Date: 12/-09 – 16/09/2016

Monday

AM: Kim “- Our 5 senses…taste 

Current planning is ” Our world”. I am intending to cover all 5 senses over my next few group times to give children experiences that will make them aware of what each sense is about, and how wonderful are bodies are to be able to give us all these experiences.

Lesson Planned
I am going to bring in different tastes from home and then offer them to the children. I intend to give some variety…sweet…sour…etc. I’d like the children to try and describe what they are tasting, and think about how our taste buds can give us these differences, and then how our brain thinks about what we’ve just tried. I will try and explain these concepts at the children’s level. If we have time we can do some art work about what we liked… our interpretation of what sweet looks like etc..

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
Apart from one child everyone was very interested to take part in this activity. First I talked about our taste buds and what they do, then I had everyone poke out their tongues so we could see them. The children were all keen to come to the table and try the tastes..what a lot of different ideas and thoughts the children had on what they were tasting..some related it to other food, for example Will said the soy sauce tasted like Sushi..and someone else said the Paprika tasted like pizza. Today we tried salt, pepper, soy sauce, vinegar, lemon, sugar, paprika and sprinkles… of course sprinkles were the favourites. We didn’t have time for the art work.

PM: Zinzi – Weather and seasons around the world

Children have been showing interest in the weather a lot. So I thought we could learn about why the weather changes and why the season change. Also, does the season change all around the world? Is it the same everywhere else?

Lesson Planned
I will use the globe and the map to show what season are around the world. Also, show them how the weather changes through seasons.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
Such an awesome group time. We had lots of conversation about the weather at the moment. Everyone knew it was spring and thats why we have such crazy weather. As a child said, some time it rains a lot and sometimes we get lots of sun. We also get lots of hail. Children learned that if NZ is got spring it wont be spring every where else around the world. It is all different. For example, during christmas time it is really hot here in NZ, we have summer. Where as in America it is the opposite, they have winter with lots of snow. The children were also able to tell me what they like doing in the different seasons. So I was able to write down what each children enjoy doing in different seasons. You can see it up on the tile wall near the art area.

Tuesday

AM: Angela – Listening-sounds

Link to current planning – listening is an important skill for us to all have. We can listen to the world around us as well as with our friends.

Lesson Planned
I will use our giant reading book that has a CD that plays sounds which you have to guess what they are. I thought we could then go on a sound hunt and go outside and ask what the children can hear. we can then come back inside and draw what we heard int he story or outside today.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
The children showed great interest in the book today and it was interesting to watch and hear what children thought each noise was. They enjoyed going outside to let me know what they could hear. With the younger group the concept was a little hard for some but I kept on prompting and soon some had an understanding of this.

PM: Christine –Scavenger Hunt

Link to current Planning “Our World”, Children’s Interest.  The children will discover and learn what they can find in the playground.  Focus on animals (bugs), plants etc.. Will also talk about the significance of the above focus on people like you and me.

Lesson Planned
This is more of an outdoor activity and will test children’s skills to find what was being asked. Paper with images and words of what to find. Pencil.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
The children showed interest in the things that they could see outside. They were able to use their ears and listen to the different noises around them. They showed interest in the scavenger hunt and searched everywhere for what were on their lists. Some children were very determined to find all the things in their lists.

Wednesday

AM: Christine –The World is our School

Current Planning. I hope children will learn more about their environment and what are the things we can see on air, land and sea.  How do they travel to preschool and other countries? Which is the fastest mode of transportation to go to different places. Hope we can answer these questions…

Lesson Planned
I will also encourage children to ask questions” For example: do we need a map when we travel by sea? Hope children will put on their thinking caps for group time. Sorting activity on the white board.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
The children showed interest in both outdoor and indoor activity. They showed knowledge and shared their ideas about the things they could find in the air, land and sea. They were particularly keen about gathering the things the represents land, sea and air in the different containers.

PM: Sarah – Questions and Answers about your body

Link to current topic – our world.  I’m sure the children have many questions that they want answered about their small bodies…I have a lift-the-flap book from the library that will helps the discover when, where, what, why, who, how, yes or no.

