SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL: V.I.P., Sense of Self

Young children love to share their treasures and are very eager to do just that. Show and Tell is not just about giving them the opportunity to bring their special item(s) from home but a chance for children to hone their communication skills. Each child’s social, emotional and language skills will grow and develop from this activity as they increase their confidence, learn to use descriptive language, practice listening skills, and learn how to ask inquiry based questions. Sharing the things that are important in a child’s life with their friends at school connects their worlds of ‘home and school’ in such a meaningful way. Learning more about each other helps build a classroom “family” community as well as makes for a fun and comfortable learning environment for everyone involved.

We value the individuality of each child in our Cardinal class and have created an activity in which each child can celebrate his/her uniqueness. But, instead of calling it the Show-n-Tell week, we have named it the VIP Week as we feel every child should feel like a “Very Important Person”! Audrey's V.I.P. week was on April 7^th through the 11^th of 2014 and here are the items she shared with us.

“My shell I made at Turks and Caicos. This is actually mommy’s cause mine she messed it up.”

“I got it at the same place I got the shell. The hotel gave it to us.”

My favorite "piggy bank"

"This is Elsa. I don't remember where I got her. She's from the movie Frozen. She "plays a Queen."

"This is a bird I made in my other school. I used cardboard for the wings and for the beak too. I used corks for the eyes and decorated it with feathers. I sue a sock for the body."

"A picture of me when I was little. It was my mommy and daddy's wedding. I don't remember how old I was."

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT: Cooking

Providing young children with hands-on cooking opportunities make an already fun activity into a deep learning experience. It is a basic life skill that fosters competence and independence. Cooking projects are a great way to incorporate several learning concepts. It can help build children’s vocabulary, reasoning ability, and learn cause and effect.

Here we see Audrey as she eagerly prepares Irish Potatoes. When Audrey helps out with cooking, she is learning and practicing social skills as well as mathematical, scientific, and literacy concepts.

Math skills are always a part of the process of cooking since counting and measuring are included in the recipe. Using different types of measurement devices gives Audrey the chance to practice the skill of measurement and builds for understanding concepts such as fractions. Science concepts are also part of cooking experience. Chemistry comes into play as Audrey discovers how things change if you alter the environment. For instance, combining powdery and liquid ingredients becomes eatable dough. Fine Motor Development and hand-eye coordination are strengthen as she uses the cooking tools and rolls the dough into small sized balls...and teaches sequencing. Sensory Experience is provided when she smells the ingredients and tastes the ending result. Literacy and following directions skills are promoted through the practice of reading picture clues and following the steps. And, Audrey is also learning Social skills as preparing and eating foods together takes cooperation.

SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT: Cooperative Play, Board Games

Board games are wonderful learning tools for young children. They can teach important social skills such as communicating verbally, sharing and waiting, taking turns, and enjoying interaction with others as they share each other’s ideas. Board games can foster the ability to focus, and lengthen a child’s attention span by encouraging the completion of an exciting, enjoyable game. In addition to teaching young children about patience and good sportsmanship, board games also help children improve their literacy, mathematical, memory and spatial skills.

Here, we see Audrey and her peer as they play cooperatively The Ladybug Game. In their play, Audrey and her friend are sharing and turn-taking. Also, they are listening to each other’s ideas and responding politely and respectfully to one another.  

1/17/2014

Love of Books With Friends...

December 2013
Social Development
Lnaguage and Literacy

Audrey's love of books is observed each and everyday in our Cardinal classroom!  She reads after lunch on a daily basis in a comfortable chair and is often joined by her friends who enjoy listening to her 'pretend reading' aloud. She takes leadership in these experiences and the children have come to love the 'teacher Audrey'!   Throughout this year Audrey has gained confidence in herself and has established wonderful relationships with the children in the class.  When sharing a book with the children, she is very intentional and aware of details in how she 'reads'.   She carefully shows the pictures to all of the children who are listening and uses picture clues to relay the story.  Recently she has been particularly interested in reading books about birds to her friends. She carefully points out details of the birds including color and size.  

Audrey often chooses to play during Choice Time in our Dramatic play area.  Her interest and joy of role playing with her friends reflects the deeper connections she has made with her peers.   She has matured in the area of social development and works well in collaborative, cooperative

play.  Audrey loves to play with the baby dolls and it is so wonderful to see how she is able to bring her love of books and reading into her world of imaginative play with her friends!

LITERACY/LANGUAGE: Bird Study Homework, The Students as Teachers

The Cardinals took great joy at sharing their Research Study. The children had chosen a particular species of bird that they wanted to learn more about and returned to class with their findings. Along with their results, several of the children created a nest for their bird of study. Quite a few Cardinals and their families worked together to create the most outstanding habitat for their bird of choice, an amazing collaborative experience.

Each Cardinal was eager to share their found facts as well as the story of all the work that went into the creation of the nests they crafted. Without any hesitation, each took a turn and stood in front of their classmates and teachers and communicated their discoveries. Once done, they invited their audience to ask questions.  This active involvement of the speaker and the listeners fostered a great deal of developments within each child, from learning how to ask a question or stating a comment to providing a leadership role where their choice and voice was honored.

Here’s what Audrey taught us...

The Purple Finch

by Audrey Flitter

1) Nests can be 2.5 feet up to 60 feet off the ground and often built under an overhanging branch for shelter.”

2) The Purple Finch uses its big beak and tongue to crush seeds and extract the nut. They do a similar trick to get at nectar without eating an entire flower and also to get to a seed buried inside a fleshly fruit.

3) The oldest recorded Purple Finch lived to be 11 years 9 months old

4) It lives in the "forest"

5) It eats "sunflower seeds.”

When asked Audrey why she chose this bird her response was, “I studied it because I like the colors of brown and red.” 

The experience of presenting her homework provided Audrey many great developmental benefits, Literacy, Cognitive, and Social/Emotional. It offered Audrey the opportunity to understand the difference between a statement and a question as well as use descriptive language, concept thinking, storytelling, and so much more. Overall, it helped Audrey develop effective communication skills. Also, this opportunity allowed for Audrey to share her interest which fostered her emotional self.