Impromptu Book Club

One of my favorite parts of the day is greeting the children as they arrive in the morning. Technically, they're supposed to put their bags away and head straight to the Hall to wait for assembly, but I never mind having them congregate in the classroom for a little while first. It's in those early, unplanned moments that some of the best discoveries and connections take place.

Take last Sunday: I had just pulled a new stack of books on transportation from the library. As the children arrived, a most magical thing happened, and I realized I needed to get my camera, and quick!

Look at that exchange of information! Text referencing! Page turning! Social skill building! Not to mention the looks of pure joy on their faces. As I've said before, I live for these unplanned, authentic moments of learning. Bliss.

Ordering Fish Integrated Activity

In addition to our large-scale bubble backdrop, we also made personal bubble paintings using the same method. The children dipped cardboard tubes in white paint, then stamped them on blue construction paper to make an "ocean":

They then ordered different colored fish by length (they glued them on their backgrounds and even drew eyes and mouths in many instances. But as usual, I have more photos of the process as opposed to the product!)

We did this as a Numeracy-meets-Art activity, in conjunction with Literacy, as it was inspired by our study of the book Blue Sea.

Blue Sea is yet another book the children want to read on repeat! They understand all the vocab and just love to participate in telling the story. It's a lot of fun to watch their facial expressions change these days as they become more and more wrapped up in read alouds :)

I also set aside an extra set of fish + background (made by a student helper) to use for retellings. I used the set first during whole group story time, and the children loved interacting with it on their own during centers.

Thought of the Day

(Source Unknown)

Story of the Week: Stars

We spent last week exploring solids and liquids. Towards the end of the week, Salwa and I co-read the book Stars by Mary Lyn Ray, illustrated by Marla Frazee.

Because this book is a bit longer and requires some deeper thinking on the part of the children, it was easier for them to engage when listening in both languages. I'd start by reading a page in English, then Salwa would translate and clarify.

We found Stars to be a very soothing book; our class was drawn in slowly, calmly, one page at a time.

After reading we posed a question to the children: What is a star?

The children knew stars were neither solid nor liquid, and it was interesting to watch them contemplate the possible answers to the question. We touched briefly on the idea of gas (which we explored again the next day . . . but more on that later!). The idea wasn't to reach a concrete definition or give them any kind of direct explanation -- we just wanted to get them thinking and hopefully asking more questions.

As a follow up to the book and discussion, we explored a new-to-us process: bubble painting! 

We mixed dish soap, paint, and water in a small container, then used a straw to make colorful bubbles.

After giving the children plenty of time to explore the bubble-making process, we gave them star cutouts to make prints with the bubbles:

It was a great way link what we already knew about liquids with a new concept (our breath as the gas that makes the bubbles), and in the context of a beautiful story and project.

Yet another one we just can't wait to display!

Color Word Step Books

As the children's understanding of English has grown, their enthusiasm for reading and books has exploded! Inspired by this activity, I decided to have them make their own books (they loved it!), adapted to suit the needs and abilities of our class.

Here was our process:

1| Gather colorful rectangles in various sizes.

2| Layer them by size and staple together.

3| Match and glue the corresponding color word to each page.

4| Display as a beautiful banner for all to enjoy!

This past week we moved on to accordion books. The children just love the process of making something beautiful, familiar, and functional to call their very own. I do, too :)

Story of the Week: Press Here

Yesterday we kicked off our new unit with the book Press Here by Herve' Tullet. Tullet's books are bright, playful, and creative, which makes them some of my favorite to use in the preschool classroom.

Press Here is full of directional language and really plays on children's curiosity as they watch the magic unfold on each page. Here's an example from the first few pages of the book:

Press the dot on the first page, and two appear on the next! Children are excited and amazed by what they can "cause" the book to do as they read. (And believe me, it only gets better!)

Press Here also incorporates red, yellow, and blue (the primary colors), along with black and white, which made it the perfect tie-in for our colors/color mixing theme. After we finished reading, we made tissue paper dot collages using different sized circles.

We used paintbrushes to cover a sheet of white tagboard with a mixture of glue and water, then (gently) placed the tissue paper circles onto the sticky surface.

This was a process-based activity, meaning there was no specific end-goal in mind or "right way" to complete the project. The idea was to allow children to explore the materials with minimal teacher input as to what they were "supposed" to make. A few learned very quickly that rubbing the tissue paper would cause it to tear, and that too much glue would cause wrinkles. These kinds of discoveries are so much more meaningful when children figure them out for themselves, in their own time.

Pulling individual circles from a stack was also great for developing fine motor skills.

Our collages are dry but still need to be hung; we'll update you on the results once that's done. Have a great night!

Story of the Week: Owl Babies

This week in Literacy we've been reading Owl Babies by Martin Wadell while learning about living things (like trees and owls).

The children absolutely LOVE this story. As soon as it's over, they're begging to have it read, "Again, again, again!" I'd say it's their favorite of all the books we've read this year. The recurring line, "I want my mommy!" really resonates with the children and provides a great opportunity for participation, practicing sight words, and using English.

I printed out these puppets, then laminated them and attached them to craft sticks to use as props while reading the story. During centers the book and puppets were placed in the Reading Corner for the children to interact with. And, boy, did they ever!

Comparing sizes to determine which puppet is big sister Sarah.

In the story, Mama returns swooping softly, but here she's flying very fast! (lower left corner)

Post-Owl Babies Reading Corner boom! It has been one of the most popular centers this week. The children suddenly can't get enough.

On Sunday we made owls that now sit atop the tree we constructed last week. (About our tree: the children "combed" brown paint onto butcher paper for the trunk and branches. The leaves were made using coffee filters and watercolors.)

Four little owls, sitting on a branch.

Our tree, hanging on the back wall windows.

We labeled the parts of a tree to review last week's buzzwords.

Yesterday we also worked to construct nests using old brown bags and the scraps from our owl cutouts. 

Our nests aren't quite finished drying, but you can find instructions and see a completed project here. Hopefully we'll have pictures of the finished product for you soon.

Have a great night!

School-Home Connection: Watch and listen to this video version of Owl Babies.