"D" is for Dot the Firedog

Last week at preschool, we read the book Dot the Firedog. It is a great story about a dog who lives at the fire station. Her name is Dot and she helps the firemen rescue people and animals. She also teaches children fire safety tips. Since it was National Fire Prevention Week, we decided to make our Ds look like dalmatians.

We tied a pompom to the end of our fishing line. We dipped the pompom in black paint, then let it drop on our papers. You can tell that this method of painting caught the interest of the crowd pretty quickly, especially the boys.

It took a lot of concentration, hand-eye coordination and motor control to be able to get the pompom in the bowl of paint, then back on the paper.

We had a great time painting like this!

It definitely requires some one-on-one assistance, especially with 3s, but was well worth it. The funny thing is that I thought for sure that I had found clean, no mess painting method. Boy was I wrong! I did not anticipate the pompoms flying all around, but for the most part we stayed clean. When things got wild, it was just another learning opportunity and a chance for us to practice self-regulation.

Fire Fighting Mathematicians!

Today, our Rainbow 4s played a fun math counting game.

They got to pretend to be firefighters, and help put the fire out!

First we rolled the dice. Then we counted to see how many dots there were.

When we got our number, we used our squirt bottle to put out the fire!

This was a great exercise in taking turns and cooperation.

We helped out friends count, and soon we began to notice the patterns on the dice.

This pattern recognition is called subitizing.

Subitizing is a child's ability to see a small set of objects (or dots) and know how many there are without counting. It is amazing to see how quickly the children pick up on this. Fun math activities like this one help us develop our sense of number, and also cause us to use the small muscles in our hands. When we work those muscles, we are gaining the ability to control our pencils and other things that we grasp.

Pumpkin Faces

Each morning, around 7:00 am, my phone dings with an email. It perks me right up, because I know that there is a new, great idea waiting right over there for me! I subscribe to a blog by Deborah Stewart, a phenomenal preschool teacher and leader in the field. This morning I was not disappointed. Today's feature was on making play-doh faces for pumpkins. It was the best kind of idea because it could be done with things I already have at preschool. It does exactly what I want morning work to do, which is inspire creativity, encourage fine motor development, and provide opportunities for cooperation and conversation.

I put the tools out: scissors, popsicle sticks, and rollers.

I had worked with one of my "early birds" and showed her what to do. She was then tasked with sharing with her friends what to do.

Adding hair to the pumpkins was not on the list, but we went with it. They cut and styled the pumpkin hair and all the while had no idea that they were undergoing a vigorous small muscle workout!

We used our popsicle sticks to sculpt the pumpkin's hairdo

No two faces were the same!

We rolled the play-doh in our hand to make smiles.

We figured out that we could share a pumpkin. They didn't think too much of my taking the chairs away, but I thought it might facilitate the sharing process. Turns out, it worked!

Come back tomorrow for a post featuring a counting game the firefighter 4s in the Rainbow Room played together!

4s Fire Station Visit

Our 4 Year Old Preschool classes visited the Teachey Fire Department today. Anna Grace was proud to invite us to see where her daddy and his friends are firefighters. We had a wonderful visit with the firemen. We learned fire safety tips, got to "ride" in the fire trucks, and even ate snack with the firemen. Most would agree that the most fun was honking the horn of the brush truck, it was SO loud!

8 Little Firefighters!

Today, Firefighter Murray from the Teachey Fire Department, and most importantly Rowan's daddy, visited our 2s. It is important to talk to our children about how firefighters are our friends, that they are no one to fear. If ever there were an emergency at home, we would hope that the children would look to rescue personnel for help, and not hide from them.

Firefighter Murray put on all of his fire gear, and showed the children what a firemen wears when he or she is working.

Everyone who wanted to got a chance to try on the fire helmet.

Future firefighter!

This helmet is heavy!

Look at our 2s during circle time! Great job!

The second week in October is National Fire Prevention Week. Today our 3s kicked it off with a visit from the Wallace Fire Department. Windsor's Daddy and her Uncle Chuck brought over a fire truck and spent some time with us talking about firefighters, their jobs, and the tools they use.

We gathered outside to see the fire truck. We were SO excited!

We learned that firefighters use masks to keep them safe when they are working in smoky conditions. The masks give them oxygen. Some of the children were very excited about trying on the firemen's gear.

This little fellow tried it all on. The gear is very heavy!

Do fire-girls wear hair bows? Of course they do!

We took a tour of the truck and saw lots of neat tools.

Mr. Nate showed us how to spray water!

Everyone got to try, if they wanted to...

Firefighting is hard work!

We got in the fire truck and explored.

Happy Fire Safety Week!

SDS 3s

"C" is for Carrot

Last spring we planted carrots in our vegetable garden. I read that they would last through the fall and into winter, if left in the ground. I decided to give it a try. "C" week came around for our 3s, and I found the perfect opportunity to harvest our carrots.

I told them that they could pick carrots, and they looked at me like I was crazy! Sometimes it is easy to forget that they think carrots come from the grocery store. This is one reason why providing children with experiences like these is so important.

I showed them how to do it once, and they got the hang of it quite quickly!

Each time a carrot was pulled, they had the same look of wonder on their faces. I LOVE it!

Carrot picking started with a small group, and then caught on fast!

It was a great day in the garden for us!

My guess is that this real-life learning experience with the letter "C" will be very memorable!

We also had a little time to look at the different carrots and talk about their sizes and shapes, how dirty they were, and what we would need to do before we could eat them.

By the end of the morning, we had collected quite a lot of carrots!

This last picture is just Mrs. Georgia and Miss Ashley being proud

of our 3s and their awesome line!