First Week 2014

Dear parents,
We had a great first week! What great kids you all have! Students are learning the class routine and becoming more independent already. After reviewing the preschool registration forms to identify your children's current interests, I noticed that three students love to dig. So, during outside time this week, I provided shovels and invited students to dig in the garden. What did they find? Worms, of course!

The following school day we read two books about worms. The first was a storybook about worms (Superworm by Julia Donaldson). The second was an information book about worms (Wonderful Worms by Linda Glaser). We are learning that we can read for enjoyment, or we can read to get information. Children are learning where they can go to find story books AND information books in our school library.

After reading about worms, each child was invited to tell me something they learned from our information book. I recorded their responses. Samples are below. I loved the student drawings of themselves digging in the garden!

We also had our first art lesson on how to use a paint brush. We practiced keeping the brush hairs straight and strong. We experimented with using different sizes of brushes (small, medium, and large) to paint brown worms. 

Students have already started to bring "science" to school. We got to observe a dead dragonfly and a jar full of slugs and pill bugs. Super cool!

The students really enjoyed playing with their new friends during choice time. Here are a few photos.

A highlight for me was when two students learned to solve a problem like friends. They both wanted to put the lid on the bug jar after finding all the pretend bugs in the drama play center. (They were both upset. One was running away from the other, clinging to the jar.)

Teacher: Whoa! It looks like we have two boys that both want to put the lid on the jar. Is that right?
Boys: (One shakes his head, yes. The other boy has his arms folded with an upset face.)
Teacher: Hmmm...what could we do to solve this problem?
Boy: We could share!
Teacher: What would sharing look like here?
Boy: We could both put the lid on!
(The boys each use a hand and screw on the lid together. Smiles return to their faces.)
Teacher: You solved the problem! Sharing is a good strategy, isn't it? Good idea!

These kinds of problems arise frequently in preschool. I am always thrilled when two students work together to solve their own problem. It builds their confidence and strengthens their relationship. We learned a song about friends this week to the tune of "Are You Sleeping?".

Friends are special. (Friends are special.)
Make a few. (Make a few.)
Smile and say, "How are you?" (Smile and say, "How are you?")
I like you! (I like you!)

When we treat others as special, we show we care. We show respect. At school we are learning to be good friends. Good friends share and help each other. We are all friends at school. Thanks for reading! See you next week!
Best,
Teacher April

Highlights May 2014

When we went on our field trip to see the beekeeper (last week of April), the children were initially curious about how bees make honey. But when Mr. Shelton showed them a hive that had died over winter, the image of all those dead bees made a strong impression. Almost all of the children wrote something about the dead bees in their science journals. 

I decided to help the children extend their thinking about the dead bees by showing them a video clip of a scientist who studies bees. We learned that bees are actually disappearing. The scientist (Marla Spivak) further explained that every winter, one in three hives perish. (Mr. Shelton's bees weren't the only bees that died last winter!) Moreover, the number of bee colonies alive today is half  the number of bees that were alive when our grandparents were born. What is killing the bees? Why are the bees disappearing? 

We learned from this expert scientist that bees were dying due to a combination of disease, pesticides, and lack of food (i.e., not enough flowers). We learned that if bees keep dying at this rate, we could lose 1/3 of our food supply! (We had already learned last month about pollination, and the valuable pollination service bees provide for plants.) We identified this as a big problem, and wanted to be part of the solution.

We noticed that in the school yard all the tulips and daffodils had finished their life cycle. There were no more flowers for bees to eat and pollinate! We needed to plant more flowers. And plant a variety of flowers that would bloom through the entire season. So that is what we did. 

Each child planted a mix of wildflowers, prepared especially for bees. This box of flowers was taken home to help feed the bees. It was a great way to bring closure to our springtime investigation of bees and flowers. 

Knowing that our end-of-year picnic was coming up soon, I asked the children if they would like to share what they had learned about bees with their parents. How could we share what we had learned? One boy suggested we act out the story of the bees. Another girl suggested we do a bee dance for our parents. I said, "What if we do both?" Could we act out the bee story as a dance? Could we tell the story of the bees without using words? The kids were up for the challenge!

Ever since last month when we learned that bees do a waggle dance to help their hive mates find flowers, the kids have been dancing! It was their favorite thing to do during outside time (see video above). We didn't have much time left in the school year to plan a dance. But I knew this was important to the kids, and we had to do it. 

