Adventures In WES Preschool!

 How many BLOCKS tall are we? We began measuring our painted people with links and then remeasured them with blocks.  The students hypothesized whether it would take more blocks or fewer blocks than links to measure the height of each person, length of their arms, and length of their foot.  The students counted the blocks and then compared the results to those they got when counting the links.  We also compared the height of different students.  

Spring Has Spring!!! At last, the coats came off, the sunglasses could be used and we got to play down by the river again.  We had a blast playing in the sand, building with rocks, making big and small splashes in the water and so much more.   Today hasn't been the beautiful day that we had yesterday, but by turning our schedule upside down and going outside early in the morning, we still got to play out on the playground for an hour before the rain really started coming down.  As you all know, we do our best to get the kids outside - rain or shine.  Although we all prefer sunny, warm days over rainy days, it's always fun to splash in the puddles and play in the mud.  We are not afraid to get wet and dirty! Now that it is spring, don't forget to do a nightly tick check.  The ticks are out in numbers this spring, and we've already taken a few off people (so far all adults).      

How tall are you? This week we have been learning how to measure objects using non-standardized units (Example: How many unifix cubes long is a carpet square?  How many square Magnatiles long is the bench?) On Monday we embarked on a week long project to measure how many links tall each student is.   First, we traced our bodies. Then we painted them and cut them out. During circle we made link chains that were 10 links long.  There was a lot of counting and recounting going on, and each student unknowingly worked on their fine motor skills when connecting and  un-connecting the links. Once we had several chains that were 10 links long, partners helped each other measure how tall each of their cutouts were as well as how long an arm and a foot were.  We counted the links and talked about what was longest and shortest (height of the person, length of an arm or length of a foot).  We didn't get through everyone today, so we'll keep working on it next week...

  Spring is coming! Despite the wind and chilly weather, the spring is coming.  The snow is melting and the playground is beginning to dry out.  We walked to the river yesterday and saw that the ice is gone and the water is running high from the melting snow.   You can feel the excitement in the students when it is warm enough to take off hats and mittens or unzip coats.  In a few weeks we'll be able to send the snow pants home and just wear rain pants when it is wet outside.  Duck, Duck, Goose! Birthday Girl! LOOK!  NO SNOW PANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!