Pioneers!

We had a great week learning about pioneers!  We learned how they traveled on foot, in covered wagons, on boats, and on horses.  I feel it is important to teach children history and help them appreciate all the things they enjoy today and feel a sense of gratitude for those who have come before us.  They were amazed that the pioneers didn't have TVs or ipads or anything like that!   

In one of the books we read, there was a picture of some of the items the pioneers would have had in their covered wagons.  We saw dishes, pots, a butter churn, a quilt, a tea pot, a gun, flour, a spare wheel, etc.  We talked about how the pioneers loaded up their belongings and bought what they would need for their journey.  Because there weren't stores along the way, they made their own food, including butter.  The kids had a blast making their own butter too!  It took lots of teamwork and lots of shaking!

We took turns shaking the jar full of whipping cream and got to see what it looked like part way when it had turned to cream. 

Then, we got to taste it!  It was delicious!  And the children were so excited that they had made it themselves!

 As part of pioneer week, we learned about how the pioneers made quilts and used them to stay warm on their journey.  This "I Spy" quilt was such a bright, colorful, fun way to show the children how people today still use small pieces of fabric to make large quilts.  

We enjoyed playing pioneer games together.  One of those games was "I Spy" which was a great way to practice color recognition, taking turns, teamwork, and having fun together!

 Another pioneer game we played was "Button, Button, Who's Got the Button?"  These kids thought this was such a fun and tricky game!  This would be a great game to play with your family sometime! 

Our 3-day/week class got to make their own quilt.  Instead of sewing our fabric scraps together, we glued them on a colored paper.  Their quilts turned out so colorful and bright!

I love our kitchen and cleaning center.  Many days, the boys are just as interested in it as the girls!  They love to pretend to clean and cook and have picnics too!

Drawing with stencils during centers helps encourage fine motor skills, creativity, and self-confidence.

This week we learned the letters "M", "N", and "Q" as well.  We had a terrific week and hope you had a great Pioneer Day weekend!

Space and Our Solar System

Learning about space and our solar system was an awesome theme for this week's summer camp!  We all enjoyed our new hanging solar system which we got to see glow in the dark!  I love how glow in the dark is so magical for the kids!

The kids really liked studying space books.  There are so many fascinating things in our solar system! 

We learned the number 5 this week so for one of our projects, we worked on those fine motor skills as they punched little holes in their number 5 and cause and effect.  They were all so careful as they followed the line of the 5 all the way around.  

They were so excited to hold their own project up to the window to see the little "stars" shining through!

We used our globe when we learned about the USA and then again this week to expand the children's understanding of the Earth as a planet in the solar system. 

I love hands-on learning (kinesthetic learning)!  Each child got to have a turn to be something in the solar system as they learned that the planets all go around the sun.  

We even added the moon as it orbits around the Earth.  

As all the children are familiar with airplanes flying through the sky, we talked about how airplanes can take us anywhere on Earth.  Then we talked about how space shuttles blast straight up and out of the atmosphere to enter space.  They were all fascinated as we watched a recording of a real space shuttle launch!

Then they all made their very own space ship/rocket!  This was a great activity to work on name recognition and writing their name and discovering how many letters were in their name.

Many of them enjoyed blasting their rockets up into "space" and around our classroom!

In the 3-day/week class, we learned more about Earth and the children painted and made their own Earth to take home.

We had a terrific week learning all about space!  Summer camps are so much fun!  To reinforce what we've learned in the classroom, be sure to take some time with your child to point out the stars, moon, and planets in the night sky.  Summer is the best time for star parties to spur their imagination and love for learning!
As part of our daily routine, we have a few minutes to move and stretch to break up our time learning at the teaching rug.  We often sing movement songs during this time like "If You're Happy and You Know It!".  I'm so grateful to be able to teach such precious, happy kids each day!

U.S.A.

In preparation for the 4th of July, we learned a lot about our wonderful country!  We looked at our globe and saw that there are a lot of different countries throughout the world.  Then we found our country-the U.S.A.!  We learned what those letters stand for as well.

As we listened to "God Bless America!" we looked at pictures that go along with the lyrics to help the children see various parts of our country and how beautiful it is!

The kids had a great time putting together our US puzzle and familiarizing themselves with the 50 states.  

We talked about how each star on the American flag represents one of the 50 states in our nation.

For one of our projects this week, we counted stars to work on number recognition and one-to-one correspondence.  For the older kids in our summer camps, we asked them addition problems to challenge them and had them practice writing the numbers as well.

We also learned about the American flag this week.  We focused on colors and creating a mini flag as we talked about our flag.

This was a great week for a fun snack time treat!  

We also learned that America started with just 13 colonies.  The children loved seeing how different life was back then as we read a book about life in the colonies.

With the kids that come 3 days/week, we got to learn about the Statue of Liberty!  They did a great job putting their individual puzzles together!  The older kids even worked on their cutting skills.

For one of the centers this week, the children used shapes to make pictures.  This was a great activity to focus on colors, shapes, and creativity!

Puzzles are always enjoyed by the preschoolers!  They are a great teaching tool as well.

Once a week, the children get to take any of the toys off the shelves during centers.  This is definitely a day they look forward to and these kids had a great time playing together!

  Since the early colonial people did not have cars, many of them rode horses.  For music time, we listened to and acted out a pony song.  The children LOVED riding around on their "ponies" around our classroom!  Imagination and movement are a delightful part of childhood!

Happy kids!  : )

 
 We hope you had a great 4th of July celebrating our precious freedoms and the heritage of our wonderful land!