Winter Week III

Winter Week III literally went out with a bang in two important ways!  First, as we accumulated some serious snow fall and finally had an opportunity to get out doors for winter play! 

Secondly, as we "banged" away at our Piñatas, and broke them open!  

Ice painting was also a highlight of the week!

Looking Deeper:  Exploration and Learning through Play.

Let's take a closer look at making a Pinata.

As the photos illustrate, breaking the Piñata was lots of fun.  Making the Piñata was fun as well, and the process was a valuable learning experience for the children on many levels.  Making things with children teaches them how those things come to be, a fact that may be obvious to grown-ups but is often a mystery to children.  Additionally, it illustrates that the process has sequential components that happen over time.  If the Piñata is to be strong and durable, no step can be missed and the process cannot be rushed.  That in and of itself is a great lesson to teach as it is an important metaphor for life!  

Including the children in the Piñata making process not only educates, it empowers them and honors their capabilities.  We seize every opportunity possible to reinforce the children's understanding that they are not only helpful, they are important, and their participation is essential to the classroom community!

Yes, making the Piñata was fun for the children, however, it may be one of the few times when destroying their creation was as much fun, if not more, than making it!!!

Have a fun and restful Holiday Season!

Winter Week II

Winter Week II brought continued "snow production" both outdoors and at our art table!  

We continued to read and discuss Winter story books, and "snowman" songs were sung daily! 

We began the process of making a piñata for our Piñata Party.

We also began rehearsing for our Peace Assembly performance! 

Looking Deeper:  Exploration and Learning through Play

Let's take a closer look at Story Time.

Over the past two weeks we have read many winter related story books, with "snowmen" being a recurring theme.  While all of the "snowmen" books have been fictional, they were none the less a wonderful vehicle for teaching Science!  Each book dramatically described the enthusiastic building of a snow-person, and the inevitable thawing, melting and transformation of the "snowy friend" into a puddle!  Ultimately and happily new snow fell, and the beloved "snow person" was built anew!

The children have loved hearing multiple readings of Bob the Snowman by Sylvia Loretan, Sneezy the Snowman by Maureen Wright, The Snow Child, by Freya Littledale, and Sadie and the Snowman by Allen Morgan!  During the readings we talked about why snow people melt.  "Because it gets hot!"  We talked about why puddles disappear.  "Because the water goes up into the clouds!"  We talked about why it snows again. "Because it gets cold and the water turns back into snow and falls to the ground"!  After several such discussions, I introduced the words, "precipitation", "evaporation" and "condensation".  I then routinely used these words in subsequent discussions.  By week's end, some of the children were able to use these words appropriately, and nearly all of the children were able to tell me which word meant snow falling down, water going back into the sky, and water turning back into snow.

These fictional story books were not only the source of great factual information, they were the catalyst for our doing a little "experimenting" of our own.  On Thursday, we observed an ice cube and some snow in the classroom.  Over the course of the day, we observed and discussed the melting process, until ultimately, all we saw was water.  Then we predicted whether all the water would evaporate by Friday morning, leaving our purple dishes dry.  The children could not wait to have a look at the dishes upon their arrival and were very excited to see that they were indeed dry!

A closer look at Story Time reveals the ease and importance of integrating subject matter (fictional literature and Science) for the children , and of course the excitement of experiential learning!

Have a fun and restful weekend!