.


Finally, we have begun to practice making lowercase letters, which you can see on display around the classroom.

I am on the lookout for a giant box, like a refrigerator box. If anyone has any leads, please let me know!

As always, please feel to contact me with any questions, comments, or concerns about anything Preschool.

It's good to be back!!

"December's Children"

(a note about this website: you can click on any photo to see a larger version)

As usual, we have been very busy in the classroom! Lots to tell:

We have had a healthy dose of special guest readers. We love when parents or family members come in to read stories! Please don't hesitate to mention if you would like to come in to ready a story, or if you have an activity you would like to do (such as pretzel-dipping, below) with the children, as we can easily accommodate your ideas.

Despite the cold weather, some of the children opened up an ice cream shop in the classroom. They used 'insta-snow' from the water table, and offered frozen treats to anyone who came by. Delicious!



We get quite bundled up when we go outside to enjoy the playground. Of course, we only go outside if it's safe for the children. We may not go out for the whole period, or at all, if the weather is inclement. Assume that we will go outside everyday, so your child is prepared!


By special request from the children, Adelaide taught us how to do the limbo, and it was a blast!
We also learned about Parranda, the Puerto Rican holiday tradition that involves waking up your neighbors during the night with lots of festive music! We pretended to be fast asleep, and once our neighbors came by, we partied!


The pyramid, which has begun its 'crumbling' phase, has been enjoyed by every member of the class. The children love playing inside it, and did an incredible job during construction.

















We have also been making many winter decorations for the classroom, including some lovely pine cones and snowflakes, both on display on the windows.


Curriculum-wise, we are moving into a unit on either 'The Body,' or 'Space.' The children have been responsive and interested in both, so stay tuned..!

A Day At The Museum

As you all know, we took our very first field trip on Tuesday. For most of the children, this was not only their first time visiting the Met, but also their first time riding a big yellow school bus. (Note to parents: If you're ever in need of a cheap, exciting activity for your children, just drive through the Park on 86th Street. Simply going through the tunnels was a wonderfully good time for them).

We spent an hour exploring the Egyptian Art wing, which really feels like a museum within a museum. Hieroglyphics, mummies, sarcophagi, crocodiles, pyramids (just one, actually), the Temple of Dendur, and the Tomb of Perneb- it was as if we all stepped into a time machine. (Thanks again to the parents who came along, we couldn't have done it without you). Given our 2:1 child-to-adult ratio, we were able to freely explore the museum, without the stress of moving a large group of children around a 'hands-off' space.























Above: Carrie asks "What's going on with this mummy? It has a hole in the wrapping!" and Rohan demonstrates how he believes the Ancient Egyptians lifted the huge stone blocks, such as the ones in the background, to construct the pyramids.
(Other photos from the museum will be available on Snapfish).

Our Fall Feast last week was also a hit. Again, thanks to everyone who contributed delicious edibles; we were all STUFFED. It was a great opportunity for our class to mix and mingle with Shannon's.


During freeplay, many of us have been enjoying our new 'marble run,' which requires problem-solving skills and fine motor development, and exposes the children to basic physics concepts such as gravity, acceleration, as well as size and shape considerations, in order to build a successful 'path' for the marble. It also requires the ability to share with others, because it has been such a popular activity.










The children have also been baking up a storm in the kitchen. It doesn't matter if it's actually your birthday or not, because our chefs will bake you a birthday cake anyway. Everyone works together during the baking process, and the results are always delicious! I don't care what they say, you can never have too many cooks.


We've been playing some fun games in class as well. During extended day, we had a dress-up relay race (without emphasis on winning or losing), and with the whole class, we played pin-the-nose-on-the-sphinx:




















Adelaide has been teaching us some fantastic dances, and on Thursday we practiced the waltz and the mambo. Let's go to the videotape!

And not only do we have some amazing dancers in our class, but also some highly skilled surgeons! During extended day, we started playing the classic surgical game 'Operation,' which is fantastic for helping develop fine motor skills, especially a steady hand.

After everyone had a chance to remove an item from 'Cavity Sam,' the children suddenly wanted to have a real 'operation!' Aiden was the patient, who was complaining of aches and pains all throughout his body. After some routine examinations, it was decided that we had to open up his head, and that's when our doctors became more like mad scientists. For some reason, the surgeons placed spaghetti in Aiden's skull, and after we stitched him up, we realized that he had turned into a LION! No amount of medicine would sedate this rambunctious feline, and he soon began to run rampantly around the classroom! The surgeons suggested many ways in which to return the lion back to Aiden (air-lifting the patient to another planet to continue the operation, speaking a few magic words, getting the lion to laugh) and eventually, we realized that if we fed the lion "every letter and every number," we would have our friend Aiden back, good as new. Sure enough, after taking a break for snack, the operation concluded successfully. Phew!