Final Day Fun

We ended the school year with some fun.  To begin the day the children partook in their regular morning circle and playtime routine.  For centers today we went outside for field day fun.  It would have been nice if the sun would have been shining, but we had fun anyway.

Some of the games we play included Spoon Zoom(with a marshmallow), Sack Races, Sponge Races, Big Ball Challenge, Hippity Hop, and Drip-Drip-Drop. To end the day Grandma Sue treated everyone to ice cream.

 

Now I know my ABC's.
Colors, shapes, and days.
I sang some songs,
Learned some poems, rhymes, and finger plays.
I played outside on sunny days,
And inside when it rained.
My little hands and feet were busy every day.
My teacher was Mrs. Meyer.
I kept her on her toes.
She tied my shoes, combed my hair, and even wiped my nose.
But now it's time to say "Good-bye"
To all my 4K friends.
School is over, summer's here.
But learning never ends!

Bubbleology

Today the children received their reward for filling the classroom "Warm Fuzzy" jar for good behavior.  Almost every thing we did today revolved around bubbles.  Our read aloud was titled Bubbles! by  Deborah Schecter.  From this story we learned that bubbles are shaped like a sphere.  With Grandma Sue today the children went outside when the rain let up and experimented with various utensils to make bubbles.  Inside they bubble painted.  To do this they used a straw to blow in a cup that had a mixture of soap, paint, and water.  When the bubbles reached the top of the cup they placed their paper on top of them.  This process makes beautiful pictures.

Today the children also visited Mrs. Born's room.  Here she read them a story about kindergarten.  She also told them what types of things kindergartners learn.  She was conscious of the fact that some of the children may have different kindergarten experiences.

Almost Kindergartners

With three more days left of 4K the children are almost kindergartners.  Today at Miss Sue's center the children were asked to draw a picture of themselves for the last time.  I compare this picture to the one they did on the first day of school.  The transformation from September to May is always surprising!

At my center the children wrote a letter to their future kindergarten teacher.  No matter where each child goes to kindergarten they will always hold a special place in my heart and in the heart of Meeme School.  Here is the outline of the letter:

Dear Mrs.

My name is

and I am excited to be in your class next year!

My favorite thing to do in 4K was

 In Kindergarten, I want to

 I am really good at

 Here is a picture I drew for you:

 

See you in September!

Love,

 

The common theme in each letter written this year and in years past is the idea that the children's favorite part of 4K, what they want to do in kindergarten, or what they are good at is playing.  As we enter the season of summer please reflect on the following from the Illinois Early Learning Project:

It has been said that play is children's work. Children work hard at their play because they can make it up themselves. The best part about children's play is that they learn a great deal while having fun. Here are some things to keep in mind about play.            

"Play" can be any spontaneous activity that is fun.

Spontaneous play occurs when children do an activity freely. If children organize a ball game, dramatic play, or a game of hide-and-seek, they are meeting their needs for spontaneous play. Spontaneous play is different from enrolling children in little league or signing them up for dance lessons. Children benefit most from a balance of activities adults plan and lead and activities that children plan and lead on their own.

Play can be an effective and enjoyable way for children to develop skills:

• Language skills when they play name games, sing songs, and recite jump rope rhymes.
• Thinking skills when they construct a block tower, follow directions to a game, and figure out pieces to a puzzle.
• Small-muscle skills when they string beads, make clay figures, and cut with scissors.
• Large-muscle skills when they play ball, roller skate, and run relay races.
• Creative skills when they make up stories, put on a puppet show, and play with dress-ups.
• Social skills when they team up to play ball games, discuss rules for a card game, and decide who will play what part in dramatic play

It is important to remove barriers to children's opportunities to play, such as:

• Too many structured activities. When their lives are overscheduled with activities, sports, and lessons, children do not have time to themselves and for unstructured play.
• Too much television. When children watch too much television, their play too often mimics what they see on TV (or on the video or computer screen). TV watching also robs children of valuable time to play.

If a child says, "I'm bored," she may need more unstructured time for play.

Parents often hear children complain about boredom when activities are not scheduled for them. Children need "down time" and time to be alone. These are the occasions when children's imagination and creativity take hold. These are the times when children experience the full benefits of play.

 

 

 

Magnet Mania

Today the children were able to explore a new concept: magnets.  In the sensory table I placed rice along with magnets, magnetic balls, magnetic chips, colored paperclips, and magnetic numbers and letters.  This playtime choice was a real hit.  The children loved to see how strong the magnets were.

