Meteorology in Preschool

This week we studied the sun. I always start out the week by asking a question pertaining to whatever we are studying. This week my question was, "What does the sun do?". Here are the the responses I got...

It gets into your eyes.

It burns your eyeballs so you have to wear sunglasses.

It follows you.

It makes our mouths hot.

Makes you stay inside.

It stays in the sky.

If you stay in the sun too long it could make you die.

It gets you sweaty.

It makes our eyes hot.

It stays yellow.

It makes the house shady.

It can dry us up.

It goes up and down.


During this week, we had a very rare cloudy day, so on a whim, I asked the kids, "What is a cloud?". And here are those responses...

They are made of fish.

They are white.

They are in the sky and fluffy.

I think if I could touch one, it would be hard.

If you look real hard, they sometimes can have a face.

They go under planes.

They are sometimes like stripes.

They are made of water, and when they get full they turn gray and then rain comes out. (This child obviously has studied the water cycle prior to coming to my class...).

They move in the sky.


It was a fun week. :0)




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Creating Static

As part of my unit on electricity, I decided to talk a little about static electricity as well. Static electricity is a fun concept, there are lots of experiments to demonstrate it in action. And while I had pages and pages of fun demonstrations, I wanted to at least introduce the some of the science behind it.

So, I did some research. As I read through the information, my brain slowly started to go to mush. If this stuff is boring me to tears, how will I explain it to a room full of young children? I started again, trying to figure out the key things I wanted to get across. Atoms (ok, we had talked about those); protons and neutrons (covered those, too); electrons (yep, also familiar territory); positive and negative charge (ack! what? my brain hurts).

I decided to touch on the very basic aspects of static electricity, using the terminology we had already touched on while talking about electricity. Using my atom diagram, I explained that sometimes when you rub two items together (I used a balloon on the carpet), the electrons from one item will jump to another item, causing it to have more electrons than it needs. Now these extra electrons need a place to go, and when the item with the extra electrons find another item with no extra electrons, the electrons will jump to the other item, making the other item stick to the first item. Ok - after all of that does your brain hurt?

As I blathered on, I used the balloon and the carpet. As I rubbed the balloon on the carpet, I explained how the balloon was getting extra electrons. Then I held the balloon over some scraps of tissue paper, and as the tissue paper jumped onto the balloon, I said, "Now the balloon is giving its extra electrons to the tissue paper." I demonstrated the same concept by sticking the balloon to the ceiling, to the wall, as well as holding the charged balloon over a child's head to make his hair stand on end. I eventually gave each child their own balloon, and they all rubbed it on the carpet to "get extra electrons", and then wandered around the room trying to figure out "where they could get rid of the extra electrons"..

To illustrate the concept of having too many electrons (and to toss in a little math), I brought out a simple balance and a bunch of milk bottle caps with the letter "E" on them. As I rubbed the balloon on the carpet, I added "electrons" to one side of the balance until it tipped to heavy side. "Now the balloon has too many electrons". As the tissue paper stuck to the balloon, I removed "electrons" from the heavy side of the balance, until the two sides were once again even. The kids then had a good time playing with the balance, and figuring out exactly how many electrons were too many. (Not being all that accurate of a balance, that number kept changing.)

We also played with static electricity using a plastic spoon and pepper...rub the spoon on carpet (getting extra electrons), then hold the spoon over the pepper (getting rid of the electrons), and the pepper jumps up to the spoon. Pretty cool.

There are a kajillion activities to illustrate static electricity. As this was my first time doing this, I chose only to touch lightly on this topic. Next year, I am thinking I will spend a little more time, and go a little deeper (positive and negative charges? possibly...). Possibly introduce magnets as a preview to static electricity. Now that I have tackled this topic, and that it was such a roaring success, I will do it again, and hopefully do it a little better.

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The Air Popper

As part of my unit on cows, I talk about corn. Because cows eat corn, you see. So, we talk about corn, and all the different things we eat that come from corn, usually steering clear of high fructose corn syrup. But it's fun to help the kids discover that corn on the cob, popcorn, tortilla chips, corn flakes and corn bread are all made from corn. It blows their minds, and I usually have a couple kids doubt me.

