"That's one small step for man...one giant leap for..." preschoolers!

The preschoolers have been learning all about space, astronauts, stars and planets in our class!  Since space is a topic that many young children do not have an abundance of knowledge about, we began to discuss something that they are familiar with, a person's job.  In fact, we spent the first week of our space unit discussing what an astronaut must do prior to his/her space journey.  The preschoolers exercised their bodies to make sure that they were healthy for their upcoming trip to space.  They studied books about planets and looked at pictures from space.  Then, we discussed the many the different jobs that an astronaut might have to accomplish on their journey to space.  We read a lot of books about astronauts & even discussed some of the different clothing items that they have to wear in space to protect themselves.  

 

 

 

During the second week of our space unit, we practiced blasting off to space in all kinds of rocket ships.  After blasting off, the preschoolers used their imaginations to go on various journeys to space, including a few trips to the moon.  The preschoolers have really enjoyed dressing up as an astronauts in their special gear which includes a helmet, safety gloves & space boots.

 

 

In Language Experience, we made fruit rockets as well as astronaut pudding.  We talked about the fact that astronauts often take dehyrated food to space because it doesn't weigh as much.  As you can imagine, the rehydrating of food was an exciting experiment for the preschoolers to participate in, even if they didn't enjoy eating the freeze-dried fruit.  However, they sure did enjoy making and eating different flavors of astronaut pudding.  :)

 

During another week, we recreated the first man walking on the moon & then talked about what we thought it would be like to set foot on the moon, today.  The preschoolers especially enjoyed walking & bouncing on the moon as well as collecting moon rocks to take back to Earth.  In the end, the space theme unit has been an exciting and motivating vehicle for learning language through listening and experiences.

Lions and Tigers and Bears...Oh my!

The preschoolers learned so much over the past month about the zoo.  In fact, they learned about all of the animals who live in the zoo as well as the many different kind of employees who work there each day!

We pretended to be zoo keepers and learned how to take care of the animals.  We learned that each animal has a different habitat in the zoo.  We also talked about the importance of cleaning the animal cages, bathing the animals and even feeding them the proper foods.  The preschoolers used a checklist to make sure that they cared for each animal & didn't forget any them.  We learned the words for the animal names as well as many other things surrounding the language around taking care of them.

Sometimes, the preschoolers pretended to be visitors at the zoo.  They purchased tickets to enter the zoo & practiced reading zoo maps to help them get around.  We even bought drinks & snacks to eat when we were hungry or thirsty.   One of the preschoolers' favorite things to do was ride around the zoo to see the animals in open air cages.  Our green jeep took us on many interesting safaris around the zoo.  Of course, we made sure to bring our binoculars and our camera on these jeep rides so that we could see the animals up closer.  This may have been their favorite center so far, this year.  :)

 

 

 

Community Helper Visits

We were very lucky to have two, real community helpers visit our classroom this month from Virginia Beach/Norfolk!
 

First, Mr. Kevin, an EMT, came to our classroom to tell us all about how he rescues people in the water.  Mr. Kevin is a member of the Virginia Beach Marine Rescue Team.  He wore his uniform to show us what he wears to work and he even brought some really cool toys to show us during his visit.

Mr. Kevin showed us how to use his night-vision googles as well as the fancy head set/microphone that he uses to communicate with others during rescue missions.  He also brought a large life buoy and an official dive suit.  We liked the toys, but our favorite part of the visit was when Mr. Kevin took us outside to see his Marine Rescue Vehicle.  Each of the preschoolers got to climb inside of the rescue boat and pretend to drive it.   Then, last but not least, Mr. Kevin showed us how to turn on the vehicle's emergency lights & siren.  "This was awesome!" shouted one of the preschoolers.

 

Then, Dr. Josh came to our classroom to tell us about the different jobs that doctors can do at work.  We learned that there are actually different kinds of doctors who work in different locations like hospitals and clinics.  We learned that each kind of doctor helps us to keep our body healthy.

Dr. Josh brought in some toys of his own and he even showed us how to use them.  First, he showed us how a stethoscope can help doctors to hear our heart beats as well as listen to our breathing and lungs.  Then, he showed us the special light on his otoscope that helps doctors to look inside of our noses, eyes & ears.  Lastly, Dr. Josh showed us some emergency cold packs that "worked like magic" to help people who had injured a part of their body.  In the end, we learned that doctors are people who care for us and want us to stay healthy.  Hopefully this will help us to see that grown ups who wear those white coats aren't so scary after all.

 

Your appointment has been set for Monday at 9:00 a.m.

To continue our study of community helpers, we opened up a theme center that was focused on community helpers from the medical community.  During the first two weeks of study, we focused on the language that would surround a doctor's office.  We had doctors, nurses, surgeons and even medical technicians working in this doctor's office.  We discussed some of the tools that could be found in a doctor's office as well as what a person might do in the waiting room.  The preschoolers looked at x-rays, listened to heart beats. fixed broken bones and helped many of the patients who had a sick tummy.

Over the first two weeks of this study, we also talked about the how the preschoolers felt about visiting the doctor's office.  We found out that a lot of them were afraid of going to see the doctor. However, we're hopeful that after acting out the roles of medical community helpers and dramatizing different types of medical visits, they might have a new attitude toward going to the doctor.  To further reinforce the fact that these community helpers were there to help them stay healthy, we watched a few video clips of other children going to the hospital/doctor's office and read various books about doctors and patients.  While they may not jump at the chance to go to the doctor's office, my hope is that they are now more comfortable with the idea of it.

During the third week of medical community helpers, we changed the center's focus to that of a dentist's office.  We talked about healthy teeth, unhealthy teeth/cavities and the importance of brushing our teeth after meals.  We learned about the job of a dentist as well as the helpers that might accompany him/her in the dentist's office.  We also learned about a few of the tools that one might find when they visit the dentist.  Interestingly enough, the preschoolers all liked playing with the drill.  :)  

In our fourth and final week of learning about medical community helpers, we changed the center's focus to that of an optometrists's office.  We learned about our eyes and about how important it is to tell adults if we are having trouble seeing the things around us.  While this unit was fun and informative, it may have also sparked some interest in the medical profession for some of the preschoolers.

 

VB Fire Station - 911

Over the course of the year, we have discussed various community helpers in our classroom. However, during the month of February, we turned one of our theme centers into a fire station!  The preschoolers have really enjoyed learning about what fire fighters do to help the members of our community.

We talked about the importance of addresses, phone numbers and about a very important phone number to call in the event of an emergency, 911.  We also discussed where to find fire hydrants around our neighborhoods.  

The preschoolers acted out various scenarios in the fire station.  They received emergency calls from community members who were telling them about fires that were nearby.  The preschoolers put out fires in buildings, cars and even in homes.  Of course, the Paw Patrol rescue animals were also an important part of their dramatizations.  Chase the police dog and Marshall the dalmation were always on call to help out our friendly heroes.

We talked about what a uniform was as well as the different ones that were worn by police officers and fire fighters.  We also discussed their job descriptions and decided which job we thought would be fun to do when we grew up.  Lastly, we had fun singing about a fire truck and reading many books on the topic, as well.  In the end, the preschoolers are still working on learning their addresses and phone numbers.  However, they definitely know that fires are hot and dangerous and that fire fighters and police officers are community helpers that are here to keep us safe.