We had a fun and great week! The children started to make their own cars a few weeks ago when we discussed about c sound. The children didn’t complete making their cars and left the unfinished projects for many weeks, I then suggested: “Maybe we should put the unfinished cars away, if you don’t want to do it anyway.” The children applied: “No, we are not finished, we are thinking about how to make it.”, ” I have a good idea to make the car”, and “don’t put it away, I will finish soon.” The next day, the children were so busy to finish their own cars, and they also put some more ideas, such as: "Here is the light, so the car can see at night”, “I made engine for my car”, “my car have beep, beep, beep”, and “car has strong wheels”. When they finished, they moved and pushed the cars around the classroom, in and out. Some of children started to complain, “Ms. Carol, they are so noisy”, “Ms. Carol, I cannot go around, because there are push so fast in the class.” To support the children’s interests and needs, we then discussed with them what they can do to reduce the noisy and not bother other friends who are in the class. The finally decision was “maybe we can play outside the class.” To continue to support their learning, I then suggested “Should we make a road for the cars?”. The children applied: “That’s right, we need road, so the cars know where to go”. “That’s a good idea, Ms. Carol”. While the children were making the road, they also came out the other ideas, such as “we should have policeman, we need zebra crossing for people to walk”, “we need light for the car”, “we need ticket for the policemen” , ”we need to tell the car where to go (making one way road sign) and “there is line on the road and the road should be black”. We used the internet as a research tool which gave the children clearly ideas while they made thier project. Therefore, for the whole week, they children were so busy to make their ideas become visible with friends. Throughout this road making exploration, the children developed a varieties of skills, such as cooperation, helping each other, thinking skills, language (as they sounded policeman and wrote “plsman), counting skills and so on. The exploration is also connected to our unit of inquiry “Who We Are” and the central idea is “our relationship with others contribute to our well-being” which focus on “ways we interact, play and engage with others” They were busy learning and also had so much fun this week. Other exploration happened in the class! Feeding and changing Bella’s house. As we discussed about where we from, we then introduced coins from different countries. The children made their own money by rubbing the money with makers. They put the money they made in the dress corner for their friends to use. We discussed about what a good friendship looks like. They all agreed and shared: “A good friend should help each other and taking turn”. We have been taking photos when the children recognized the action as “helping friends”. “Ms. Carol, take a photo, Jia is helping her friend”. We printed the photos and put them on the wall, in order to help the children remember and recognize what a good friend look like. We had a great time in library!! Ms. Graff did something different when the children had library time with her today. Normally, Ms. Graff read a book to the children and then they borrowed some books after. This time, Ms. Graff invited the children to read a book to the puppet. They all got a chance to choice a puppet and then pick a book to read to the puppet. They all very excited about it! How big my foot is After we traced our foot with a marker, we lined up the all the foot printings and thought about how we can measure our foot. Children found out we all have different foot shapes and different size. From the previously experiences, children said we could measure our foot with ribbon and cubes like we did with a pumpkin. This time, we used different materials to measure out foot. We had a lots of play corns in sensory bin. We brought play corns and put them on to our foot printings to see how many play corns could fit into our foot. We gathered all the foot printings on the carpet and counted the play corns together. We talked about who had the most and who has the least. Hammer the pumpkin This pounding pumpkins activity is so much fun for children! It’s also a great way to develop gross motor skills and eye-hand coordination. I showed children how to hold the tee with one hand and hammer it with the other hand. There was quite a bit of a learning curve to it, but after a bit of trial and error he figured it out. Last week, when we used to pins, children loved to poke the pins onto the pumpkins. To extend their interest, we provided children pins and some different materials, such as foam shapes and feathers so that children actually could hammer a something onto the pumpkin. On the Science table, we also brought cork boards, wooden shapes, nails and hammers and practice hammering together. Children placed each of the wooden shapes on the cork first and then started knocking the nails into the cork to hold the pieces in place. Children became interested and created different patterns by using wooden pieces. Learning to use scissors skill Learning to use scissors can be so challenging for little hands. However, Junior preschool friends always love to use a scissor during a day and have a lots of fun cutting a paper. This week, we were learning how to use a scissor safely. We thought about the purpose for scissors and how we could use the scissor safely. Junior preschool friends are given different kinds of lined paper such as straight and curved line. Then they practiced to cut a paper out along the line. It was little tricky to hold a scissor with our thumb, index finger, and middle finger same time. We continued to work on this skill a daily basis, but it would really help if it was encouraged at home as well. Fun Music Class! Painting outside ! Free Play Time