First, I asked the children what ideas would be most important to share. This was the list they came up with. Second, we had to choose the music we would dance to. We began learning about different kinds of musical instruments. 

I filled the classroom library with books about music, dance, and instruments. With the help of a CD-ROM included in the book below, we began listening to music clips of different instruments.

During circle time, we played a listening game. We closed our eyes and tried to guess which instrument we were hearing. We also discussed what the music inspired us to think about, the images we saw and the feelings the music communicated. We observed that different kinds of instruments can communicate different ideas and feelings. We needed to choose the music for our dance carefully, because music can help us tell our story! 

The following school day, I suggested a musical instrument that could represent each part of our story. We practiced dancing to each clip of music. We moved our bodies like birds in spring (violin), like flowers swaying in the breeze (harp), like bees who were busy pollinating (flute), like wasps who were attacking a hive (drum), like farmers working in the fields (piano), like a germ infecting the bees (bassoon), like a sick and dying bee (trumpet), like a scientist studying the bees (oboe), like sad shoppers at an empty grocery store (viola), and like people planting flowers together (cello) in a final effort to save the bees.

Unfortunately, the last day of school before the picnic I got sick with a fever. So we didn't get to do a dress rehearsal. And I didn't get to document our dance with photos or video. But, Teacher Merritt stepped in to substitute. And among other things, he taught the kids how to play kick ball (which they loved).

So although the dance wasn't quite as polished on the day of the picnic as I would have liked (and some scenery created by the children would have been nice), I think the kids had a great time performing for their parents. I hope they remember how good they felt when they shared this important message about the bees. The act of sharing learning always deepens learning, and makes it stick.  

Thank you, parents, for being a great audience at the picnic. And I hope you enjoyed celebrating the accomplishments of your children this year. I loved reading their reflections about the school year. It was amazing how much they remembered about what they had learned. And several children commented on social skills learned and the friendships they had made. That was so great.

Thank you, parents, for all your support and volunteer work throughout the school year. It really has been magical. I love your kids. I wish them the best. I know they have a love for learning, and I am proud of the skills they have developed that will help them direct their own learning. They are great thinkers! I look forward to hearing about their many future successes.

Much love,

Teacher April

P.S. I will leave you with some final photos of your kids playing together during choice time. Enjoy!

 Building a zoo with wooden blocks and Schleich animals.

Playing with camping props provided in the dramatic play area (tents, sleeping bags, a fire pit, binoculars, flashlights, camping food and backpacks).

 Cooking breakfast, and roasting marshmallows and hot dogs over the fire.

 Gone fishing, using the sleeping bags as a fishing pond.

 Sitting inside the tent, taking turns telling stories to each other around the camp fire.

Exploring, looking for bears, wolves, and other wildlife. (So cute. I love these kids and their drama play.)

 Working with dough to create a starry night sky, or sculpt birds with colorful feathers.

Our shelf work is still popular with this crowd. Here students have brought their work up to the library, a space designated for this kind of focused work.

Montessori three-part cards were popular this month. Here, students practice reading and writing while learning the anatomy of birds and insects. A student reads a word card and matches it to the correct picture (a body part). 

Students also used these cards to make their own book about bird or insect anatomy, writing the words and coloring the corresponding body parts on the drawings.

A "bird basket" had binoculars and photo cards for students who wanted to go birding in the backyard. They could try to identify the birds they saw outside (or the stuffed birds in the basket), and listen to a variety of bird songs on the computer. 

We never did get eggs in that nest of ours. We think some magpies discovered the nest and scared the robins away. Too bad.

We had a dinosaur dig in the sand and water table.

The kids played kick ball with Teacher Merritt. He taught them how to run the bases, kick the ball, and tag a runner out. Good times!

Finally, I put jump ropes outside this month. But as you can see below, the ropes quickly turned into a spider web. This play was very engaging, resulting in several different webs built over the course of a few weeks. The boys tested the strength of each web by sitting on it. Here is the entire knot-tying crew.

Finally, I have cute photos of each child jumping rope. (We took these photos for our alphabet book: J is for jump.) Have a great summer, class of 2014! I will remember you!

Highlights April 2014

We began this month with a nature walk, looking for signs of spring. We found colorful flowers and looked carefully inside each one to find its precious pollen.

We found blossoms growing on the trees. The children were particularly excited about this magnolia tree, which they believed was a banana tree. (The blossoms did have the same shape as a banana!)

We found dandelions in the grass, ants on the sidewalk, birds chirping, and bees moving from flower to flower.

