Brand New!

We started back to school earlier this month and everything seems BRAND NEW! The students are all new to Pre-K and some of them are new to the school. My assistant and I are BRAND NEW teachers to the students, even though we've been in the school for several years. I've changed our class mascot from fish to owls, so there are new owl decorations everywhere! There is just something about things being new that seems to make life just a little more exciting!

On the first day of school, I took pictures of the students that will go in a memory book for them at the end of the year. I posed them in front of one of the bulletin boards that will have seasonal changes, but basically remain the same. At the end of the year, we'll take another picture in the same place and be able to see how much they've changed and grown!

Also in the first week, I had each of them color a circle to decorate a large owl in our room. Later, these circles will be placed in their memory books, as well.

My classroom received a refurbishment grant this year to replace worn out materials and classroom supplies. One of the big things I got was a new rug! Isn't it bright and beautiful? It is humongous and has spots for everyone to have a little personal space.

We also got a few new bikes for our playground. I chose the "big wheel" style and they have been a big hit! There are always friends waiting for a turn!

I have wanted MagnaTile blocks for a long time, but frankly, they are very expensive and there are always so many other things I need. I was able to use some of the grant money to purchase a set. I am amazed at the creativity and imaginative things the children create with them. I picked the translucent blocks with the plan of using them with light box I'm making. They will look great when lit up, I think!

We got some new foam blocks that are great for building and perfect for use with the new animals we got for the block center!

Some of our dramatic play costumes had seen much better days. We ordered several new ones. This is the NASA astronaut uniform that we got! (It is especially nice paired with awesome cowboy boots! ;)

I love this little couch and chair set that we purchased with refurbishment funds! I broke the set up and now have a cozy spot to curl up with a book in reading center and added the sofa to our dramatic play area.

One of the things that was a combination of new and not-new was our old sensory table. It was so bulky that often I use big bins or a tabletop sensory table in the classroom. I repurposed our old bulky table to the playground for outdoor sensory fun. The kids are really enjoying having it outside!

Even the way the children are experimenting with familiar materials seems "brand new". Watching this new class explore in centers and try new techniques brings me a little joy each day.

I'm sure that as time goes by, these things will all become worn, well loved and lack their "new" appeal, but for now we are enjoying the discovery of "brand new"! I have a few more items that I haven't put out right away, just to savor the excitement of having something fresh for later on. Hope your "brand new" school year is off to a good start!

If you'd like to read more about our first day of Pre-K, hop on over to PreK+K Sharing and read "On The First Day of Pre-K..."

"Just Playing?" Paper Cup Telephones

Thanks for joining me here for another installment in our "Just Playing?" series! You are invited to view the photos and really think about what you see going on here and be sure to share your thoughts, observations and reflections in the comments. Sure, the children are playing, but they are also learning! 

This week's photos were taken during an activity while exploring how sound travels. I made several sets of paper cup and string telephones and shared them with the children. I demonstrated quickly just once and let the kids go about exploring and experimenting. Eventually, they discovered that the more taut the string was, the better the sound traveled. 

We may be "just playing", but....

What are the children doing here?

What do you see?

What learning is taking place?

What skills are being practiced/developed?

This post is part of the "Just Playing?" Blog Hop!

Thank you for remembering that young children do not "just play." Young children play. They develop through play. They learn through play. They experiment through play. They grow through play. A child's work is play. Play is important!

Please take a moment to reflect upon the photos and questions above. I would love for you to share your observations in a comment. I'd also like to invite you to "hop" on over to all of the other bloggers who are sharing photos of children learning through play this week:

If you are looking for more of our “Just Playing?” posts and resources from around the globe, please visit our Pinterest Board.

Are you a blogger? Would you like to join the JUST PLAYING? blog hop community?

You can join the hop via our Facebook Group: Just Playing?

or please contact Amy from Child Central Station for more information.

Make Your Own Gel Paints!

I'm back!!!! I've been a little absent lately--my computer completely died right at the end of the school year. I finally got a new one, but it has taken a while to get familiar with the new operating system. By that time, school was starting again, and all the craziness that goes with a new school year has kept me very busy! I'm glad to be "back in the saddle" again!

