Woolsey Academy For Young Learners 417-742-3519
  • Home
  • Blog
  • About us
    • A Day In The Life
    • Contact Us
    • What Parents Just Like You Think
    • Enrollment Forms
  • Pre k With Me!

It's A Small World...

2/5/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture

This beautiful little map with it's cheerful animals has drawn much attention over the past couple of weeks.  Our preschoolers gravitate toward it daily and to ask questions about what they observe.  The monkeys in South Africa, the buffalo in North America, and the narwhals way at the top capture their eyes.

This map, along with many others, provided to us by our education partners at Mother Goose Time, have prompted conversations and questions.

This is exciting for us teachers because we know that inquisitive little learners are engaged in organic education about the world allllll around them.

​And it truly is a wonderful world.....

Sensory and Science


We used shave cream (with close and careful observation) with blue and green to represent land and sea as we swirled and squished and mixed colors around our "globe".  This simple little paper plate craft manufactured some, "EWWWWW!" and some "OOOHHHHHH!!!"  as our students experimented with q-tips, paintbrushes, fingers, and palms. 

No matter their age, they ALL were knee-deep immersed in this Science and Sensory Creative Arts undertaking.  

Stories and Songs

Spending our days this month focused on the places, peoples, and animals all around the world is a great big concept for little minds to comprehend, but stories and songs bring it closer to home.  "What if Zebra's Lost Their Stripes" has been just one of my new favorites.

"Wonders Around The World" by Leslie Falconer, is a picturesque tour through wonders such as The Grand Canyon, Ayers Rock, and The Leaning Tower of Pisa.  It is sprinkled with simple facts that our preschoolers can relate to as it asks questions, "What can you climb?" as it introduces Mt. Everest.​
Picture
Simple books with beautiful illustrations as these are the perfect way to introduce global concepts.  Further, providing rich reading experiences paves the pathways for success as children become emergent readers themselves.  This begins at birth and we, as educators, build foundations with books such as these with meaningful content that can be connected to real life. Asking questions during reading "helps children connect the story with their own lives or that help them to compare the book with other books that they have read. Ask questions that help the children to notice what is in the book and ask them to predict what happens next."  Wonder Around The World does just that.  It provides many opporntunities for questions and follow up as it asks, "What will we wonder next?"

"In the landmark 1986 review Becoming a Nation of Readers, the Commission on Reading, called reading aloud to children "the single most important activity for building the knowledge required for success in reading." https://www2.ed.gov/teachers/how/early/teachingouryoungest/page_pg5.html

Music and Movement, Rhythm and Rhyme!

Singing familiar songs to instruments we made is even more fun!  We made these sweet little drums as part of our "Africa" study and then we sat circle style while tapping to Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star!  

We observed that our drums were cylinders and once we glued the tops on they made a wonderful sound.  We proudly displayed these in our classsrooms and were able to take them home to share with family and friends!!

Music in the classroom.

Children learn through music.  They are able to retain longer and learn faster when complex concepts are conveyed through music.  The music/neural connection is well documented even for adults.  We do not let a day go by without "Music and Movement" and this is why...

"Exposing young children to instruments can help to achieve the following:
  • Increase gross and fine motor skills and helps to develop muscle tone in the hands and arms.
  • Develop a sense of beat and rhythm
  • Reinforce hand-eye coordination
  • Encourage imaginative play and storytelling through sound effects
  • Increase listening (and hence, reading) skills
  • Reinforce and emphasize self-discipline and self-control
  • Enhance comprehension of music notation (in its simplest form), dynamics, and musical form
  • Develop patterning skills and learn basic mathematical concepts of sequencing, numerical order, counting forwards and backwards and addition/subtraction (for advanced students).
  • Develop understanding of where sound comes from and how it changes (according to instrument played)
  • Develop a sense of teamwork and social skills such as sharing, taking turns, etc.
  • Develop sense of cultural awareness
In addition to these benefits, neuroscientist Professor Nina Kraus has conducted research that has proven that playing a musical instrument enhances the brain's sensitivity to speech sounds. She states, "Playing an instrument may help youngsters better process speech in noisy classrooms and more accurately interpret the nuances of language that are conveyed by subtle changes in the human voice."

