Steve T & Taryn's Preschool Class
Welcome to Steve T & Taryn's Preschool Class!
Teacher:
Steve Taylor Small Groups, Literacy and Art
Here is the latest news from our class. The students continue to flock to the tables for art projects and writing. Often six or more students will sit together creating puppets, making drawings, and writing letters and lists. The stencils have been a huge hit for the last several weeks, and the students like to decorate their creations and use the scissors to cut out the shapes after they have finished tracing. The students are gaining confidence in their abilities and they are becoming comfortable using a variety of tools including scissors, tape dispensers, hole punches, string, sticks, and glue.
Science Experiments and Exploration
The students are hungry for new challenges and they respond enthusiastically to new materials in the classroom. Last week we began working with magnets and the students enjoyed experimenting with magnets and a variety of metal objects on the tables. We have introduced the students to a new construction set called Marble Works. Marble Works are plastic pathways that the students stack together to create mazes for marbles to roll through. It is always interesting to see the preschoolers’ first attempts with a new classroom item. They are figuring out how to create the mazes so that the marbles will roll all the way through and they love to change their maze and to add more pieces to make it more elaborate.
Self Expression through Dramatic Play
We have brought in some new dress up clothes for our dramatic play area which has sparked more interest in creating pretend play games in the classroom. The preschoolers pretend to be doctors, nurses, princesses, bats, ninjas, cats, big sisters, dogs, grandmas, and many other characters. Their pretend play is sophisticated and engaging and often one person will start a game and many friends will join in. Sometimes the games will last for a half hour or more. The student’s spontaneous creativity is very rewarding to witness! Children learn about themselves, how to take on other roles, and how to take risks through this safe, play-based learning. We are always amazed by their imaginative work and connections they make with one another during these times.
Partner Work Through Art
Hello everyone! Here is the latest news from our class. The preschoolers have been working on our auction project during the last two weeks. We divided a large canvas into seven sections, and each student worked with a partner to paint one of the sections. We are splashing and dripping the paint onto the canvas in the style of Jackson Pollock. The students enjoy working with a partner and they had fun shaking their brushes over the canvas to make this art piece. This painting will be auctioned off at our school auction next Friday. Hope to see you there!
Buddies and Movement
Connections with Buddies
We continue to work with our Buddies from Christy’s Class each week. Last week our Buddies presented us with books that they wrote and illustrated. The preschoolers were excited to listen to these stories and we have reread them throughout the week. The books are on the book shelf in the classroom, so feel free to check them out when you are in the classroom.
Listening to Others
An activity that we have begun in the last few weeks is expressing and tracking our opinions on an opinion chart. Each student answers a yes/no question such as “Do you like to eat apples?” We record our answers on an opinion chart, and we count the number of people who said yes, and the number of people who said no. This activity gives us practice at sharing our opinions, listening to the opinions of others, recognizing our names in print and counting. We will continue to work on opinion activities during the next few weeks.
Stories and Patterns
Hello everyone. It is hard to believe that February is already here! We are at the halfway point of our school year and the students have grown so much already. Taryn and I are sharing longer books and stories, including some fairy tales and folk tales. We recently read Heckedy Peg and The Rough Face Girl, both fairly complex stories that the students really seemed to enjoy.
Second Step and Puzzles
We continue to work on our Second Step Curriculum. The lesson for this week involves self talk. The goal of the lesson is to help preschoolers learn to self regulate by quietly using self talk to remember what they are supposed to be doing and what they are going to do next. The students like to look at the big card that shows a classroom scenario and they like to talk about what they see happening in the photo. Second Step also includes a boy and a girl puppet. Ours are named Edgar and Penelope. The students love the lessons that include the puppets and they often ask to say goodbye to the puppets before we put them away.
Second Step and Fine Motor Skills
Hello everyone! It is hard to believe that December is already here. We have had a couple of eventful weeks at school! Last week we said goodbye to one of our students, Helene. Her family has moved to Arkansas. We miss having Helene at school, and we have been talking about her this week at school. The students want to know if she will come and visit and they are curious about Arkansas. We’ll keep in touch with Helene and her family as the school year continues to unfold.
