Reflecting upon October and November

Reflecting upon October and November

Taking a closer look at fall

The children researched the seasons changing through observation, drawing, and painting. We collected leaves from outside and observed them in the water table, and then placed them on the light table. They explored the differences in color, shape, and textures. The children drew and painted the fall landscape using brown, yellow, orange, green, and red tempera paint.

Teaching Strategies Objectives Met:

7. Demonstrates fine-motor strength and coordination

a. Uses fingers and hands

b. Uses writing and drawing tools

24. Uses scientific inquiry skills

25. Demonstrates knowledge of characteristics of living things

26. Demonstrates knowledge of the physical properties of objects and materials

27. Demonstrates knowledge of Earth’s environment

28. Uses tools and other technology to perform tasks

Exploring gourds through observation, dissection, drawing, and painting

We presented the children with gourds of various shapes, sizes and colors. They used their senses to inspect the gourds further. The children identified the gourds as smooth, bumpy, round and long. To strengthen their understanding the children drew pictures of the gourds using black markers. Next, we provided the children with yellow, red, green, orange, and white paint to further represent the gourds. Using their paint brushes the children made long, short, and quick strokes to represent the lines and bumps on the gourds. Our last step in our gourd exploration was dissection, the children used tweezers and a magnifying glass to investigate the contents of the gourds.

Teaching Strategies Objectives Met:

7. Demonstrates fine-motor strength and coordination

a. Uses fingers and hands

b. Uses writing and drawing tools

24. Uses scientific inquiry skills

25. Demonstrates knowledge of characteristics of living things

26. Demonstrates knowledge of the physical properties of objects and materials

27. Demonstrates knowledge of Earth’s environment

28. Uses tools and other technology to perform tasks

Investigating Roads

The children have continued to show an interest in cars, roadways, and traffic signs. We have created roadways using a large sheet of white paper, black construction paper, glue, and traffic sign stickers. The children worked together placing and aligning the black pieces of construction paper to create a road. We continued to strengthen the children's understanding of the roads by taping familiar places(Target, Meijer, McDonalds, and local bakeries) on a sheet of paper. We provided the children with cars with markers taped on them. They drove their cars to the various places, creating a line/roadway on the large sheet of paper.

Teaching Strategies Objectives Met:

3. Participates cooperatively and constructively in group situations

a. Balances needs and rights of self and others

b. Solves social problems

30. Shows basic understanding of people and how they live

31. Explores change related to familiar people or places

32. Demonstrates simple geographic knowledge

Shadow Building

We noticed the children are very interested in building different types of structures. To extend the children's interest and thinking we focused on creating structures in front of a light source and observing how the image is projected on the wall and/ or the floor.

Teaching Strategies Objectives Met:

21. Explores and describes spatial relationships and shapes

a. Understands spatial relationships

b. Understands shapes

24. Uses scientific inquiry skills

26. Demonstrates knowledge of the physical properties of objects and materials

Exploring Ramps, Tubes, and Pathways

We have provoked the children's interest in movement and motion by presenting them with cardboard tubes, downspouts, PVC pipes and slides. The children manipulated the objects in a variety of ways by connecting them together, prompting them up on surfaces, and shaking them.