Last year I had a student proclaim, "There is no way that cornflakes come from corn on the cob - they are not even the same color." This little guy marched away from me in a bit of a huff, certain that I was telling tall tales.

It wasn't until after he had peeled kernels off a piece of Indian corn, and ground them with a mortar and pestle and compared his result with cornmeal that I had bought from a store that he maybe thought I was onto something. He was dubious about the cornflakes ("they are brown, not yellow!"), but he could wrap his mind around the fact that corn was in lots of things he ate.

Every year, as part of this unit, I drag out an old air popper to pop popcorn with. I set it up on my carpet, on top of a clean piece of butcher paper, and I let the popcorn just come out of the popper and onto the paper, and the kids eat it right up. This is always a good time.

In years past, I always had a couple of students know what the air popper was. But it was still fun to eat the popcorn off the floor. This year is the first year none of my students had a clue as to what I was about to do.

I showed them the air popper, "What's this?" I asked. A sea of blank faces stared back at me.

I showed them the bag of popcorn kernels, "What's this?"

"Popcorn kernels!" they all scream back. No surprise here; we have had popcorn in the sensory table all week, even if they hadn't seen popcorn kernels in the clear plastic bag before, they had certainly heard me say, "Keep the popcorn kernels in the table" a thousand times.

"How do you make popcorn at your house?" I asked the class.

A confident little girl raised her hand, "At my house, the popcorn comes in white squares. We put them in the microwave this side up, press the popcorn button, it has a picture of popcorn on it, and then the square gets popcorn in it!" she stated triumphantly. The rest of the class assured me this was the same procedure that was followed in all of their homes, although one little boy noted he had to use numbers on his microwave as opposed to the button with the picture of popcorn on it.

"Well," I said to the class, "I am going to make popcorn by pouring this," as I held up the bag of popcorn kernels, "into this" and I pointed at the air popper. As I was greeted with the chorus of, "No Way's", I dumped the kernels into the popper.

As the kernels spun around, I told the kids to use their noses to see of they smelled anything. And then to keep their listening ears wide open to see if they heard anything. Before long, the scent of popcorn filled the room, and all the kids sniffed excitedly, "I smell popcorn!" I had to get the kids calmed down so they could hear the first "pop, pop, pop". The excitement that filled the room when they heard the popcorn start to pop was amazing. And then, the looks on their faces when the popcorn starting spilling onto the butcher paper? They were beyond thrilled.

"Do it again!!" they all yelled. And this was before they had even tried the popcorn. I encouraged them to take a taste. Wow! It tasted just like "real popcorn"!

So I did it again. And again, and again. Their excitement never waned. For such a simple thing, the kids had such a great time. I loved hearing what they said to their parents at pick up time, "She put popcorn seeds in that thing and then popcorn came out all over the floor and I smelled it and heared (not a misspelling, just an exact quote) it!"

It makes me think I might need to invest in one of these old fashioned contraptions for my own home. The popcorn is healthy, and maybe my own kids would get even a quarter as excited as my students did. And that would be worth the cost.

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Election Day at Preschool

First of all, the following idea was not mine at all. All credit goes to the wonderful Mrs. M., who is a fabulous kindergarten teacher.

Not too long ago, we added a really cool, humongous, concrete turtle to our playground. This cute guy was in desperate need of a name, so we asked all the parents to come up with some possibilities. From that, we teachers chose the three we liked best, and decided the kids could vote on what name they wanted on Election Day. That way, they could participate in their own very election.


The names that were up for election: Pago, Flash, and Desi.










Election week arrived, and the kindergartners started campaigning heavily for the names they wanted.Our little campus was covered with the campaign signs they created. What was really cool is that all the little ones knew what these signs were - after all, campaign signs had been all over their neighborhoods for months. I had to read each one of them to my class. Several times.










Election Day arrived, and the kindergartners made a ballot box, complete with sign to let us know where to vote.

Each student filled out a ballot, and solemnly placed their vote in the ballot box. It was interesting that almost everyone of them got what voting was. Of course, we had been talking about it in class, but I think because of how huge the presidential election was, most kids were learning about the voting process at home as well.







