Fun Days-Teddy Bear Picnic

We often have different “themed” days in some classrooms.  Pajama day is always a fun one, and popular.

One day, however, I saw a great day in a classroom that almost made me wish I was still a lead teacher in the classroom just so I could implement it…almost, I love what I do.

They had a Teddy Bear Picnic day!

What did this entail?  Many FUN activities full of intentionality!

Everyone brings in their teddy bears.  If someone doesn’t have a teddy bear, that’s okay because the teacher had LOTS of extras!  If they forgot or didn’t have one, they were able to pick one to be theirs for the day.

The teddy bears are the children’s “students” for the day and the get to/must bring them around and share their activities with them. 

In the blocks, teddy bears were the receivers of beds made just for them…to size. 

In the dramatic play area, well, what teddy bear doesn’t LOVE coffee, cake, and plastic pizza?

During circle, they sat in a circle according the the teddy bears size!   This was a great math activity to start off and then having the responsibility of “keeping your teddy bear quiet” brought a new attention span to even the most wiggly child.

Circle time consisted of reading/singing the Teddy Bear Picnic book and going around the circle introducing the teddy bear to the rest of the group (name, favorite food, age).

At one of the tables, there were pieces of fabric, scissors, and patterns to make clothes for their bears…if they wanted.  There was one teacher close by to HELP the children stitch the things together with fat needles and thread.  Yes, the teacher allowed them to SEW with REAL needles!  Awesome practice in trusting the children!

At another table, if they so chose, the children had a picnic making activity.  Teddy bears and their owners spent time making sandwiches (math/patterning, fine motor, reading recipes), filling baggies with carrots (counting), and filling baskets with small group numbers of sandwiches, carrot bags, applesauce cups, plastic spoons, paper cups, napkins, plates, and pitchers of milk (community, counting, sorting, spacial awareness).

During outdoor time, teddy bears rode on tricycles going through obstacle courses, built sand castles, and went on…wait for it…a BEAR HUNT!  It was an awesome obstacle course!

Lunch was a picnic out on the grass!

Nap time was a breeze for the simple matter that the children didn’t want to wake their bears.

It was an awesome day!

What kind of fun days do you have?

Read your books

It is very important that we are intentional with everything that we do in the classroom.  I have seen teachers who, wanting a literacy rich classroom, fill their rooms with books.  Everywhere you turn there are books.  This isn’t a bad thing. 

However, I caution you to be intentional in the books you put out.  Make sure there is a good balance of fiction and non-fiction, fantasy, real, science, math, language, and all levels.

I was at Costco this weekend and was looking through the various books they had for children.  Costco is a great place to get what I call “toy books”.  These are books that do have words and are meant to be read, but they are much more interactive than literacy based.

They aren’t bad to have around, but again, be careful and intentional.  Why do I emphasize this point?  Because of the following:'

I picked up this book that is a foam book, so probably intended for the Infant/Toddler reader.  It is called a Lift & Look Opposites, therefore, I already know that it will be about things that are opposites.  It looks cute enough at the front

It actually wasn’t too bad.  It had simple sentences that worked through as rhymes.  This is always a bonus so that it becomes predictable somewhat as well as easy to memorize. 

I was chuckling to myself knowing that those shaped puzzle type pieces that popped in and out as the lift & look would often be found strewn about.  The children will LOVE taking these out. 

Then I got to the last page.  If you can’t see it says, “Cheetah is fast.  Who is slow?”  Think you know the answer?

I forget what the line before it said, but I thought I knew for sure that it was going to be a snail.  To my surprise, this is what I saw:

  

WHAT!?!  Do you see it, too?  That, dear readers, is a BEE front and center.  I was shocked.  I stuck the piece back in and turned to my husband.  I said, “Honey, what’s the first thing you see when I take this off.” 

I took the piece out and he said, “A bee.”

Yep, that bee is front and center and BIGGER than the snail to which the child is supposed to be looking at.  It says, “Snail is slow.”

It actually took me a pause to notice that the snail was even there.  He is just kicking it back there on the fence, almost blended in to the background.  He gets completely missed!

I wasn’t really looking to buy any books that day; however, if I was, this would be reason enough for me to not purchase this book.

