Our very amazing rocket ship has been a great place for imaginary play where our friends have been having blast off on journeys to outer space and meeting planets and aliens and all sort of fascinating things. They pack their food, dress up, and get ready to step in the rocket ship for their mission. At the end of their play, they tell us about their journey and experiences. Their stories are one in a million - hilarious, imaginative and full of thrills and adventures. When the rest of the group hears them, it's that one moment when the entire class is laughing out loud together!
Last week, still being inquisitive about the Milky Way, we watched a short related video clip (they love seeing how space looks in reality). We learned about the billions of stars in the Milky Way and even black holes, and later worked to create our own.
We first sprayed our black fabric with white spray and then using a spiral motion, friends created the Milky Way...
Adding sparkles for billions of stars...
Adding foil as big stars or as black holes...
Other activities they loved using stars were...
Beading jewelry using sparkly star beads (fine motor skills in action!)...
Creating frames and constellations using star paperclips...
Friends have also been talking about aliens in their stories and were curious to know who they are, where they come from, and much more...of course when it's outer space, this topic cannot be neglected ;) ;)
According to our friends, aliens look different and some look scary while some are friendly, they talk like "aaaaaaaa" that we cannot understand, and can come from anywhere in space, mostly Mars!
Drawing our version of aliens...
The next day we introduced them to a big block of clay and learned a trick to cut it in slabs using dental floss...friends cut enough slabs for each friend to use one.
Later we pounded the clay, felt it, and using our fingers as tools started carving our aliens, after which we even decorated them and made wonderful stories. Everyone wanted their aliens to be friendly in order to be able to play with them...
Looking at their interest and persistence, the next day we worked on two head mannequins to transform them into aliens...we had two groups working on two heads as teams...
Beginning with taping the neck...
To make a strong foundation we started patting clay from neck to head..
Covering the face and using fingers shaping the eyes...
The other group working on their alien head...
In the end, rubbing on water to make the surface smooth...
This time we did not give them any materials to add to the aliens, and rather let them choose their own. They went all around the classroom looking for things by themselves and planning how to incorporate them in their clay models. It was interesting to see them come with a variety of things and very interesting to see how they used them.
Adding accessories...
The final alien models according to them were a boy and a girl named Mr. Gem Sophia Charlotte and Ms. Rainbow Sun Balloon respectively...
Later in the week, S and A were interested in braids and brought three pipe cleaners and asked teachers to tape it on the table so they could braid. What an amazing idea and a great skill to learn...
Beginning last week, all the four year olds wanted to do things that their older siblings do at school. They all wanted to do Pre-K related stuff and feel like a distinguished group. Thus, teachers started to keep an exclusive Pre-K table for related activities.
We hope to do this daily, but it will be at least twice a week in the mornings for sure. A few shots of my dedicated and hard working Pre-K friends...
Making their special journals...
Working on lesson 1- basic lines and curves :)
They wanted to do math on a worksheet, so this one was what they chose...
It's wonderful to see their self-esteem grow as they feel like the older group wanting to take the lead -- be it helping a friend or a teacher, they just feel so proud!
Each day is a day of fun, learning, and growing for all of us. We love to be the Purple Room team and have all sorts of adventures together, and we look forward to even more!!
See you all around!
Hugs,
Teacher Rashida
