Today we continued our exploration into FOOD. I went upstairs to the resource room, which my son Addam is working to organize and found a few materials we can use. Like these potato heads. The kids LOVE this!
For small groups today we made Alphabet Soup. The kids stirred the ” soup ” and then closed their eyes and pulled out a letter and shared it with the rest of the group.
We even tried writing a few of the letters we found. This is an A. Rosanna had an A and I said ” Rosanna, are you going to try to write your letter?” She said ” I DID!” I thought this was MY writing and I had given her an example.
Emeri pulled out a letter and said ” Look ! The letter in MY name !”
After playing with the soup I laid my notebook on the table and Daniel said ” Look , they match” and laid his magnetic 5 on my 5 !
This is my new system for taking ” observations” Through out the day sometimes I see things that are significant events in a child’s development. I take notes on these and this helps me to assess them for further help or help in planning what I need to focus on for teaching. ( I know.. you thought I just threw things out and played all day.. right ? ) I was using a note book and then transferring the notes to a binder. I am all about minimizing the paperwork steps. So, now I have this posterboard. Randy and I keep post it notes handy. As I see something that needs to be recorded . I put the day on the note and then tag it under the child’s name. This is my first day for this. I will either transcribe into the binder OR place the post it in the proper place inside the binder. Observations are very important. Sometimes I focus on specific skills. Sometimes the observations are ” on the go” or random. Sometimes they are planned – for instance at the beginning of the year when we put them all in a line to see who could jump on one foot or skip.
I love Audrey’s structure!
After our small groups I put the ” Alphabet Soup” on the table and several kids revisited it and played again.
Folder game ( matching )
Morning Message- The older children circled the first letter in their name.
We also read a book called “Wheat ” and talked about how wheat grows and ends up being bread. We learned new words such as harvest and silo . One of the kids favorite songs this month is the old camp song called ” McDonalds, Pizza Hut ” . Do you remember this one ?
What a great day. Five years ago today I became a grandma . Can’t think of a better job to have .