Posts tagged activities

a variation of the famous marshmallow and toothpicks activity.  I’m not so sure if I care so much about it being “healthier” but I like the new option!  had not thought about using other food items before!

Enjoy!  I found it here » http://www.artfulparent.com/2012/05/edible-art-grape-toothpick-sculptures.html  this morning on the twitter! I thank her for sharing!!

Lesson Planning Workshop

Presented by Stephanie Makke, Durant, OK, July 30, 2011

Parents ask, “What is my kid doing all day?” When teachers say, “PLAY!” Parents want to know, “When is he learning? And what are you teaching her?”

My comment:  These questions (and our answering of them instead of clarifying!) perpetuate the MYTH that playing and learning are two separate things.

She stated that a lesson plan is an outline of how you intend to cover certain topics in the room, which helps you concentrate on the concepts you want the children to learn.

Lesson plan assists us in meeting social, emotional, cognitive, physical, literacy skills

Don’t make planning harder than it needs to be (she cautioned that we can be too focused on details)

Modify activities as needed to accommodate your classroom

Make sure activities are age appropriate

Must be flexible

Implement new ideas, toys and activities to fit your themes and (from me) your projects, interest areas, explorations…

Repeat activities

Link books to activities (from me: as an example, after reading Little Blue and Little Yellowdo yellow and blue fingerpainting for art).

Organization is key

Think about the reasons for the lesson plan

Allow adequate time (for the children to engage in the activities)

Develop your plan with care

Daily Schedule

Flexible yet designed with care

Schedule assists children in feeling secure

The schedule assists parents in seeing how the child spends their day

Each day should be directed by the child and not the clock.

Parts of the Schedule:

Arrivals and departures

Choice time

Group time

Outside time

Caregiving routines

Transitions

Allow for primary daily routines

Arrivals/departures

Meals

Caregiving routines

Balance UP and down HIGH and low

Monitor and adjust as necessary

Lesson Planning Themes:

(they called out some things)

she walked them through an exercise of how to plan using emergent curriculum and webbing but didn’t refer to it as such.

Be sure you are planning for (she gave her “bones”):

Circle time

Gross motor

Large motor

Literacy/Circle

Art

Science/Math

Manipulatives

(she wrapped up here by giving all in the room a lesson planning book)

 ******************************

PS:  I tweeted during this session using #lessonplanning you can search this hashtag and see my tweets

PPS:  I wrote a lesson planning “note” awhile back (January 17, 2011).  It is posted here on FB, you can get to it by clicking here: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=498733949062.  I’ll repost this link on the OG FB page too…

TOTALLY NOT A PART OF HER PRESENTATION AND ONLY PRESENTED FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION: These are my “bones” meaning – the bare minimum of what we should be planning for:

Circle: books, songs, vote, game, who has any news

TT: wet &  dry, both in and out

Science/Math: manipulatives, looking box, puzzles etc.  (Small Motor)

Large Motor: movement games

Art: creation station, easel, teacher planned (but not required) project

TOTALLY NOT A PART OF HER PRESENTATION AND ONLY PRESENTED FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION:  These are the “bones” I assisted a school I was mentoring in creating as they started on the journey of being more emergent and child-centered:

CIRCLE TIME (language, literacy, music and songs)

SENSORY TUBS (dry and wet materials for exploration)

MATH/SCIENCE (sorting, counting, cooking, observing and predicting)

LARGE MOTOR OUTDOOR GAMES (socialization, physical development, cooperation, following directions)

FREE CHOICE OUTDOOR ACTIVITY (a “bigger” activity that might not be suitable to being done inside: bubbles, sidewalk chalk, parachute, etc.)

ART (self expression, exploration of various creative media, in addition to having an easel, two projects are planned for each day)

Thanks for reading!

-lisa murphy

www.ooeygooey.com

SHAVING CREAM AND CORNSTARCH

Mix it all up

It takes awhile for it to really get to the cool consistency we discovered in Angwin, CA, but it is totally worth it!!!

As the day went on it got firm and you could mold it into shapes too!

I love this new one!  And wish I could remember who I need to thank for it!!!!

Using a pair of old jeans you are going to create an extra cozy spot for your child’s room or your classroom or family childcare home!

I demo’d this at the event in NAPA this past weekend.  I can’t take a fully stuffed & completed lap with me on the plane (HA! that’d be funny though!) but I can walk folks thru the steps and that’s what I’m doing today for you!

You need:

1) a bunch of velcro

2) sewing supplies to (optional) sew any or all of the openings shut (instead of using velcro).  I suggest using velcro for at least one of the openings incase you find you have to wash the jeans! 

3) old jeans

4) TONS of batting (to fill the pants)

You will:

1) FIRST: sew or velcro the bottom of the legs shut

2) SECOND: stuff the pants with batting or other soft filling

3) THIRD: sew or velcro the waist shut

4) Prop it up in the book nook, cozy corner, etc etc

VOILA!

an extra lap!

for more visit http://www.ooeygooey.com