Show and Tell !
Today seemed as hectic as yesterday. Both days there have been three of us here and we all have felt a little CRAZY! 🙂 Maybe it’s the weather change ? The kids havent been BAD ( whatever your definition of that might be ) . They have just been very busy and very … very… loud.
Today I was determined to atleast catch up with the plans I made for yesterday and we ALMOST did ! ( Just for the record, I am a BIT of an overachiever. I tend to plan more than what we have time for on a perfect day so when they day is a little off for any reason – the last few goals can be easily derailed. )
Today in addition to the two and a half hours of free play where we do MOST of our learning we did another cooking experience . Today’s was a PLANNED experience , not just a ” hey , I think i will let the kids help me cook their lunch ! ” We made banana peanut butter M and M lollipops. They were a hit . We learned lots of different things while doing activities like this one. We heard the words first, second and third. We practiced following directions. We used our fine motor skills to spread the peanut butter on the banana with a plastic knife. We practiced patience not eating the M and M’s before it was time. 🙂 What we didnt get reminded was that there are letter M’s on the M and M’s. ( teacher fail moment…. ) but it was fun. We also mentioned which parts of our snack were healthy and which were not.
Today was show and tell. Show and tell is not my favorite group activity for many reasons. One… someone always forgets and it makes me sad for the child that has nothing. Also..do you know how long it takes for 16 children to show and tell about their special object and allow two questions per child. It last WAY BEYOND the 10 minutes that is appropriate for this age group. But there are positives to having a show and tell group time. If you are interested in what those positive reasons for having show and tell are I will copy and paste an article and the end of the blog you can read.
Mr Randy showed everyone his new accordian.
Harelly had a bear as BIG AS SHE IS !
We worked on raising our hands to ask a question. Just the term ” ask a question ” instead of ” make a statement” is a hard concept for many preschoolers but I think many of them caught on. My favorite part was at the end of each child’s ” show and tell” all of us clapped and said ” thank you for sharing ! ” It kinda felt like a little kids AA meeting. ( That was probably a poor joke and I am making as assumption since I have never been to an AA meeting BUT.. this is what I would like to think they are like. ) It made me giggle a little each time .
Another thing we did today was see how tall we all are. Ms Dallas put our pictures on the wall so we can compare who is the tallest.
All in all, I think we got a lot accomplished today.
Here is some information about show and tell from Suite 101 if you are interested :
Show and tell in preschool can occur throughout the school year or during a shorter period of time and usually involves one or two children at a time. Show and tell works best with older preschool ages, such as older threes and four year olds. The benefits of show and tell for young children are plentiful and with some organization on the preschool teachers end, show and tell can run fairly smoothly. This article provides some ideas for how to run a show and tell within a preschool curriculum and its benefits.
The Benefits of Show and Tell in Preschool
Although, at times, it seems hard to decipher the benefits of show and tell with young children, indeed this active involvement of the speaker and the listeners fosters a great deal of developments within each child:
- Learning How to Ask Questions and Answer: many preschool children do not understand the difference between a statement and a question, and so going through the process helps teach this concept.
- Speech Development: for the speaker, show and tell provides an opportunity to use descriptive language, concept thinking, story telling and so forth. Overall, it helps develop effective communication.
- Emotional Development: giving children time to share a part of their home life, their interests, with the group creates an environment of caring and fosters their emotional selves.
- Respectful Listening: show and tell can create structure for preschool children to learn how to be respectful when someone is talking and to use proper manners
- Children Take the Lead: the act of show and tell, from choosing the item, to talking about it in front of peers, to showing it to everyone, provides children the chance to be in charge, and have their choices and voice honoured. This is especially true for the more shy children in the group.
What Items to Bring for Show and Tell
Many preschools and primary classes in elementary school, choose a theme for show and tell. Toys are often not permitted for show and tell as it can create challenges for sharing afterwards, and a sense of “look what I have and what you don’t”. Some theme suggestions are:
- something used in the house
- a photo that holds a story or experience that can be shared
- something made