Beginning Science Experiments

Giving a child a container filled with rice, beans, or pasta and many different utensils, cups and various containers of different shapes and sizes gives them endless possibilities of discovery. They begin to learn how volume works - what happens if they fill up one cup with a mixture and then transfer it to another cup that has a different shape....will it hold it, will there be more or less? There are so many fun beginnings to science and this happens to be a great introductory for many!

Try this activity at home - as it is very simple to keep in a cupboard and pull out when your child needs something to occupy them and keep them busy for many minutes....the great news is that they are learning and experimenting with life skills and are not just easily entertained by the TV or a show. Usually a few extra beans, pasta or rice end up on the floor....but a quick sweep or vacuum picks it up and you are ready to put it away until next time!

The Letter B

This was the first letter that we studied in the alphabet. Most weeks we will use a letter of the week to study topics that begin with that letter in the alphabet. We are not going in order in the alphabet, as some letters are easier to sound out and to write for the children. B is a very easy sound to make, not as easy to write...but it was the first letter we started with!

Most weeks we will have a Mystery Letter that the children find out about on Monday. For each letter we will learn about, we will do some art activity where the children will make that letter using some kind of medium or using the letter to create a "Letter Picture". We will practice writing the letters during different rotations and as a group with white boards, but I'm not really focused that the children have to write their letters perfectly. It's more about giving them time to try out writing a bit, but more so knowing what the sound is that the letter makes. We try to come up with as many words as we can think of that start with that letter. Often times the children move around the room using movements that start with the certain letters, and we play 'I Spy' where the children find an object in the room that starts with the letter of the week. These are just some ideas of what we do, and what you can do with your children as well to continue talking and learning about the wonderful world of phonics and awareness of all the letters and their sounds.

We also learn a lot of sign language in our class, and learning the alphabet in sign has been our focus for the month of October. You make the letter B by holding up one hand, tucking your thumb into the center of your palm and keeping your other 4 fingers straight into the air.

The letter B is a dependable letter. It usually makes the "buh" sound as in bat.

words that start with the Letter B
bag
ball
banana
barn
bat
bear
bed
beetle
bend
big
bike
bird
bow
box
boy
bug
bun
bus

creating life-long learners

Most educators, parents, and most people...would agree that reading is a key to having life-long learners. And learners that are excited about discovering and understanding new things by opening up a book!

Each day we have story time where we read at least 1-2 books, usually with the emphasis on the letter we are learning that week or the subject (or both!). Also, as the children finish their snack and we are transition to Craft/Activity time, the children are able to go to a spot or in a rotation where they get to spend time looking at a large selection of books. I rotate the books each class, so that the children are looking at new pictures, text, and are swept away in the creative imagination that we go on when reading and becoming part of a book.

I love watching the children look through their books, and exclaim over things that are both familiar, and things that are new and very interesting (such as the Science books such as the Shark book that made it into the book basket the other day!).

{I loved this reading pose that Zack was in....it was hard to angle the camera to get a shot that looks right side up....but again it shows how absorbed children are when reading, they just become engrossed in the book and forget about everything around them!}

To have a child that reads....the solution is simple - Read to your child. 20 minutes is what is suggested for this age group, and doing it all at once, or reading a book here or there throughout the day you will in no time have read all 20 minutes, and probably more!

Pincer grasp...having fun while learning too!

Little hands busy at work! During our Craft/Activity time there is something that the children work on to practice their fine motor skills. Here they are woring to string beads and cut up straws unto a ribbon to make a necklace. By practicing their fine motor skills and using their "pincer grasp" using their 2nd and 3rd fingers and thumb, they are working to train their hands on grasping pencils and really perfecting their pre-writing skills. Learning to write comes way before actually taking a pencil, crayon, or other medium in our hands and working hard to write a letter of the alphabet.

To help your child work on their fine motor skills - have them do activities that work on using these 3 fingers (again their 2nd and 3rd fingers and their thumb). Such activities would be cutting out paper with child scissors, pasting the paper or any other sort of medium onto paper with a glue stick or regular glue. Also picking up and placing small items in an art project - such as Perler beads, stringing beads onto a necklace, and picking up other small items to glue onto a picture. This is fun for your child and a great art project....and they are practicing essential skills at the same time! Another fun part of this activity is that I stretch it to teach patterns - something that the children continue to work on, but we focused on simple patterns for this necklace such as a repeating A-B-A-B, OR AA-BB-AA-BB pattern. It is also a great way to talk about colors....learning really has endless possibilities in the activities we do with our children!