Some of the friends started creating first thing this morning. Creating in the writing center is an opportunity to increase fine motor skills and engage in creative thinking. Furthermore, creating in this way also lends itself to practice writing letters and letter/sound correlation.
Our friends love to create together in the blocks! They are learning foundational math skills as well as developing important social skills.
Although the friends aren't able to read the words just yet, they are learning valuable concepts of print. Concepts of print are important pre-reading skills.
Some of the friends must have been cold this morning! They built a fire in the castle to stay warm.
We had a lot of fun playing with squeaky puppets in the commons!
We decided to have a tournament to help celebrate all that we have learned about Castles. Together we reviewed/added to the list of items that we need for the tournament that we started yesterday. The children helped me sound out the words to write. We also discussed how we were going to make the items on the list.
During small group time, we did an observational drawing of a tournament. Observational drawings help to increase fine motor skills as well as practice creating a representation of a scene or event.
We also painted! We will use these paintings to make torches for our tournament. (Torches are one thing the children listed on the items needed for the tournament.)
We then webbed all that we have learned about castles. We have learned so much! We will compare this web with our web at the beginning of the project to show how much we have learned. This provides an informal assessment of the project. While the children waited for their turn, they played in the small castles. :)
During second free choice, some of the friends wanted to build New York City. They began the creation. I asked if they wanted to see a picture of New York City to help them as they create. We looked up pictures of New York City on the SMARTboard, and the friends used the pictures to help them create.
They worked together on New York City almost the whole free choice time! They not only engaged in problem solving and persistence, but they also engaged in self-regulation as well! Self-regulation is the ability to control one's impulses, and is a skill that impacts development at all ages and stages/
"Be careful buddy! If we are too crazy, we will knock it down!"
Mr. Debrick, our Principal here at Zion, stopped by today. The friends were so proud to show him their hard work!
Some of the friends wanted to put on a performance for everyone!
I wasn't sure what the performance was going to be about, so I asked if someone would make a program to describe the performance. Bryson got straight to work. He and I worked together to sound out the words in the performance program. This was a great opportunity to engage in meaningful writing!
We had difficulty deciding who would perform when, so the friends decided to make a sign up sheet. They worked together to be sure that everyone who wanted to perform had a spot on the list. They are learning so much through this! They are learning positive conflict resolution, cooperation, engaging in meaningful writing, and practicing one to one correspondence!
Once we figured everything out, it was time for the performance!
Sammie helped read the names of the friends so that our show stayed on schedule.
Reading together in the castle! Again, the children are learning valuable pre-reading skills!
During Jesus time we acted out the story of Zaccheaus. (The friends know that we were only able to stand on the chair for the performance and not again. ;) )
As each group finished acting out the story, we all shouted that Jesus loves everyone no matter what! That is the BEST news. No matter what we do, Jesus will ALWAYS love us!! He loves us so much that He died on the cross and rose again to save us from our sins!!
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