Teacher In-Service Preparation
August 4-August 15, 2013
For the past two weeks, the Utopia teaching team
has been hard at work preparing the classroom environment for the 2014-2015
school year! The teachers organized and cleaned the classroom, labeled each
child’s personal areas (cubbies, mailboxes, extra clothes, etc.), prepared for
the new children joining our class, and restocked and organized the various
learning areas. In addition to the work in the classroom, the staff took a
training focused on positive guidance and discipline, attended a welcome back
workshop provided by Preschool For All (PFA), and participated in a Project
Approach curriculum workshop.
During the Project Approach curriculum workshop,
our PFA Coach, Betty, challenged the staff to think of new ways to engage the
children in our classroom. As part of the training, the staff discussed a
project about birds and participated in activities that would allow them to
have a better understanding about birds and their nests. Stephanie, Maria, and
Nicole were asked to look carefully at several different types of nests and to
create observational drawings of one nest. Meanwhile, Rachelle, Michelle, Jenny
and Winnie, were provided with a wide variety of materials (sticks, twigs,
yarn, wax, glue, and paper) and were asked to create their own birds’ nests.
After the activity, the staff reflected on their experiences and discussed
their ideas about implementing similar activities in the classroom. The staff
had several insights about how to support each child’s learning in the
classroom environment, while challenging children to go deeper with their
learning.
As teachers, we are constantly learning and growing in an
effort to provide the most supportive and engaging environment possible for
your children. The in-service time was invaluable and will help the staff
effectively support your children in our rich classroom environment! Play Dough
The school year is off to
a great start! The children have been exploring their classroom and becoming
familiar with the different activities surrounding them. As they explore, many
have made their way over to the play dough table! This is a great activity for
children to bond with others and create friendships with their new classmates.
Play dough is a great tool
for children to expand on their pretend play and expressive language skills
while they interact with each other. During this activity, some children have been
working together on “baking pies”, which has triggered multiple conversations
on fruit (ex. What each fruit looks like, what color they are, where they grow,
which ones we have in our playground, etc.)
This activity is also a
great way for children to strengthen their fine motor skills, which helps
prepare and develop their muscles used for writing and manipulating smaller
objects. The play dough table also creates many opportunities for comparing
sizes, measuring, recognizing shapes, and recognizing physical characteristics
(smooth, bumpy, ruff, etc.)