This is what I mean when I say we have to be intentional in what we bring into the classroom.

What’s the worst mistake you’ve noticed in a children’s book?  What’s the best children’s book you have ever seen?  What’s the most surprisingly good book you have ever seen?

Intentional Teaching where the Children are still at

Okay, we've talked about a very intentional teacher directed time (science experiment) and we've talked about the child lead Intentional Teaching opportunity (block play zoo). Today, we will discuss a mixture of the two.

You set up the environment daily/weekly/monthly with different themes, right? One of the areas that we are constantly changing the theme in is the Dramatic Play area. Home life, restaurants, offices, doctors, veterinaries, etc... How do you involve the children in preparing the environment?

What? You don't? YOU SHOULD!

See, when preparing the environment, if you involve the children, they will respect the environment so much better and will interact with it in a very different way.

Let's go with an example in the dramatic play area of a way to get some Intentional Teaching with the children while setting up a new environment and following the children's lead.

When you are going to change the dramatic play area into a restaurant, what do you need?

A table, chairs, table cloths, food, dishes, aprons, chef hats, etc...

The one thing that we seem to forget sometimes are the menus, the order pads, and the cash register.

When I set up a restaurant, we start by setting the table and dishes and food up. At circle, we discuss that we now have a restaurant in the classroom and I need their help in creating a menu. During free choice time, I take some paper, pencils, and pictures of the food into the dramatic play area.

First we discuss what a menu is. Then we make our menu. We look at other restaurant menus that I have brought in to see what they look like. They have pictures of the food. We decide which items should be served together and cut and paste those pictures of the food.

Then we come up with names for our menu items.

Then we have to come up with a cost. Make it easy. Everything, at first, is 1 or 2 dollars a piece. They get to decide how much everything is worth.

On another occasion I visit the restaurant as a customer. I find that I don't want something that's on the menu, but I want to make a combination of different items. What are the children going to do? Oh, they are very accommodating. The learning takes place when they have to decide how much to charge me.

Then, I just happen to have play QUARTERS rather than play DOLLARS to pay with (this is my way of adding the coins into the play WHEN THEY ARE READY). Now we have to discuss how 4 QUARTERS equal ONE DOLLAR. It's another lesson that I have taken to them in their play.

It's often easy to bring intentional teaching into dramatic play if you have an imagination. After all, if you don't want coffee to drink but would rather have tea, well....what's the difference between coffee and tea?

What do you do if a customer doesn't have enough to pay for their food?

How are you supposed to sort the food at the grocery store?

Again, this is Intentional Teaching brought to the child's play.

The one thing to get rid of is that preconceived notion that we are JUST supposed to let children play. We need to ADD to their knowledge and experiences to help influence that play just a little bit.

Intentional Teaching where the Children are at

Continuing on our Intentional Teaching journey, let's look at Intentional Teaching that is totally led my the child's play.

Remember, Intentional Teaching is still allowing the children free choice time but adding to their play in a way that will enrich and stimulate their play in such a way to make it purposeful.

Let's go to the block area. This is a place that is real easy to get some intentional teaching but is often neglected. Typically during free choice there is a group of boys in that area. Yes, sometimes there are girls, but typically it is boys. Especially when you put out some dinosaurs or cars.

How do you get some intentional teaching in? It's simple. First thing you have to do is GO OVER AND GET INVOLVED!!! Many times we avoid this area. Don't do it. Go sit down, get involved. Find out what they are building.

One day I went to the block area and a group of boys (about 4 of them) were building a zoo. We had zoo animals out. They were making a zoo.

This is simple, right? They were making different squares with the blocks and placing different animals inside them. Here's where the intentional teaching comes in.

"What are we making?" (Notice I say WE, I have now included myself in their play whether they want me or not; but they do have the option to ask me to walk away...they never do).

"We're making a zoo."

"Oh, I see. I see you're making some pens and cages for all the animals. Look, I see the leopard is in this really small area. Maybe we should give him some more space. Can I make it bigger?"

