November 21st 2012

This afternoon the children in Ms. Kurtjian’s room spent a lot of time in the kitchen area.  After rest time, several children went to the kitchen area and noticed that the play food was missing.  (Oh No!)  Earlier in the afternoon the teachers had removed it all from the area for a very specific reason.  After the discovery of the missing food, the children gathered on the carpet to discuss what was happening in the kitchen area.  They were informed that Ms. Gillespie had brought in a variety of different vegetables and the children were delighted.  Many of them spent a significant amount of time exploring the foods in different ways.  Some smelled it, felt it, and shook it.  It eventually led to them using knives or their hands to cut into them and explore further.  They cut the foods or broke them with their hands.  Some of the food was easier to cut and others took some serious work, but the children were determined to get inside those foods.  Other food required a lot of peeling.  They carefully peeled back the layers of skin to reach the inside.  The experience they had exploring these foods was invaluable to them.  And lucky for all of you, they are now completely (as completely as children of this age can be) prepared to help you prepare your Thanksgiving dinners tomorrow.  

Hope you all enjoy the holiday.  See you next week.

Ms. Gillespie

November 9th 2012

Our classroom is full of movers and shakers.  We love to work and move.  When building with blocks, we seem to make tracks for our cars and drive them all around.  When connecting our snap blocks, we turn them into airplanes and fly them around the room.  When working with animals, we make them run across tables and onto the floor.  Every type of block I introduce to the children, they always seem to make it a track and move along the track with whatever mode of transportation they can come up with.

When exploring these ideas, my teachers have commented on the children's knowledge of trains.  I hear train-specific vocabulary, knowledge of characteristics, and a general passion for trains.  I honestly did not know how to introduce this star of a project with the children.  I decided to take the lead from them.  I wanted to know what the children knew and what they would like to know, so I asked them at group time.  I brought a train book with me to help facilitate the discussion, but the children didn't need the book until about halfway through.  They had a lot to share.

Here is some of what we knew:

"The whistle is to remind people there is a train on the tracks if they are looking the wrong way like this."

"The train goes into the station and blows the whistle."

"Trains live in the station with the workers."

"The brakes make the engine stop."

"Trains have words on them."

"The turntable is at the station where the trains park."

"Drivers are called conductors."

"Trains need to pump pistons to go faster and faster."

When it came to how the trains worked, there was mention of steam.  The book showed us an interesting picture:

"You put black rocks in trains and here are cinders and ashes."

"The train has a funnel on it for steam."

 "That's coal. The coal gets really hot.  It makes steam."

The next picture in the book showed a picture of the workers putting water into the train.  Only one child had an idea of what was happening.  

"That water is for the fish."

"The water is for the people in the train to drink." 

"No, there's fire in the tank with the coals.  When the water goes in the tank, it makes white steam."

After group time and working with the trains, we have a few questions and misconceptions from the children.

" Why does the smoke come out of the train?"

"What does the coal do?"

"The water is for the fish."

"I want to know what the different cars on a train are named."

Hopefully we can address these misconceptions and questions son as we continue our exploration.  I know the interest is definitely there!

November 1st 2012

Animal Investigations

We have been discussing habitats a lot lately.  In order to know which animals live where and why, I thought we should take a closer look at what the characteristics of each animal were and what made them live where they live.

Earlier in the week, Ms. Gillespie did a farm animal investigation and the children made a list of which animals they wanted to investigate.  She then went to the library and borrowed a variety of books about the animals the children requested.  I borrowed those books and supplemented my own for a more in depth investigation.

The children took some time this morning to research.  Mr. Matt took small groups into an office where the children chose an animal from our animal basket that they were interested in learning more about. 

After the children chose an animal to study, they drew a picture of their animal. Then they talked about the characteristics that they already were familiar with for their chosen animal, and things that they would like to find out. The students were given books to look through, and Mr. Matt would work with them to find answers using the Ipad. After the children finished doing their research, they talked with Mr. Matt about the new things they learned about their animal. It was very exciting to see the children doing research on the animal they chose!

In some instances, the children even discovered their initial thoughts about the animal changed after researching. One child chose to study an eagle and in their initial discussion said, "This eagle looks like it has brown hair on its body." Then, while researching how birds can fly they noticed "wait, eagles don't have hair, they have feathers to fly with!"

It was very interesting hearing the children's initial ideas about their animals and how they evolved through doing research. I will continue to work with animals and their characteristics to see what else both the children and myself are able to learn!

Basket Raffle

 ECEC Basket Raffle

Our classroom is working on a Movie Night for the ECEC raffle which will be held on Wednesday, November 14, 2012.  We are looking for some donations to add to the basket.  I chose a movie night themed basket because it's one of my favorite things, and we all deserve a night out (or in!)

Somethings that we could include are:

• Family friendly DVDs
• Popcorn
• Movie passes
• Candy
• Blockbuster gift cards
• Flavored popcorn powder- it's delicious!
• Blanket for cuddles :)

You are not limited to donating to just my classroom, check out what other rooms are doing!

If you have any questions, please ask.  We appreciate any contribution.  Thank you so much!