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| Another photo slideshow by Smilebox |
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Thursday, July 26, 2012
#415...The Power of Play
This article by Deborah J. Stewart certainly explains...
The power of play in the early learning environment
She has an amazing blog with many great ideas for preschool and home!
Click on the green words below for more!
“How
will my child be prepared for school if all he does is play?” This is a
fair and common question that is often asked by parents of preschoolers
and a question that can often be difficult for preschool teachers to
answer. It isn’t because the teachers don’t know the answer – but to
sum up the value of play in the learning process in one short answer is
not so easy to do…
Part of the reason it is so difficult to explain how children learn by play is because play isn’t simple – it is instead complex. Learning through play is not about children wondering aimlessly around a room dumping baskets and throwing blocks. Instead, learning through play takes a carefully prepared environment that invites young children to explore, examine, question, predict, test, investigate, trial, error, and manipulate…
Through play, learning is different for every child because every child is learning at his own pace, learning in his own style, and guided by his own interests…
So how will play help young children be prepared for school? Through play, learning is in-depth, concrete, and long-term. Play offers young children the opportunity to put into action the ideas and processes being presented so that concepts and ideas make sense and the processes can be mastered…
The best way to evaluate the power of play in any classroom is to observe children at play and then reflect on how their play is facilitating or empowering young children to reach desired learning goals and outcomes…
Another question often asked by parents is “How will my child learn his letters and numbers (academics) through play?” This is also a fair question to ask so it is important to understand and to be able to explain the difference between intellectual learning and Academic Learning…
Academic learning by definition is the stuff that is clear like the alphabet, it’s no logic, it just has to be memorized. Intellectual Learning has to do with reasoning, hypothesizing, predicting, theorizing, and so forth and that’s natural. Academic learning does need to take place but academic learning will take place within the service of the intellect. (Lilian Katz in a discussion on STEM on Bam Radio). And the most powerful way to facilitate intellectual learning is through play.
The photos shared here today are from some of our own classroom experiences. As I plan for next school year, I am using the term “Powered by Play” as my guiding force for the plans I make. For each concept or idea or learning goal we hope to achieve, I am asking myself – “How can we promote, facilitate or reinforce this skill or concept through a play experience?”
I have been sharing these posters on Teach Preschool on Facebook to hopefully inspire and enlighten others about the power of play in the preschool classroom as well as to help me continue to reflect and learn how I can best teach young children through their play in my own classroom…
Part of the reason it is so difficult to explain how children learn by play is because play isn’t simple – it is instead complex. Learning through play is not about children wondering aimlessly around a room dumping baskets and throwing blocks. Instead, learning through play takes a carefully prepared environment that invites young children to explore, examine, question, predict, test, investigate, trial, error, and manipulate…
Through play, learning is different for every child because every child is learning at his own pace, learning in his own style, and guided by his own interests…
So how will play help young children be prepared for school? Through play, learning is in-depth, concrete, and long-term. Play offers young children the opportunity to put into action the ideas and processes being presented so that concepts and ideas make sense and the processes can be mastered…
The best way to evaluate the power of play in any classroom is to observe children at play and then reflect on how their play is facilitating or empowering young children to reach desired learning goals and outcomes…
Another question often asked by parents is “How will my child learn his letters and numbers (academics) through play?” This is also a fair question to ask so it is important to understand and to be able to explain the difference between intellectual learning and Academic Learning…
Academic learning by definition is the stuff that is clear like the alphabet, it’s no logic, it just has to be memorized. Intellectual Learning has to do with reasoning, hypothesizing, predicting, theorizing, and so forth and that’s natural. Academic learning does need to take place but academic learning will take place within the service of the intellect. (Lilian Katz in a discussion on STEM on Bam Radio). And the most powerful way to facilitate intellectual learning is through play.
The photos shared here today are from some of our own classroom experiences. As I plan for next school year, I am using the term “Powered by Play” as my guiding force for the plans I make. For each concept or idea or learning goal we hope to achieve, I am asking myself – “How can we promote, facilitate or reinforce this skill or concept through a play experience?”
