what children need most

Wood Carved Owls

We had a special visitor today. A grandpa of one of our MWF preschoolers is a wood carver. How exciting to watch a small piece of wood being carved into an owl. The children were transfixed by this process. And each of them went home with one of their own.
I recorded the process, here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgRBhJ6VOLY

Here is the final product!

Building together

It's so fascinating to watch how children "work" together and create interesting structures in the block area.
Here are a few pictures. I'm sure your children could add the captions to these pictures. :)

All about Owls

I enjoy watching children creatively express themselves through art representations of what we've talked about at preschool. I was very impressed with how well the paintings/drawings of the Owls turned out. Each child is creative in their own way. We talked about specific features owls have and as the children painted or drew, they included these in their creations. Very cool. (These pictures are displayed at the preschool!)

First children painted the branches and leaves and then they had the option to paint their hand brown for the owl body, but most chose to paint the owl using the brush instead of getting their hand messy. The owls turned out very cute either way!

"free hand" brush painting of owl

Using hand for owl body

Happy Kansas Day!

Celebrate Kansas Day at the Kauffman Museum in Newton, Kansas this Saturday, January 25th from 1:30-4:30 p.m.
Crafts and activities, demonstrations, displays, outdoor activities and a special exhibition for children of all ages. And it's free.
More information posted at the preschool.

Welcome!

I am excited about starting this new adventure in blogging! 
This first post will be about the college students in the Teaching Learning Strategies course this Spring.

Tasha Drake, the student assistant this semester is from Goshen, Indiana, and has worked in child care settings prior to attending Hesston College.


Here is a picture of the crew:

Front Row: Tami Keim (Instructor), Kaylah Kauffman (Thur.), Sarah Beachy (Fri), Rachelle Haarer (Thur.).
Back Row: Cheyenne Cherubini (Tue.), Bethany Snow (Tue.), Angela Brunner (Mon.), Taylor Berkey (Wed.)

More blogs to come. Please sign the permission form and then I will start posting pictures from the classroom! :)