Our Classroom Tree

We are still studying trees.  I challenged Mrs. DeNier and Miss Moritz to create a 3D tree on our classroom wall.  (Truth:  I wanted the tree but didn't want to do it myself.)  They did a FABULOUS job.   Luckily we have die-cut machines in our school (spoiled!!), so we punched out a bunch of shapes from various colors of construction paper.  Then, I put out plates with blobs of tempera paint in fall colors and let the littles go to town painting their fall leaves.  We use vinyl floor tiles to contain our painting and playdough projects.  This works really well!!

Here is what our tree looked like with one lonely little leaf on it. 

After adding our painted leaves, the littles made ladybugs (one of the stories in our curriculum is The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle) to live in our tree.  They turned out so cute.

Here is our tree with ladybugs and fall leaves.  We will make some more leaves to add as well as some other creatures to live in the tree.  We're thinking about leaving the tree up all year.  After the leaves "fall", we can add snow to the branches for winter and maybe make some cardinals and chickadees to live in it.  We'll see.  Oh, the possibilities!!

The next photo shows our class owl, Hooty, hanging out in the tree.  I bought him at the Target Dollar Spot.  We LOVE him so much.  He is way cute, and really fun for the littles to push around in the shopping cart, 'cuz his legs stick out way long.  :-)

Can you spot Hooty in the tree?

Mucus Trail

As you know, we are enamored with snails. So enamored, in fact, that we are doing snail art projects now in honor of our class snails.

Credit for this project goes entirely to Mrs. DeNier.  She has been wanting to do a project wherein the littles could create a mucus trail like our real snails make.  She came up with the amazingly awesome idea to make a playdough snail, dip it in glue, and glide it across a piece of paper, leaving behind a "mucus" trail.  The mucus trail is then sprinkled with glitter because, in fact, real mucus trails are a bit iridescent when they dry.  Not kidding. 

In addition to providing construction paper, playdough snail-making supplies, glue and glitter, we gave the littles the option of making a snail for their trail using circles we had punched from construction paper.  They then used markers to add details such as eye stalks and feet (the squishy part of the bottom of the snail that glides along is its foot for those of you who are not up on snail anatomy).   Some littles opted to add their playdough snails as part of their finished project, and this worked great too.

The photos below show a mucus trail project in process as well as some finished artwork.  The last photo shows that we hung our snail trail artwork on the wall above Speedy, Carlo and Ralph.  We're nice that way.  Sharing the snail love!!

Drawing Leaves on the Tree

To reinforce our learning about the parts of a tree (roots, trunk, crown), I drew a tree on our dry-erase board as the children watched.  I talked out loud as I drew and mentioned that they could draw a tree themselves at the art tables during centers time.  I started by drawing the "ground" line, then added the roots below.  Then the trunk and then the branches.  I allowed each child to come up one at a time and add leaves to the "crown" of the tree.  Not only did this make the lesson more interactive, it gave them some important fine motor practice.  For some of the littles, simply removing the lid of the dry erase marker and putting it back on when finished is a challenge.  Finding a branch and drawing a leaf on it requires not only fine motor coordination, but also visual-motor processing.  It was interesting to see how each child approached this task.  Below you can see a photo of the tree after all the littles drew leaves on it.

Painting with trees!!

One of the suggested projects in the Creative Curriculum Trees unit is using tree parts as painting props.  I found some sprigs of evergreen on a tree near our school and broke them off.  To make them easier to manipulate for painting, I attached clothespins to the end of them for the children to hold onto.  I also provided each child a paper plate with white tempera paint.  They then used the evergreen sprigs as brushes to paint on colored construction paper.  The end result was really pretty, and different for every child.  As you can see in the photos below, we use vinyl floor tiles under our art projects.  This serves to not only keep our tables clean, but also defines the "work space" for each child.  I got my tiles by putting a request on Facebook for free tiles.  This is a great way to get the things you need for your classroom.  Social media has its benefits.

In hindsight, the only thing I would do differently with this activity is tape the papers down on the tiles OR use smaller sprigs of evergreen.  The huge sprigs I found were so big they kind of made the paper slide around when the kids tried to paint.  It still worked okay, but would have been even better if the paper were stabilized.

