Arkansas Children’s Week 2017
Every year we have a week that we celebrate children . The nationwide event is hosted by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Arkansas always has a special spin on it with a special theme as well. Being the overachiever that I am – I am trying to combine the two efforts ( national and state ) with my own lesson plans.
NAEYC is celebrating today with Music Monday !
Music Monday! April 24, 2017Sing, dance, celebrate, and learn Through music, children develop math, language, and literacy skills – All while having fun and being active!
|
We have a lot of music all the time but I thought as our state theme encouraged us to get out and explore the outdoors perhaps I could take an extra look at what we have available outside in our music area . Does it need revamping ? Are there missing pieces ? We got to work. We added a few things and cleaned up our music area.
Molly, our resident rockstar enjoyed the new pieces.
We also read a book outside about Curious George. This week our regular plans included construction. Curious George watched a homing pigeon and decided he needed to build a tree inside his apartment for the pigeon to roost in. First he made a plan. That’s a smart idea and something we ask here a lot. ” What is your plan ?”
The kids made a plan to build a tree ( like George ) from blocks.
We had two teams – the building and the block deliverers. One important note is that I called one little boy a leader of a team He was so proud to be called a leader he almost forgot what his job was. It made me think… we do speak words of affirmation over our littles enough ?
It was interesting to watch the teams work together and to try and make the ” tree ” stand up. It really didn’t look like a tree when they were finished but that isn’t important. It was about so much more than looking like a tree.
When I asked how we can make this work Molly sang ” We can use teamwork ! ”
And last but not least because it was a popular place all day – the tool bench area. We have always had this area but I have gotten lax at making sure all the materials were there. Not long ago we had a head and a tool come together in a not so pleasant experience . Thankfully, it was not a major incident but because of that I took the tools and put them away until we had reorganized the area. HINT- If children don’t have the correct materials to use tools ( or anything ) in the proper way, they will find a new way to use them. It may not be what you are hoping for. Today we added more materials. We moved the tool bench out in the open. ( Supervision for this type of fun is important ! ) We talked about how we would use the tools and how many friends could be at the bench at a time .We were reminded that the tools stay at the tool bench . Everyone got a chance to practice at the bench today while closely supervised. Take a deep breath. Tomorrow we are adding a small saw. It will be ok. Kids- construction. They love it.
Arkansas Children’s Week 2017 day one is in the books !