By this time, they are giving me more blocks to make the space bigger. Then, I build up, adding a shelf while saying, "I read in a book that leopards like to climb trees and sit, I'm going to make him a shelf that looks like a tree so he can climb up there. This way he can sit up high in the tree or, if he wants to hide, he can crawl under the shelf to get away from the people visiting the zoo."

I've now given them something to think about with the other animals. "Maybe some of the other animals would like someplace to hide."

They soon quickly work on expanding and building on the other animals, making sure everyone has "a tree to climb and a place to hide."

Although, when they get to the elephants, I add, "I don't think elephants can climb, can they? Maybe they don't need a tree to climb. I wonder what elephants like to have?"

This begins a little discussion about things elephants like. Then, in my INTENTIONAL TEACHING way, I exclaim, "I have a book all about zoo animals! Maybe we should look at that! Maybe that will tell us what elephants like!"

Then, in true preschool boy fashion, they eagerly follow me to my book area to get the book out. If I didn't have the book with me, I would mention that I don't have it with me, but I will bring it tomorrow to look at...and I will make sure to BRING IT because they will want it. I can guarantee this isn't the first, nor will it be the last, day that they are building a zoo.

We take out the book and look through it to find what elephants like. We quickly discover that we need some water and they make a lake. How? Well, on my suggestion, one of them draws a lake on a piece of paper and colors it blue, then someone cuts it out to put in the encounter (yes, we now know that it is called an encounter because we found that out in the book as well).

For a couple days, they recreate the zoo, adding more and changing things regularly. They constantly reference the book I have now left in that area for them to refer to. I walk by to see how their zoo is coming, "Wow, look at all those encounters. Who takes care of all those animals?"

Now we get to discussing about the veterinarians and zoo keepers and all their jobs. Soon, we are finding out that someone has to make food for all the animals and what kinds of foods each of them make.

Then, the inevitable comments from me: "Hm, I see you have lions, zebras, elephants, and hippopotamus...but do you remember what lions eat? Don't they eat zebras? Do you think that the lions and the zebras should be next to each other? Or should they be in different parts of the zoo?"

This opens up discussions to HOW a zoo is designed. Living in San Diego, we have the Zoo at our disposal. Even if we can't go TO the zoo, we can easily get a map of the zoo and NOW we can see how the zoo is designed.

Now we can SORT the animals by types and living habitats and all sorts of different ways.

This is a project that can take weeks, if not MONTHS of free choice time. This is a project in which children learn math, science, language, and so much more. This is a project that started from the children's ideas, the teacher participated with some INTENTIONAL TEACHING, and pretty soon the children have so much more knowledge from just a little bit of play...okay, A LOT of play.

It was, however, all play. The teacher, at key moments, add information and knowledge to stimulate and enrich their play. That's what is important of Intentional Teaching.

Intentional Teaching on a Large Scale

We are going to continue our discussion on intentional teaching today. Yesterday I talked about the importance of intentional teaching and that it is brought in at Free Choice time. Free Choice doesn't mean that there are no teacher directed activities going on, it just means that the teacher directed activities are one of several choices that can be made.

The month of October, I spent my days doing the same science experiment in every classroom to show the teachers how to have intentional teaching in their classrooms. It was only ONE way of bringing this concept to the classroom.

I planned one lesson. The materials I needed were:
baking soda
vinegar
water
liquid water colors OR food coloring- you'll need 3 colors
one tray (I quickly changed this to two trays, but start out with just one, the second tray comes in much later in the project)
8 paper cups (dixie cups proved too flimsy, get the next size up; or if you have some reusable cups or small containers you use for projects, use those)
6 to 8 eye droppers OR pipettes (the more you have the better, but AT LEAST 6)
1 piece of plain white paper
a stack of dictation paper (this is the paper with the top half blank for children to draw and the bottom half has lines for writing)
2 sets of crayons (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, black, brown)
2 sets of colored pencils (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, black, brown) Make sure these are sharpened

When setting up the project (which, although it will take you about 15 minutes to read this, actually only takes about 5 minutes to set up) take the white paper and make a chart using 3 columns and 7 rows. In the top row, label the last two columns: vinegar, H2O

In the first column, label the rows 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

(Sorry, I have no pictures right now, but when I get some I will upload so you can see)

Take 6 of the paper cups and mark the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 on them. If you are using reusable containers, use masking tape or something else.