I have been sharing these posters on Teach Preschool on Facebook to hopefully inspire and enlighten others about the power of play in the preschool classroom as well as to help me continue to reflect and learn how I can best teach young children through their play in my own classroom…
Monday, June 11, 2012
#414...71 things!
71 things your child needs to know before kindergarten!
I may just post miscellaneous things I have found for preschool parents now heading off to kindergarten with their little one! Hope you all are enjoying you summer!
Have fun learning together through games and various experiences while still encouraging your child’s natural creativity!
Personal and Social Development
Approach to learning
- Shows eagerness and curiosity as a learner
- Persists in task and seeks help when encountering a problem
- Is generally pleasant and cooperative
- Follows rules and routines
- Manages transitions (going from one activity to the next)
- Demonstrates normal activity level
- Interacts easily with one or more children
- Interacts easily with familiar adults
- Participates in group activities
- Plays well with others
- Takes turns and shares
- Cleans up after play
- Seeks adult help when needed to resolve conflicts
- Uses words to resolve conflicts
Listening
- Listens with understanding to directions and conversations
- Follows one-step directions
- Follows two-step directions
- Speaks clearly enough to be understood without contextual clues
- Relates experiences with some understanding of sequences of events
- Listens with interest to stories read aloud
- Shows interest in reading-related activities
- Retells information from a story
- Sequences three pictures to tell a logical story
- Uses pictures to communicate ideas
- Uses scribbles, shapes, and letter-like symbols to write words or ideas
- Recites/sings alphabet
- Matches upper-case letters
- Matches lower-case letters
- Identifies upper-case letters
- Identifies lower-case letters
Patterns and Relationships
- Sorts by color, shape, and size
- Orders or seriates several objects on the basis of one attribute
- Recognizes simple patterns and duplicates them
- Rote counts to 20
- Counts objects with meaning to 10
- Matches numerals
- Identifies by naming, numerals 0-10
- Identifies 4 shapes- circle, square, rectangle, triangle
- Demonstrates concepts of positional/directional concepts (up/down, over/under, in/out, behind/in front of, beside/between, top/bottom, inside/outside, above/below, high/low, right/left, off/on, first/last, far/near, go/stop).
- Shows understanding of and uses comparative words (big/little, large/small, short/long, tall/short, slow/fast, few/many, empty/full, less/more.
Gross-Motor Skills
- Pedals and steers a tricycle
- Jumps in place, landing on two feet
- Jumps consecutively- 7 jumps
- Balances on one foot for 5 seconds
- Hops on one foot 2-3 hops
- Hops on one foot- 6 ft.
- Throws a ball with direction- 5 ft.
- Catches a thrown ball with arms and body
- Climbs a playground ladder
- Skips smoothly for 20 feet
- Stacks 10, one-inch blocks
- Strings 4 1/2″ beads in two minutes
- Completes a seven piece interlocking puzzle
- Makes a pancake, snake, and ball from playdough
- Grasps pencil correctly
- Copies: vertical line, horizontal line, circle, cross, square, V, triangle
- Copies first name
- Prints first name without a model
- Grasps scissors correctly
- Cuts within 1/4″ of a 6″ straight line on construction paper
- Cuts out a 3″ square on construction paper
- Cuts out a 3″ triangle on construction paper
- Cuts out a 3″ circle on construction paper
- Uses a glue stick appropriately
- Uses appropriate amount of glue for tasks
Creative Arts
- Identifies 10 colors: red, yellow, blue, green, orange, purple, black, white, brown, pink
- Uses a variety of art materials for tactile experience and exploration
- Participates in group music experiences
- Participates in creative movement/dance
- Makes believe with objects
- Takes on pretend roles and situations
Friday, June 1, 2012
#413...Mr. Men ...ABC The great Alphabet Hunt... Part 1
In the fours classes this year we heard a few "Mr. and Miss" books and
drew them for our letter of the week artwork. You will notice the English
influence in these videos. Examples....Cc is for currants and Qq is
for queue! There are two parts to this! I think your child will enjoy these! They are each 13-16 minutes long!
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Saturday, May 26, 2012
#409....Orange Class ...a great video from November!
I may have posted this back in the fall, but if not, here it is again! How young they seem and we didn't know at that time God would bless the class with three Avery, Lindsey, and Gretchen in January!
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