Firetrucks and more!

Wow. It's been way too long since the blog has had an update! We've been busy doing all sorts of fun stuff in room 102. Two weeks ago, we had a visit from the fire department! The three year olds had the chance to see the firetrucks up close, and even climb on board, if they wanted to do that. Many children decided to look from afar, rather than going into the truck, and the firefighters were able to tell us all about the parts of the truck. In our classroom, the children created firetrucks - both as a large group collaborative activity, and then in our small group.

The four year olds got to see the firetruck up close as well, and then Firefighter Chad came into the classroom for a short fire safety talk. We made a list of the things we already knew about firetrucks and firefighters, and a list of questions we wanted to ask Chad. It was a fun way for us to see what the children knew, but it was also a way for us to plan, based on the children's knowledge and interests. We noticed they were very interested in the subject of fire and rescue, and so on Monday of this past week, we read the book Preschool to the Rescue. While we were reading, one of the children asked if we could play "preschool to the rescue" on the playground - and so we made a list of things we might need for outside. We found pool noodles (for fire hoses, of course!), large pieces of red and orange colored material, which was used for the fire. We also used the water feature on the playground with the "hoses". The children loved this, and it was another fun way for us to build on their interests. Be sure to look at our new door for photos of the firetruck visit.

 
We also spent time this week working on fine motor skills. We used the small muscles in our hands to place pegs into a pegboard. We worked with snap beads, and also with shaving cream. In EPD this week, the children looked at "I Spy" books and tried to create their own "I spy" pictures as well. We've been making many collaborative classroom books - stay tuned for more information on the blog, as well as on our bulletin board, about how we incorporate early literacy skills into our daily routine. You all have some very talented authors and illustrators - ask them what an author or an illustrator's job is - we bet you'll get some interesting answers!