New Unit of inquiry:Who We Are We started to introduce our new inquiry “Who We Are” which an inquiry into nature of the self, human relationships including families and friends, communities and cultures by asking the children a question “What do you think what “Who We Are” mean?” The children displayed confidence to share their opinions in a whole group discussion. Here are the ideas: “we are the way we are”, “we all have different hair colors”, “we have all have different eye colors”, and “we all have different skin colors “and “we all from different place. The children started to look closely to their friends’ eyes, hair and skin and found out who has blue eyes, who has black hair, and who has fair skin and so on. Then the discussion went to where we from, the children were so excited to share where they from: “I am from Busan”, "I am from France when I was a baby”, "I went to America but I am from Busan" and so on. It was so interested to hear what they already know. To support their interests, we then printed out flags from each child’s country and they were so eager to know their own flag as well as to make a flag by themselves. We also encouraged them to write down “I am from…” on the flag. Some of the children can write down the sentence by sound the words out, while some of the children wrote beginning of sounds. They did a great job to make their own flag and get to know where their friends come from. Well done, Sr preschool. We have a tree! One afternoon, Abel took some big paper rolls and started to connect them all together with tape. He painted them in different colors after he connected the paper rolls. One friend asked: “Abel, what is that?”. Able shared: “I think it’s a tree”. Mrs. Leda came to visit us and Abel showed her the tree that he made. Mrs. Leda: “Should we have some leaves on the tree? “ Mrs. Leda invited him to get some leaves and branches from the garden. In the afternoon circle time, some friends asked Able: “Is that a Christmas tree?”, “Is it that for us? “and “ what is it for? “ Abel said: “It a tree for everyone”. The children were so happy and wanted to decorate the tree like a Christmas tree; “we should put light around it”, “How about a star?” and “how around something around the tree”. Next day, we invited the children to make something to decorate the tree, such as made stars by folding and cutting the paper, and using noodles to make tinsels. We are going to put the light around the tree next week. We also discussed about friendship with the children this week. The children displayed confidence to share what their opinions about friendship. We took some photos when they are helping each and take care of their friends, as they think those actions make a good friendship. Ms. Olds showed us how to play violin! It was so fun. Grasshopper investigation This week has been a busy month filled with investigations. The children continue to explore the classroom environment as well as the natural environment outside in the playground. The week began with an interest in grasshopper. Children used the observation collectors from the science area to place the grass hopper in that they were observing outside during recess. In our early years program we encourage the children to look closely, to take the time to slow down and we find this helps with their investigations. We want them to use all of their senses to gather information and experience their learning with their whole body and mind. Within our classroom we carefully create invitations for learning. These are spaces with are carefully crafted using learning materials that will spark the children's interests and expand or extend their ideas. Children brought the collected a grasshopper in from recess and placed them on the table. Next we began to collect items from around the classroom, Items such as markers, papers, pencils. Looking closely at the container of grasshopper and recording what she saw on the paper. The children continued to investigate grasshopper and they were offered different kinds of materials to create a grasshopper. We provide them with another opportunity to display their thinking other than drawing and writing. Purposeful Play with Push Pins The children have been investigating the cork board for this week. We placed the cork board on the back of the math and numeracy shelf. We provide push pins, yarn and elastics. I created this invitation for the children to explore and create envisioning the board as a giant geoboard. I hoped that they would not only develop their fine motor skills but also worked together creating this design. It has been that and so much more. Here is a look at some of their explorations. The children carefully placed the push pins so that they could stretch the elastics out between two pins. If the tension on the elastic was not