We walked by a tree with so many bees that we could hear a buzzing sound when we listened carefully. 

We wondered what the bees were doing in the flowers on that tree! Were the bees eating the flowers? Were they eating the pollen? We were curious.

The children began bringing different kinds of flowers for science share-and-learn. Here a student shows a beautiful lily to each of his friends.We added questions to our question board: What are the things inside the flower? and how does pollen stick to them? We decided to dissect different kinds of flowers and see what we could discover.

 We compared a daffodil, lily, dandelion, and purple tulip. We sorted the parts of each flower to make a group of stems, leaves, and petals. Then we put the "pollen-makers" from each flower in a muffin tin.

 We made two interesting discoveries. First, we observed that the stems felt wet inside.

Second, when we cut the flowers in half lengthwise, we discovered seeds in the daffodil!

We recorded our observations and questions in our science journals: How does water go up in the stem? How do flowers make seeds? How does such a small seed grow into a big flower? Why did we find seeds in the daffodil but not in the lily or the tulip? Great questions!

The next school day we discussed flower stems. A student hypothesized that stems have tiny tubes in them and water goes up the tubes into the flower.

We tested this idea by placing white carnations in jars full of colored water. The children predicted that the flowers would change color. And their hypothesis was correct!

One student wanted to look for seeds in the carnations. He was curious to see if you put the seeds in the colored water, would the seeds grow into colored flowers or white flowers. Again, what a great question! I am so proud of the thinking that goes on this classroom. This kid is ready to learn about DNA and heritable traits!

We planted pea seeds in the garden early this month. We talked about what seeds need to grow.

We learned a song about photosynthesis, i.e., how plants make their own food. Photosynthesis is a plant's creature power! Plants can make their own food (sugar!) using just water, air, and energy from the sun!

Speaking of peas, it hasn't rained much this month. We've been watching for clouds and we've seen a few. But we decided to help the process along.

The children used pipettes to move water and make puddles on the cement. We traced the puddles with sidewalk chalk then waited for them to evaporate.

When we came back about 15 minutes later, we were surprised to discover just how fast our puddles had evaporated. We made clouds!

The children were mixing rainbow colors in the sensory table outdoors that day. I later discovered these two boys watching a container full of brown water.

After mixing all the colored water together to make brown, they wanted to watch it evaporate. They were curious to see if it would make a brown cloud! (I just love teaching preschool.)

Ever since our nature walk, the children have been excited every time they see a bee in the school yard. We count how many bees we see each day. Questions surfaced about the differences between a bee, a wasp, and a hornet. We had some information books in our library about insects, so we did some research to find out more.

We learned that bees are hairy and eat flowers (nectar and pollen). They turn the nectar into honey by fanning it with their wings to evaporate the water. Wasps are not hairy and they don't make honey. Instead, wasps eat other insects, including bees!

Shortly after this discussion, a student found a wasp nest in his barbecue and brought it to school for "science". His question was: How do wasps make their nest? And how do bees make their hive? Students were also curious about how bees make honey. So we planned a class field trip to see our neighborhood beekeeper, Mr. Shelton.

He had several white boxes full of honey combs. He showed us the honeycombs and explained they were made of wax. Bees squirt wax from their abdomen (stomach) and use their bodies to shape the wax into hexagons.

The wax felt different than the papery wasp nest. Mr. Shelton also showed us lots of dead bees in an old hive.

He thinks the bees died because he harvested too much of the bees' honey last fall. The bees didn't have enough honey to eat over winter. He said he was sad about his dead bees.

 He showed us the special clothing he sometimes wears to protect his body when he cares for the bees. But he said he doesn't usually wear it because honey bees don't usually sting. He can walk right up to the hive and feel safe, even without the special clothing.

 The kids were a little weary at first. They hung back from the active hive. But Mr. Shelton assured them they didn't need to be afraid.

 Soon most students were feeling brave enough to get close to the hive. Bees were swarming all around them, but not stinging them. It was amazing!

They watched closely as bees went in and out of the hive. They could see that bees entering the hive had pollen all over their bodies. Mr. Shelton told us that bees are very helpful because they move pollen from one flower to another as they gather nectar. Moving pollen helps flowers make new seeds.

Just before we left a spontaneous game of bee tag broke out in Mr. Shelton's backyard. The children ran fast to avoid being stung by "the bee".