Of course, after they voted they got the "I voted today" sticker, except theirs had a tortoise on it as opposed to the red, white, and blue.



The kindergarten painstakingly calculated the results, and the name "Flash" won by an overwhelming majority. There was celebrating on the playground as the kids joyfully ran up to the tortoise and called him by his new name.










All in all, a very successful lesson.

Oooohh...Spiders!

I don't really do much of a Halloween Theme during Halloween time, but I do use this time of year to talk about two facets of Halloween celebrations - spiders and pumpkins. My Spider Theme this year went quite well. I think most of my students learned a thing or two, which, of course, is always a goal when teaching.

I use what my mom calls the "Velcro Method" of teaching. I throw out a whole bunch of information, and if some of it sticks, it's all good. When teaching about spiders, I want them to know that spiders have eight legs, and use their webs to catch pesky flies and mosquitoes. I throw out other terms like arachnid, cephalothorax, spinnerets, and the like, and if some of the kids pick up on these I high five myself (and them!)

I use Eric Carle's The Very Busy Spider as my book for this theme.

The morning of our first day of studying spiders, a colleague who loves to do face painting with the kids asked what I was studying this week. When I answered, "Spiders," she asked if she could paint spiders on the kids' hands. As she painted each child"s hand, she had them count the body parts (2), and the legs (8) as she painted them. This turned out to be a stroke of genius, because this simple act really helped cement those two concepts in the kids' minds. (Thanks, Katie!)

I made a huge Very Busy Spider and hung it on my ceiling. It was a simple construction paper job, nothing fancy, but the kids figured out right away who it was supposed to be. I told them the spider would be busily spinning a web on our ceiling all night.

For the next day of class, I made a huge spider web constructed from scotch tape on my ceiling, with the sticky side facing down. The kids were absolutely delighted that the Very Busy Spider had really been busy! I gave each student a handful of cotton balls, and told them that the cotton balls were pesky flies and mosquitoes, and that the Very Busy Spider needed them on her web. The challenge was for the kids to figure out how to get the cotton balls on the web. The kids are very small, the web was way up there on the ceiling....hmmm...how to get those cotton balls up there? The one rule I laid down - no grown-ups could help. The kids had to figure this one out all on their own. And they did. Their solutions were ingenious, ranging from using a chair to throwing up a clump of cotton balls together. I loved how not one of them gave up; they all wanted to make sure the Very Busy Spider got her food.

The next day, the students became Very Busy Spiders. I gave each one of them a skein of yarn, and had them weave their own webs all over the classroom. (I got this idea from Family Fun Magazine). As the room got more and more tangled with multi-colored webs, I told the kids that they couldn't go through the webs, they needed to go over and under them - now we had an exercise in gross motor skills! Although, honestly, it was way easier for the kids to navigate through the webs than it was the adults. Once the room was completely webbed up, I gave each child a pair of scissors to cut the webs down. Now we have fine motor skills practice! What was cool about this was that it didn't take long for the kids to figure out if they held the scissors correctly, the yarn was easier to cut.

I did this activity two days in a row.

During this week we also made Very Busy Spiders. We made webs using marble painting with gold paint on white paper, then constructing spiders to go on the webs. For the spiders I gave each child some red bodies, some green heads, and a whole bunch of red pipe cleaner legs, and let them make the spider however they wanted. Most kids constructed the spider with the correct parts, which I attribute to not only the reading of the story, but the hand painting that took place on the very first day.

I always know that what I am doing has been a success when the kids go home and tell their parents what we have been doing. When a parent asked me, "Why is there a giant spider web on your ceiling full of pesky flies and mosquitoes?" I knew that they had gotten it. Or at least some of it.

The scotch tape web (a mural the class painted is hanging on the ceiling behind the web)

Spinning the yarn webs

More spinning webs; and see all the cotton on the floor?

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And So We Start Again

This summer I had the amazing opportunity to attend Steve Spangler's Science in the Rockies, an amazing three day conference that taught me how to make science an exciting experience for kids. Check out Steve's website here: http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/. Also, to see photos and video of what I, my colleagues and 175 other teachers did, visit here: http://web.mac.com/stevespanglerscience/SITR2008/Friday.html.

