Light Table:
Touch Wall:
Instruments:
At our sensory table, the children used their sense of sight, touch and smell to play with cloud dough (a mixture of flour and baby oil). The children were able to sculpt the dough into various shapes, dig, and pour. This was definitely a favorite activity.
Sense of Touch
When learning about our sense of touch, we used a touch box. Inside were hidden objects. Each day we focused on a different color. The children were asked to reach into the box and feel an object. They then described the object's color in a complete sentence, "I have a blue car." Later, the students repeated this activity and tried to guess what their object might be using only their sense of touch.
The children also combined several different items to create a texture collage. Words such as scratchy, soft, bumpy, squishy, pointy, smooth, and rough were used to describe the different textures.
The students also had a chance to play with and describe the different characteristics of Ooblek (cornstarch and water). Our Ooblek was green with a minty smell. The children had fun trying to hold the substance, only to find that it would melt in their hands!
The children tried several different types of painting including painting with textured rollers and creating an artistic masterpiece using foam paint.
Sense of Sight
When focusing on our sense of sight, the children engaged in several games. One game was called, "Take One Away". The children had to memorize several items on a tray, then hide their eyes while one object was removed. They then had to use their sight and memory to determine which object was missing.
The children also learned about the importance of sight and how it can change. They completed a building activity with pegs, then were given an eye patch and asked to complete the same task. Matching colors and building with one eye covered was a bit more challenging.
Our sense of smell was challenged when students were asked to smell an unknown scent and match it to a picture. We have some good sniffers in the class! In addition to smelling bottles, the children sniffed garlic, cinnamon, lemon, and balsam fir.
To integrate cutting skills into our learning, the children were asked to snip apart several scratch and sniff stickers. They then sniffed each sticker and sorted them according to smells they like and those they don't like.
Sense of Hearing
The children used their sense of hearing to identify sounds from those played on the iPad. They also matched the sounds of objects hidden within egg shakers and made their own tambourines.
We read the book The Listening Walk by Paul Showers and went on our own listening walk to the playground. The children described the sounds they heard and then made a drawing of what makes those sounds.
Sense of Taste
We learned about our sense of taste and that we use our nose, mouth and tongue to taste. The children learned that taste buds on our tongue help us to taste things that are bitter, sweet, sour and salty. During small group time, the children had the opportunity to taste foods that fell into each of these categories and then we created a graph illustrating their favorite tastes.
During gym class last week, we did a quick activity thinking of all the things that a circle could be and pretending to do those things (e.g. a steering wheel, a mirror, a hat, a balloon). Next, the children rotated in stations- bowling, throwing and catching and maneuvering a scooter. It was great fun!
Special Events
We had several visitors and celebrations this month.
Two birthdays were celebrated.
We had two special mystery readers. Our first parent read Peanut Butter and Cupcake by Terry Border.
Our second mystery reader read Puppy's First Christmas by Steve Smallman. This was a favorite book of all the children. They had lots of comments about the characters in the story and their favorite part.
Mr. Ken came and played music for us last Friday. He sang some holiday songs, let the children play instruments and even let the children strum his guitar!
Last week, with our first real snowfall, we decided to change up our sensory table for the day and included....snow! The children had great fun building miniature snowmen and digging in the snow.
Social Thinking
This month we also started our first unit of the preschool Social Thinking curriculum, Thinking Thoughts and Feeling Feelings. The children learned that everyday we have thoughts about different things and people. Our thoughts happen in our brain. (We used thought bubbles to demonstrate.) Our thoughts cause us to feel certain ways. If we are playing with our friend and having fun, we think kindly about our friend and our heart feels happy. The children learned that our heart is our feelings keeper. We practiced several examples of how different thoughts might make us feel.
We read a book that accompany's the curriculum that explained different thoughts and feelings. We also looked at a feelings poster, tried to guess at the feelings of those in the picture and then the children shared what makes them feel different feelings (sad, happy, angry, etc.)
On another day we read the book Sad Monster, Glad Monster by Ed Emberley. The children shared experiences that make them feel different feelings (happy, sad, loving, angry) similar to the monsters in the book. The children then created their own monster and described a thought that made them feel like their monster (e.g. I feel loving when I thinking about snuggling with my mom.)
