Perfect Square

For our large group time one day I read a book called "perfect square".  It is about a square that gets torn up into different shapes, but rearranges itself to make new shapes and pictures.  It is a beautiful book. 

 

We then took our own "perfect squares" and ripped them up and glued them onto a paper in our own new shapes and pictures.  In the end we had, mountains, streamers, flowers, and waterfalls, just to name a few.

Leaf Printing

We are starting to jump into fall in preschool.  We read a book called "leaves" in our morning circle time.  And then introduced them to printing leaves at our art center.

There are a lot of steps to this process - the first of which is remember which side of the leaf to paint to get a good print.  It took many of them several tries.  But they all loved their results regardless.

Bottles and tops

This center was created with two of my students in mind.  I have noticed that they like to put lids on everything.  So I spent a few weeks collecting different size bottles and lids.  It was like a wonderful puzzle.

Ester was determined to fit every lid on every bottle.  It took her almost 20 minutes - but she stuck with it... I was so proud of her!

But none of the other kids even tried.  I thought maybe I went too big too soon.

 

 

So the next day I only had a few bottles out and I got rid of the basket so they could easily see the lids.  It turns out my gut was right.  With just a few bottles and a few lids each kid stopped by and matched all the lids up.  Live and learn.

Random centers

We read a book called "tall" - it is about a monkey who is continuall getting "tall" and "small" as he stands on other animals shoulders.  In our math center I put a bunch of jungle animals with some good stacking blocks.  The kids enjoyed making their animals "small" and "tall" and eventually make them "fall".  In circle time the next day as I re-read the book we made the words "small" "tall" and "fall".  The kids did a great job and were very involved in making their own words.

 

 

It isn't a sensory bin until you fill it with rice a tractors.  On day one it was just rice.  On day two I added some pinto beans.  It was a great addition.

I got some new blocks in our block center.

Play dough one day.  There was no purpose in this center that day - other than to just create. 

 

And create they did.  This one is a spider.

More in the Writing Center

I found this drawer system at Goodwill for $1.50.  It was a good solution to my need for a place to put different papers in my writing center.  While it is not perfect, and just a temporary solution for now.  It is working well. 

Dramatic Play: Dr. Office

I think this has been our most popular dramatic play center to date (do I say that every week?).  I had planned on only having this one week, but the kids liked it so much I kept it for two.  The picture below was our day one basic set up. 

 

Our waiting room

 

Eye chart

 

Diagnosis papers.

As the days went on I added things each day - things that were added: babies, band aids, animals, files, appointment sheets, dr. coats, money and insurance cards.

 

The first day in the dr office was kind of rough.  The whole day they seemed to be fighting over who the dr was, who the patients were, how many dr's there could be, how many patients there could be, how long the patients had to wait in the waiting room.  I was very involved In conflict resolution, but, especially in center time, I do not get involved other then to help coach the children through these social interactions.  A natural leader was born of this conflict and the other children seemed to step in line.

 

On the other days, the children had none of the other issues that came up the first day.  They took turns playing all the parts and happily waited in the waiting room until it was their turn to be seen.

 

Trains

One week on our block center I added our train tracks and trains. 

There was a lot of collaboration and turn taking.  I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

Science: Seeds

 

At our science center one day I had put out a bunch of seeds and plants with seeds.  I included some magnifying glasses, some tweezers, some observation dishes, and of course, some clipboards with paper and pencils.  This table went along with many of our other "seed or bean" activities that week.

Not all the kids wanted to stop by this center, but the ones that did were very focused on collecting and sorting the seeds.

 

We even got some observational drawings!

Painting rocks: Color mixing

There were two objectives for this center.  One: Paining on a different  medium - with smaller, more detail oriented brushes.  And two: Color mixing, especially with more than the primary colors. 

 

I was heavely involved in the color mixing process at first.  Showing them how to add just enough white, or gray to get the tint or shade they wanted.

 

But after a few demonstrations they did an amazing job by them selves.  Check out the colors they got:  I was blown away.