Steve Spangler is quite a guy. He has that passion for teaching that those of us who love what we do can relate to. Every aspect of his presentation was how to get the kids involved, and how to make it all about the kids.

Along with obtaining an enormous amount of information about science, Steve said something that really resonated with me. He said that if a teacher isn't nervous about the new school year starting, then it is time for that teacher to retire.

Well, my new school year starts in 10 more sleeps, and I am nervous as all get out. Guess that means I have at least another year in me.

This will be my sixth year doing this, a relatively short time on the one hand, but long enough to have gained some confidence on the other. And I am confident that I have some wonderful things planned (we're talking lots of science, people! Science in preschool - how cool will that be?). I am confident that I am able to talk the language of the three year old, and I am confident that most of the stuff that has been awesome in the past will most likely be awesome this year.

Why am I nervous? What if the class doesn't "gel"? What if my ability to communicate with a three year old suddenly fails with this new group of kids? What if they suddenly realize I am not all that cool? What if they don't think I'm funny? What if they aren't potty trained? What if I suddenly become incontinent? What if more than a couple of them are biters, or spitters, or temper tantrum throwers (I can handle two or three, more than that, I need reinforcements).

I work in a cooperative preschool. This means that the parents are part of the teaching team, they are part of their children's education. At least one parent is in the classroom with me every day. Pretty awesome, but a lot of my nerves come from wondering what the parents are thinking about me.

The first few weeks in my class are chaos. A wonderful, loud, unorganized, chaos. I give the kids time and freedom to explore their classroom. Little by little we get down to business, eventually a routine is achieved, but I leave a lot of that up to the kids. For example, I might have written on my daily schedule 15 minutes for music. But if the kids have found a musical groove, I am not going to cut things short just because time's up.

I am nervous that parents aren't going to get that. That the chaos will drive them nuts. And they won't understand how important it is. I try to give everyone a head's up before school starts, and I hope that each and every parent that walks into my classroom will experience the absolute joy of watching their child learn how to navigate in this new environment.

You know what? I am nervous. But I am also really excited. I absolutely love what I do, and I simply can't wait to get to know my new students, and their families, and have yet another incredible year together. All that other stuff? I can handle it - except maybe the incontinence, but hopefully I have a year or to left before that becomes an issue for me. Maybe when that happens, the nervousness will have worn off and it will be time for me to find a new career. Spokesperson for Depends, perhaps?

Words I Never Thought I Would Say Together

"Please don't lick the toilet"

Blegh.

While I have certainly used all 5 of those words separately, I never had the opportunity to use them in quite that way. Especially "lick" and "toilet" in the same sentence. But as the little boy was exploring the toilet orally, I found the need to say that phrase. And funny, I had to say it more than once, with growing exasperation, because he wouldn't stop. licking. the. toilet.

Another one? "Please don't touch your friend's tongue with your tongue". Who would have thought we would be into heavy petting in preschool? Actually it was two girls simply seeing what it felt like, and even as the words rolled off my tongue, I realized how just wrong it sounded.

"Only one girl on the toilet at a time." Four were trying to share.

"Take your feet out of her mouth." Somehow the feet were in the mouth without the owner of the mouth's permission.

Then, yesterday, I had a couple within a few minutes. I walked into the boys restroom to make sure everyone was doing their business and washing their hands, and saw that the boys were...comparing....well, to put it in preschool speak, their privates. I interrupted a lively discussion about color and size. Now, my coworkers tell me I missed an excellent teaching opportunity. That I should have immediately set up a graph and took out rulers and graphed sizes, colors and shapes, and made this into a teachable moment. But no, I missed that teaching opportunity to utter the words," Underwear stays at your waist until you are in front of the toilet."

Eloquence, at its best, right there.

