Happy Friday! Don't forget that we do not have school on Monday. Have a happy and safe Labor Day weekend!
We had a great day in school! Look at what we did today!
We sorted the counting bears and tried to make them equal in the balance. We are working on foundational math skills!
Today we again made roads for the cars using the blocks. We also made tunnels for the cars, and buildings for the cars to drive around! As I have said before, children learn through their play. It is important that children have time to play freely because it is through play that children make sense of the world. Through play, children also develop social skills and problem solving skills. Furthermore, children develop the critical thinking skills necessary to ask questions and figure out how things work.
Block play allows children to learn concepts including sizes, shapes,
numbers, order, area, length, patterns, and weight as they select, build with, and put away blocks.
Megan was excited to show her mom how she can use the scissors! Using scissors takes fine motor strength and control.
Joey and Andrew wanted to use scissors too!
Our friends are learning to take care of our classroom independently! They are learning responsibility and how to take initiative!
Jacob made a map for his road made with blocks. As children become invested in their play, opportunities for further learning become available such as Jacob's idea of making a map for his road. This is also a great time for teachers/adults to extend the play into further learning. Jacob not only created an accurate representation that others can understand, but he also exercised his fine motor skills, and practiced writing and sounding out words as we titled his map.
Hunter also worked hard to create a map! We will have to investigate maps further during our Car Project!
We love the play dough and the exercise it provides for our fine motor skills!
We went outside for a short period today.
While we were outside, Andrew taught us how to play freeze tag.
Even Mrs. Douglas joined in the fun!
We then went to the front of the Sonshine Center and reviewed creation as we used bottles filled with water to squirt different things that God made!
The friends were hot, and asked to be squirted too! Since they are also God's beautiful creation, we allowed them to be squirted. :)
Because we have been so interested in building roads for cars, we decided that we should learn all about cars! Over the next few weeks, we will use The Project Approach, as inspired by Reggio Emilia, to learn about cars. The Project Approach is an in-depth, interdisciplinary, investigation of a particular topic of interest to the children. To learn more about the Project Approach, click HERE.
When we came inside, we talked about our experiences with cars. During the first part of a Project, teachers gather student's prior knowledge and experiences with an area of study to engage children and to help develop questions which will guide the Project.
We then created more roads for the cars!
During Jesus time we reviewed what God made as we read this book!
Have a happy and safe Labor Day!
