How many steps Mr. Fox ?

Published on March 6, 2012 under Uncategorized

I was happy to get back today and back in routine. The time I spend away is usually needed to help me do my job better but I do miss the kids when I am gone. As usual when I am out I am still thinking of the kids and the things they like and shopping for things to keep our play space new and exciting. Give me 16 kids that are bored and have played with the same old things forever and I will give you a recipe for a terrible day. One sign of a quality program is that we change our materials out frequently to challenge and engage the child more.

Maybe one day they will grow up to be an architect !

On the way down Sunday afternoon Beth and I stopped at SAVERS. It is a thrift store in Fort Smith that is ran by the Big Brothers and Sisters group. It is WONDERFUL. It is very well organized and you never know what you will find. I fed my preschool material addiction / hoarding a little with some new things for the kids.

They loved the new soft interlocking blocks that look like wood. I saw lots of house building. It takes some fine motor work and some real thinking to put a structure together with these.

I also got more pattern blocks. I had some… but… well. Yes. I have a problem. 🙂

Lots of parallel play went on today at the tables. This is when we learn to get along with other and share.

During small groups today we read ” Hattie and the Fox ”

and then we stepped outside to play a game called ” How many steps Mr. Fox?” It is played a lot like Simon Says only I would ( or a child pretending to be the fox ) would hold up a card and they would take that many steps forward. They loved this game. It is a little better than Simon says because we all pretty much know how to count to ten now but can we recognize the numerals? They really enjoyed that.

On the table today were several families of animals that live in the woods like a squirrel family, a skunk family and a hedgehog family. There were also small house materials like beds, chairs and even school house features. Even the boys loved playing with the animals.

This seems like just dramatic play but do you realize it is also math – sorting families or animals ?

During circle time today we did the squirrel dance and we heard a fable about How the Toad Got it’s Spots ? When I finished the story I asked questions like ” why wasn’t the toad invited to the party ? “” and ” If you were the toad would you hop inside the guitar?” We also practiced retelling the story. Ask your child at home if he can tell you the story of how the Toad Got it’s Spots. Some questions you can ask are ; What happened when he fell ? What other kinds of birds do you think were at the party?

There were also nuts to sort and count on the table today.