Hansel and Gretel – Gingerbread House

October 2, 2015Miss Carrie's Corner Folk Tales Leave a comment

In the story of Hansel and Gretel, there is a gingerbread house in the middle of the forest that is inhabited by an evil witch.

To help your little ones make a connection to this dwelling, we created our very own!

There are few things that are more engaging to young children than playing with food, especially when they are playing with a purpose!

Young children are budding scientists, constantly learning about and seeking charge of their worlds.

As they manipulate different materials, they are forming mental representations of how different materials interact, and then work to plan changes to them.

Using graham crackers as the walls, and peanut butter as the mortar, your little ones constructed their very own gingerbread houses! This was the definite winner of the week!

Counting Seeds

October 2, 2015Miss Carrie's Corner Folk Tales Leave a comment

Of all the math skills that children will acquire, counting is one that most children will already be doing before they reach school-age.

Rote counting (or saying numbers in a sequence from memory) is what most children will be able to do, but this does not mean that they can actually determine the amount in a collection.

In order to help our students develop an actual understanding of numbers and how counting relates to real life, we did a hands-on activity with seeds aimed at developing their one-to-one correspondence.

By placing a certain amount of seeds on a diagram (counting as they did so), participants were able to make a connection between the spoken numeral and a concrete amount.

Beanstalk Weaving

October 1, 2015Miss Carrie's Corner Folk Tales Leave a comment

Lacing and weaving activities provide a great educational and developmental experience for preschoolers.

As children grasp the tip of the item that they are lacing with, they are building their pincer grip which is crucial for writing skills.

They also learn patterns and develop hand-eye coordination through the very act of lacing or weaving.

Finally, it is also a lesson in patience as they ever so slowly work their way across the lacing base with their implement.

This activity involved a creative way to practice our lacing skills.

Using branches and toilet paper tubes, we created our own version of Jack’s beanstalk. We weaved the branches into the tubes, and saw our beanstalks come alive!

Jack and the Beanstalk Small World Play

October 1, 2015Miss Carrie's Corner Folk Tales Leave a comment

Small world play occurs when children use miniature items such as toys, found objects, or replicas to act out scenes or ideas from real life, stories, or books.

Small worlds often include sensory elements which add even more depth to the experience and create more opportunities for language stimulation.

For this activity, we created castles out of styrofoam, and then used these castles to act out scenes from Jack and the Beanstalk.

Each castle came with jewels (to symbolize treasure), a plastic toy giant, a plastic toy Jack, and cotton to represent clouds. This activity was open-ended, which means that your little ones were given the freedom to explore and add their own twist to the plot of the story!

Play Dough Chicken Coops

September 30, 2015Miss Carrie's Corner Folk Tales 1 Comment

With play dough, young children express their ideas through art and make-believe play.

At the same time, they learn symbolic thinking by pretending that the play dough is something else (“That thing with the antlers is a moose”).

For this activity, we created chicken coops, using craft sticks and play dough.

This enabled your little one to connect with the main character of the Little Red Hen!

Planting and Harvesting Wheat – Small World Play

September 29, 2015Miss Carrie's Corner Folk Tales Leave a comment

No Little Red Hen unit would be complete without a section on wheat! In the story, the red hen not only plants wheat, but harvests it and later turns it into bread!

This project involved your little one learning that wheat grows globally in bountiful supply.

They learned that because it can be harvested in winter and spring, it is utilized abundantly.

Using hens, stalks of wheat, seeds, and shovels, your little farmer harvested their own wheat…just like the little red hen!

They learned that these crops require constant care and upkeep.

Producing wheat is an intensive process, and your little one learned about the many technological advances that allow all of us to enjoy our bread, cereal, and pasta!

They were introduced to the words “swather” (to cut and bind wheat) and “combine” (a process in which trucks cut and loosen wheat from its stem).

By harvesting their own crops, your little one was able to apply their understanding of new vocabulary related to the Little Red Hen!

B is for Bus

September 11, 2015Miss Carrie's Corner Transportation Leave a comment

Squishing, rolling, sculpting, molding . . . young children love to play with playdough.

This firm and soft substance holds many benefits for the preschool child.

Through it, our students practiced their fine motor and pre-reading skills as they pinched and rolled the dough.

These actions strengthened the small muscles in their hands and helped with letter recognition.

For this activity, we used playdough to spell the word bus.

One of our letters for the week was B, so we first talked about the sound B made, and then put ourselves to work to create a B, a U, and an S!

Chalky Roads

September 11, 2015Miss Carrie's Corner Transportation Leave a comment

Research has shown us that there are six early literacy skills that are essential for young children to become familiar with in order to be successful readers.

These skills include vocabulary, print motivation, print awareness, letter knowledge, narrative skills, and phonological awareness. This activity targeted two of these concepts.

The first, is that of letter knowledge. Letter knowledge reflects an awareness that letters are different from each other.

The second, is that of phonological awareness. Phonological awareness means that your little one understands that letters make sounds. For this activity, we created roads out of yellow and black chalk.

Using cars and a little imagination, we placed our cars onto our chalky roads! These roads were shaped like the letter C. As they placed their cars onto their letter roads, they were encouraged to say, “C is for car!”

Dock Builders

September 8, 2015Miss Carrie's Corner Transportation Leave a comment

A dock is a structure built along, or at an angle from, a navigable waterway so that vessels may lie alongside to receive or discharge cargo.

Because we are learning about all things transportation, we built our own docks using blocks as our docks, plastic boats, and blue fabric as our “water”.

Children learn many concepts through block play.

Play with blocks provides an excellent opportunity for relaying concepts that are best understood by “doing”.

It also plays host to a variety of cognitive skills, such as symbolization and representation, directionality, divergent thinking, and logical reasoning.