Lesson Planned
We will sit as a group on the floor and the children will have turns to chose a flap on each page to see what the question and answer is.  There will be an open discussion and I look forward to seeing what other questions or comments pop up from the children as they discover interesting facts about their bodies.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
There was only 4-5 children in each of the groups which was perfect as they could take turns and learn to be patient without having to wait too long for their next turn.  As I went in order around our small circle, a couple of children began to get excited and predict when it was their next turn.  I think the younger children just really liked lifting the flaps and seeing the different pictures but sat so well and listened to the information I was reading out.  The older group and I learnt quite a bit about our bodies and they had a better understanding about what facts I was reading out.

Thursday

AM: Bobbie – Outside of preschool

Link to current topic “Our World” hoping to make links between what we do at preschool and the differences/similarities to the activities our friends/older siblings/parents do when we are/are not at preschool. For example: Do we all attend preschool everyday? Did you know some of our friends are here Mon – Fri while others only attend one or two days? What do our friends do when they are not here? What do our families do when we are at preschool?

Lesson Planned
Older group – Discussion about what other types of things we do when we are not here, and what our friends/family do. Activity that involves identifying what days we are here, what days we do other things (e.g. going to nana’s house, etc). Younger group: Discussion and art activity that focuses on favourite things to do outside of preschool.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
Both groups sung the days of the week song and talked about what they like to do when they are not at preschoo, the older group filled in a sheet that identified the days that they were here and the days that they were not, this worked well for Mon/Tues but after this they got distracted. Younger group drew a picture of their favourite thing to do outside of preschool, most understood this concept and talked about things they do with their parents/siblings.

PM: Kim – Our 5 senses… hearing

Link to current planning ” Our world”.  I’d like the children to focus on this one sense during the group time and gain an awareness of how wonderful of ears are..and i’d also like to touch on people who are deaf..talk about sign language briefly.

Lesson Planned
I like the children to go outside and just sit quietly for a few minutes then discuss what they heard. Then i’d like to move inside and see what we can hear there too. I’d like to use the resource where a CD and a book have different sounds to identity.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
All the children in the group, even the youngest ones were keen to come and participate in this group time. I was delighted with how they all were able to follow instructions and sit quietly, both inside and outside to just listen. It was interesting how well some of them were able to tell different children’s voices from as far away as the gym..and it was lovely how some used their imagination a little too..Rohan told me how could hear a butterfly..Mum told me later that they’d been talking about the sound of butterflies at home earlier in the week. The cd story too held interest and sparked discussion with even the younger two years olds naming what they could hear.

Friday

AM: Sarah – Colours everywhere!

Link to current topic – our world.  Colours!  They are everywhere and are found throughout the children’s day at preschool.  Whether it be their clothing, the creative drawings, in their lunch boxes, outside where they play…the list goes on!  I want the children to share about what colours they know and what their favourite is….

Lesson Planned
I have a big book of colours from the library that has all sorts of colours, where you can find them, shades, mixing etc  The children will have many opportunities to share what they think and come up to beside me to say what their favourite colour is..and why?  The children will then be able to be creative and use from a variety of coloured materials including felts, colour pencils, crayons, coloured paper to make a picture that represents their favourite colour or even create a rainbow theme!

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
Wow, we all learnt so much in this book!  It had all the colours of the rainbow, showed real life and pretend pictures showing these colours and some fun facts, learnt quite a bit actually…  The children also had many ideas to contribute and would look at their clothes to see if they were wearing a specific colour form the book as we turned the pages.  I also took this opportunity to say the colours in Te Reo and the children are getting really good a remembering the names and learning the new one too.

PM: Zinzi – Art around the world

The children will learn about the different kinds of art that is around the world. Designs and symbols. How is different from each other. This is also showing different cultures and tradition around the world. At the end children will get to paint or design their own art.

Lesson Planned
There will be information and picture on all the different kind of art and painting from the world. Instead of printing it out I thought I can save paper by showing it on the laptop. It will be also easier and quicker to show too. At the art table there will be paint and paper all set up with brushes.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
Children got to see the different type of art, painting and drawing that are from around the world. I was able to show them the difference between NZ art, carving and painting to other countries art carvings and painting. Eg: India. ‘S’ wanted to see the art from London and ‘L’ wanted to see art from Christchurch. It was really good to see them being focused and attentive. There were able to communicate and share their thoughts and ideas about what art is to them. Afterwards, we went to the art table and did our own painting.