Spotlight on Needham

I wanted to share a spotlight on the science unit in Needham on a recent visit I had.

Marissa in the Pre-K was having the children start their day by cutting out figuras geometricas!!  Great fine motor activity!!

Take a look at some of Marissa's bulletin boards!! 

I LOVED this idea of doing JUMBLE for a pre-K class.  The children had to figure out what each word spelled in Spanish when they re-arranged the letters!!

Here's another cool Pre-K storytelling and writing project!

Preschool Teacher - Gala

I LOVE this teacher made activity to sort colors!  Gala re-used the tops of water bottles to create this sorting game.

Check out Gala's "Lavanderia" Dramatic Area!!!

Gala was mixing colors with the children on their hands!!

Red on one hand, yellow on the other, then they had to squish their hands together to find out what color it created!!

Preschool teacher Madelyn translated some Groundhog songs to Spanish and used them for talking about SHADOWS!  

I love that it is a print-rich environment!!

Toddler Teachers - Maria and Carmenza use PUPPETS as props to go with all of their circle time songs!!  Each song that they sing, has a puppet!!  

Spotlight on Newton - SCIENCE

I spent a day in Newton last week, and I just had to share some of the pictures from their SCIENCE THEMES in ACTION!!  

Here is the Pre-K's dramatic area: SCIENCE LAB

It is complete with smocks, gloves, trays, bowls, bottles, colored water, pipettes (water droppers) and a microscope!!

Here is the Pre-K's water table with tubes and cups

The Pre-K teachers, Britni and Katie, also added magnets and paperclips to their Science area!!

Shannon, the Preschool 2 teacher, turned her dramatic area into a spaceship!!

She used some paper draped over the puppet theater!!

Can't foret the moon boots (boots covered in foil)

She taped a picture of the "control panel" to the desk part too

Taking Turns:

Shannon has been using this sand timer to help the children have a visual cue to know when it's their turn with something (i.e. a turn with a toy, a turn in the dramatic area etc...)  I saw it in action and the kids respect it and use it wisely!!  

Shannon's bulletin board is ready to go with artwork that the children create!!  She used a couple of black trash bags to adorn her bulletin board and foil star garland as the border!!

Shannon had the children practice writing "Astronauta" and look how well they did!!"

Marlene (Preschool 1 teacher) had her bulletin board ready to go too with beautiful letters that she cut out of shiny paper, some "science" borders and the children as astronauts on blue starry paper!!

Kena (Toddler 2 teacher) had her bulletin board ready to go too!  Can you guess what they are talking about??  She used cut outs of  clipart body parts to make the word, "Mi Cuerpo".  

Kena was INSPIRED!!  

After seeing my post about getting organized, Kena created a system in her closet to prepare the materials for the week that she needs!!

During her prep time, she gets all of the materials she will need for the projects and activities into the colored shoe boxes.  Each morning, she just has to grab the box and she is ready to go!!

A HUGE FELT BOARD!!

Check out this felt board!!  Kena and Darlin decorated 

An Organizational System that works for Kena...

Kena hung up this simple filing system on her wall so she can organize all of the portfolio packets for each child easily.  She also has injury reports and other files that she needs on hand.

Check out these Curriculum Boxes!!

Newton has been working hard on organizing their materials into curriculum boxes this year and labeling everything!!  Last week, Kelly and her teachers cleared off some shelves in each classroom so they can organize their materials.  She is half way there and it's a work in progress, but it's a great start!

Pre-K'ers were learning about pendulums...

 They each got a chance to make their own individual pendulums and also sand art.

BE INSPIRED!!