totally crafty.
totally not child-centered (all they did was choose a nut with eyes already hot glued on and an acorn cap for the teacher to glue on).
except for the moment they carry their nut buddy around the room and it enters their play.
w is for winter animals
we discussed ways that animals adapt to winter and hid some of our nuts to eat at home.
a paper “cave” glued to old mat board, covered with kleenex and paper towels, then nuts hidden inside.
we covered the cave hole with another kleenex.
that way families didn’t know we had nuts in there.
l is for lame
seldom do i set up a project that is so lame that we don’t continue on. don’t get me wrong, almost every project evolves once the children get going with it. what i have in my lesson plans is almost never exactly what we end up doing.
this project was supposed to provide pages and pages of wood-stamped “nuts.”
but the wood pieces didn’t hold much wood for printing or rolling, the paint wasn’t a warm brown-more of a greenish gray, the paper kept tearing. i abandoned it almost immediately.
truly a process-only experience.
t is for tube
i had no idea the joy this tube would bring. i expected cars racing through. i expected blocks racing through. i’m surprised it hasn’t been colored or covered with tape.
but i didn’t expect kids to figure out how to launch cars simply by slamming it down on a shelf. yes, it was loud.
and i sure didn’t expect the sheer JOY that the kids show in simply hauling this thing around. all classes. they just walk around with it. all around the room. no one has been knocked down yet. no tables cleared either.
amazing.
thank you, mr rob, for taking a break from cootie to bring us the tube.
h is for haiti
when a preschooler’s mama has traveled to haiti, it provides the perfect opportunity to hear what kids know.
just like the public service announcements on pbs cautioning parents in terms of children seeing too many images of the destruction of haiti, i hesitate to burst bubbles of protection that parents have created.
but in vague enough terms with plenty of compassion, preschoolers shared what they knew about the devastation in haiti.
and dr. jenny, we wish you well as you travel home. thank you for sharing your gifts with the world.
