3-Day: Digging for Dinosaurs
Dinosaurs, dinosaurs all around... your children are really enjoying our new unit studying these prehistoric creatures. We introduced them to some new vocabulary words including extinct and paleontologist! Children have been exploring dinosaur fossils at the discovery table, dino sorting, dino painting, dino stamping, dino bowling, and dino matching!
The block area has become an imaginary land of dense forest or dusty plains where many large pretend dinosaurs roam. Children have been building shelters for those less fierce than Mr. Tyrannosaurus Rex! All of these activities foster a variety of skills ranging from fine motor pincer grasp, organizational skills and communication skills to memory and sequencing skills. We have also read some great books: I Dreamt I was a Dinosaur and Dinosaurs by Gayle Gibbons.
You may have wondered on Wednesday why some of your children came home with green feet! We began a two-part project with foot stamping to create a large dinosaur mouth. We hope to have them on display by Monday. Emily and I made sure to offer a stamping alternative for children who were not interested in getting messy feet!
While all this was happening, Lindsay, a Pre-K mom, spent time with all of your children producing some creative and stunning works of art for our upcoming spring fundraiser.
Your children were very busy this week. We plan to continue our study of dinosaurs well into next week. If you have not yet done so (or even if you have) we still need lots more tissue boxes!
One of the new routines we have established is sounding a chime at random times throughout the day. Our goal is to capture the attention of your children for a tiny brief moment in time so we can connect with them to prepare them for transitions, compliment their work or notice something ordinary (or extraordinary). We are hoping they become more mindful of each other in the present moment and are able to notice small things happening nearby.
We have also started using job necklaces. Just before cleanup Emily and I make our way around the room and place a necklace on each student with a photo of the area of the room they will be responsible for during cleanup time. So far, it's worked well. It's a quieter, calmer transition from the repetitive and boisterous clean-up song.
Lastly, we want to thank you for keeping children home if they are not well. On Wednesday we had 5 children out! So keep hand washing and hydrating! Hope you all have a great weekend.
GO PATS!!