Frankly, teaching the etiquette of the boys' restroom is a little beyond me. My husband and his buddies talk about eyes staring straight ahead while standing at the urinal. Try telling this to a three year old. My husband and his cronies also talk about how crossed streams will somehow cause the end of the world a la "Ghostbusters". My coworkers and I, not really believing these tales the men tell, but at the same time not wanting to tempt fate, came up with the "Privacy Line". A line of tape on the floor that you need to stand behind until your friend is done with his business. A lot of conversations about privacy and respect go on when talking about the Privacy Line. In my class, the space behind the Privacy Line has become the "Let's compare underwear area". This is a highlight in these boys' days. And once, two boys were wearing the same underwear - you can imagine the excitement. This happened in October, and they all still reminisce about that like it was Woodstock or something. "Remember when we wore the same underwear? That was AWESOME!"

So, I guess the natural progression after comparing underwear would be to compare what the underwear was covering, don't know why it caught me off guard. But I try to be very matter of fact about privates and such; I answer all questions and try to handle all situations that come my way calmly and honestly, like I would if they were asking me what color the sky is.

Like the time a little boy raised his hand during a story and said, "My wiener just got really big". I just replied, "Thank you, Michael" and continued with the story.

But all of my matter of fact reasoning went out the window yesterday, when after I threw out the "underwear at the waist" gem, a little boy placed his face against the back of the urinal as he flushed it, so the water ran down his face.

What did I say? Did I take advantage of this teachable moment? Did I seize upon the chance to talk about germs? No....

"AARRGH!!!!!"

and

"Please don't put your face in the urinal while you flush it. Or ever"

Once again...face and urinal, two words that really shouldn't be in a sentence together.

I Am A Mobile Sensory Experience!

As springtime rolls into summer here in Arizona, I start the slow transition from long pants to shorts. I have to make this transition slowly, so as not to blind my students and coworkers. Legs that are as white as mine need to be revealed slowly, over an extended period of time - not just so they get used to being out in the open again, but so that traffic accidents caused by the glare from my legs are kept to a minimum. So, I am currently sporting Capri’s when I go to work. And because I am lazy and have been blessed with blonde leg hair, shaving is not a priority.

Since it is so wonderfully beautiful outside right now, I have been reading my class their daily story outside under a tree. The children gather around me and listen attentively as I read to them.

Sounds idyllic, no?

And it is. Until last week. As I am getting to the crucial part of “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!” (the pigeon is asking if their mom would let him drive the bus - the tension can be cut with a knife!), one of my students rubs my legs and says, “Wow, your legs sure are pokey.”

Hmmm….so many emotions. Embarrassment (did the dad working in the classroom today hear that comment?), aggravation (it’s the best part of the story!), depression (jeez! now I need to shave my legs), anger (why is that child touching my legs?) to, finally, excitement (teaching opportunity! this is a sensory experience waiting to happen!).

“Wow, your legs sure are pokey.”

“Yes, they are. Are yours?”

“No. Why are your legs pokey and mine aren’t”

“I don’t know. Why do you think that is?”

And, a conversation was born. Before I knew it, the whole class was comparing my pokey legs to their non-pokey legs, and trying to come up with solutions as to why that was. They compared each others’ legs; some legs were hairier than others, but for sure mine were the pokiest (I am having an engraved plaque made to display in my classroom).

Some theories to why my legs were pokey…

“All moms have pokey legs”
“You got stabbed by a cactus”
“You have a beard like a dad on your legs”
“Your leg hair is very straight” (a particularly astute observation, I thought)

And, you always have the one student who hits the nail on the head…

“You didn’t shave your legs!”

Another sensory experience I offer to my students is my soft and cuddly body. Before your mind heads straight to the gutter, my stomach has often been compared to a pillow, “It’s so comfortable when I lay my head on it!” Many a student has fallen asleep on my soft and mushy tummy (I can’t do sit-ups - where would my students nap?) My lack of a six pack has also led to many interesting conversations. Everything from “When is your baby coming out?” to “Why is your tummy so soft and mine isn’t?” I always let them come up with the answers.

I have also had the privilege of having the hairs on my chin closely examined. One of the truly magical things about getting older is my sudden ability to sprout black chin hairs overnight. God forbid if I skip my morning ritual with the magnified mirror, because the opportunity for another sensory discussion would be lost. I am not proud of these ugly hairs, but I am amazed by what the kids say about them.