In those cups, randomly fill 3 with water and 3 with vinegar then using the 3 colors, randomly color those three waters and three vinegars...make sure that there is one color of each (so, one blue water and one blue vinegar, one red water and one red vinegar, etc...)

Put one pipette or eye dropper in each cup.

When I set the project at the table (which is typically while the children are at circle because, at least in our program, circle typically precedes free choice time), I put most of the supplies under the table within easy reach of me; or, if there was a shelf behind me, I was able to place the items there. Just make sure that the materials are out of the way within easy access of you. You don't want the children to get distracted by what you are GOING to do and be able to focus on what you ARE DOING right at that moment.

So, set aside the stack of dictation papers, crayons, pencils, vinegar, colored cups, the chart you've made, and one of the colors (it doesn't matter which one, the other colors can be put away because you won't need them anymore. The only thing ON the table at this point should be an empty tray, a box of baking soda, and two empty cups (not marked with anything).

When the children CHOOSE to come to the table (and if it's introduced at circle as one of the choice, there will be plenty that choose to come) have them sit around the table. More children than chairs are often times interested. That's fine! Just because there are 8 chairs doesn't mean another chair can't be added! Seriously, let them bring more chairs or even stand around!

Show them the box of baking soda and ask if they have ever seen this before. Some will say yes, but when you ask them where they can't tell you. I talk to them about maybe seeing this in the kitchen at home. Maybe when mom is making cookies or something.

Then, dump a bunch (and by a bunch I mean HALF THE BOX) on the tray. Then feel it and show them how it's powdery and soft. Then slowly pass the tray around to give everyone an opportunity to feel it. If you show them first, most likely they will keep it mild and just touching to feel. Make sure everyone has a chance to touch it.

Bring the tray back in front of you. Tell them that you are going to explore with putting some water on the baking soda and see what happens. Give one of the empty cups to one of the children and ask him/her to go fill it with water. What I found interesting was that in the 29 classrooms I did this in, not a single child over filled the cup. Most only filled it half full. This is one of those tasks that you have to TRUST the children in a task that we would usually do ourselves because we are afraid they "might spill". It's just water. Even if they DO spill, it wipes right up; and the majority of the time they will surprise you.

Okay, now, pick up one of the eye droppers or pipettes. I like the pipettes best because then we get to learn a new word. I hold it up and ask the children if they know what this is called. Most of the time they do now. I explain, "This is an eye dropper. But, since we are experimenting today and pretending to be scientists, another word for this is pipette. Can you say that?"

See, we've now added LANGUAGE to our SCIENCE project. It is really that simple!

Then I ask, "Does anyone know how to use these? What do I have to do first?"

Have you ever noticed that some of them really don't know how to use these? They will put them in the cup, but they don't squeeze and let go to make them work properly. This is the opportunity to STIMULATE their KNOWLEDGE and SHOW THEM how it works. It's almost mean of us to not SHOW children how to accomplish tasks and make them learn these things on their own. But it's something that I see so often because, "I don't want to interrupt their learning process."

Okay, then I go through the steps of using the pipette. "First, I squeeze it, then I put it in the water, then I let go." I make a big show of doing this then make a big show of what happened, "Did you see that water shoot right up the tube? Let's see that again. First I squeeze, then I put it in the water, then I let go. Did you see it? Then to get the water out, what do I need to do?" When someone says squeeze it, then I do that right into the cup.

Now we are ready for the next step. I say, "Okay, how about we put some water on the baking soda. What do you think is going to happen?" Many of them sit around and just stare at me. So, we try it. Nothing happens.

Then I try it again. "What happens?" Wait for some answers then move on.

Take out your bottle of vinegar. Ask them if they know what this is. ALMOST EVERY CHILD will say WATER!!!! This is when I hand it to a child and say, "Smell that, is that water?" They quickly shake their head when they find out that it's NOT water. Then we pass it around so EVERYONE can smell the vinegar. I explain that it's vinegar. It LOOKS like water, but it's not.
It's important that all the children get a chance to smell the vinegar because they will have to have the smell knowledge later in the activity; of course, if they refuse, don't force them.

