Green Week!

Green Week marked the third full week of school as we engaged in a variety of fun green activities.  At the art table, the children glued green collages, and printed green leaves.  At story time, we read "Green Eggs and Ham", and then made green eggs for snack on Wednesday.  Green Week also marks the point at which our color themed weeks merge with our Fall Gifts from the Earth Theme, and so this week we began talking about Fall and its Gifts.  We began our conversation as we observed the beautiful trees outside our classroom window; their leaves are mostly green now, but soon they will change color and fall to the ground.  So in addition to green leaves, we printed leaves that were yellow, orange and red.  We talked about our upcoming field trip to Indian Ladder Farm where we will pick apples, and we took a pretend field trip and picked pretend apples within the classroom.  We noted that beautiful colored leaves and yummy apples are two Fall Gifts from the Earth.  In the coming weeks we will continue to focus on our "color of the week", and we will also talk about and engage in activities that emphasize and highlight additional Fall Gifts from the Earth.

The children continue to engage in gross motor, fine motor and dramatic play daily!  They do so both independently and in small groups, as they move from parallel play to interactive play.  We practiced on stage for assembly everyday this week, and the children were very proud of their wonderful performance.  In some ways it is difficult to believe that Green Week marked only the third full week of school!

Looking Deeper:  Exploration and Learning through Play

This week I would like to guide you through a closer look at our Fine Motor activities.

Math-based fine motor toys facilitate growth and learning in a variety of ways at a multitude of developmental levels.  At the most basic level, if a child places a single peg in a peg board they have practiced eye hand coordination, exercised the small muscles of the hand and wrist, and discerned cognitively the correct way to fit the peg into the hole.  If that child places multiple pegs into the peg board, in addition to all of the above, the child is demonstrating and expanding his/her ability to focus, concentrate and stay on task.  If the child begins to count, group, and/or pattern the pegs he/she has moved into the area of Mathematical investigation and experimentation.  Karsyn chose to sit down at one of our many fine-motor area and began to "play" independently.  She stayed focused and on task for over twenty minutes.  As the photo illustrates, she began to sort the pegs by color and place them in rows, thus creating a pattern. When she completed one peg board she continue her work and filled a second peg board in the same manner.  In so doing, Karsyn engaged in all the developmental steps mentioned and additionally displayed interest in, and understanding of sophisticated Math concepts.  Such playful learning brings great joy and satisfaction to the child.  Upon completion of her peg-boards, Karsyn instinctively knew she had done meaningful work and she took great pride in her accomplishment.  She picked up a peg board in each hand, walked over to me and exclaimed with excitement, "Look what I did JoAnn!"  As her teacher I reinforced her knowledge by pointing out to Karsyn that she had place all the pegs in their own color row and had created patterns on both peg boards.  Experiential learning is very gratifying for the student and the teacher!

Some fine motor toys do not look at all like math tools.  Sometimes they look like colorful cars, trucks, planes and trains that can be placed on paper roads and landing pads, but once a child picks them up the growth and learning is initiated.  Finger and hand muscles are exercised, strengthened and refined, and thinking, planning, imagining and creating commences!  Sebastian saw the road before him, but he pursued his own creative ideas.  Within a few minutes he exclaimed; "I made a line!  JoAnn look at my line!"  Together we counted the vehicles in his line.   I am impressed that Sebastian dabbled in Geometry, but I am over the moon with his excitement for learning and his pride in his accomplishment!

Sometimes fine motor materials are very obviously Math-based, and this was the case when Reid chose to sit down and "play" with the counting rings.  In no time at all he had sorted and place the rings where they belonged; activating and engaging in  all the educational benefits I have been explaining.  However, unlike Montessori and other early childhood programs, materials in the Parker Pre-K never have only one purpose or outcome, and are limited solely by the children's thinking, ideas and imagination.  So when Reid completed one possibility with the counting rings he immediately pursued another!  I love it when children do that!

Tommy also pursued his own ideas about how to "play" with the unifix cubes.  During the early part of the week he spent time placing the cubes on the board, but mid-week, he decided to stack them.  He then exclaimed, "Look, I made a tall tower!"  "Wonderful Tommy!  Let's count the cubes in your tower!"

Looking deeper at the children's play is what keeps me gratified and excited about teaching young children.  I also love helping other to see what I see, and so I hope you too will continue to look closer at your "child's play"!

Have a fun and restful weekend!