Tiny Tribe- Closed Today- March 30, 2012

Tiny Tribe is closed today due to an issue with our natural gas venting system. Unfortunately, our gas needed to be shut off temporarily yesterday which means we have no heat, hot water, or oven. We are taking care of things as quickly as possible and we hope to be open and on-time Monday morning.

The photo above is from yesterday. The kids had a surprising and exciting adventure when we needed to evacuate the house while Puget Sound Energy came in to investigate the gas smell.  Lunch out at a restaurant with eleven kids, four and under, anyone? :) They were all very well-behaved, calm bodies and "mouse" voices. We all enjoyed a relaxing lunch out together. Never a dull moment around here!

Charting and Graphing- Math, Reading, and Writing Reinforcement

Preschoolers can begin to understand charting, graphing, and basic math skills as young as two years old and should be exposed to them. 

From the beginning of the school year, we have been introducing the preschoolers to simple charts and graphs. Today each Centipede took a turn marking an "x" under the column depicting either a boy or a girl.

They are gaining skill in their mastery of writing by controlling their pen to make an "x".

When each preschooler was finishing marking the chart, we all counted the number of "x"s in each column to create a simple math problem.
2 boys + 4 girls = 6 kids

Then we charted a more complicated math problem with three columns. We added the number of pets the preschoolers have at home; fish, cat, and dogs.  We used markers to help reinforce the numbers.
2 cats + 3 dogs + 1 fish = 6 pets

We all counted together to figure out the answer. When we were finished, we noticed that both of our math equations totaled "6".

 By using simple everyday items that are related to the children and their experiences, can help them to see that math can be easy, fun, and valuable.

The Stages of Block Play

Stage 1: Tote and Carry: Blocks are carried around to feel their smoothness, their weight and to hear what kind of sounds they make when they fall. Children like to fill containers, dump them out, and refill them.

Stage 2: Building Begins: Children lay blocks on the floor in rows, either horizontally or vertically with much repetition. Children may play alone or near other children, but rarely in a cooperative way.

Stage 3: Trial and Error Bridging: Two blocks with a space between them, connected by a third block. Children learn to bridge by trial an error.

Stage 4: Enclosures: Blocks are placed in such a way that they enclose a space. Bridging and enclosing are amongst the earliest "technical" building problems that children learn to solve. As children work at building enclosures, they learn the spacial concept of inside and outside.

Stage 5: Representational Building: At this stage (usually four and five year olds) add dramatic play to their block building. They name the structures which relate to a function. Before this, children may have named their structures but their names were not necessarily related to the function of the building.

Stage 6: Building Sociodramas: By age five, group cooperative play is common. Children may decide beforehand what they want to build, and they may reproduce structures that are familiar to them. Children may ask to leave their structure standing and play again.

Source: Hirsch, Elizabeth (1994) The Block Book. Washington, D.C.: NAEYC

Walking with Friends in the Sunshine

Fine Motor Stacking- Tiny Marbles and Blocks

Writing Practice

Yoga Wednesday at 8 Limbs

Earthquake Drill

Safety comes first and it's always great to be prepared and have a plan just in case an emergency happens. Today during circle time we talked about earthquakes and how we would react if one ever happened during school hours. We showed the Centipedes a few videos of what earthquakes look like, then discussed how we would prepare for it here.

If you are unable to reach a safe covered spot, make sure to crouch and protect your head and neck with your hands. Jena showed the centipedes how to safely duck and cover.

We talked about having a meeting spot when an emergency happens. The meeting spots for when we are in the kitchen, hallways or bathroom would be the stairway. This provides safe protection from any falling debris. We made sure to keep our head covered with our hands, just in case.

We asked the kids of any other safe places they thought would provide good protection for them during an earthquake. Some of their responses were doorways, under a table and under the loft. It's always good to create a meeting spot with your family and school, so you are well prepared in time of need.

Try talking to your child about how you as a family can prepare for emergencies. Some good things to keep in mind: Choosing a meeting place, remaining in contact with each other and possible escape plans.

Spring is Here!

 Spring is here, said the bumblebee.

How do you know, said the old oak tree?

I saw a yellow daffodil.

Dancing with a fairy on a windy hill.

 We have new garden boxes filled with soil in the yard
and we are ready for Spring planting!

 We headed over to the store to buy some beautiful 

red, yellow, and pink primrose flowers to plant.

The sun was shining and we were happy to stop for a rest to enjoy it with our friends 

and our flowers before returning to Tiny Tribe.

Bonnie Thursday- Always So Much Fun!

Math is Fun!

During class time, some of us chose to explore a new game.
We used our fine motor skills to pick up tiny colored blocks and line them up to the corresponding squares on the pattern cards. 

 It was challenging to pick the blocks up and even more challenging to get them to
stay where we put them.
We used our hand-eye-coordination to line them up just right.

 Nolan was proud when he finally figure out
how to pick the blocks up with the tongs.

Hey, it's like chop sticks! I'm doing chop sticks!

During circle time we played a new group math game using

 two simple items we had in the classroom, dice and blocks.

 Each player took a turn rolling the dice to see how many blocks they would stack during their turn.

They could choose different shapes and sizes of blocks and also 

which of the two towers they wanted to add too.

 We each counted the number of dots on the dice for our own 

turns to see how many blocks we should stack.

We all counted out the number of blocks together as each player chose and stacked. When the towers got too tall they inevitably fell over. We all cheered together when a player succeeded in stacking their required number of blocks. We all laughed and cried, "Uh Oh!" when the towers toppled over!

8 Limbs Yoga

This digital slideshow personalized with Smilebox

Southworth Ferry Trip

Everyday simple things, like bus and ferry boat rides, can seem mundane and even like chores to adults. To preschoolers, they are so much fun! Today we headed to the Fauntleroy Ferry Terminal for a morning of travel and adventure with our friends.

Photo slideshow made with Smilebox

Exploring Water Colors

 Lena was very excited to paint this morning!  Squeezing paint, using the eye droppers, is a challenging fine motor drill for young toddlers and Lena was determined to figure it out.

 Eva seemed amazed by how her little drops of paint turned into big paint circles. She said, "My circle, my blue circle get so big."

 Kaya didn't quite grasp the concept of the eye droppers, yet, but that didn't stop her from using it as a tool for painting her coffee filter with many different colors of paint.

Anna Lee thought it was silly to take her shirt off before painting. She smiled and pointed out her own "belly button" and the "belly buttons" of her friends, before getting into the paint.

Chase quickly got the idea of squeezing the eye droppers to fill them and squeezing them again to release the paint. He made different designs on his coffee filter.  He used the green paint and told all of his friends at the table what color paint he was using.