They say that necessity is the mother of invention, and that is often the case in pre-k! We haven't had much luck with purchasing fingerpaint lately. One batch was much too runny, one really smelled (and the children didn't want to use it) and the last batch came in fairly small tubes, so after just a few kids had a turn the paint was gone! Frustrated, I went to my cabinet to see what I could come up with to improvise some fingerpaint. 

I pulled out some hair gel that I keep on hand for sensory bottles and added a little food coloring. This made fantastic paint that can be used for fingerpaints, brush paints or even as watercolors that are easy for the kids to manage! 

While I did make these for the purposes of fingerpaints, the children love them so much that they ask to use them with brushes, too.

One of my little friends was very much involved in the process of loading the brush, painting a dab or two and rinsing the brush in the water, over and over again. Even with all the water, the paints dried vibrantly!

I think next I'll let the kids experiment by mixing some colors to make their own custom colors. They enjoy these paints so much that it can't hurt to have plenty on hand!


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Discovery Bottle Inspiration

If you've seen my latest post on PreK + K Sharing, you may know that I've had a recent spurt of creativity making discovery bottles. I had one or two that I wanted to try, and a couple that were already on the shelf that needed a facelift. The result was a discovery bottle bonanza for my science center. I just kept getting inspired by all the great ideas out there, as well as being inspired by the bottles I was making! Click here to see my original post on discovery bottles on PreK+K Sharing.

I visit our toddler rooms often, to see the little friends and to see what they are up to. (You never know where a great idea may come from!) I've received comments about the reluctance to provide discovery bottles for younger learners because they are often very determined to open them. I saw this bottle while visiting the toddler room and thought I'd share it. This bottle is filled with age appropriate bug manipulatives. There is no "filler" to spill out should the kids decide to explore by opening.

One afternoon,  I got quite a surprise when two of the afterschoolers (3rd and 5th grade)  that share my room in the afternoon called me over to see what they were making. They made a discovery bottle with the plastic water bottle label and some yarn. I think it is a pretty cool bottle, especially since the kids made this completely on their own!

One of my preschoolers went home and and got busy while outside playing that afternoon. He grabbed a plastic soda bottle and set about finding interesting things from nature to fill it. When his parents asked what he was making, he proudly proclaimed, " A century bottle!" His parents couldn't figure out what a "century" bottle was until they returned to school and realized he was making a "sensory" bottle!

A few days later, I came to work early one morning and found a little display of bottles on my desk. Some were bottles I'd made along with a few new ones. I especially love the notes left with the bottles!

"Dear Mrs. Ayn, Please let me know if you want another bottle. If so, I will not be able to give it to you right away, unfortunately. If you are interested, let me know ASAP. 

Your friend, 

Savannah

P.S. My favorite is the one with the glitter."

"Dear Mrs. Ayn,

I made this bottle for your class. I love the other ones, my favorite is the clear one made of Orbeez.

Love,

Tori "

It really warms a teacher's heart to know that she has inspired kids to take a lesson or idea and have them run with it on their own! This was especially meaningful since the older kids have become so inspired that making discovery bottles has become a popular activity in the afterschool room, without any prompting from adults!

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Earth Week and WOYC

This was a crazy week in my classroom. It was the last 2 days of our official school year, then our extended year program started. There was not a lot of time to really spend a long time on Earth Day (Sunday, April 22 was Earth Day) this year. We did manage to squeeze a few little activities in. 


We painted the earth in art center. 

We took time to care for our garden. It's starting to show signs of growth!

We covered large pine cones in lard and sprinkled birdseed all over to make bird feeders. 

After we made them and let them set for a bit, we took them outside to hang on our trees.

In the midst of everything else going on this week, it was also NAEYC's "Week of The Young Child". This year's theme is: "Early years are learning years". While I wasn't able to plan specific activities to go with this special week this year, I think the activities we did do will help shape my little friends into life long learners and lovers of our earth!

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