Now pour some vinegar into the other empty cup. Put the bottle of vinegar off to the side. Take another pipette and ask, "How do I use this?" This reinforces for the children what they are supposed to do when they use a pipette. As they tell you, go through the motions.

Once you have vinegar in the pipette, ask, what do you think will happen when I put this on the baking soda. Again, they won't have a clue, but you are sparking their minds and getting those wheels turning.

Put some on the baking soda and watch and listen to the wonder! "Hm, what happened?" Wait for some answers. Common responses, "It made bubbles; It's like soda"

Then, do it again. Then, say, "Wow, what happens when I put water on?" Then do it again. Take a minute flipping between water and vinegar and talking about what happens each time. In the end, the understanding needs to be: "Water does nothing, vinegar makes bubbles"

Once you are confident that the majority of the children understand this (by the way, some of the children who started out in this activity will have left by this point, that's okay; this is free choice and it's more than they are ready for) then wonder out loud, "I wonder if I change the color if the same thing will happen." Take your food coloring or liquid water color and add a drop to each the water and the vinegar.

"What do you think will happen if I put RED water on the baking soda?" Then try it out. Many of them are surprised that there is still no reaction.

"What do you think will happen if I put RED vinegar on the baking soda?" Some will be unsure.

Again, make sure that you repeat this process several times until the majority of them understand that vinegar will ALWAYS react and that the water will NEVER react. Typically, this doesn't take long if you are constantly talking with them through the process.

Once everyone has this understanding, pull out the chart and a pencil. Tell them that you have some cups of liquid (yes, use the word liquid) that some are vinegar and some are water and you don't know which ones but they are going to help you figure it out. Explain that you are going to take a cup (and take out cup number 1) and everyone is going to get a chance to smell it and look at it and decide what they THINK is inside.

"Then, when you tell me what you think, I am going to put a mark on this chart so we can see how many think it's water, and how many think it's vinegar. See, this is the column for vinegar and this column, it says H2O on it, that's another way to say water. Can you say that? H2O. What's that mean? Water."

Throughout the rest of this process. Whenever a child says water, repeat, "What's another way to say water? H2O" This will reinforce this concept.

Okay, once you've explained, they still aren't going to be sure of what's happening until you begin. So, take cup number one, pass it to the first child, and ask, "What do you think is in this cup?" Let them smell and tell you what they think, then make a show about putting a line in that square. (Oh, word of warning, take out the pipette before passing the cup around because the one thing they really want to be doing is squeezing and squirting with that in their face.

Now, once you pass the cup around the table, stop and count together how many think it's water and how many think it's vinegar (you will be surprised at the answers). Then ask, "how will we know? What will happen if it's vinegar?"

Then, ask one child to test it. When it bubbles (did I forget to tell you that the best practice to keep them hooked is to make the first cup vinegar?) ask them, "So, what's that mean? What's in the cup?"

Take out the second cup and pass you CHART to one child and ask, "Do you want to be my record keeper?" Give them the pencil and explain, "When someone says water, put a mark here; when someone says vinegar, put a mark here." Then, start passing around cup 2. Make sure that you point to the place you want the child to make a mark on the paper at first; some pick up on it faster than other, but give them a chance.

Then, count the number of guesses. Then, pick another child to test. BEFORE allowing the test, ask again, "What will happen if it's vinegar? What will happen if it's water?" Then, let the child test it.

Continue this process, choosing a different record keeper and a different tester each time. Six cups seems to be the perfect amount to test. Any more and I have found children get board; any less and not all the children have a concrete understanding.

Once all the testing has been completed, put the cups aside and leave the tray and the chart on the table. Pull out the dictation paper and explain, "We've been doing an experiment and the one thing that scientists always do after and experiment is to document their findings. So, I need you to document what we have done here today. On the top of the paper here (and point to the picture area) I need you to draw a picture about what happened in our experiment. Then, when you're done drawing your picture, let me know and I will help you write the words to what happened. I have crayons and pencils from you to choose from so you can document. You can choose either one."

