Connecting to past learning - from dinosaurs to glaciers

 Earlier this year we did a unit on Dinosaurs (go back through our blog to refresh your memory on paleontology).  During the second semester we are connecting what we are learning now to what we learned earlier this year.  One example is our unit on icebergs and glaciers.  The children created their own glaciers and icebergs out of the abundance of snow  during the January snowstorms.  During the process of freezing and melting the snow each day some of the animals they were playing with in the sensory table became frozen in the iceberg.  Some of the children made the connection to the dinosaur unit back in November in the following way.  Dinosaur bones became trapped in rocks.  The Arctic animals they were playing with became trapped in the ice in the sensory table.  People who tried to get bones out of the ground or ice are called archaeologist.  The children remembered that they were being archaeologist when they started digging the play animals out of the ice in the sensory table.

 They connected their current play to their past play.  This is called LEARNING!  And this critical type of learning cannot be achieved without hands-on, child-directed play. 

You will see more and more play experiences during the second semester that connects current play to past play creating more concrete and long term learning.

These children are excavating, using their tools, chiseling through the frozen ice trying to free the frozen animals from the glaciers.  The students are developing fine motor skills, strengthening their hands for proper grip on writing utensils,  working together as a team to remove the ice, problem solving  how to remove the hard ice without using warm water, how to negotiate space and take turns, using their vocabulary, and most importantly, using their past knowledge learned during our dinosaur unit and applying that knowledge to thier current play in the sensory table.

What animals are frozen in the icy waters?  Which ones are mammals?  Do they get cold?  Why?  Why not?  What keeps animals from getting cold in the icy water?  Make sure you ask good open-ended questions and not just yes and no questions.  You might be amazed what the children will teach you!



Now the children wanted to create their own glaciers and icebergs.  Needless to say, Ms. Sarah, Ms. Nancy and Ms. Carole Dawn spent a lot of time bringing in snow from outside so our young scientists/meteorologists could create their own glacier.  Some of the students even created their own land masses.  Maybe we will have to teach the children about places like Iceland and Greenland and put up maps that show cold places like Antartica.



These students created several glaciers and noticed that rivers formed between them.  Next they wanted to create boats to navigate between the glaciers.  With this activity the students showed an interest and an acuity toward understanding land formations, waterways and how people travel by land and water.  This is one of the most critical ways we find out what the children are interested in and how we can create activities that spark their imaginations.

Digging for Dinosaurs

The children got to learn about paleontology this last week.  We created some plaster of paris rocks from them to excavate (special thanks to Leah's father for donating the plaster of paris for us).  We placed dinosaurs, dinosaur bones (found at the dollar store), rocks and shells into the wet plaster and let it harden.  We then placed the rocks out on trays for the children along with hammers, screwdrivers, toothpicks, chisels, paintbrushes and toothbrushes so the student's could get to work.  The kids had a great time unearthing the treasures buried deep in the rock.  It took all week long but finally ever dinosaur was freed.

This fossil was left behind after one of the students freed a dinosaur from it's rocky enclosure.

Drawing Dinosaurs

After snack while we are waiting for everyone to finish the children are encouraged to either draw in their journals or read books.  This child decided to do both.  I found her in library area on the sofa with the dinosaur dictionary on her lap with her journal open with her pencil busily moving across her paper.



Ms. Carole Dawn, "What are you drawing?"
Ashley, "A stegosaurus."
Ms. Carole Dawn, "Cool.  How do you know it is a stegosaurus?"
Ashley, "Because it has spines on its back, see?  Look in the book Ms. Carole Dawn, it looks just like the stegosaurus in the book.  Let me show you."
Ms. Carole Dawn after looking at the picture of the stegosaurus that Ashley showed her in the book, "You are right, stegosauruses do have spines on their backs!"
Ashley smiles at Ms. Carole Dawn like Ms. Carole Dawn is about the dumbest teacher that has ever lived.  Ms. Carole Dawn smiles like Ashley is about the smartest preschooler that ever lived!



