The Great Bear Hunt of 2011 and S'more Bear-y Fun Adventures!

Our bears and camping unit is so much fun that it's one of the few we do for more than a week. We were bustling with activity all last week!  We went on a nature walk and collected items we found.

The next day, we glued the things we'd collected onto paper plates (with the middle cut out) to make nature wreaths.

Have you played "Button, Button, Who's Got The Button?" lately? We have!

We brought our own lunch to school had a picnic lunch outside. (This is a REALLY big deal, since we eat "family style". Many of our brothers and sisters are going to "big kid school" and get to take their lunches in really cool lunch boxes. So you see, this was a real treat!)

We had our "Great Bear Hunt of 2011". We actually had several over the two weeks, because they were so much fun that the kids kept requesting them ~~~ and the exercise was great!

  

 

We patterned with Honeycomb cereal, Teddy Grahams and Goldfish throughout the week, which made for some tasty snacks!

The kids brought some great items for show and tell: flashlights, lanterns, first aid kits, a compass and even a toy cooler!

In small groups, we played a little game called "10 in the Bed". We rolled the dice and added or subtracted bears from the "bed".

Another small group activity was making shapes with mini-marshmallows and toothpicks. This was a great skill review for shapes, worked our fine motor skills and eye hand coordination and also allowed for a lot of individual creativity at the same time.

The highlight of our week was our pajama party camp out and making s'mores.  (There's nothing better than a day when it's perfectly acceptable to wear your pajamas to school!) Camping in our pj's was lots of fun!

Making the s'mores was almost as much fun as eating them!

Deja Vu

 

 As I was moving into my new classroom during pre-planning, summer camp for the school age students was going on in my new class room. I had the unique opportunity to observe some of my former students engaged in play using similar materials they had played with just a few years ago. As I watched, I realized how their play had grown. The imaginary scenarios they envisioned were much more complex and detailed that it had been when they were in Pre-K. I relished the few moments I stood there and observed. Because I've been around their play for such a long time, they continue in my presence without changing as they might with a new observer. Occasionally, they stopped to fill me in on their excitement with their buildings and play. I realized then what a gift it was to be able to see them engaged this way in play, years after their Pre-K experience with me. I realized I had to get some pictures of this, even if just for myself. By the time I had gone to get my camera and returned, they were in the midst of cleaning up. I promised myself if I had another opportunity that week, I would try to be ready. Later, I did get another opportunity to see them in action again. This time, they used the big hollow wooden block to build and air hockey table and were using the road signs as paddles!

I also observed them playing with these need interlocking ...blocks, tracks, I'm not really sure what they are, but they're pretty cool. We didn't have these in my old classroom, so I enjoyed watching the kids build ramps and tracks and roll marbles and matchbox cars down them at varying slopes.

I wondered how my new little group of Pre-K kids would explore with these new materials. Would they build slopes and ramps? It will be interesting to see how their play progresses through the year. For now, here's how they are using them...built in circular tracks. Who knows where the play will take them this year? Only time will tell.  (But I can't wait to watch along the way!)