Then, pass out one paper for each child and put the crayons and pencils in the middle of the table for them. Let them talk about what they are drawing. Then, as they finish up, ask, "Are you ready for me to write your words?"

When one says yes, take his/her paper and ask, "What happened in our experiment?" Depending on the children' development and their experiences with YOU writing THEIR words, you'll get different responses. The most popular? "Water, vinegar, water, vinegar, water, vinegar, bubbles."

Write whatever they want you to write. I then give their paper back and tell them, "Don't forget to write your name so we know who's it is." No, I DO NOT write their name for them, even after they wrote their name. It really doesn't matter; what matters is that they attempted to write their name.

Then, once everyone is done with their documentation, take out all the cups and put them around the table, put out another tray and empty the other half of the box, and let them explore on their own.

They have now been taught how to use the materials. They may need reminders to keep it low so that it doesn't splash in someone's eyes, but they are pretty good about it. The most fun part of this is when someone (and it inevitably happens) takes some of the flooded liquid mix in the tray and puts it into their cup of vinegar. It bubbles. Sometimes it bubbles over. It's okay. It's part of the process. But they have learned something new: vinegar onto the baking soda makes bubbles....bubbles INTO the vinegar also makes bubbles.

To allow children to revisit the experiment, put out another tray of baking soda with some cups of vinegar and water and eye droppers onto the science table. This will allow them to revisit it. Again, they now know how to use the materials and will do so properly if you taught them properly. Take their dictation sheets and make a book of the experiment so that they can revisit what happened.

If there seems to be an ongoing interest, find out how other liquids react. What would happen if you put milk on it? How about apple juice? apple cider? This is a great activity that can extend for a very long time.

The thing about it is, you didn't just put it in the science center with no explanation. They now have the language and the knowledge behind what is happening. You have now stimulated their learning process and enriched their free choice experiences. This type of Intentional Teaching is very important in the preschool classroom. It's teaching to the children's interest and adding to their knowledge.

Tomorrow, we will talk about taking Intentional Teaching to the areas of the classroom, specifically the block area.

Intentional Teaching made Easy

So many times in our child development classes, we are taught to let the children explore on their own. We want them to have "uninterupted play" for extended periods of time. "Let the children do what they will do with the materials, we are there to facilitate, not dictate, what they do."

However, we have swung a little too far in this. The new term that is coming up is "Intentional Teaching". What we are looking for in intentional teaching is children exploring with a purpose. It's as simple as that...kind of.

How do you allow the children the freedom to explore materials and still make their play purposeful? How do you teach the children while letting them explore freely? Is that even possibly?

Well, those are exactly the questions I have been asking myself and answering for our teachers lately. I decided that it was time to teach the teachers how to teach, providing an enriched preschool experience while giving the children the freedom to explore on their own.

As many of you know, I am a program trainer. My job is to provide trainings and coaching experiences with the teachers in our agency. Right now, we have 29 classrooms (with that number hopefully growing soon). I have to very carefully plan my schedule so that I can give each classroom the attention they need.

The month of October, I decided to complete an activity during FREE CHOICE time in each of the classrooms. Every classroom should have a morning and an afternoon free choice time. This made scheduling easy because I could schedule two classrooms a day.

I made it very clear to the Superviors and the Teachers that my purpose in being there was NOT to do an activity for the childre, but to implement and activity for the teachers to see HOW to get intentional teaching in the classroom during free choice time.

The thing about free choice time that many people forget is that it is a time for the children to CHOOSE which activities in which they will participate. It doesn't mean that there are no teacher directed activities. If you are clever and have observed your children carefully, you will plan activities that will intrigue certain children and you wan't even have to try and get them over, they will just come out of pure interest.

It's also very important that teachers remember that Intentional Teaching does NOT take place just at the tables. Yes, on occasions, they will. Playing a game of memory or candy land often does take place at a table. However, if you do not bring Intentional Teaching to the block area, you are missing a large group of children who will never have their play stimulated and, therefore, will remain stagnant and not grow and branch out.

We will be looking at different ways to get in these intentional teaching moments in the classroom over the next few days. The most important thing to remember at Intentional Teaching is that you are ADDING to their play and interest while allowing them to continue in their play.