Imagination Station at the Playground

I'm always looking around trying to find new and different things for my class to bring to the playground. We spent a lot of time outside each day and I strive to make it creative, educational, and fresh. 

When I saw a bag of pool noodles, I couldn't resist. 

I had one rule: they couldn't be weapons. Weapons don't belong at school. 

I only post pics of my kid without permission, but here are a few examples of what they were. They were fishing poles, baseball bats, electric giitars, antlers, hockey sticks and horses. They were also trombones, trumpets, drum sticks, tubes, gutters, fire hoses, and blocks to build a raft with. The possibilities are endless! 

Falling into Autumn!

This year, I've added a new time to my class schedule, which I call 'Storytime'.  Each week I pick a theme, not necessarily the same that we are focusing on the rest of the day, and read a different book about the theme each day. This is a time when kids are taking turns for the bathroom and usually just waiting in transition. 

Before we begin reading the book I've selected, the kids jump once for each word in the title as we count how many words there are and we look clues on the cover about what the book might be about. As we read, the kids identify each character they meet, saying "Ahhhh! New character!" We talk about the problem as it arises and then make guesses about how the problem will be solved. I always ask, "How can we find out the solution?" They love to answer, "Turn the page!" 

My favorite part of this time is after I close the book. My students use the materials provided to retell the story. One day they pretended to mail each other zoo animals in shoe boxes and told why each animals wasn't the right pet for them. (!Dear Zoo) Another day they made a multicolor train and a long track for it to go, go, gone on. (Freight Train)

This week's theme was autumn leaves. We read Let it Fall, The Leaves on the Trees, Going on a Leaf Hunt, and a nonfiction book about leaves. Afterwards they used log blocks, fabric and paper leaves, and rakes to retell the stories and share the facts they learned. They counted leaves, compared colors and shapes, and made piles to jump in. 

It was so fun, we are going to stick with this theme next week! 

Beating the Bathtime Blues

Z-man actually loves the bath. He swims, makes up story lines, splashes...he doesn't want to get out!  But he doesn't want to get in either. Changing activities is not his most favorite thing right now. 

The other day, I really needed him to stop playing legos and bathe. Cousins were coming and he was grody and it just needed to happen. Right then. And I didn't want to fight. 

So I gave him a challenge: who could build the better submarine, me and Z or daddy? Next thing I knew he was tip-toeing around the piles of legos on the floor racing for the bathtub to see which sub was best. Even though our crooked boat lost (on the left), this challenge was definitely still a win! 

To-do-ing Together

It's important to me that my guy helps out with our family's to-do list. I want him to grow up with an understanding and an appreciation that things just don't magically happen. Washed clothes in drawers. Clean plates to eat off of. Toys where he can easily find them. Meals ready to eat. These things have to be done, they aren't just done.

So, Z-man has several tasks around the house that he gets to help with. I've explained that I need his help doing these things and he seems pretty eager to do them. Z loads his laundry into the washing machine using a tall IKEA stool. He loves looking in as the water fills and putting his clothes in. This came about after Z wanted to wear the same soccer jersey with a star on it every day. I started asking him to help me wash it. Now, he asks has "can we wash this tonight?" if he wants to wear something again the next day. 

Now that I've relinquished all my control over his outfits, I leave his clothes on his bed and he sorts them into drawers of unfolded clothes (socks, boxers, shirts, shorts). 

When I am ready to start the dishwasher, Z-man puts the soap in the door and closes it up, pressing the button twice to turn it on. 

When I am sweeping and organizing, he often gets his little dustpan to help me sweep up the piles. (Piles that often seem much more difficult to wrangle when my little helper is nearby.) 

I give him little tasks as we go through our days looking for certain things at the grocery store, putting his trash in the trash can, pulling the sheets up on the bed. These tasks are much quicker when I just do them myself, but like most things in my life, they seem much more meaningful when we do them together. 

A Balancing Act

The weather has been so amazing, that I can't justify making my students come inside. Instead, I've taken my lessons outside. 

We brought our small classroom scale to the sand park with us. We added sand to both sides, trying to balance the sides. Shells, shovels, and other random items were weighed as well. 

Then, we super sized it!  Using a broom handle, strong string, two 5-gallon  buckets, and a structure on the playground, we made a giant scale. The kids had so much fun balancing the aides, trying to fill one bucket to be heavier. Until, the broom stick snapped! One of my students suggested we try again with pipes. We just might have to try it! 

Happy Mudder's Day!

What a wonderful "Mudder's" Day I had!  As I've posted about before, Z-man's dad's family has a Mother's Day party each year and this year, I was there to participate!

Z-man helped me prepare my gifts to give the other mothers in the family:
We sawed a mailing tube into inch and a half sections. For a three year old, there is pretty much nothing better than getting to use a saw.  Then, he wrapped colored tape around each section cut from the tube.  Several overlapping layers of tape on each.  We did this a little at a time over several days. I added tape around the middle to clean up the look and mod-podged each one completing the colorful bracelets! 

We added hand sanitizer or lotion, wrapped them in tissue paper, and viola!

Z-man noticed that most of the mothers were wearing them later that day!

Mother's Day to my #1 hero, role model, cheerleader, and friend, my own mama and the other mamas who inspire, support, and love on me and my guy. I am most definitely a mama suerte!

Compost Continued

My mom, also my director, told some other early childhood professionals about my students and their compost bin. Immediately two of them pointed out that the moisture in the bin had no way to drain and the bugs would drown after a big rain. Oh no.

I brought this predicament to my students. After explaining the problem and why this was a problem (drowning= dead),  I encouraged my students to make suggestions a it how to solve this problem. Many of them had suggestions: It's okay, we will just get new worms if these die. (After some consideration, we decided this was unfair to the worms.) Poke holes in the plastic so the water can drain out of the bottom. (Great idea, but we borrowed the container so it wasn't ours to destroy.) Dump out the water after it rains. (But what if we aren't here to do it, like in the evening or on a weekend?) Fill it to the top so that there is no space for water to get in. (Water can get in very small holes and fill it like a sponge.) Cover the holes with tape.  (Then no air can get in.) I just sat back and let my students consider and debate different choices.
Then one student suggested we make a lid for our lid.  A lid that had lots of space for air and bugs, but blocked almost all of the holes from the rain so only some moisture could get in.  They debated this.  What could we use to make this lid? How can we hold it on? Will it be successful? My students selected a large bucket and thought about string, glue, tape, or zip ties (a material we use a lot in my class).  They chose zip ties and worked together to assemble it.

After the next big rain, we hurried to check it.  All of our bugs were still alive (and more that we didn't even put in...EWWWW!!!) The soil was damp, but not soaking wet.  The lid was successful!

Today we found little bright green bead-like objects inside our compost.  They look like worm egg cases, but are not the same color as the ones we have found in our worm farm previously.  We can't wait to see what they become!