Making a Dinosaur World

The children decided to create a total 3-D world for the dinosaurs in the block area.  They started by painting the sky and the grass on paper to place onto the walls.  The children worked as a class to create the scenery.  They studied books in the library area and did research by studying the dinosaurs habitats (yes, ask them about habitats) and they talked about what they would like to add to their dinosaur worlds habitat.

Creating the sky

The next thing the children wanted the dinosaurs to have were trees.  You wonderful parents sent in paper towel rolls and crepe paper.  We set out paint, Popsicle sticks and tissue paper and let the children create. We also found some plastic plants and cut them up so the children could use those to create foliage for the herbivores to eat.

 

One child using his imagination to create this wonderful tree for the dinosaurs

A dinosaurs habitat.  The children painted Styrofoam blue for lake water and another piece of Styrofoam green for land to graze on.  You can see rocks and shells that the children have used to add to the habitat.  The children are able to stick the plastic plants into the Styrofoam to create multiple habitats. 

Look closely, this dinosaur has laid an egg!  Actually the egg is one we found at the dollar store that came with tools for excavating what is inside the egg.  What is inside the egg?  Dinosaur bones!

The children became very interested in dinosaur eggs after finding out that dinosaurs came from eggs.  Some of the children wanted to create a nest so the mother dinosaurs could lay their baby eggs.

Watch out, the T-Rex is coming to get you!

 

Dino Learning

In these pictures the students are using the felt board to reenact some of the dinosaur stories they have been reading in the library area. 

Ms. Christine working with students on prepositional words.  It is important to work on concepts such as on, off, in, behind, around, under, on top, bottom and through with children.  These prepositions and concepts are the building blocks of descriptive language and we spend a lot of time working those descriptive words into the children's vocabulary and daily projects throughout our curriculum.



Ms. Sarah gets to learn all about a pterodactyl from one of the student's during small group time. The children are getting really good at learning how to research using the books in the classroom library and taking the books to other areas to expand their knowledge.





We are the dinosaurs!!!!!!

Welcome to the wonderful world of dinosaurs and all that we are going to learn over the next few weeks.

The children have shown a great interest in learning about dinosaurs so we have introduced the unit.  This last week has been spent doing research.  They looked through books in the library area to learn about dinosaurs to investigate their environments.  They also did Internet research to discover what a paleontologists was and to learn more about volcanoes.  They started learning how to excavate items in the sensory table.  The children practiced mathmatics by working with geometric shapes with a special tessellation dinosaur puzzle.  They developed their gross motor skills by walking like dinosaurs using Romper Stompers (I loved those things as a kid) while listening to the song "We Are The Dinosaurs, Wadda Ya Think Of That?  It is a very catchy tune! I will put the children's video by the artist on the blog for you.

Keep checking back often over the next few week to see what new exciting things the children are doing in the Land of the Lost!  We will be excavating dinosaurs, rocks and shells out of boulders made out of plaster of paris (thanks Leah's dad for the donation).  We will also be making our own volcanoes out of clay that will erupt using baking soda and vinegar.  The children will also be painting and creating their dinosaur world in the block area.  Look for pictures to be posted as they use their creativity, research and artistry to recreate the setting for their dinosaur play.

Friends researching dinosaurs together.

 

This child drew this picture of a dinosaur after he finished researching dinosaurs in a book in the library area.  He told me that the spikes on the tail are like the spikes on the tail of the dinosaur in the book.

Children working together exploring the new dinosaur items in the sensory table.  Dinosaurs, brushes, logs, trees, rocks and other items were placed in the table to encourage the children to pretend being paleontolgists.

This child is working very carefully to remove all "dirt" (cornmeal in this case) after looking up excavation on the internet and watching a video of a dinosaur dig in progress (National Geographic and Chicago Field Museum are great on-line resources if you want to support further exploration with your child at home).



Pretend play in the sensory table.



Look out, it is a herd of dinosaurs coming!  Can't you hear how loud they are?  Can you feel the ground shaking?

I found these at Barnes and Nobles for $5.99 on clearence.  It is a magnetic board with an instruction book and foam puzzle pieces that are also magnetic.