As I thought, this week was definitely smoother than the last. Not because I didn't have kids with crazy Valentine sugar-highs but because I and the kids are both getting used to how things are going to flow. The mornings had an added toughness to them this week with not being able to get their bodies outside to play in the negative wind chills. We made it work, though! And the kids seemed to have had a fun week!
Going from toddlers to preschoolers is a whole new world when it comes to teaching more cerebral, in-depth topics like we learned about this week. My preschoolers were SO interested in learning about the presidents!
Tuesday, we learned all about George Washington. I loved teaching about him because there's so much to grab the kids' interest: quarter/$1 bill talk, GW chopping his dad's cherry tree, etc. And I never would've guessed it, but I found this silly little song about the cherry tree story... and the kids wanted to sing it all week long! It probably had something to do with me letting them make karate chop motions during the whole song, but it's a catchy little tune nonetheless. Here it is!
Cherry Tree Song
(to the tune of "Do You Know the Muffin Man")
Do you know who chopped the tree,
Chopped the tree, chopped the tree?
Do you know who chopped the tree,
Dad asked of George one day.
Yes, I know who chopped the tree,
Chopped the tree, chopped the tree.
Yes, I know who chopped the tree,
Honest George did say.
It was I who chopped the tree,
Chopped the tree, chopped the tree.
It was I who chopped the tree,
I'm sorry, but it's true.
Thank you George, you told the truth,
Told the truth, told the truth.
Thank you George, you told the truth,
Said Dad, I'm proud of you!
Such an awesome opportunity for them to learn about the truth verses lying, while still learning about George Washington, too!
Teachable moments are what true teachers live for:
These kids are so smart, they even asked questions that I didn't even ponder before teaching this lesson... such as, "Miss Anne, Why did George Washington want to chop down one of the trees?" Amazing! We had a brainstorm session together, while the whole class pondered this question... we ended up having a tangent talk about how we are so lucky to have heating/air-conditioning in our homes and school. They realized that GW may have had to cut down trees to make a fire to warm up! Such job satisfaction to know that they are so interested in our learning to ask in-depth questions and brainstorm like that at age 4-5!
News Report from Washington's Cherry Orchard! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCWaKIqxYUI
Flexibility is name of the game!
Knowing that we had a Dr. Seuss magic show happening in the middle of our morning on Wednesday, I made plans for a small president-themed open-ended question and coordinating art activity. Buuuut that plan quickly was moved to Friday... In the middle of our movement activities, one of our little girls got sick in the book area, which left Amy to deal with the the lovely job of cleaning up and caring for our sick friend while I occupied the rest of the class. Soon it was time to go to the magic show, after a morning of show-and-tell and dancing! Amy was quite the rockstar that morning, for not getting sick herself and taking care of that situation!
Soon enough, Friday was here again and quite the relaxing Friday it was! With a few friends out with sickness, we were left with only 11 kiddos! The negative 947 degree wind chill weather was gone from earlier in the week, and we could take them outside too! Such a fun, yet calm day! One of my favorite moments of Friday was teaching them about the many jobs that our president has... then I asked them, "If YOU were the president, what would you do?" Here are a few of the smart, yet precious answers:
If I was the president, I would...
"...save everybody in the world."
"...feed all the animals."
"...clean up everything."
"...be a leader!"
"...be a superhero!"
"...save my family from getting hurt."
"...watch over everybody."
"...make sure everyone is safe."
"...sweep and clean the floor."
"...be the leader of the army!" --> this one is from the little boy who loved looking at all my president books this week and always wanted to know who the "good guys and bad guys" were in all the pictures!
And... just in case you didn't get your fill of cute kid quotes...
Kid Quotables
Little Girl: "Miss Anne, I'm trying to draw a picture of me being the president and save everybody in the world."
Anne: (pointing to the picture) "It looks great! What is this a picture of?"
Little Girl: "This is Mommy next to the hot lava, and this is me saving her. Miss Anne, can you help me draw some hot lips on my mommy?"
Anne: "What is your picture all about?"
Another Little Girl: "This is me being a president and a leader. And this is my Uncle Jason: he has a big head."
(waiting for the magic show to start)
Anne: "Who has a song they want to sing?"
Little Boy: "Let's sing 'Mary Had a Little Man'!"
...and the teacher "Blonde Moment of the Week"
Anne: "Alright, who can raise their raise and remind what we are talking all about this week?" (expecting "Presidents!" to be the easy answer)
Little Boy Right in Front of Me: (pointing up to our letter of the week) "U!"
Anne: "Me?! It's not Miss Anne Week!"
LB: "Noooo! The letter U!"
...and now off to make some hard-boiled eggs for our Tip-Top Teeth week! :)
What do hard boiled eggs have to do with Tip-Top Teeth week? My mom and I would love to know.
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