Tuesday we visited the Library for the first time.  Each child had a chance to look for a book and find a spot to look it over.  We also had story time with Chase, Able's Mom. The boys and girls enjoyed being read to so much that they wanted her to read another book.   We even checked out two books to read at rest time. At age 3, differences in children’s understanding and use of literacy skills are enormous.  Reading aloud to children appears to be one of the most important activities for building the understanding and skills needed for reading success.  Everyone was amazed with all the books!

I tried to trick the boys and girls by playing a game called What’s Missing?  Using four items, I would remove one and ask, “what’s missing?” They did so well that I had to add a fifth item.  As children develop their abilities to attend and to use memory strategies, their learning is enhanced.

The study of patterns is exciting for young children.  They first learn to copy simple patterns made with objects.  They later learn to extend and create their own patterns. The children had a chance to demonstrate their knowledge of patterns.  Each child had a bowl with 3 balls and they were paired up with another student to create their pattern. I asked them “What else can we make a pattern with?”  One child said, “our shirt colors”. Each child stood in a pattern by the color of their shirt. It’s great to see our class working together.

We also had fun using dinosaurs for a counting activity.  Each child was given a card with a number. They had to match the correct number of dinosaurs to the number on the card.  This is also a great activity you can do at home. During snack ask your child to count out a certain amount before they eat.  Learning and eating, it doesn’t get better than that!   

The best way to learn science is to do science. Using the classic story, The Three Little Pigs, the students continued their study of force and effect.  Blowing through a straw the children used their breath to move a pom pom ball like the wolf did to blow down a house. Young children are natural investigators.  They are curious about how things work and what will happen next. I enjoyed watching the boys and girls discover that the more force they used with their breath the further the pom pom ball would go.

We also danced with scarves.  Not only was this a fun way to teach children about force, but  spatial awareness, too. As they learn to navigate their environment, they learn about direction, perspective, distance, and location.  Using positional words and force, we moved our scarves around. The children loved listening to the music and waving their scarves to make different positions and shapes.   When we use positional words it helps describe spatial relationships and helps children deepen their understanding of those relationships.

Another fun learning activity was making snow for our sensory bin.  We buried magnetic letters in the snow for each child to find and then spell their name.  This activity teaches children to understand that these symbols can be grouped together to form words and that words have meanings.  The idea that written words are composed of letters that represent sounds is called the alphabetic principle.  Children’s understanding of the alphabetic principle is a predictor of future reading success. As you can see the boys and girls had a great time searching for letters in their name to place on the tray.  

We started our investigation about balls and the children are excited. They play with them in many different ways.  They throw them, catch them, kick them, and roll them with seemingly endless delight. Children learn how natural forces, such as gravity and friction, affect the movement of balls.  They enjoyed making balls, marbles, and other rolling objects change speed and direction. Like a ball, the boys and girls took turns rolling their bodies. This led to two questions.  First,“How did we make our bodies roll?” Secondly, “ What do you think it takes to make balls roll?” We discussed how using force from our muscles made our bodies roll and we needed to use force or gravity for a ball to roll.  The children paired up with each other using force to roll the ball back and forth. They had a ball!

We also talked about gravity and used a ramp to roll different balls.  I asked the boys and girls “Do you think some balls roll faster than others?”  We recorded and discussed our predictions. Using a golf ball and a soccer ball we tested out our theories.  The boys and girls were amazed with the results. Putting a ramp in the classroom gives the children a chance to interact not only with me, but the other children as well.  This type of play influences the way children approach learning and influences other aspects of their cognitive development.

Valentine's Day is approaching and we’ve been making decor for our classroom.  Using a golf ball and paint each child designed their own heart. As children draw, paint, and construct they make new discoveries and integrate what they are learning.

This week we started the second semester of school and had two new students join our class.  For everyone to get to know one another we sang a song called “Friend.” The song was written on the board with a blank space to put their name.  As each child identified their name card, they placed it on the board. The children enjoyed getting to show everyone their name and singing. Not only did the boys and girls learn each other's name, they practiced learning how to recognize everyones written name as well.  By age 3, differences in children’s understanding and use of literacy skills are enormous. When children are excited about what they are hearing and learning, they are motivated to learn to read.

We are still studying about trees, and we discussed how we could measure the trunk of a tree.  This led to teaching the children about circumference. Using yarn, we measured different tree trunks and discovered which tree had the largest and the smallest circumference.  Measuring an object with links or yarn and later measuring the same object with rods is an essential step to understanding why standard measuring tools are important for comparing measurements.  

We are glad to be back at school.

Last week Luna’s mom and dad volunteered to take the Pre-K3 classes for a nature walk on our school trails. Luna’s dad, Clint, is the Southern Arkansas Project Manager for The Nature Conservancy's Arkansas office.  Since 2005, Clint's focus has been on habitat restoration for the entire southern portion of Arkansas, working with both private and public land partners to ensure lands and waters are protected and restored.  We were fortunate to have Clint help educate our boys and girls about nature. During our nature walk Clint talked to us about why leaves fall off of trees, pine cones, fungus, and algae.  He discussed why trees get sick, what animals live in trees, and showed us what deciduous and evergreen trees looked like.  What an adventure!

A fun game we played was called Feely Box.  I collected several items from trees and placed them in a box so that the children couldn’t see them.  Each boy and girl had a turn to reach inside the box, feel the item, and describe it. Everyone tried guessing what was in the box.  Then we passed the item around for the children to examine. After discussing the five senses, we tried describing the item by the way it felt.  As they used their senses to explore things, they learned about shapes, colors, textures, weight, temperature, and how things move and change. As teachers talk with children about the properties of objects and materials, children develop vocabulary and important background knowledge.

On one of our nature walks the boys and girls collected sticks to make letters.  Each child picked one letter in their name that used big and little lines. They had to count the lines to see how many big or little sticks they would need.  Knowledge of letters is an important component of literacy. The children are learning that written words are composed of letters that represent sounds.