Notes and Nails!

This week, we worked on two sets of homonyms with our friends at circle and in centers. We contrasted notes that you write to a friend with the musical notes that a composer writes. We discussed how you can hammer nails into wood, but you also have nails on your fingers and toes. While we did not put emphasis on the term "homonym" itself, understanding the concept is very valuable as they develop early literacy skills. Using context and picture clues, they can recognize the difference in the meanings of such words.

For notes, friends worked on several exciting projects. The writing center was open throughout the day for friends to write notes to themselves, their families, and their friends. They used inventive spelling to sound out the messages they wanted to write, and they looked to our word sticks for inspiration. On the musical note side, friends used dot markers on staff paper to compose their own music for Teacher Susan to play on her trumpet!

Friends also had the opportunity to try the trumpet for themselves, discussing the ways in which sound is made and changed in different instrument families (wind, string, etc.). Every friend was able to make a nice big sound with the trumpet, and many were eager to come back and try again.

Friends also had the opportunity to explore nails on the play yard, with polish and mallets (for both boys and girls)! They hammered nails into balsa wood, using gross and fine motor skills as well as physical strength.

Then, they expressed their individual style in picking just the right combination of colors for their fingernails. We discussed how many nails we have on our bodies and how they look and feel different from the nails that we hammer into wood.

Through all these activities, friends were able to gain a valuable understanding of a literacy concept while taking pride in themselves for accomplishing new things.

M Weeks: Music, Me, and walking a Mile!

In our long and exciting journey through the alphabet, M has been one of our most rewarding and intriguing letters yet. We talked about Moms, monkeys, mountains, mad, my, and many, many more! And, in that sweeping list, we found a few that really stuck out.

For music, we had some very special visitors. Friends interact with music every day with us- singing, listening to the ukulele, trying out trumpet, or dancing to Justin Bieber. But, it was quite a special treat to have D's dad, Mr. Rob, come in with his high school guitar class and play for us.

We sang some of our songs and learned a few new tunes from them. We put on our hats and sang a about fire fighters. We picked friends and sang about them. We stood up and danced to the music together. And, we even got to try picking the strings!

Another exciting topic for the week was "Me". We used Mirrors to look at ourselves and make self portraits. We wrote letters to ourselves about the goals we have or things we expect to happen in the future. And, we talked about how important it is to love and respect ourselves as we do our friends and family.

Finally, one of our biggest adventures yet was our MILE WALK! Friends paired up to walk a half mile out and back from the school. We compared this walk to walking the distance of a meter stick, and we discussed how the distance added up in the round trip. Friends thought about the importance of respecting the world around us as we walked through. We discussed road safety and how important it is to stick with a buddy. Then, we finished off the walk with a scary and exciting dinosaur hunt. Friends expressed a real sense of pride in their accomplishment, and they were eager to explore more next time.

Second Harvest Field Trip!

Hello Friends of the Purple Room!

We thought it was time to follow up with you all on our food drive. We've been quite busy in recent weeks, but our field trip to the Second Harvest Food Bank was definitely a highlight.

Friends worked together to move a van load of food items into the donation bin, where it will be distributed to those in need.

We took a little tour of the facility and heard about what they do there. We were very curious about who donates food and what they donate. We saw crates of fresh fruit and talked about the sponsors who donate milk, eggs, bread, and other essentials.

We even got an inside look at the distribution center!

Friends got the opportunity to ask questions about who needs food, how the food gets to them, and who gets it there. We learned that Second Harvest serves thousands and thousands of needy individuals and families, and we talked about how we could keep helping long into the future.

We got a first-hand look at the good work they are doing there and left with a sense of understanding for how important Second Harvest is to the community.

Snack Store- Math and Negotiation at Work

Recently, we have been trying to implement more math into the free-flowing curriculum of the Purple Room. Teacher Kate had the idea to use her Tea Party station as a prime learning opportunity with the snack store.

Children were given 5 Unifix cubes and the choice of several snack items for purchase at prices of 1-3 cubes. The items were priced based on estimated value of the item to the children. For instance, the tea was 1 unit while Goldfish (a very popular snack time request) cost 3 cubes. Children had to budget to give themselves the best mix of food and drink. They enjoyed the tea party as an overarching concept and got the added benefit of using their understanding of numbers to their advantage.

In the afternoon, the snack store continued, but with a change in format. Rather than the value of the individual food or drink items, the prices were based on quantity. One "unit" of banana, raisins, Goldfish, or tea cost 1 cube. The unit:cube ratio became a better value as the price went up (e.g. 1 cube= a slice of banana, 2 cubes= a hunk of banana, 3 cube= half a banana). Children had to think carefully about which items they wanted more of and how they could get the best value for their money (e.g. 2 Goldfish at 1 cube per Goldfish or a scoop of Goldfish for 2 cubes). After the children spent their first 5 cubes, I gave them another set, asking them to budget ahead and use all 5 cubes in one purchase.

