i dabble in the handwriting without tears curriculum. mostly i am fascinated by the desire to make letter writing easily successful for children. one thing we do that is handwriting-withou- tears-ish is give craft sticks or wide gross grain ribbon strips to form the letters. here we have a 5 stick capital E:
i am so thankful for these paints…found by a preschool mom at the thrift shop.
moisten (or drench) in water for bright colors. they are more like chalk than watercolor. lots of projects to come with these.
one of the school concepts i introduce the children to is “standing in line.” like most of the skills and concepts , i don’t expect mastery. a spontaneous game of store during work time was a great opportunity to practice.
i made a path of colored duct tape that was only wide enough for one child.
p.s. for sale in this store was anything in the classroom, including kleenex. : )
when the words “science experiment” or “let’s go to the kitchen” are spoken…there is obvious excitement.
here was one of our science experiments (done in the kitchen!) for e week:
it really is an amazing experiment. one litle guy said, “okay. i. am. doing. this. at. home. with. my. dad.” consider yourself warned, russ.
and after our egg floated, we looked at our drawings from the days before of circles and ovals (to remember the shape of eggs). then took our journals and drew the egg either sinking or floating
or drew many eggs in the jar because “that would have been even cooler.”
those preschoolers who are not drawing circle or oval shapes yet were very successful making scribble shapes for the water.
we had a wooden brown egg in the middle of each table as a still-life prop and gentle music playing in the background.
really very nice.
maybe i should say egg-stra nice. : )
p.s. this egg was still safe to eat!
techincally this should be a is for apple tree, but we make these trees for many reasons during a school year.
one class made the trunk, one class made the leafy top, and then we added apple print apples.
this was the first painting project of the school year. i intentionally gave brushes, but gave no instruction on whether to use hands or not. most of the children used their hands and some of the children were vocal about being grateful they didn’t have to!
after painting, the children carry their brushes to the bathroom sink to “help” rinse them out. as is true with many things, it may be easier (and neater) to have a teacher wash them all at once but their ownership in completing the process is clear.
newcreationpreschool.com