At Mrs. Severson's center the children were each given a jar with a set of objects in it.  The children had to use their magnets to see if the object would repel or attract.  After testing each object they recorded their findings by filling in a happy or sad face.  Lastly, then went around the room and experimented with other objects that they were curious about.

At one of the independent centers the children were given a set of magnetic letters, a cookie sheet, and a variety of grids.  On some of the grids there were sets of letters, and on the other grids there pictures of objects.  They children used their magnetic letters to match the ones on the grids, or determine the beginning sound of the picture they saw.

Do cows oink?

Today our read aloud was titled The Cow That Went Oink by Bernard Most.  We made a text-to-text connection today when we remembered that this story was similar to the story The Cow That Clucked.  Both stories had a cow as a main character.  Both cows did not say the right thing, both cows searched for their moo, and in the end both cows were able to moo. 

Today with Miss Sue and Mrs. Palmer the children sorted animals into groups.   One group was farm animals and the other was animals that live in the zoo.  I used this activity to check the children's understanding of our last two themes.

With Mrs. Severson the children played a rhyming game.  A picture of a house full of objects was placed in front of the children.  A set of mouse cards was also spread out in front of them.  On their turn the child picked a mouse card and identified the object on it.  They then found something in the house that rhymed with it.

At my center the children made a book titled My Farm Counting Book.  On each page their was a set of farm animals the children counted them and wrote their total in the sentence on the bottom of the page.  Some children practiced writing the high frequency words I and see in their books.

At closing circle we made butter for our white day snack.  Here is the recipe if you would like to try it.
Supplies:  heavy whipping cream
                 a jar with a lid
                 a marble

1. All you do is put some heavy cream into a jar and drop in a marble to help with mixing .
2. Screw the lid on tight and begin to shake it.
3. The cream has little globs of fat and protein. When you shake the jar, you get the fat and the protein that are moving around in the cream to stick together.
4. Keep shaking the cream back and forth until it thickens. In about 10 minutes, it will turn to butter.
5. When you shake the jar, the little fat and protein globs in the cream hit each other and stick together, forming a larger and larger glob.
6. The glob is butter! The liquid that's leftover is buttermilk.

Farmyard Beat

Today's read aloud was titled Farmyard Beat by Lindsey Craig.  As soon as the sun goes down, the animals are up! ("Sheep can't sleep. Sheep can't sleep. Sheep can't sleep 'cause they got that beat!") Before long, there's a giant farmyard dance party, complete with funny animal sounds. But what happens when all the racket wakes up Farmer Sue?  Everyone dances to the beat, “T-I-L-L… / … they fall in a heap! / Asleep!”  We couldn't listen to this story without making a beat of our own.  The children were each given a musical instrument to play while I read the story.  They watched me, the conductor, for the sign that told them when they should play and when they should stop.  They had wonderful self-regulation during this experience.  To end the day we marched in our own band with the instruments.

Today the children visited the two centers that they did not get to on Tuesday.  At my center the children played the Oink game.  They were each given a recording sheet with numbers on it.  They took turns reaching into a bucket and pulling out a card.  If their card had a number on it they identified it and dotted it on their recording sheet.  If they pulled out an Oink card play moved to the next person.  This game taught us acceptance. 

With Miss Sue the children went on a farmyard adventure.  I hid farmyard animals around the room with letters or words on.  The children were given a recording sheet and a clipboard.  They went around the room identifying and recording the letters or words they found.  At this point in the school year we need to keep learning, but we must make it active learning. 

Down on the Farm

Today we started our new theme farm.  Many goods are produced on farms, so I changed our math and science center into a grocery story.  The children can go to the writing center and make a list of foods that they would like to purchase.  They can use a picture and word chart to help them spell the words.  They can then go to the grocery store and search the isles for what they need.  Then they can check out and take their purchases home.  Lastly, they can cook the food and use it to feed their families.

Our read aloud today was titled The Big Red Barn.  A few children knew this story, which was great because it is new to me.  This story by Margaret Wise Brown is about the cycle of the life on a farm.  At an independent center the children were given a barn.  Inside the barn they were asked to recall the characters in the story and draw them in the barn.                                                                   

We all know that cows live on farms and they produce milk, and that milk is used to make ice cream.  Today with Grandma Sue the children followed the steps in a recipe to make ice cream in a bag.  They were able to use scientific inquiry to observe how the liquids changed their form of matter into a solid.   Since each child visited two out of our four centers today, they may be our ice cream makers on Thursday.