Imagine

We asked the children if they would draw themselves as a baby. In our classroom we like to explore the same subject through different mediums. Pen and paper gave the children more opportunity for detail. They added belly buttons and fingers, hair and expressions. We used our " magic shrinking machine" to make their sweet drawings smaller. We put each child's birth date on their drawing and laminated them to use on our birthday mobile that is located in the preschool kitchen.

We started talking about babies after one of our friends said " I used to be a baby." This led to a number of discussions about babies. We asked the class to tell us something they knew about babies. They said things like,  "babies can't talk", "they stay still", "they can't walk" ," if no one is in the house with them they would cry". We put baby pictures of all our friends up on our wall. The children found themselves and they tried to find all their friends. We introduced some new babies into our classroom. We talked about how babies need to be handled gently. They need to be fed, changed and be given lots of love. All these conversations led us to realize just how big we are now. My friends can feed themselves, use the potty and so much more! We used to be babies but we're not any more. 

We set up a provocation that invited the children to make a baby out of clay. We talked about the shape of a babies head. We realized that babies have short arms and legs. We also realized that babies have all the same parts as big kids except everything is just way smaller.  Our baby sculptures are displayed in our studio if you want to take a look.

The children had a great time drawing their own free form circles. We supplied black paper and chalk. We gave the suggestion of dots or circles by setting out a tray of round objects. It was fun to watch this activity evolve into a beautiful, colorful mural that most of the children had a hand in creating.

In an extension activity "we made a dot by not painting a dot." We taped a circle onto paper and set out tempera paint. When each child felt finished with their painting we removed the circle. The children were excited to see that there was a dot in the middle of the paper . A dot where the paint was not!

We read the book "The Dot" by Peter H. Reynolds. This book is a classroom favorite about a child who is discouraged with their ability to make art. The teacher helps them realize that art can be as simple as putting a mark down on a page. After the story we talked about dots. "What shape is a dot?" We made the connection between the circles we had traced and dots.  We set out water color paints and invited the children to paint inside their circles.

We used our overhead projector again but this time we used it to trace circles. This activity allowed the children individual time with the projector. They were able to manipulate bottle caps on the surface of the projector while observing them move on the wall. We asked them to try to get all the bottle caps onto a piece of paper we taped to the wall. They also had the opportunity to trace the circles that were projected onto the paper. This tracing activity gave them an opportunity to understand that if they stand in front of the light the image was blocked. They had to step to the side to trace the circles.

We introduced the overhead projector to our class and as always it was a huge hit. We have been talking about our bodies and all the things it can do. We thought this would be a new, intriguing way for them to explore some of those things. It's always fun to watch children discover the magic that is a light projector. Watching their bodies move as a shadow is a whole new experience for them. We read the book "The Shape of Me and other stuff" by Dr Suess. It talks about how everything has a shape. This activity was a great way for the children to see their shape and to explore the way they can make their shape move.

We read the book " I like me" by Nancy Carlson and had a great discussion about the things we like about ourselves and all of the cool things our bodies can do.   On the playground today my friends showed us some of the amazing things their bodies can do.  "My body can jump!" "My legs can walk!" "I can march!" "My body can ride a bike." " My body can do this!" " I can clap my hands!" We decided to use these pictures of the children for our helper mobile. Our bodies can do so much...even be the line leader and pass out the water cups at snack time! For those of you that do not know, we have a mobile hanging in the corner of our red room with the days of the week hanging on it. This is how we assign the job of helper to our class members. If you have the time take a closer look.

We started talking about our names. Why do we have a name? Our friends had some great answers. "If we don't have a name people would call you no one" "If you didn't have a name nobody would know who you are." "Well you would still be you but people would say " what is your name?" We all agreed that names are important! One of the things we do in the preschool is help children recognize and eventually write their own name. We created a new ritual for our class that can involve a bit of parent participation. Each child has their own name rock and every morning we ask the children to find their rock and place it in the basket. If our parents have the time in the morning it could be a sweet addition to the morning drop off ritual. This week we also did a few fun name activities. The first was done on a chalkboard. We wrote their name with chalk on the board. We provided water and a paintbrush and invited them to trace over their name. We also set