Through the different store formats, they learned different meanings behind value and thought about their needs and desires in a different context. They used their social skills through negotiating power (e.g. "Can this chunk be 1?", referring to raisins priced at 1 cube per raisin). And, they used their math skills in order to plan ahead for a more well-rounded snack experience.

They were empowered by their own decision making abilities, and they were able to gain real-world experience in the value of understanding numerical concepts.

Literacy & Learning- Evolution of a Preschool Class Book

For those of you who are not aware, our friends here at Creative Minds are quite interested in books! We love to explore books on our own, read them in small groups, and listen in group story time. But, something many of our friends had not tried yet was writing a book.

Last fall, we decided to change that. The two Creative Minds Preschool classrooms worked collaboratively to come up with an exciting adventure filled with mystery, intrigue, and heartfelt friendship.

We sat down early in the fall to talk about what we would like to write about. Our first discussion actually

lead to an extensive list of what we did not want in our story, as friends were coming up with some ideas that made other friends uncomfortable.We discussed as a class what we would and would not like to happen both in the story and in our classroom.

Once we had established the ground rules, we began to brainstorm. Friends were invited to think of anything they might want in the story from character names to plot points to setting. Everyone's ideas were written down, and we talked together about which points fit best together. As you can see below, we came up with quite a wealth

of ideas.

Once we found a focus with our space plot, we still had some friends taking some pretty wild tangents (e.g. What happened next?", "What did they say?"). They still skipped around quite a lot, but we were much more able to keep focused on the characters, the setting, and the conflicts we had created. And, with the inclusion of the giraffes and the dinosaurs despite the unlikely setting, we were able to accommodate many different ideas in one (relatively) cohesive story. Our first and second drafts (with some extensively messy edits) are below."And then Spongebob came and Patrick was his friend."). I decided to get them into the real structure of the story- writing actual sentences- to keep them focused. I asked questions (e.g. "And then what happened)

With the story written, we then had to move on to illustrations. Friends worked with a variety of different mediums to create over 30 pages of art that expressed to them the sentences they chose from the story.

After months of work and much debate over the title (Ghost Fighters was the final decision), story order, and who got to illustrate which sentences, we came out with a final product we are all quite proud of. The electronic copy is provided here (Warning: It is 26 MB).

You can print it out at home or use a book printing service (such as Blurb). Please feel free to browse through it in the classroom as well. We would love to have your feedback!

Kindness and Caring

This week, we have been dealing with some wide-scope social/emotional issues. Last week, we talked about how it is everyone's job to be good to one another and help our classroom run peacefully and successfully.

This week, we're taking that a step further, discussing our duties not only to our classroom, but also to our families, our friends, our communities, and our world. We are talking not only about how to behave in a classroom, but how to treat people. Being "kindful", as L put it, is important for everyone, and we are learning about why some people might need our kindness more than we know. We discussed how people struggle every day with feelings of sadness, fear, loneliness, longing, and hunger- without ever showing us.

We asked friends to think of the hungriest moment they could remember- perhaps after skipping breakfast and spending a long morning outside. We asked them to think about that feeling they might have gotten in their tummies- rumbly, growly, empty. Then, we asked them to imagine (to the best of their abilities) that the feeling didn't go away after half an hour... an hour... all day at school... or all evening at home. Their faces shifted- not ever really being able to know that feeling, but having a distinct sense that it was not one they wanted. We helped our friends consider how someone, even a child, might grow to have that feeling. The dialogue went something like this:

Friends: They could just eat.

Teacher: But, what if there's no food in the house?

F: They can ask for some!

T:From where? There's no food in the house

F: Their mommy and daddy can go to the store for them!

T: But, what if mommy and daddy don't have money for the store?

F: ...

The "us" and "them" nature of this conversation is potentially problematic. We certainly don't want our friends worrying that they are going home or coming to school with empty tummies any time soon. But, we also want them to understand that this is a real thing that real people suffer through. This is where a tangible experience is essential. We are doing a food drive throughout the school, and we will be going into the Second Harvest Food Bank to turn in our donations and hear about what happens to the food once it gets there. Where does the food come from? Who gets it? What do they need? How do they get it? Why do they need it?

We are opening the lines of communication for a concept that can be confusing and scary to

children in stable and comfortable living environments. Knowing that there are resources in place for those who suffer makes it easier to grapple with the potential of being in that position or knowing someone who is. And, it also empowers us to help so long as we have the means to do so.

We hope you will bring donations in throughout the Food Drive, and we look forward to updating you as the project continues.

K is for Keys

Today we were discovering the keys for k week.  Our friends were given several different sized padlocks and keys to match each one.  The children had to figure out through trial and error which key opened which lock. What a fun puzzle and fine motor activity :)