Hello! This week and next week we are "Under Construction!" Our centers have been filled with many opportunities for our students to construct, build, create, share, and pretend! It has been fun to build with different types of materials in our classroom. As our week began, we brainstormed what construction workers build and named some construction trucks. We discussed and showed pictures of real construction trucks. The hippos shared their knowledge of what they already knew about these trucks and their purpose. The next day we asked the hippos what tools carpenters and builders need to construct. All of us talked about what these tools are used for and how they work. Ms. Ginny brought in her drill and drilled a hole into a wooden block. She then showed us the difference between a flat head and Phillips head screw driver. In addition, we learned that architects make blueprints before a house or building can be built. (goals:contributing as a member of a group, answering questions, respectful behaviors, listening skills)
Our dramatic play area was turned into a hardware store and construction zone. The students enjoyed shopping and restocking the shelves. Our sensory table was filled with little pebbles, scoopers and construction trucks. Other activities included making houses, cutting orange fencing and caution tape, drawing blueprints, connecting plumbing pipes/colored pipes, using rulers to draw plans, rolling a dice and placing that many blocks to make a building, playing with construction trucks in shaving cream, placing wooden pieces on S hooks, connecting roads to make shapes, doing construction yoga, sorting and weighing bolts, using trucks, pebbles and blocks with playdough and much more. In addition, we made buildings with paint and legos. Wednesday, we signed in to what we would want to build.....a house, a road, or a park (goals: fine and gross motor, counting, participating as a member of a group, taking turns, using language, comparing, sequencing, making predictions, making representational pictures)
During our 2nd Steps lesson, we continued working on ways for fair play. We focused on playing together. We also went over the steps to help us calm down. Step one, we place our hands on our tummy. Step two, we say stop. Step three, we name the feeling. Step four, we take deep breaths. We practiced doing this with different scenarios. We continued with the letter R since it was a short week.
RESPONSIBILITY is our character education trait. We read a book about being responsible then asked the students how they are responsible. We looked at pictures of children doing different things to be responsible such as cleaning up, throwing trash out, feeding a pet, helping with laundry and dishes, etc.
Books We Read
Might, Mighty Construction Site
If I Build A House
I Am Responsible
Questions to Ask
1. What items were sold at the Hippo Hardware store?
2. What do you like to build?
3. The construction trucks worked together in our book, Mighty, Mighty Construction Site. What does teamwork mean?
4. What is your favorite constructions truck?
5. What did you enjoy building with at school? (blocks, legos, pipes, magnatiles)
6. Do workers build first or draw the plans first?
Reminders
***Please send in a shoe box by Thursday, February 5th to collect your child's valentines
***Love YourSELF family event hosted by the LPA 3:00-5:00 at LECC
***Clothing Drive for St. Louis Children's Hospital Feb. 2-Feb. 27. Please send items to the classroom.
***Send Valentines in by Monday, February 9th to school. Please sign your child's name on each card. Please do NOT write who it is going to. This will help tremendously when passing out the cards to others. Also, please do not send food with your valentine cards.
***Friendship Party is Thursday, February 12th at 11:00 in the Hippo room, all are welcome
***No School, Monday, February 16th- Presidents Day
***Passport Day, March 7th
Next WeekMore Construction!!
What to practice at homeBuild with different objects such as blocks, boxes, legos, anything you can think of. Ask your child what he/she has built.
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| We continued working on the letter R this week. |
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| We cut a dirt road for lego city art activity. |
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We brainstormed all the things that construction people build.
Such as a house, building, streets, etc. |
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| We made a city our of legos and paint. |
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| Shaving cream and construction trucks. |
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| She is an architect using a ruler to make plans. |
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| It was fun to use drum sticks in music class. |
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| Pebbles, trucks and little cups. |
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| We rolled the dice and added that many blocks to our structure. |
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| Wooden pieces with holes for S hooks. |
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| Our hardware store was up and running. |
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| The hippos loved constructing with little legos. |
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| Here are pictures of kids being responsible at home. |
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| We copied signs for our hardware store. |
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| The students cut construction fencing. |
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| The students worked together to make this giant animal puzzle. |
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| The students also put little construction puzzles together. |
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| Using my tape measure to see how long the sink is. |
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| Teamwork! |
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| They loved watching the drill. |
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| Mixing colors in art class. |
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| Construction yoga |
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| Playdoh with screws, blocks, popsicle sticks, and trucks. |
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| We made different shapes with the roads. |
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After looking at pictures of architect plans, we
made our own blueprints. |
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| Everyone loved sorting and weighing bolts. |
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| We watercolored the architect plans for a house. |
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| Building with plumbing and colored pipes. |
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| Look at the signs our kids copied! |
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| Here is our construction zone. |
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| Here are lists of our brainstorming ideas. |