Besides that, music is just plain fun!!!  Check out our favorites!!!

Though these two are completely different, they both provide exposure to movement, rhythm, and body awareness as we move and groove through our preschool days.

Counting our money at the Sushi Shop!

Picture

Part of this month's studies is to learn about different cultures and the foods they eat.  During this month we have introduced our sushi shop to our Dramatic Play area.  This is giving our little learners the opportunity to build and play with foods that look different than what they may find in at their dinner tables.  

They have enjoyed wrapping rice rolls and reading from the sushi menus.  

We have also learned more about money by purchasing the sushi we have made in our restaurant  We carefully count out how many dollars our friends are asking for and counting back the change when we give them "too much.".  
We tried Japanese sweet crispy rice too!  Not everyone was a fan, but they all gave it two "No Thank You" bites as is our tradition when trying something new!

New foods, new cultures, new stories and songs.  It's all in a day of play at Woolsey Academy for Young Learners!

As always, we wish you well and we hope you get to play today.

​-L
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    View my profile on LinkedIn

    Life is made of moments...

    "There isn't anything more full of hope, joy and peace than a child's smile... It captures the mundane and makes it extraordinary." - LaDonna Woolsey

    I am a www.prekwithme.com blogger. I decided to become one after trying their products because I they are comprehensive and serve my mixed age group well.  I do receive products to review from www.prekwithme.com and do so with my own honest and thorough opinions.  For more information, please contact me at [email protected]

    Categories

    All
    A Little Bit Of This And That!
    A View You Can Use!
    A-Z Alphabet Theme
    C Is For Cookie!
    Continents And Countries
    Curiosity
    Curriculum
    Dandelions And Darlings...
    Happy Halloween!
    Help For Tired Mommas...
    Holidays
    Letter M Monkey
    Letter N Newts
    Letter O Olympics
    Letter P Is For People
    Letter Q Is For Queen
    Letter S
    Letters Learning
    Letter T
    Letter U
    Letter W
    Letter X
    Play Based Learning
    Preschool
    R Is For Rainbow
    Sensory Play
    Teaching And Learning
    Turtles And Trains

    Archives

    January 2025
    September 2024
    November 2019
    September 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    October 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    April 2014
    January 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012

    Categories

    All
    A Little Bit Of This And That!
    A View You Can Use!
    A-Z Alphabet Theme
    C Is For Cookie!
    Continents And Countries
    Curiosity
    Curriculum
    Dandelions And Darlings...
    Happy Halloween!
    Help For Tired Mommas...
    Holidays
    Letter M Monkey
    Letter N Newts
    Letter O Olympics
    Letter P Is For People
    Letter Q Is For Queen
    Letter S
    Letters Learning
    Letter T
    Letter U
    Letter W
    Letter X
    Play Based Learning
    Preschool
    R Is For Rainbow
    Sensory Play
    Teaching And Learning
    Turtles And Trains

    Follow Me on Pinterest

    RSS Feed

    Follow Me on Pinterest

Location

What Our Clients Are Saying

My husband and I both work full time and during the year 2011 we needed a child care provider for our five year old daughter and our 20 month old son. I am a Special Education Teacher for the Willard RII district in Missouri. I found LaDonna Woolsey on the internet while searching for a child care provider.  I had called numerous places and never felt comfortable with any of them to even make an appointment to meet them in person. I called LaDonna, and almost immediately after the conversation started, I felt a sense of relief and made an appointment to check out her daycare in person, the following day.  When I saw her facility I was absolutely amazed. LaDonna answered all of my nervous mom questions and watching her interact with the children made me realize I had found the perfect person to watch my children during the day. She started providing Child Care services for my children immediately... - Lisa Lassley - Special Education Teacher for the Willard RII 

Contact Us

Subscribe

Join our mailing list today!
Join Now
  • Home
  • Blog
  • About us
    • A Day In The Life
    • Contact Us
    • What Parents Just Like You Think
    • Enrollment Forms
  • Pre k With Me!