This week is all about eyes and looking far away. Read on to find out why this is so important!
We ended up our week getting in some exercise in the form of hiking as far as the boundaries of our fence to the north, south, east and west (to get to places where we have the opportunity for wide open views), using hundreds of googly eyes in playdough, cloud dough and our journals! We marked our classroom with cardinal signs North, South, East and West (you can do that at home too!) and played hard inside and out:
We have several Story Time books this week all from our local library (I will return them after this week so you can check them out too!): Hiking Day (Rockwell), It’s Impossible! (Cordouroy), The Hike (Farrell), Hiking (Reagan) and Where Did Josie Go? (Buckley). The books all show the experiences of children and animals looking at things both close up and then taking in the wide open spaces. You can find out which your child likes the best! The early reader book called Hiking has a funny part of a lizard climbing in the uncle’s shoe when he took it off to get a bandaid for his foot:
E Week Activities
Here are some E things for the week you can look for in photos, conversations and backpacks!
Pie Pan Pumpkin Prints (too bad it’s not P week lol): Everyone was invited to make a a pumpkin print. This involves painting on the bottom of a pie pan, using a pencil eraser to draw facial features and then making a print with gentle patting. They are so fun.
Googly Eye sticker work: As a continuation of last week’s dot sticker work, children peeled more small stickers to place in their journal…these look like googly eyes. This requires a high degree of fine motor work…more than many of us realize!
Egg Carton painting: we finished painting cardboard egg cartons orange in preparation for a pumpkin project next week! Given the 3D nature of egg cartons, more dexterity and problem solving will be used to get in the nooks and crannies.
Eggy the Egg E: We’ve affectionally given a silly name to this week’s cardboard E. Covered in egg cartons and painted with watercolors, they got their eyes today once the paint dried enough! Given how the other Alphabet Friends are entering play, it was fun to see Eggy at the Snack Table before they even got their eyes!
Here are 3 questions to learn more about our day:
What did you eat for snack today?
In the morning we had grapes, cheese sticks and 2 kinds of goldfish. These were all leftover snacks and we are so grateful!
In the afternoon we had ghost cookies made by Annie’s mama and oranges turned into pumpkins by Annie’s mama. We said thank you to Annie and her mama. Then Malcolm brought us chips, fruit and fruit circles which he calls pepperoni. What a snack time!
Just like every class every day, the children know how to fill their cups with fresh cold water.
Where was the EAST sign?
Right under the head of a person driving a car in the Block Corner on the East Wall!
Compass Questions:
Did it work for real? No… Did it work when we turned the needle? YES!
Did it move to North, South, West or East alone? No… Could we move it to the N, S, W, E? YES!
Our cardboard and metal brad compasses were uniquely decorated by each child and then put to good use for our hikes around the classroom and playground! We hiked west to our own Dirt Mountain (which is really just a mound of dirt that we usually call Dirt Hill). I imagine there may be an increased letter recognition of N, S, W and E after today!
One friend said to make a movie of how I check the playground ( I look out first and give thumbs up if it’s safe and ready) so her mom can see it and that she would keep a serious face the whole time. Even with me talking with my cardboard compass in my mouth, she (and the others) were successful. LOL
Coping Skill of the Week: Far off gaze
This week we are exploring the “Far off gaze.” Using our eyes to look at things far away can have relaxing and calming effects.
By expanding our visual field the body is able to switch off the stress response. So, to take this one step further we can induce a state of calm and reduced stress by allowing our eyes to relax and take in a wider panorama or view, like the horizon. Looking at distant objects can also help relax eyes that are strained from close-up tasks like being on an electronic device. There is a lot of research being done on eyesight and the effects of screen time. Looking far away with a relaxed gaze is important!
This Coping Skill builds well on the last weeks where we looked at things around us by Orienting and the close hiding and burrowing by exploring Containment.
This week’s Coping Skill questions you can ask your child (and yourself!):
What is the farthest thing we can see from here? Actually naming the objects allows us to be even more in the present moment.
Can you see the tops of the trees? Name the colors or if there is any movement of the leaves.
Can you find the sunrise/sunset/moon/clouds?
BONUS: notice your breath while you’re doing this or take a deep bubble breath (deep inhale and long, slow exhale)
newcreationpreschool.com 