Giants, Hillary Win Big, Preschool Still The Best

Radha came to class on Friday to teach us about India. This was a wonderfully interactive experience, and each child was able to dress up in traditional Indian clothing while listening to Indian music. Bindis were available for anyone (boys, too) who wished to wear one.

The children love learning about new places and cultures. Feel free to come in and talk to the class about your family's heritage, and let me know if you need some ideas about what to do. Stories, cooking, pictures, and clothing are all great ways to show what it's like to live in another part of the world.

We had another special guest this week, when Amy came in to read the Icious Chronicles: Purplicious and Pinkalicious. These stories raised some great topics, including a discussion about debunking the idea of 'girl colors' and 'boy colors.' I was thrilled that many of the children were aware that anyone can choose to like any color.

The children have been busy making many space drawings, including some wonderful astronauts. They are on display above the block area.














Valentine's Day is coming up, and we will be having a celebration of love. During the week, the children will be able to decorate their mailboxes (please bring in a shoe or tissue box) and can distribute valentines to their friends.

Also, I hope to take the class to the Museum of Natural History during the week of the 25th. The museum has some fantastic exhibits about the universe, and I know that everyone will enjoy the experience. I will keep you posted on a specific date.

And finally, what fruit is more appropriate to enjoy during an outer space unit than.... starfruit? Also called a carambola, this tart, slightly sweet, slightly sour, juicy and crunchy fruit was enjoyed by nearly every child in the room, including the converted naysayers who declare that they don't like it before even trying it. Success!

Do You Realize?? We're Floating In Space

Let me just begin by saying... it thrills me how everyone has been absorbing all this information about outer space, like a sponge in the sea. I've heard several comments from parents about how much their child is talking about the universe at home, even citing facts regarding how it can be day in one part of the world and night in another, or simply mind-blowing ideas like, "Did you know that the Earth is moving RIGHT NOW? but we can't feel it??" (This is for the same reason why in an airplane, we do not feel like we are moving as fast as we actually are).

One of the most valuable classroom resources for learning about outer space has been books. We have some terrific books that are filled with beautiful pictures and lots of information, and the children have been spending a great deal of time looking through them. What could be better?














Everyone also thinks it's SO COOL that the inflatable Earth is now hanging from the ceiling, so we've begun a project to hang other heavenly bodies around the classroom. Last week, we began work on creating the sun. After looking at several pictures of the sun (and noting that it is super dangerous to look directly at it), we were able to decide on the colors of the materials to use for our own. The children used paint as well as a variety of collage materials to make two, and we will put them together with stuffing in the middle (newspaper probably) and then hang it up. We can repeat this with planets, at the children's discretion. I'm pretty sure they will want to make Jupiter and Saturn, two of their favorites.


Some Sun facts we have discussed:
The Sun is a star, and stars are balls of really hot gas. Some stars are really big, some are really small; the Sun is average-sized. The hottest stars are blue, the 'coolest' are red, and yellow stars are in between. How hot a star is also determines its size (hotter = bigger). Everything in our solar system goes in circles (orbits) around the sun. Earth is the perfect distance ('just right,' like Goldilocks) from the Sun to allow life to survive. The Sun gives us light and heat. Nearly everything on the planet needs sunlight to live. When a star 'dies,' or can no longer give off heat and light, it explodes.

Sometimes this forms a black hole, but we haven't talked about that yet because, frankly, it's incredibly difficult to even comprehend that such a 'thing' exists out there. AAAH!!!

Many of the children enjoyed making moons out of our modeling clay. This happened after one child made a moon, complete with craters, without guidance from a teacher. The clay was out during freeplay, and the children could make whatever they desired, and it's just the bee's knees that this happened so purely. A similar thing happened when one child brought in a homemade telescope, fashioned from paper towel tubes. Emergent curriculum in action! These two activities were created by the children, literally. It gives me that warm fuzzy feeling inside.








The children's clay/space creations are on display above the writing center. Check them out!

We conducted a sometimes-successful experiment involving balloons, string, and straws, demonstrating how jet propulsion helps space shuttles (and airplanes) move so quickly. Below is a video illustrating one of the better trials.




And of course, the space ship has been getting a significant amount of use. Maintenance is required (duct tape = crucial), but this has been great training for the children who are future astronauts. When these children are grown up, I wonder what sorts of new knowledge we will have about space, because there is still so much we do not know. There are usually articles in the Science sections about new space discoveries, and there is almost always a high-tech satellite sending back photos of a planet or a moon, and this is where the internet rules, because you can see these photos as they come back. The internet is full of beautifully-detailed, high-resolution pictures from space that are worth checking out with your children.

I read one article this week about NASA's plans to beam The Beatles' "Across the Universe" directly into outer space. This is the first song to have this honor, and will celebrate 50 years of NASA and the 40th anniversary of the song's recording. It is being aimed at Polaris, the north star, some 430 light years away. For the record, that's 2,527,808,910,468,951 miles (4,068,114,103,209,744 kM) away. Uhh... what comes after trillions??

Is this government money well spent? Probably not. On a related note, about a decade ago, NASA sent some ladybugs into space to study how they behave in zero-gravity, and named four of them John, Paul, George, and Ringo.

But not all news stories about space involve The Beatles. Currently, the Mercury Messenger is taking photos of the planet Mercury, including sides of the planet previously unseen. The photographs are brilliant. Also, this Thursday, the space shuttle Atlantis will head up to the International Space Station to deliver supplies.

Go to http://news.bbc.co.uk in the Science/Nature section for some wonderful space articles, or also check out the NASA website.

That's all for now. Long post. Enjoy!

Preschool Prepares to BLAST OFF

Our space technicians have been a truly dedicated crew, making sure our space shuttle is fully prepared for its inaugural launch next week. Work on the shuttle has been a genuine team effort, and everyone has been able to contribute in some way. Paint, glue, construction paper, crayons, markers, toilet paper tubes, plastic containers, three kinds of adhesive tape; all are essential to the performance of the children's work. Below are several photos, as well as a movie, showing how involved the children are with this project. It's wonderful!



















On Friday, the children excitedly assembled telescopes, a useful tool to gaze at the infinite heavens above. It can be hard to see much in the night sky in this city, but the moon is usually visible. Next time you're out with your child, take a look up and see what's there. I won't ever forget looking through a telescope when I was younger, in Florida, and actually seeing Saturn and its rings, would you believe it? It was truly a humbling and perspective-changing experience.









On display in the classroom are beautiful outer space scratch art drawings made by the children. They include imaginative descriptions involving many different planets, space ships, stars, aliens, and even the mysterious 'Planet X.'











Jessie, our new music teacher, sang a wonderful song with us about stars (video posted below). Her classes are very interactive, and every child is given multiple chances to offer their own approach to an activity.


Thanks to everyone who participated in the pot luck dinner. It was a lot of fun, and there was so much delicious food! Remember, the school auction is approaching (February 11), so be sure to come out and support Columbus Preschool.

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!!