Community Helpers

Last week we discussed community helpers and careers. We started with fire safety and read many, many books, but here's a couple that were popular:



 In Pre-K 1 we made shape fire trucks. This craft is a sneaky critical thinking activity. We made one fire truck together as a class and then provided all the pre-cut pieces. The peas were asked to attempt to reconstruct the truck to look like the first one. Then they could personalize their trucks by drawing firefighters on their pictures.

Finished product:

We also discussed stop, drop and roll and talked about what smoke alarms are. We challenged the peas to go home and locate their smoke alarm (or fire alarm) in their homes. We discussed what to do if you were ever in a place filled with smoke from a fire. You have to crawl on the floor! We practiced by crawling under a blanket.

This activity was a hit. We did it more than one day. :)



Pre-K 2 talked about traffic safety and made these stoplights!

They learned how to trace, cut and glue on their own. 

They even added words to their lights!

Pretty impressive, guys!

Both classes enjoyed a stoplight snack craft. They were a big treat since we used frosting and m&m's to make them.

Pre-K 2 began working on writing numbers since we will be introducing our daily math books soon.





They continued to work on writing names,

and used their number writing practice to do a community helper counting sheet.

Both classes also started our Handwriting Without Tears curriculum this week, too. You can check out their site here. 

 Pre-K 1 introduced our literacy buckets this week. The peas have been begging to work with the buckets, but we introduce them slowly so we can model how to use the materials. They were thrilled when they found out they were going to be open this week.

We continued morning messages as well and worked on writing letter A.

 After discussing some careers/community helpers, we discussed some ways we could use our centers to explore different careers. The peas decided that we could make our home center into a restaurant. We added a chef hat, menus and aprons.

 It got a lot of business.

 

 After discussing doctors and how they care for us we made doctor bags in Pre-K 1 for fun and to use in our imaginative play.

 

 Ms. Amy put out her astronaut set and we used the space station.

 

One of the most popular centers all week was the Engineering and Construction center. We discussed how engineers use blueprints as a plan for buildings. Then a construction crew works to build the building. We planned and then built many structures. Here are a few:

And we built and built...

 

Pre-K 2 had some really great engineers, too. Everyone worked together!

We definitely had a busy week full of hands on learning and I'm confident these sweet peas can grow up to be anything they set their minds to!

Our Community

This past week was a lot of fun which might be why this is the longest post *ever*! Our theme was "Neighborhood Watch" so we decided to teach about safety, community workers and our community. We read some great books this week, here are just a few the kids really loved:

Pre-K 2 started off with a firefighter puzzle at art. They had to cut it apart, put the pieces in order, then glue it down and color it. It was kind of challenging but they did a great job!

They also kicked off the week with a mini reader about Helpers to take home.

 Pre-K 1 added some work to our daily binders. One was labeling a fire truck and one was counting community workers!

Firefighters were the most popular topic all week, so we did a morning message about firefighters!

 Next we made the most adorable handprint craft. It has a firefighter poem at the top of the page, then their handprint below. When I told the peas they would be painting their own hands they thought I was crazy! They were tentative at first, but by the end there was drops of red paint everywhere! :)

 After our handprints dried, we added faces, hats, a hose and water.

 Super duper cute.

One morning we brainstormed every community worker we could think of A to Z. They thought of all of them except C,O,Q & U...I gave them some help on those!

In centers we had some items that different community workers use. The construction set and tool bench was very popular.

 We also had a veterinarian's office with a variety of animals in need of attention.

 One of our favorite projects in Pre-K 1 was building our own community from boxes! Parents brought us boxes, then we wrapped them with paper.

 After brainstorming all together what kind of buildings we needed, the peas began decorating the buildings.

 We made houses, skyscrapers, a post office, police building, hospital, a gas station, the ECDC and several restaurants.

 I love projects like this, they get really creative on their own!

 After they were done, I made them people blocks to go with the buildings so we could play with our neighborhood!

 

 They were a hit! We loved playing with them!

At art we made doctors kits to use in our pretend play. We discussed how doctors used to carry their bags to home visits.

 

We read one of my absolute favorite books, Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathman. After reading the story, the peas each offered a safety tip. They were so funny, my favorite was "Never let your kids drive the car because they don't know how." Most definitely a good safety tip!

Pre-K 2 did a cooperative art project. Ms. Amy is so great at planning these and her kids always do such a great job of collaborating and working to piece together a larger picture. Each group was given part of a fire truck to make. They had to work together to plan how the truck would look. Here's the windows group:

 The body of the truck group:

 

 The ladder group:

 And the wheels group:

 And here's the finished product! LOVE this!

On Friday Pre-K 1 wrapped up the week with a roll and cover dice game. It had a fire truck and was a good way for me to see how we are doing with number recognition 1-15. Also, they loved racing to see who would win!

 Serious counting face!

Pre-K 2 wrapped up the week with a class book called "When I Grow Up, I Want to be a...."

 Here's three of her peas showing their precious pre-k drawings. They are hard to see, but you can stop by and see the book for yourself sometime!

That wraps up Our Community week. Next week we will be learning about Transportation as we continue to challenge our peas in writing, literacy and math. Have a great Sunday!