Playdough Snails

I realize that this is not the best photo in the world, but I wanted to share a super-cute project we did this past week since we are completely enamored with SNAILS.  I found this idea HERE.  Basically you roll out a log of playdough, stick a pasta shell on the back for the shell, and use cloves for the eye stalks.  It could not be more simple.  Or more cute.  Seriously.

Parts of a Tree Collage

Our school district uses the Creative Curriculum for all our preschool classrooms.  This is a new curriculum for me.  I am finding that I like it, but it will probably take me all of this year to fully utilize all the resources and to get a handle on how to best implement it with my littles.  One thing I do really like is that there are unit studies which span approximately six weeks.  This allows you to really immerse in a topic and to explore many different aspects of the topic in depth.  We are currently about two weeks into our study of trees. 

During one of the "Investigations" of our unit, we introduce the children to the three main parts of a tree:  roots, trunk and crown (which includes the branches, twigs and leaves).  There are several projects suggested in the curriculum itself, but I came up with my own collage project to reinforce the concept of the parts of a tree.   Using yarn for roots, real twigs for trunks, and crumpled tissue paper for the crown, my students made their own three-dimensional "trees".  This project was a good way for me to assess their understanding of the vocabulary of this unit as I was able to point to the parts of their collage and ask them to name each part.

While the academic skills of naming the parts of a tree was a major focus of this art project, many other skills were practiced during this activity.  For example, for the littles with fine motor issues, the process of squeezing glue to put onto the paper is a hand and finger-strengthening exercise.  Additionally, carefully placing small pieces of yarn for the roots works on pincer grasp and using the finger muscles.  Crumpling squares of tissue paper into balls also works on those skills.  When you stop and think about it, it's kind of amazing all the various learning that takes place within a simple art project.  

Please enjoy the photo gallery below.  It is so fun and interesting to see the different variations of this project.  I just love littles art projects!!  SO MUCH!!!

Speedy Jones Turbo (& Friends)

Our school district has a "no fur or feathers" policy when it comes to classroom pets, or even visiting animals.  While I understand the rationale behind this policy, it does limit the options we have for bringing live animals into the classroom.  

Recently, our class took a field trip to a local forest.  While on a nature walk, our guide noticed a leaf on the ground that had a shiny line across it.  She stopped and pointed this out to the children, telling them that this meant a snail had left a trail on the leaf and that a snail must be nearby.  She challenged them to look carefully for the snail near the trail.  I admit, I was skeptical that we would find a snail.  However, Mrs. DeNier, one of my assistants, found a snail!!  The children were able to get a close look at the snail (although it was holed up in its shell the whole time).  We decided to bring the snail back to school with us and make it our classroom pet.  

A funny side-story is that I held the snail in my hand all the way back to school on the bus.  I have now earned the nickname "The Snail Whisperer" because the snail bravely came out of its shell in my hand and was absolutely fascinating to watch on the ride back to school.

Once back at school, the snail was placed in a temporary home until more suitable housing could be found.  Additionally, research was done as to how best to care for a snail pet.  It turns out that a container with a bit of soil, a shallow dish of water, and some bark or pinecones for shelter is pretty much all that is needed.  We also learned that garden snails can live 10 to 15 years in captivity.  So, the joke now is that the snail will be with me for the next decade or so. 

Of course a classroom pet needs a name.  On the way back to school, our bus driver suggested "Speedy".  Later, in a class discussion, the name "Turbo" was also suggested.  So........we initially decided the snail would be called, "Speedy Joe Turbo".  However, one of the littles kept saying, "Speedy JONES Turbo" which we liked better.  So, Speedy Jones Turbo it is.  

Below you can see the beautiful habitat we created for Speedy complete with a "foresty" backdrop (more about that in a future post) and a custom made name sign.  In the photo the brown blog you can see on the cucumber slice is Speedy.  

Miss Moritz, my other classroom assistant, has decided that I could moonlight as a snail photographer.  Perhaps this is because I spent about 20 minutes (or more) on a recent Saturday trying to take an amazing photograph of Speedy.  One of my best "shots" is shown below.  I have gotten even better since that one was taken though.  ;-)

If you are paying close attention, you will notice that the title of this post indicates that Speedy has "friends".  I have decided to make that the topic of a future post which will show up later this week.  Suffice it to say that we are a bit snail-crazy around here.  SNAILS ARE AWESOME!!!!!!!