A community within a community

We finished up our farm theme last week. It was a huge hit with all of the littles. It is interesting to see the connections that are being made when we learn about new topics for the littles. They are taking things in as if they have never heard about it before. They begin the make the sounds of the animals and recognize pictures and sounds they make. The older ones didn’t seem to stay very interested in the farm. They enjoyed the props and ideas presented but they were quick to move on. It wasn’t until this week they decided to “play farm” in the back yard. They used all of the bikes, scooters, cars, etc to represent a different kind of animal on the farm. They found a garden tool to work in the “field” aka sand box. They used a rope on the fort/barn to hold the animals inside. They all worked together to do chores and jobs we talked about last month. While the kids were using their imaginations through the use of all of their senses, gross and fine motor skills, they made a lasting impact on the topics making it real! It was fun to watch them play it out.

This month, we are excited to learn about our community helpers. MGT has a different one each day. This goes well with our Community Visits that we have in the summer! I love the fact that the various people are willing to come to us. It is such a wonderful way that the kids can become comfortable with and simultaneously learn about who helps our community run safely and efficiently.

This month we will also focus on physical development of the kids. They are all growing and developing at amazing rates. I have said before, if I would ever continue in school and get my Masters, I would get it in Child Development. I love to learn about the differences in development of the all ages and stages of kids. Each child develops differently. This week in fact, I took a training that talked about making sure our expectations of kids at different levels are developmentally appropriate. I found that as a provider, I have high expectations for my kids. I know they are capable of doing so much. I have to periodically check that my expectations are in line with their levels. But, I still like to give them a little nudge to that next goal. Here is a picture of one of the littles observing and learning from the older ones. This is why mixed groups are amazing! ❤️

In the Mother Goose Time teacher plan book, it offers amazing helps to teach on their level. It has learning objectives for each activity. Each one ties intothe Developmental Skill Continuum. If you click here it will take you to the early learning skills for Preschool. It is a interesting chart that can show skills, goals and benchmarks for your child.

This week we learned about 3 community helpers: firefighter, police, doctor. At the art cart, we made a fire with a fork on firefighter day. (which looks much better when the paint is wet!)

We also played a number game with fire trucks and fire stations. The kids helped me build a candle stick that we could use with our Jack and the candlestick poem. They all got to take turns jumping over the candle being careful not to get burned!

Jump, Don’t get burned!

On our doctor day we talked about the tools a doctor may use and I had each of them make a doctor tool to bring to circle time. Then at the art cart they got to use different sizes of syringes to do a splat painting.

On police day we discussed the things the police officers do to keep us safe. As you can imagine the first thing mentioned was tickets. So after answering a few little personal questions about my driving record (which is clean😀) we went outside. We pretended to be drivers and police officers. Ironically, at my house we have already implemented a strict 3 ticket system. If you purposely crash or run over someone you are issued a ticket. If you are given 3 tickets then you lose bike 🚲 privileges for the REST OF THE WEEK! You know… it has only happened once!