Amy Norton's Newsletter and Plans
May 11, 2015
The kids were excited and sad to see our butterflies fly away in the garden this past week! They were also sad to see the “Very Hungry Caterpillar” dramatic play center disappear, but they are very excited about what has replaced it! They learned so much about the life cycle of caterpillar to butterfly and they really learned the Very Hungry Caterpillar story because we had investigated it in so many ways!
For the remainder of the school year, we will be learning about balls and many science and math concepts that go along with this theme of study. We will be learning about circles and that they do not have sides or corners, the concept of sphere, and the concept of an “elipsoid” otherwise known as a football shape! We will explore the concepts of heavy and light and small and large as we examine a wide variety of balls. We will talk about same and different as we explore the characteristics of each type of ball.
This is a very hands on and fun unit of study for the kids. We are working on what balls do, incorporating verbs or “action words”. We are learning about throwing, catching, hitting, kicking, rolling, and bouncing. We are exploring these concepts as partners as we learn and practice these fun ball skills. We will culminate this unit by having a small “outdoor field day” experience with bubbles, soccer, baseball, and football.
Our centers are very exciting for this unit of study. The dramatic play center is currently closed as we have again expanded our blocks and people area. We have a variety of tubes and blocks that we are using to create ramps and tracks for small balls as well as larger balls. The kids are so excited and are enjoying having races with the balls. Using the ramps is a great opportunity to work on heavy and light, fast and slow, and near and far. The kids are getting very creative in their use of the tubes and the ramps. They are really working together to experiment and figure things out. The kids are making educated guesses, or hypotheses, about how different balls will roll and how far or near the balls will end up.
In the feeling table, we have ping pong balls with a variety of containers and plastic eggs. We have wide containers and narrow containers and tall and short containers for the balls. We also have a very cool sensory experience available for the kids this week. We have some tiny pellets that when placed in water, absorb the water and become wet pods. These pods never dry out. We are using cylinders and tubes and sorting trays as we explore these pods.
Upcoming Events:
Friday, June 5th- Last day of school for our students/Family Gathering during the last hour of each session.
Balls: Characteristics and Actions
Dates: May 12-May 15, 2015
Circle Time:
Tuesday, May 12- “What is a ball?”;
Wednesday, May 13- Actions with balls- kick, roll, bounce
Thursday, May 14- Sorting balls by type
Friday, May 15- Counting with balls
Centers:
Feeling Table: Ping Pong balls with containers and eggs
Blocks and People: Blocks, balls, and ramps
Table Toys: Circular lacing pieces, glitter balls with tweezers
Sensory Experience: Water beads
Small Group (Art/Math/Literacy Activities):
Tuesday, May 11- “Ball Tracing”; PM: Balls with stickers
Wednesday, May 12- Self-Portraits
Thursday, May 13- Balls with stickers; “Balloon Letter Pop”
Friday, May 14- “Partner Painting” with marbles and golf balls