Mr. Shelton gave us a jar of honey to take back with us. We made cracker and honey sandwiches for a snack. All the children loved them! They wanted to take the honey home. Too bad we didn't have ten jars of honey, one for each of them!

 Mr. Shelton agreed to let us take some of the dead bees from his old hive. We gathered some in a plastic jar. Then came back to school to examine the bees closely with magnifying glasses and record observations in our science journals.

 This boy discovered hair on the honey bee and is gently running his finger over the bee hair. He recalled that hair is something different about bees and wasps. Wasps don't have hair. Bees do.

Here are the questions that emerged after our field trip today. How do bees pollinate? How does pollen turn into flower seeds? How do bees make wax to put their honey in? Why do bees have hair? Why does it hurt when you get stung by a bee?

The next school day we read a book about honey bees (called The Flight of the Honey Bee). We learned that bees have hair to attract pollen to their body (via static electricity).We also learned that bees returning to the hive do a waggle dance that tells the other bees where to go to find flowers.

We listened to a piece of classical music (called Flight of the Bumble Bee). Students were then invited to perform their own version of a waggle dance. One student performed at a time, while the others practiced being a respectful audience.

This was so much fun that students asked to do it again. The second time, I provided instruments, ribbon sticks, and antennae headbands. (Honey bees use their antennae to smell and locate flowers.) We danced outside because it was a beautiful day.

We also painted flight patterns to the bee music and did some focused listening to identify the different instruments used by the orchestra. The musicians really did make their instruments sound like a buzzing bee flying from flower to flower!

We used chalk on black paper. Chalk was a new medium for us. It was fun to see the children's different interpretations of the music.

In the building center, a student created a bee digestive system. Bees have two stomachs, one for digesting food and one for storing nectar during flight. He's about to demonstrate how a piece of play food travels through the bee stomach. So cool.

This math lesson was inspired by the children's current interest in bees. Here students use algebraic thinking to solve for how many bees are hiding in a hive, since the total number of bees (5) is known. That is, they complete the math sentence 5 = ? + 3, where ? is the number of bees hiding in the hive. Students built the equation with manipulatives, then recorded the solved equation on paper.

Later this month we worked on decomposing numbers up to 5, using both addition and subtraction. This is the hardest math we will do this year. Students don't have to master it, just be introduced to it in preparation for kindergarten. We also acted out our bee math using a bee song and a parachute for a beehive. Good times!

The literacy skill we focused on this month was reading words. Almost all of the students know their letters and sounds now. The next step is to put those sounds together to actually read words!

Here a student matches photos to words. She can build the words using the movable alphabet or record the words on paper to make a list she can take home.

We have five reading boxes total, one box for each vowel. For example, the pink reading box contains words built with vowel "a", including jam, gas, cat, van, etc. The goal is for students to complete all the reading box activities over time.

Some students made a book describing the parts of a flower, or learned to identify different kinds of flowers.

Other Montessori-inspired works were completed as well, such as using a prism to draw a rainbow, weaving a rainbow from ribbon, and building a rainbow by ordering graded color tablets (by shade from dark to light).

An insect transfer work using tweezers built hand muscles used for writing.

And here students exercise their problem-solving skills to solve a 3D puzzle. That is, they are building a toy car from small parts using a screwdriver and wrench.

We continue to receive postcards from around the world. We recently received a postcard from Germany with a photo of the Neuschwanstein castle. So castle blocks were in the building center, along with knights, dragons, and an information book about castles.

 Last but not least, we celebrated Easter with eggs in the sensory table, Easter egg art, and an egg hunt.

 Here students search for alphabet letters on each egg, matching them to letters in the egg carton.

 Or, sort uppercase and lowercase alphabet letters into different baskets.

 We colored Easter eggs using oil pastels (a cousin to the crayon). Oil pastels can be used to blend and layer colors. The tape-resist added some dimension to the Easter eggs.

 Here are the before and after pictures. Tape was removed. Eggs were cut out (by me since we ran out of time) then glued to yellow paper.

The kids were really excited about our egg hunt. Teacher Merritt hid some of the eggs in difficult places.

 Here a boy uses a stick to reach an egg hiding in the branches of a tall tree.

Last week we discovered a bird nest in this same tree. We are all so excited about it. We wonder what kind of bird built this nest. There are no eggs in it yet. We are watching and waiting to see what happens! 

How do birds build such amazing structures? We may have to try to build a nest of our own to experience just how difficult it really is. What an incredible creature power birds have! Happy Spring!