AAAAAAND We're Back!

We came back to a stormy week-and now we've settled in to our "Shoe Store" unit, with exploration of our 5 senses.




Our art projects have included using our five senses and have resulted in the creation of a book of senses for the children to look at with you. We read books about shoes, feet, and our five senses. It was a busy week! 

The "touch" page was a choice of collage materials of different textures to glue. For "listen", we put jingle bells and beads onto a pipe cleaner. The "see" page was a project that involved observing what happened when snow melted on top of colored tissue and paper. For "smell", the children glued their choice of coffee or cinnamon onto a bear shape. And, finally, for "taste", the children used their sense of taste to figure out which crystal was salt or sugar.

And OF COURSE we got outside!

 We began our Shoe Store  unit by asking the children "What do we need for our Shoe Store?" and made a long list of items. We'll revisit our list after a few days to make sure that we have everything we need. The cash registers are "hot spots" and so we've developed a system for making a list, complete with check marks, so the children get a turn who need one.

The Shoe Store, and other units that we explore, offer many opportunities for learning:

• fine motor - writing in receipts, lacing shoes, fitting shoes into boxes, pressing keys on the cash register
• math/readiness skills-money concepts, matching pairs of shoes, writing numbers, measuring  and comparing  sizes of shoes and feet, size of boxes.
• social/language skills- role playing customer and manager, asking for shoes, asking customers what they need, taking turns with the cash register, telling customers how much shoes cost, asking and answering questions, inviting others to play. 
• reading /pre reading skills-keeping a list of cash register turn taking names, closed and open sign, shoe brands and boxes, receipt reading and writing, making tags and labeling boxes  
• large motor skills and self help- putting on and taking off shoes, balancing boxes, carrying stacks of boxes, standing on foot prints.

Until Next Time,
Michele