Since Labor Day was approaching, and knowing our kids' ongoing interest in firetrucks, the Purple and Blue Room teachers decided to talk about the various community helpers who work hard to keep our community and neighborhood a safe place to thrive! We had various guest speakers over the course of two weeks, including community guests as well as our wonderful parents who shared about their unique professions. We added community helper dress-up materials and props to our housekeeping area and different fiction and nonfiction books to our library. Our class also labeled each other as community helpers when friends were extra thoughtful, helpful with cleanup, etc. Our classroom is our own community and we can all be helpers!
Here's a picture of our children taking on the roles of firefighters, police officers, doctors, and even dressing up like Disney characters. Disney? When we asked them how could Disney characters be community helpers, our friends said that Disney characters have super powers that could help police officers and firefighters if needed to keep the classroom safe. Talk about thinking out of the box!
The speakers talked about many important jobs around the community:
Recycling!
Miss Teressa from the recycling/waste management company talked about what recycling is and the importance of having things recycled. She also read a fun book called "Michael Recycle" that our friends loved to hear!
Later we did an activity where children had to find the recycle sign on different materials...
It was interesting to see that some signs looked different (white on black, black on white, raised plastic with no ink, different sizes, different numbers inside). Yet each of our friends could find the sign even when it was as tiny as you can imagine. They were so proud to do this even during lunch time and dispose of their containers accordingly!
We also went outside to look for the recycle sign. Our friends found it and looked closely at the recycling dumpster.
Soon the garbage truck appeared and to our excitement we saw the entire process of dumping the garbage into the truck's rear bin. In the end, the garbage truck driver even honked goodbye to us! What a great end to the recycling unit!
Plumber!
We also had a plumber, Mr. Dick, who happened to be here to fix a broken sprinkler. He showed us some interesting stuff and asked questions to engage our kids. He showed us some interesting tools and the pipe work underground.
He gave us a tour of his special truck with special materials...
Later that day we encountered the water company person who showed us all about the water main. (They were here to follow up on the plumber's work.) It was great for the children to see how everybody needs to work in a team - just like we help each other at school, grown-ups in our community have different jobs that work together to get things done for us.
The water company man opened the main with his special tool and showed us what was underneath...
Our friends were busy asking questions from a safe distance away, making the learning fun!
We learned a little bit about the pressure gauges and valves inside...
Librarian!
Miss Ila from the San Jose Public Library talked about the job of a librarian and read a few books to us. She even did a lot of music and movement as well as a flannel board story that our friends loved to participate in. It was fun and interactive!
An additional special "thank-you" to our Creative Minds super moms who came to talk about their jobs!
S's mom Kimberly from Purple Room is a
social worker. She came in to talk to about her work with children as well as all about emotions and feelings, which is always a big topic for this age group. We learned a little American Sign Language as another way to express our feelings too.
D' s mom Julie from Blue Room is a
personal fitness trainer. She put us all through an entire workout, explaining to the children how important it is to exercise and stay fit. Our children could do every bit of it until the end with the same energy level, and some were even asking for more! Not sure about the teachers, though ;)
Thank you to all the other parents who were scheduled to speak, but due to various reasons, couldn't come. (We know life happens!) We really appreciate your coming forward and your willingness to share all about your work and profession. Our doors are always open, even now that our official community helper week is over. Feel feel to volunteer anytime!
Friends later brainstormed different community helpers that they have come across in their lives and different professions that they know about. We then discussed their dreams of what they want to be when they grow up and why. Some of the top results were nurse, doctor, firefighter, engineer, architect, artist, scientist, and mommies :)
H making herself as to what she wants to be...this is her doctor's costume!
We also became
bakers when we baked our own apple pies. We learned all about the bakery and food prep hygiene. Friends also designed special chefs' hats and called ourselves "Chef" all day. For example, I was called Chef Rashida :)
Peeling the apples with a special peeler machine...
Enjoying the strips of apple peels...its texture and its taste.
Set to start the apple pie project...
Cutting the apples in fine chunks...
Filling the dough with apples...
Adding sugar and cinnamon for flavor...
Rolling and folding the dough with the filling inside...
A thumbs up from S for such a successful baking result! Yummy!
A smile from N who is relishing every bite of his pie creation!
During the past few weeks we performed many science experiments too.
Squirting water colors on a shaving cream surface, twirling it with a skewer, watching the mix of color streaks, and....
...taking a print of it on the paper. It was interesting to note how the paper soaked up all the streaks and left a beautiful print behind.
We also did balloon painting as art which turned into an experiment. Friends noticed how the balloons with paint on the outside, when left aside, rested in a standing position while the balloons without paint rested in a sleeping position. We learned about the painted side getting heavier and thus the balloon gravitating toward that side. We then threw inflated balloons on the paint and it was fun to watch them stand upright as soon as the balloons caught the paint.
Friends wanted to do more experiments and so we spent more time trying out various experiments and learning the science behind it!
We filled the Ziploc bag with water and friends poked skewers from one side thought the bag to the other. Yet no water spilled...
Many such skewers were poked and yet no water was running out of the bag. Everybody gasped!
Now friends pulled out the skewers one by one discovering many streams flowing out!
L even shut a hole with his finger trying his best to stop the water from pouring. However, the water still found its way around the side of his fingers!
Our friends were really interested in the concept of water magnification from the time a few weeks ago when we had done the water cylinder/shaving cream/ food color experiment. As a result we performed another one but with a little magical twist. Two arrows were drawn on paper facing the same way: to the left.
However, when the print was moved backward very slowly, the direction and the length of the arrows seemed to change! Tada... I was soon called Magician Teacher Rashida! Hahaha! Well here we had to reveal the trick in order to stay safe from all the bombarding questions of our smart children ;)
Friends wanted to see their face magnification and each one posed for it. Some are easier to identify than others depending on how far back they were from the cylinder. Guess who each one is! :) :)
Next using the same cylinder concept, we worked on density. Our children are already familiar with this word since we have been encountering it in lots of experiments.
Here we took five different materials with different densities and saw how they stack up one over the other without interfering with each other.
This picture doesn't do much justice to the actual conclusion of the experiment. The materials from bottom to top go as follows: dark corn syrup, dish liquid, colored water, oil, and colored alcohol.
The Wubblex...
It was fun to explore the concept of helium. We saw some educational videos on what helium is. Friends quickly learned two concepts: one, that it is a gas, and the other, that it is much lighter than air and thus is floats away. The Wubblex kit came with a balloon/ball made of a special material and a little can of helium. After filling the ball, we played different kind of games with it and observed its behavior.
Some cherished moments of our most recent Apex Gymnastics field trip...
Our pre-k is on a roll. With the feeling of being the older and distinguished group, our pre-k friends are ready to make the most out of their half-hour session. Some pictures of our pre- k children's dedication...
Keep seeing you around!
Hugs,
Teacher Rashida