just right they would move the pin and try again until it was just right. What wonderful problem-solving and perseverance they displayed. Pumpkin Investigation Which ribbon will wrap around the pumpkin? This is a measurement estimation activity. We picked out one of my larger pumpkin, We wrapped ribbon around the pumpkin and cut it off at exactly the right length, and We cut three more ribbons shorter. Our sign says, “Guess! Which ribbon will wrap around the pumpkin?” Children first guess which ribbon they think will fit around the pumpkin and then try each one to see whether it fits. We were also working on measuring pumpkin’s height. For this week, pumpkin measuring became popular and interesting provocation. The children were asked to find out how many cubes tall the pumpkin was. Before we started this activity, children guess how many cubes tall of our pumpkin. We all guessed how many cube we could use to measure the height of our pumpkin. Then we started to measure that pumpkin with cubes. A pumpkin was round and we were measuring with cube sticks, it became clear that accuracy in the measurements was hard to prove simply by using our eyes. So we tried to use the book to measure the height of pumpkin. Here is our chart to measure the height of our pumpkin! Playing ViolinCamp FireCampfire!!! Before the holiday, the children wanted to pitch a tent, have a bonfire and roast marshmallows. We did this, as we discussed about “t” as “t” is for tent. We only did one thing happen: set up a tent before the break. To continue to support the children's' learning, we asked for permission from Mrs. Page, who is our campus manger, to help us to make a bonfire. Thank you to Mrs. Page and her team, as one of her team members helped us to set up the bonfire on Thursday at 10am!! We invited the children to pick up some sticks for the bonfire before Thursday. On the day,the children all had a great experience and good time. They shared: ”The marshmallows are so yummy”, “Smoke was bothering my eyes”, “The bonfire is so hot”, “I want to 100 marshmallows”, and “ I want to do it again”. Throughout the exploration of tents and bonfires, the children gained experience in language skills, fine motor skills, working as a team, having a positive attitude toward their learning, taking care of their responsibility as they discussed how many people can go into the tent, taking turns and many more. These experiences are connected to our inquiry of the unit: “How We Organize Ourselves which focus on responsibility. Make learning meaningful to the children ! The children have been enjoying creating different things with Lego, making very long train track or make a tall castle or building. They do not want to put their beautiful projects away when we call tidy up time. We then asked the children to write their name on the yellow post and then the projects where they can stay on the carpet or shelf. The children have been writing their name or friends’ name more often and meaningful to them rather just practice on the table. The children have been improving a lot, in regards to how to right their name correctly. Well done, Sr preschool. Phonic box! As the children have been aware of letter-sounded relationship, we offer many opportunities to explore such as letter hunting, tracing and sand letter paper. For example, we set up phonic boxes and put a lot of objects in them that are related to the beginning sounds of words, such as tree, taxi, tomato, and train objects in the “t” box. There are many ways which I can play with children with the phonic box. One of the ways is making a booklet that I am reading/doing with the children in the class this week. The children will choose the objects that they would like to draw on the paper. After drawing, they will try to sound out the word out and write what they heard, such as t-o-m-a-t-o, with assistance. On the other hand, the children will write the beginning sound on the paper. They will make three to five pages in order to make a booklet. Throughout this exploration, the children will develop thinking skills, spelling skills, and phonetic awareness. |
Meet the EARLY YEARS teachersMS.CarolCarol Lesser has over 20 years of experience in early childhood and ESL education. She has taught in Taiwan and Canada and has also worked at international schools in Korea, Indonesia, Singapore and Mongolia. Carol earned a Diploma and a Bachelor of Education in Early Childhood Education from universities in Taiwan. Additionally, she earned a Montessori Graduate Diploma in Vancouver, Canada. Furthermore, she earned a Master of Education in Teaching Second Languages in Toowoomba, Australia. She also has certification in Reggio Emilia, PYP, ESL, and the University of Cambridge International Primary Program. In her free time, Carol enjoys dancing, cooking, organizing social events with her husband, Michael, and traveling. She has been at Busan International Foreign School since 2015. kATHY SONKathy Son has over 20 years of experience in education. She has worked at BIFS since the winter of 1995. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Child Development in California State University of Fullerton and has done a Teacher Credential Program in Concordia University, Irvine. In her free time Kathy enjoys going shopping and watching movies with her family. Archives
August 2017
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