Space theme in pre- k class at Trinity Preschool

The white paper is the frame work of our rocket ship and we have steering wheels , and head sets in there for the astronauts.

This is mission control, and we add computer keyboards and head sets .

We made jet packs with empty juice bottles hooked onto a felt vest. We added some silver embellishment and flame s made out of felt.

This is the mission control with an added graphic of the planets.

The children made paper mache planets and painted them to reflect the colors we think of the planers being. They are hanging over our group time area with a yellow balloon as the sun.

Side view of the rocket ship

Another view of our rocket ship.  

Oak Room:recap- Space unit

It has been a very busy few weeks for me, and I have gotten behind on my daily tidbits.  I will get back to doing the daily activities this next week, but for now, I want o recap what has been happening in each class.

The Oak room Pre- K class has been doing activities and learning about space.  They have learned songs about the planets and have read " "There's no place like space" (about the solar system) by Tish Rabe,Bamboo and Friends - The moon, by Felicia Law; "If I were an astronaut" by Eric "Stars" by Thomas K Adamson; "The Sun is my Favorite Star" by Frank Asch; "Frog in space" by Tedd Arnold; "Moo Cow Kaboom" by Thacker Herd; " Kitten's First Full Moon" by Kevin Henkes; "What the moon sees" "what the sun sees" " Goodnight Moon" by Margaret Wise Brown; "What is the full moon full of?" by Shulamith Oppenheim' and "Neptune, what is it like?" ; "What next baby bear" " by Jill Murphy; and "Pluto, the dwarf planet".

For art we did  the following:  We cut out rocket ship shapes and painted them with red and blue water colors for our bulletin board.  We added each child's picture to be the astronaut. When we talked about the moon, we glued round objects onto paper plates and covered them with foil, and pressed down around the circle shapes so it was like the craters on the moon.  (see picture on facebook).  We dipped star shapes in glue and pressed them onto paper.  then sprinkled glitter over the top. We  paper mache'd balloons to make planets, then we painted them and hung them in our room to be our own solar system.  We made constellations by putting star shape stickers on a black piece of paper, then we used a yellow colored pencil  to make a line to connect the stars to form our constellations.  Each child told us what their constellation looked like.  Another day, we cut out circle shapes and drizzled glue on it.  Then we sprinkled colored sand over the  glue to make our own planets.  Each child named their planet. We talked about gravity and magnetic fields, so for art one day, we dripped paint onto a paper plate adn put a paper clip on the plate in the paint..  Then the children used a magnet wand under the plate to move the paper clip around to paint the plate.  We drew pictures after reading the book "What the moon is full of" of what we thought the moon is full of.  After the teacher glued two paper bowls together to make it look like a space ship, we painted the bowls with glitter paint an glued small shapes on for windows. 


Our dramatic corner is set up for space- we have computer keyboards, we made jet packs, space helmets, a control center and more.  See pictures on facebook


Some of the other space activities we did the last few weeks are: space puzzle, solar system floor puzzles, a space match game, a space board game, we learned about each of the planets, we did several science experiments, one with a balloon on a string that shoots in the air, and some about gravity. 


We did songs about  the planets, robots, and about astronauts.   We really have fun learning about the planets











 

Trinity Preschool Activities for Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Willow Room:

We read "Snow" by Cynthia Rylant

We asked the children to look for something white in our room

We fingerpainted with "white"- white fingerpaint,  white glitter, white shaving cream, white salt, and white powder paint.

We sang hokey pokey, and little fish for music

We used dry erase markers at the easel- the children really love that.

Oak Room:

We read "Dog in Space" by Nancy Coffelt and "Happy Birthday Moon" by Frank Asch

We made paper mache' planets by using balloons, newspaper and flour glue water mixture.  The children love this messy, messy fun project.  Once they are dry, we will paint them to look like the planets and we will hang them in our room for our space adventure.

We did The Planet song, Late last night, for music and we played the number game of which cloud is the airplane hiding behind?

We are talking about the letter U and we are talking about the planet Mercury.

Pretend Camping Trip in the Maple Room Classroom

We had so much fun going on a pretend camping tip today in our classroom!

We all came to school in our "camping clothes" and we brought flashlights, bug catches, hats, binoculars and other things we need for a damping trip. We closed the blinds most of the way (which was hard to have to do, since it was the first sunny day in weeks!), but we needed it dark for our camp out. We all had on glo bracelets and we sat on the rug in our campground area with our pretend fire and our teacher read us a story in the dark. We had a tent set up and we had camp lanterns, cook out supplies and flashlights. We did some fishing too. We made hand puppets on the side of the tent by shining the flashlight at our hands and looking at the shadows.

We did everything in a darkened room- we never turned on the lights today! We even did our art project in the dark. We made campfire pictures, it was a cutting, and gluing project using brown paper for wood, and red and orange for the fire.

When we went outside, it was very bright! We each had out own bug catchers (a small clear plastic carry out container that our teacher printed computer tags that said our name and "Bug Catcher" on it. So we went on a bug hunt; but it was still chilly out so we didn't find bugs. We will have to save our bug catchers for another day.

We had no cook s'mores for snack. Graham crackers, marshmallow fluff, and chocolate syrup.

The children had a great day on our camping trip. The only thing missing was the rain! It always rains when I go camping!

Trinity Preschool Activities for Monday, February 28, 2011

Willow Room: MWF class

We read "I love you blue kangaroo" by Emma Clark

We looked at objects that begin with the letter "K and we asked the children "Do you have a "K" in your name? Only one child does, we graphed the results and compared the numbers.

We painted with wedge foam brushes using different colors. We had magnetic shapes at the easel.

We sang "Jump Jim Joe, and Toe" , "Leg, Knee -do re mi"

We had some new games in our classroom to play with the children.

Maple Room:

We read "Alphabet Rescue" by Audrey Wood

We painted with bolts today- we dipped bolts in paint and put them in a box, then tipped the box back and forth to make the bolts move around the paper to paint it.

We had oil pastel crayons at the easels.

We did the chicken dance, February song (last time), Johnny pounds with one hammer, and This is the way.

We are having fun in our dramatic corner with our construction zone.

We had some letter S activities

Oak Room:

We read "The sun is my favorite star"

We made sand planets- we cut out a circle, added glue and pouring on many different colors of sand to make our own planet. Then each child named their planet.

We talked about the letter V and the planet Jupiter. We read a book about looking through telescopes.

We sang "Dogs in school", "Today is Monday".

Our dramatic play area is still the space station. Another idea to add to the fun in your own home space station is to cut a helmet shape out of a gallon milk jug. It can be their own space helmet. Take a cereal box and add straps to make a space pack.