Pre-K: Farms, Families, Fizzing and Frankenthaler

Nov 2, 2019

4 min read

"Ff" week was filled with fizzing, floating, friendship, farms, families, Helen Frankenthaler and HALLOWEEN!!!

Language and Literacy

Our week started by making a Friendship Chain - each child got a strip of paper on which they wrote their names and then decorated, using stamps, markers and colored pencils. We gave links to each of the other classes and will link them all together to have one long Bowen Friendship Chain! We also read The Big Umbrella and created a Pre-K Friendship Flag; after discussing words that describe friendship, we chose 4 and assigned one to each of the shapes - circle, square, triangle and heart. The children completed this introduction to coding and representation by choosing one of the shapes/qualities, writing their name on it and gluing it to our Friendship Flag. Take a look - it’s hanging in our classroom!

We had a special treat on Halloween; Miss Priscilla, former Bowen 3-Day teacher and Director, stopped by to read Halloween books and sing Halloween songs! Ask your child if they had a favorite.

Math and Science

Children created their family homes by gluing together large squares, triangles, small squares (windows) and small rectangles (doors). The following day, using round, red stickers, children placed the members of their families in their houses. They wrote the number of people living with them on their homes as well.

We are starting to ask children to look at a group of numbers and order them from smallest to largest. Using green slime as grass and numbered popsicle sticks as the fence, we asked children to build sections of our farm fence. They did a great job, and followed up on that work by using pumpkins and spiders on Halloween to count and compare additional groups of numbers.

Martine’s science work this week revolved around the idea of Fizzing! In honor of Halloween, she brought in tiny plastic pumpkins for each child and they worked at our tables with vinegar and baking soda to create fizzy pumpkins! She incorporated spoons and eyedroppers to add the baking soda and vinegar so that children had a chance to use their fine motor muscles without even realizing it.

Art

It was a big art week in Pre-K, although, it evolved in ways that we didn’t entirely expect. Our first project was to create Funny Faces. First, we practiced our own, and then each child was given a blue, a yellow and a red strip of paper. They chose which they wanted to be the eyes, which would be the nose and which would be the mouth and made the funniest features they could on each. Then, they glued the strips onto black paper and voila! Funny Faces galore.

We looked at the paintings of Helen Frankenthaler this week as well, and revisited the idea of abstract art. We talked about how she used canvases that hadn’t been “primed,” so that all of the paint she used really sunk into the canvas, especially because she used unusual painting tools. Looking at her paintings, children told us what they thought they saw in the work. Then, using funky painting tools, they ground paint into our canvas, and it is now hanging in the entryway to Pre-K! Be sure to take a look.

HOWEVER, the most exciting part of our week was unintentional. A few children caught sight of the box our long canvas came in and asked if they could have it. We handed it over and they proceeded to use tape, markers and scissors to create the most amazing rocket ship we’ve ever seen. Martine had the fffffabulous idea of asking children to tell us a story about it, and this is what they created, building off of each other (sort of):

Rowen: These are the parts of the rocket. If you press, that’s the parachute; that’s the copilot’s seat. The regular rocket seat is there; there’s the engine, the battery…

James: I have the other parts. This is the battery tank; this is the flame for it blasting off. This is the driver’s steering wheel.

Connor: This is the cab; this is the start button.

Lucas: The rocket is blasting and there is a person at the steering wheel. There are little air bags for emergencies.

Nate: Then, someone was in the battery seat and they were about to crash into Mars and the evil alien was there and I pressed the emergency button.

Martin: The evil alien came out with its head off and the big jetties on the planet stomped the evil alien.

Story: Then, nobody could see us and the rocket landed down and then back up.

Ashwin: The fire turned off, so, the rocket ship fell down because the driver wasn’t taking the controls.

Hazel: When they were in the air, the battery opened and the aliens fell out.

Zafi: The rocket ship pressed the emergency button and the rocket twisted.

Madeline: The rocket landed on the moon.

Connor: The rocket went back to earth.

Rowen: The rocket landed in the ocean and a helicopter came to pick it up and landed on the ship with the rocket.

Nate: The rocket ship blasted way off, when I fixed the engine, and went to the moon.

James: The rocket landed on the moon again and then the evil aliens went inside for dinner.

Hope: The aliens ate pasta.

Story: Then, the rocket ship landed on a parachute in a hole and then went back in outer space and the aliens decided to drive.