SMALL DEAL OR BIG DEAL

 This will be a short blog. It took me a long time to get home tonight due to the weather.  I hope everyone else made it home safely.  

  

What wings shall I wear today?

Which board game, Princess or Zingo! 

                                                           Ship building with the small blocks.

Reading stories.

Making necklaces.

Cooking in Dress-up.

Using unifix cubes we created more AB patterns. A couple of  people took the challenge of creating an ABC pattern.

Before P.E. Ms. Castillo read Rosie Revere, Engineer to the class.

After P.E. we discussed what a big deal and small deal looks like.  The children had a lot of ideas and comments about this subject.  

Ms. Small: If the teacher says, “Come to do a have to”, is it a big deal or a small deal?

Most of the Pre-K students: Small!

Ren: Big, because what if you want to keep playing?

Charlotte: You can use your saving card.

Ms. Small: What about if a teacher asks you to go to the bathroom?

Everyone: Small!

Ms. Small: What about breaking something that someone was working on?

Most Pre-Kers: Small!

Ren: Yes, because you can build it back or build a new one.

Livio: You could say sorry, and we can ask for help.

Ms. Small: Can anyone think of a situation that is a small deal?

Brooklyn: If 2 kids are playing and one takes something from their hand, they can say, “Please give it back”.

Livio: If someone says “no” when you ask.

Eli: You can tell a grown up.

Max: If someone is mean I can go get a teacher.

Ms. Small: What would be a big deal?

Ren: If someone is laughing at you.

Livio: Or if they’re making fun of you.

Max: Punching

Farrah: Biting

Ren: Hitting or biting

Max: Kicking

QUESTIONS
What color sticker did you choose and why?  

What did Rosie Revere want to build for her great-great-great Aunt?

PATTERNS

We started working with patterns today.  Friends showed me what they knew about patterns and created AB patterns with items that have one attribute.

Bracelet and necklace making was another option.  We asked friends if they could make a pattern using the beads.   Basic mathematical concepts such as colors, shapes, patterns and counting  are all part of beading.

Friends were proud of the bracelets and necklaces.  Can you see the pattern they created? 

Pink, pink, purple,  an AAB pattern

Yellow, orange an AB pattern

Another pattern is when you sew.  Friends used a hole puncher around the edge of pieces of paper and threaded pretty ribbon  around the edge.

The children enjoy playing in the Doctor's office.  They take turns being  Doctors and patients.

Straight after group time we went outside to run around.  We got a little wet, but we were back inside before it started to rain too hard.    Mr Andrews wasn't able to join us on Friday morning for storyteller time so he joined us today and told us a story about the wind and the sun.

QUESTIONS

Can you remember which one of your classmates has the letter 'Nn' in their name

What happened in the story about the wind and the sun?

DRESS UP

The Pre-K teachers have been trying to brainstorm different ways to use our dress up clothing .  While we have enough doctors outfits for one or two days, we do not have enough  for every day of the week.  Best practice would be to leave a particular concept out for the children to explore day after day.  Due to Covid we have had to put safety before best practice and have designated one day each week for a certain type of dress up play. 

Monday:         The Doctor's office

Tuesday:         Animal and fairy wings

Wednesday:     Large fabrics

Thursday:        Capes, cloaks and skirts

Friday:            The Doctor's office

We will stay with this routine all the way through to Winter Break.  Allowing us to quarantine a box of items for one week and giving the children time to learn what to anticipate the following day.

Building with small blocks has become a popular choice the last couple of weeks.  So many different creations.  Boats, planes, bridges, castles, dungeons and Jurassic park to name a few. 

The gummy bears are an integral part of most of the small blocks creations.  Usually they are used as guards or soldiers. 

               Marissa Bader joined us for our first parent storytime.  It was a great success!  

Marissa read Should I share my ice cream? by Mo WIllems.  A great friendship story.  We even had time to ask Marissa some questions about the story.

Max: Why did the ice cream melt?

Charlotte: What flavor ice cream is it?

Marissa : Good question….what do you think? It’s green…

Everyone: Mint! Apple!

Kaia: Is there chocolate cookies in Piggie’s ice cream?

Ms. Small: How was he feeling when it melted?

Everyone: Sad!

Ms. Small: Then how did he feel when Piggy came by?

Everyone: Happy!

   

Ren: Why was there not a lot of chocolate?

We thanked Marissa for the story and headed to P.E. with Ms. Wahl.

On the way back from P.E. we noticed the shadows our bodies made on the floor of the main entrance.  We spent some time making shapes with our bodies and hands.

This morning we revisited our conversation about how to help ourselves when we get angry. I introduced the idea of tools that we can use to help us calm down.   We discussed finding a quiet place to put the tool box. When we got back to the room after P.E. we walked around looking for a good spot to set up our quiet space.  Most of the students decided we should use the leaf rug area of the room. A few students did not agree but we negotiated and worked out a plan. Friends agreed to try this area for  a few days and then make a final decision at the end of next week. 

ANGRY FACES

Before work choices we looked at photos of angry faces.  Looking carefully at how our faces and bodies change when we are angry.  These are excerpts from our conversation.

Ms. Small: Look at these faces. What do you see?

Ren: They’re boys and girls.

Kaia: They’re mad and scared.

Ms. Small: Look at the shape of their mouths. What do you notice?

Ren: Some people have different mouths. They’re open and closed.

Livio: That’s kind of a scary face.

Eli: She’s not happy. She’s mad.

Ren: She’s actually going “Aargh!”

Livio: That one’s going to punch someone.

Kaia: There’s people pushing people.

Ms. Small: What do their arms say?

Ren: Go away!

Ms. Small: When you’re at school, what can you do when you’re angry?

Ren: You can calm down. You breathe. (He gave an example of how we breathe)

Kaia: Give people a hug.

Livio: You can talk to them.

Some friends also use child's pose.

Tomorrow we will talk about other tools we have at school to help us calm down when we get angry or frustrated.

I managed to buy some protective glasses so we could hammer nails into pumpkins. A good way to develop hand and eye coordination and it's a lot of fun.

                                          We continued with our corn stalk drawings. 

                      Before going outside we read Iggy Peck, Architect another book by Andrea Beaty.  

We ended our day with a hike to  Gravity Hill.   

QUESTIONS
What did Iggy Peck's teacher say that made him sad?

What is the safe way to hold a nail when hammering?