The fist day of Bike Week, our discussion opened with the rules for safety. Children talked all about what they thought was safe and unsafe, as well as ways to stay safe and/or avoid hazards while biking.
After all the rules got laid down by the children, our discussion moved to the history of bikes. We talked about bikes in the olden days and how they evolved into modern bikes. Seeing the old versus new bikes, friends realized what were the most important parts of the bike, without which there was no ways to ride it. Doing the compare-and-contrast, the children declared that the handle, wheels, and seat were the priority no matter what else the frame of the bike held!
This also led us into the anatomy of bikes, where we learned new vocabulary for the different parts of the bike. Knowing more words was exciting to everybody. Then we put our learning onto paper as friends wanted to draw their own bikes...
It's great to see them here putting a three-dimensional image into a two-dimensional drawing. This is such a great activity for their cognitive development! Our children also thought outside the box and created scooters in addition to bicycles.
Other friends worked on a collaborative group project where they envisioned themselves riding their bikes. There was a lot of discussion at this table in regards to teamwork -- who will make the sky and land -- with impressive delegation, division of work, and negotiation! It's always a thrill to see our friends applying these skills in different contexts.
Riding...
The parking lot was cleared for our bikers to bike freely with enough space to explore...
During the week, friends communicated their interest by making bike art using found materials.
They helped me brainstorm materials and we fetched them from the cabinet together.For example, they found circles and foil cup cake wrappers for wheels (signifying the metal look) and straws and popsicle sticks to make the body frame, and corks and foam packaging materials for spongy seats and other parts. Such creativity!
Every friend had their own choice of what materials they wanted to use to create their bikes/scooters. The supporting documentation of "tell me about your bike" was as fascinating as their creations!
During a circle time discussion, a friend bought the topic of license plates and everybody was so excited to know more about what license plates are for and how to get them. We had a rich two-way discussion between teachers and children, sharing our observations and experiences with license plates. We learned that they involve the county, the DMV, registration fees, stickers, renewals, online payments, and letters and numbers. As a result, the next day friends created their own customized license plates for their bikes so that their bikes were now legal to hit the road. :) I opened a pretend DMV office for them where they came to "pay" their registration fees and get the new year's sticker...
Coming to get and put the sticker, learning about waiting in lines... one of the most familiar aspects of the DMV ;)
Later each child got to put their plates on their vehicles...below is just an example of what each child did...
After all our hard work celebrating our bikes, we enjoyed making English muffin pizzas together. We snacked them and went out to hit the road (I mean the parking lot) again. :)
We also talked about how to stay hydrated and made a berry smoothie that's high in antioxidants to cool off in the midst of the hot week. Teacher Kristina has work experience at Jamba Juice and she taught us all about the right mixtures and the right indication to see when the smoothie is ready. A great tip to share is that when you see a swirl in the blender jar at the top, that means the chunks are out and the smoothie is ready to be enjoyed!
With all this ongoing learning and fun, we ended our bike week by taking our bikes home the last day. The kids wished bike week would last forever!
Keep seeing you all around,
Hugs,
Teacher Rashida