“It looks like that hair should be on your head”
“Why is it black and your hair is red?”
“It feels different than my dad’s beard”
“Only boys get beards, you’re not a boy are you?”

And, of course, the one student….

“You didn’t shave your face!”

I love my job!

I Refuse to Argue With a Three Year Old

“I refuse to argue with a 3 year old”

This is what my daughter’s preschool teacher said to me when I commented on her deft handling of a particularly obstinate student. “Well,” said this veteran teacher, “I am the grown -up, and she needs to know that some rules aren’t negotiable”.

This hit a chord with me. At the time I was a first time mom of a three year old who battled with her daughter constantly about everything. I wanted to make sure she developed her own personality and thought she should be allowed to voice her opinions about her likes and dislikes in her daily routine. I really thought that the daily battles about wearing shoes, getting in the car seat, going to school, leaving school, not getting every toy she wanted at Target, brushing her teeth, not running away from me in the parking lot, having her hair brushed, …the list goes on and on as any mom of a three year old can attest, anyways, I thought these battles were an important part of her development. And maybe they were, but the teacher was right - some rules are not up for debate. Over time, I learned to choose my battles, and eventually I could let the unimportant ones go, but I was as stubborn as any three year old in the battles that mattered.

So, let’s see, the daily battles….

Wearing shoes - not negotiable. You get a choice of shoes, but they must go on your feet.

Car seat - not negotiable. Since I am bigger than you, I can help you with that. And no, biting me will not change my mind.

Going to school - no, you have to go. Mom needs her 2 and a half hours of me time. You will have fun.

Leaving school - sorry, school is over, I am sure your teachers are ready for you to go home. And lying boneless on the ground will not change my mind - luckily, I can carry you.

Toys at Target - I used to be an easy sell, here. Smile at me sweetly and behave appropriately for five minutes and you get the Barbie of your choice. I find now that appropriate behavior is expected without bribes and toys are purchased when I am feeling rich and generous. Which happens about as often as a lunar eclipse. So get off the floor and quit screaming.

Brushing teeth - not negotiable. Still looking for clever ways that don’t include bribery or nose plugging to make this happen peacefully. The daughter I am writing about here is now 13, and we still battle over this.

Running from me in the parking lot - BIG no. You will hold my hand or I will carry you. Kicking me repeatedly in the thigh will not change the outcome - lucky for you, I have a high tolerance for pain.

Brushing hair - Fine. Go with your hair looking like that. I learned quickly that battles over hair and clothes fell into the unimportant category. Let them brush their own hair and style it themselves (same for boys - or simply shave their heads). Let them express themselves with sloppy uneven ponytails held together by 25 clips. It doesn’t matter if their clothes don’t match, or are backwards, or are pajamas. In their little lives, most battles are unwinnable. I let them have the clothes and hair.

The lesson of refusing to argue with a three year old has also served me well as a teacher. In my classroom I have few rules. I try hard to create an environment of exploration, creativity and discovery. But you can’t hit, bite or spit, and if you do you will need to think of a way to handle the situation better next time, as well as make it up to the friend who was your victim. And luckily, I am as stubborn as any three year old, so if you choose to sit on the floor and suck your thumb instead of talking to your friend, that’s OK. I will sit here next to you until you are ready. It is also not ok to jump on the furniture or throw food. And if you keep forgetting that rule after the hundredth time I have reminded you, then you and I will sit over here and talk about it. Feel free to go boneless, I can carry you.

But it is OK to feel the paint on your hands. It is OK to use the entire bottle of glue for that little piece of paper. It is OK to put the rice from the sensory table into the play dough - doesn’t that feel cool? It is OK to cover the cars in play dough - where did they go? Feel free to put the entire bottle of glitter on that little spot of glue - I wonder what will happen? Feel like cutting? Please - not your hair! Here is a stack of paper - go to town!

I definitely try to never argue with a three year old - rules and boundaries are important, and the younger you learn that the better. But I also try very hard to let them win some. The older I get, and the more time I spend around little ones, the less battles I feel the need to win. Especially in the classroom - you need to be a good friend, but feel free to explore your world - how else will you learn?