Community Challenge, EXTENDEDWe start our group time with a Community Challenge that relates to our daily/weekly theme. Our preschool teacher lesson plan book has a suggested community challenge each day and the children look forward to what we will do together. Here, I highlight the daily topic, Silo during our Down on the Farm monthly preschool theme. I took the oats from our sensory box and told the children we needed to work together to fill the silo. I quickly reviewed the parts of the silo with them as we got into an assembly line. All children had visited the art table earlier that day where they explored a photo of a silo and engaged in a meaningful conversation with Mrs. Plamondon about what silos are used for. Children were then able to create a silo shaker, to be used during music and movement. Once the children were in a line, each child was handed a small cup. I then poured oats into the first child’s cup, who then poured their oats into the cup of the child next to them and so on. The last child in line poured the oats into the “silo.” After two rounds, we looked in the silo. “That was a lot of work! Do you think there is a large or small amount of oats in the silo?” Many were surprised to see only a small amount. That led to a discussion of a good work ethic and why its important that everyone helps. We continued a few more rounds and checked on our progress. "How long do you think it would take to fill our silo,?" I asked. "All day!" "100 hours!" were just a few of the responses we received. Time for more movement! Children used their silo shakers to dance to an instrumental song on the preschool music CD that is included in our curriculum box. Mrs. Plamondon poured out the difference in sounds among the shakers. Some children used rice in their shakers while others used beans. Math and Literacy: Feed the Animals We break into small groups twice a day to work on school-readiness skills. During this activity, the children used our story magnets and a spinner that were included in our curriculum kit to play a math game. They spun the spinner, then scooped grain from the silo and “fed” the correct animal. I then asked, "Which animal was fed the most?" "Which animal has the least amount of oats?" I appreciate the fact that everything is plotted out for me by Experience Preschool (formerly Mother Goose Time). I don't have to worry if skills are taught in the correct succession, as the scope and sequence are carefully planned out for the entire school year. Community Challenge, extended: The children chose to use buckets in the sand area as silos. They eagerly told me how they cleaned the grains (sand) then dumped them into the silo. If the grains became stuck, they used a shovel or stick (from our discussion with Mrs. Plamondon) to free the grain. It is always so exciting to see how children apply earlier knowledge and conversations to their play later the same day or even many days later. Many teachers use these observations in their approach to what is called and an emergent curriculum. In our program, we use a blended approach. We begin with our monthly preschool curriculum kit and are flexible in our planning. If the children are really excited about a particular daily topic, we may extend it for a day or two. The same is true if we see even one child struggling with an important concept such as patterning. We may revisit an activity a few times, changing it slightly as we go, to ensure that children have enough exposure to the skill and time to practice it.
Thank you for following along on our learning adventure!
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AuthorSheila Anderson has over 25 years experience in the Early Childhood Field and still loves going to "school" everyday. Archives
January 2022
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