college students

I wanted to "introduce" to you the college students who are in the lab working with your children!

The student assistant completing her field experience this semester is Molly Bruner (Ms. Molly) from Ohio. She is an energetic, positive person and is enjoying getting to know your children in both sessions!

The other students are:

MONDAY	TUESDAY	WEDNESDAY	THURSDAY	FRIDAY
Kathryn Leichty	Emma Schrock Naomi Wright  Renee Buckwalter	Breana Stout Rachel Brown	Laura Wright Becca Delp	Cassidy Bontrager

art!

Art - such an eclectic and creative way to express oneself. Today we made/decorated an artificial (using styrofoam bowls and paper plates, plus other materials) crab shell, to go along with our story, A House for Hermit Crab.

Using a variety of materials to decorate the crab shell - with lots of glue, of course!!

At the "free art" table using markers or crayons to color a hermit crab picture. 

Both of these activities are art activities but different materials and approaches are used to complete the task. I observed a lot of concentration and focus with both activities. There wasn't a rush to move on to the next activity. It's neat to see how children approach art and use their perceptions, interests and creativity to complete it!

A House for Hermit Crab

We have 3 class pets - hermit crabs. It's always interesting to see how children interact with them - some are hesitant about touching them while others pick them up and carry them around. This week our focus is on the Eric Carle book, A House for Hermit Crab. I should mention that during circle time I had the 3 crabs in a container at the circle. I just let the crabs roam free (even walking close to my shoes) while we were singing, counting and reading; a great way for the children to observe the crabs and watch to see where they were traveling to...... a bit distracting, yes, but why not?!
                                                             

There are a lot of fun facts about hermit crabs that we will be learning about this week --- Did you know that hermit crabs have 12 legs? (You only see 6 of them) Also, hermit crabs put sea anemones on their shell to help disguise themselves, so they are better protected from prey. 

Today we built "homes" for the hermit crabs, even though we know they carry them on their backs! It was neat to see how the children designed these homes and made sure the hermit crabs were enclosed and couldn't escape!

It takes team work to put a house together.

The crab waiting patiently for its home to be complete. 

First time holding the hermit crab!

The house is done - the crab is inside, can you see it?

Clever idea - to put the smaller homes inside another larger home. 

Can you see them hermit crab inside the smaller home?
You might need to look through the magnifying glass to see it!

preschoolers and jokes

I get the biggest kick out of preschoolers and their jokes, most of the time they are just nonsense, but occasionally there are ones that actually make sense and are funny. So, here's a joke for your weekend.

Why did the chicken cross the playground?

To get to the other SLIDE! 

I really like the "punny-ness" of this one!!

And then other jokes ensued which included...to get across the street, to get to the store, to show the other chickens how to do it, and on and on. 

Watch out for chickens crossing the road!  

portfolio books at preschool

On this blog each week I hope to share with you more specific information related to the Hesston College Preschool that is more than just“pictures of what we do at preschool”, but will be more about why we do what we do at preschool – what makes this place tick, as well as any helpful parent information I come across.

This week the “sharing” is about Portfolio Books - the what/why/how we use these in the classroom. Portfolio books are used as a way to collect artifacts (sounds like we are anthropologists or something, right?! J) throughout the school year of children’s “work” in the preschool. Each child has a book that is kept at the preschool and sent home one time during the year to share with family.

Artifacts include:

o   Pictures completed during the planned art activity that demonstrate creativity along with other “skills” needed to complete the activity. Not that we are so concerned with the product, but more the process of how the activity was accomplished. Not all art pictures turn out the same and that is the great thing about art - each child does it in their own unique and eclectic way!

o   Pictures that children initiate independent of any planned art activity at the “free art” table using a variety of materials; children often request to save these special pictures for their books.

o   Assessments – writing, math, literacy, fine motor, a checklist of developmental milestones used for parent/teacher conferences

o   Photos of child’s activity in the preschool.

These artifacts help me learn more about your child as well as helping me plan learning activities that will enhance your child’s abilities and skill level. Lastly, children enjoy sharing these books with family members and recalling the pictures they've created, and former students often look at these books years after they have moved on from preschool. 

week one - done!

We made it through one full week of preschool and survived. :) It's been a good week; we've enjoyed the book, The Napping House by Don and Audrey Wood and the various activities that emphasized the concepts in the book.

I added the doll house which the children added play furniture and people to. It was cool to hear conversations and see how they arranged the furniture. There was not one argument during this play - they did well with give and take. 

That makes this teacher smile. :) 

One of the art activities was "The Napping House" picture - children cut strips of colored paper and glued onto their house, come children chose to color other "features" on their picture. These will go in their portfolio books. 

The animals are "napping" while the child talks on the phone.

Pushing the stroller around was a favorite this week.
Look closely and you'll see a phone stuck in the waist of the child's pants... very clever. :) 

Coloring "The Napping House" sequence picture to take home.

Each small group (MWF) made sequence pictures of  "The Napping House"  - the children took these home to share with families. I hope you enjoyed hearing them tell the story again and again. 

Enjoy a "nap-filled" weekend!!!

hopscotch

I think it's so cool to see how games from long ago - like hopscotch are still in..... every year we have preschoolers that want me to draw hopscotch on our sidewalk. The children always know the rules of hopscotch and share this knowledge with others to make sure they are doing it the right way. You gotta follow the rules you know. :) 

This is how you do it!

I like how they are all patiently waiting until everyone jumps through the hopscotch and then they start over all together.... There's a method to hopscotch.

Happy Friday! 
Just sit or lay back and enjoy your weekend. :)