iPads in PreK

iPads have come to PreK. Yes, the children are using the new iPad that I got for being a part of an Austin ISD program - Technoscientists. This is my 3rd year in the program and it really helps encourage teachers to get the latest technology into the hands of their children. These little "digital natives" had no problems finding an app that they wanted to work on together... an alphabet and number matching game. There are so many free or almost free applications on iTunes that they have many choices. I have found apps to support children as they learn to write the alphabet letters and numerals, count objects, sort shapes and colors, draw pictures, "write" their own tunes, talk to a talking Tom Cat, who will echo their words, listen to ladybug songs, complete puzzles, listen to animal sounds, and so much more. During center time, the iPad and the iPod Touches are always a favorite choice, as well as the classroom computers which have starfall.com on them. Next Tuesday, the children will go to our new Mac computer lab. This is a wonderful time for technology in education.

PreK Plants Their Fall Sq. Foot Garden

The Ladybugs added fresh compost to their square foot gardens today and planted purple asters, broccoli, cabbage, rosemary transplants and seeds - beets, turnips, lettuce, spinach, and chard. What was one big 8 foot x 4 foot rectangle, is now 32 one foot x one foot squares. Since we had marjoram and fennel is 3 of the squares from last year, we will continue to plant until we fill up all of the squares. The children will go to their garden several times each week to weed and water, as well as make journal entry drawings of what they are observing - both plant life and animal life (mostly insects and spiders). The fall/winter gardens seem to reap the best harvests because of our mild winters. We are already looking forward to the harvest...young children will get a sense of time and the life cycle of the plant as they wait for that harvest.

How Many People Are In Your Family?

We have been reading and learning about families this week. The children have used cubes to count family members, drawn pictures of their families, written little books about a fun time that they had with their families, and paint stamped the males and females in their families. This graph easily shows the children that some of them have very small families and others have very large families; some have more boys in their families, some have more girls. Read and using graphs help the children make comparisons between similar groups.

Digital Microscopes in PreK

Pre-K students are observing nature in a new way! By using digital microscopes, the students were able to get a "zoomed in" view of acorns, seeds, feathers, bark, various dead insects, frogs, and lizards. They soon learned that they could also take a picture of their specimen. It is the center of choice. Now when the children go outside they are looking for bits of nature to bring back to the science center. Listening to the conversations in the center can be very reveling..."Look, black, white, black, white (looking at a feather)." "I see the bugs eyes." "What is that green stuff (looking at bark)?"

PreK Cooks with Blue in Mind

This is BLUE Week and the prek students are cooking everyday. It started on Monday by making blueberry Jello for tomorrow's snack...and today's snack was a tasty blueberry smoothie. By adding one carton (from our cafeteria) of fat free milk, several large spoons of low fat yogurt, and 1/3 cup of fresh blueberries to a blender, the students were treated to a very healthy blue snack. They will be making blueberry mini-muffins tomorrow for Wednesday's snack. Since it is also our week to focus on our sense of smell, the students played with their new homemade play dough. The red smelled like raspberries, the blue smelled like peppermint, and the purple smelled like vanilla. They will have another wonderful smelling snack on Thursday - popcorn. On Friday, also YELLOW Day, the children will make their own YELLOW, lemon flavored play dough. They will also be squeezing lemons to make fresh lemonade to go along with their banana snack. Next week we will focus on our sense of taste...more opportunities to cook:)

Technology in the PreK Classroom

Using technology in our classroom might include using the classroom desktop computers or the computers in our school computer lab, iPod Touches, iPods, digital microscopes, digital cameras, flip video cameras, a Mimio Interactive System, or the Innovation Station shown here. Over the year, students will become more and more proficient using these tools. They are very fortunate that I participate in several technology/science collaborative groups which encourage and support technology in the pre-k classroom. Since I am not going to post pictures with student photos on this blog, I have used picnik.com to "hide" the face of a student using the computer on the Innovation Station. The student is clicking and dragging objects to a counting frame, following an oral direction on http://illuminations.nctm.org/ActivityDetail.aspx?ID=74.

I Can Label!

The students are learning all about their bodies and its parts. They have sung Head, Shoulders, Head and Toes, Put Your Hands Up In the Air, and various other body part tunes. They also have had an opportunity to label the parts of their body on the interactive bulletin board in the science center. The common assessment for the pre-k team this week was to label the body parts. I was amazed of the extra parts that some of the students names, such as wrist, cheek, and chest.

Learning Colors in PreK

First Red Week and now Blue Week. The students have been enjoying their focused color weeks. On Friday, every student had a shade of blue on...from turquoise to navy. They also brought in some blue items (see picture) to share with friends and will continue to look for blue around the classroom, the school, and outdoors. They will be surprised this week to find new homemade playdough...red that smells like strawberries and blue that smells like...I haven't decided:) I'm looking forward to Yellow Week next. We will be making fresh lemonade and eating bananas.

Magnets and Making Collections in PreK

Our week began by exploring the strength of magnets. The children learned about how magnets ATTRACT materials containing iron. After teaching a lesson, I heard a student telling another student that it (the magnet) attracted the paper clips because they had iron. Today we made "collections". I gave each group of 4 students a pile of objects. Their task was to group them into a collection of things that were alike. Most of the children began sorting the groups into collections by color, but a few students began sorting the objects by like kinds...all the cars, all the cats, etc. Again, I heard a student talking about her COLLECTION. Throughout a persons life, they learn the meaning of new words...this is also true about the pre-k students in the ladybug classroom!