Math
The students are also engaging with our math manipulatives and blocks to develop their math skills. We have many small sets of animals and blocks that are ideal for counting, sorting, and making patterns. At Circle Time, we are playing a game called “Say it Fast” This game is easy to play and gives students practice at instantly recognizing a set of items. The teacher holds four or five identical items (pennies, toothpicks, etc.) in her hand and drops a few onto the ground in front of the students. The students call out the number of items that they see “Three!” The teacher picks up the items and drops a different amount.
Language Development
This class continues to display a strong interest in books and stories. I have told a few oral stories at our Goodbye Circle. One of their favorites is a story called “Night Walk” In this story a group of kids goes camping. They discover a forest fire and they work together to put the fire out. We also have been enjoying reading time with our buddies from Christy’s class. It is very rewarding to watch our oldest students at Giddens reading with such confidence to the preschoolers. Some of the books that we have read in the last couple of weeks that the students seemed to enjoy include Monster Mama, The Sneetches, Pig Pig Grows Up, When Sophie Gets Angry, and Marc Just Couldn’t Sleep.
Announcements
Buddies
Last week we met with our Buddies from 4th and 5th grade for the second time. The preschoolers seem excited to have their Buddies come to our class and visit, and the older students are amazing at working with preschoolers! The Buddies came to our classroom on Friday morning and joined us for Free Choice. It is very rewarding to watch the students interact with their older Buddies. The two classes worked together on a variety of activities in the classroom including pretend play, building with blocks, playdough, and painting. The preschoolers have been lining up the classroom chairs and playing airplane for the last week or so, and when the older Buddies entered the classroom, they joined right in, riding with their Buddies and adding their own ideas to the play.
Color Art
We are continuing to explore the school-wide theme of colors through our work at the Art Table. This week the students encountered large pieces of white paper, strips of colorful construction paper, scissors, and glue on the table. The students used these materials in very interesting ways! Some students glued the strips next to each other to make rainbows and guitars. Other artists cut the strips into rectangles and squares, and glued their shapes onto the large piece of paper to create collages that resemble mosaics. One student wanted to make a lion, so he drew a face on the large white paper. He wanted fur on his lion, so he proceeded to cut little snips all around the edges of the paper.
October News
Hello everyone. Here is the latest news from our class. For our first field trip of the school year, we went to see Harold’s Purple Crayon at the Seattle Children’s Theatre. Before going to the show, we read the book in our classroom numerous times to familiarize our students with the story. On the day of the field trip, there was much excitement as we boarded the bus for our first adventure away from Giddens. Our bus driver took us downtown, and the students spoke excitedly about all the things that they saw through the bus windows. At the theatre, we were seated in the front three rows, and the show was larger than life. The production featured many songs as Harold had a series of adventures with his purple crayon.
Exploring Colors
Hello everyone. The students continue to adjust to the routines of their school days and weeks. They seek each other out for play and conversation, and they are forming friendships with the people around them.
Play
The play sessions in our classroom have been lively and engaging. The students enjoy building with the large wooden unit blocks in the Construction Area of the classroom. Some students use the long blocks to build roads or trains, creating structures that stretch across the classroom. Other students like to build towers, buildings, and towns with the blocks. On several mornings, the students have used all of the blocks from the shelves in their creations. Building with blocks can be an independent activity, but often it is social and collaborative.
Giddens Constitution
Morning Meeting
Last Wednesday at our school-wide morning sing, the students signed the Giddens Constitution. This document asks members of the school community to respect themselves, respect others, and respect the environment. Our fourth and fifth grade students sat with us as we signed the document, assisting the preschoolers in the task.
Curriculum Log
Story Writing
We love to begin our school year with Story Writing. The students work one on one with a teacher, telling a story which the students write down in dictation. This activity allows students to see their spoken words transformed into print. We are reading the stories aloud at story times, and the students seem proud of their work!
Reading Stories
Hello everyone. Here is the latest news from our classroom. The students are adjusting nicely to the routines of school. This week we met our specialist teachers: the students will be spending two half hour sessions per week in Music, Library, P.E, and Spanish. We will also be going to the Garden at least once each week.
