The Crows Solution
We have had a very busy day today. While small groups were going on some of the kids were at the other end of the table making nest from a glue water solution and small pieces of yarn. This was another exercise in patience and following directions. Asking preschoolers ( especially boys ) to pick up the yarn piece by piece and dip it in the glue solution and place it on the cup is a test for all involved. No, it doesn’t really matter if the grab a handful of yarn and dunk it all in the glue and throw it on top of the cup ( which is the mold for the nest ) but ultimately , they have to learn to follow directions from a teacher AND the picking up each piece of yarn is great fine motor experience.
I think it will take a day ( OR MORE) before we are ready to take them off the cups.
Another fun thing was going on in the kitchen with Danielle. She was helping them make edible birds nest. Mind you Ihave the recipe for the one made out of chocolate and chow mien noodles but those little projects always end in left over yukiness or yumminess in the kitchen that I shouldn’t eat. So , she made a healthy version with Shredded Wheat , coconut , brown sugar and butter. I should be safe on this one, I have yet to feel like going in the kitchen and grabbing a square of shredded wheat and gnawing on it. 🙂 The kids will be having them for snack
During small groups today we did some patterning with nest and bird houses and these kids are PROS at this. We also did a little ” this is a bird, this is NOT a bird sorting.”
New things available on the tables to were a bird counting puzzle and a cool game I made to work on pinscher grips. There were worms ( brown yarn ) all over the ground ( mat ) and the crows beak ( yellow clip ) had to pick the worms up to feed the baby birds.
The kids are still loving the duck game and I had BIRD words out today they could trace with write on wipe off markers and they were doing that with Randy.
Outside there was more fun going on. Danielle painted each child’s food brown for a project we are doing tomorrow.
And.. right in the middle of these we had a licensing inspection. In the past two weeks we have had a health dept inspection, a USDA food inspection, a QA inspection and now this. I think that about exhaust anyone else that might want to drop in.
For circle time today we started in the kitchen at the island. I told them the story of ” The Crow and the Pitcher.”
Using just a glass and an impromptu sock puppet.
Halfway through the story I stopped and said ” The crow has a problem . He can’t reach the water in the pitcher. Can you think of a solution.” One of the points of this experience was to use a higher vocabulary . ( problem, solution ) We all , including myself , can get so lax in using language that is descriptive and challenges the kids. Have you ever talked to a child and just by listening to what he says think ” that is one smart little boy?” A child’s language comes from the words that we expose him to – good or bad. The children gave me some great ideas. ” We could add more water.” ” He could get a straw.” ” The rain could fill it up.” After we had exhausted our ideas I continued with the story to say that the crow started dropping pebbles in the water and made the level of the water rise to where he could finally reach it. ( We had marked the glass with a dry erase marker. ) This is a preschool lesson in density but don’t tell them they just thought it was cool.
I didnt think I would like BIRD week. I have never done a unit on birds but I am finding out it is one of my favorites so far.
Time for snack !
