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| The beauty of offering open-ended materials and activities is that the teachers can not only provide opportunities for creativity and exploration, but they can also adjust their questions to meet the individual development and interests of our students. Whether 3, 4, 5 or 6-years old, the following experiences have been amazingly successful and enjoyable... Stories In Motion When visiting the Cheshire Nursery School you will certainly notice the blue and yellow taped rectangle on our floor. Every Wednesday this simple rectangle becomes anything but simple, transforming into a bakery, a forest, and so many other things through our Stories In Motion program. The process comes from the work of Vivian Gussin Paley, a prominent early childhood educator and theorist. Whenever the students have an idea for a story, they are encouraged to dictate the story to a teacher who will write down their words in a special story portfolio. Stories range from a single phrase to quite complex narratives, depending on the childrens' developmental level and fluency. On Wednesdays, the children's stories are first read aloud, then as a group we identify the characters and determine which students will play them. Turn-taking, team-building and expression, as well as literacy skills, are inherent in the process. The students have really embraced this activity; they are equally excited to act out their friends' stories as they are to have their own ideas heard. Stories In Motion allows the students to become authors just like the published authors we celebrate in our classroom! Exploring the Scientific Method We have busily at work on a series of daily science experiments modeling the "Inquiry Approach" to learning. Students develop understanding of concepts through making predictions, testing their ideas with hands-on experiments, then discussing and recording their results. We started out with a daily estimation exercise, then expanded on our students' keen interest in further exploration. Each experiment starts with a specific question, followed by some brainstorming. Then ideas are tested and the results come directly from our observations. So far, our "We Are Scientists" curriculum has included Sink or Float, What Can A Helium Balloon Hold?, What Objects Roll Furthest?, and Weight Supported by Different Shaped Paper Columns. EXAMPLE: ROLEY POLEY EXPERIMENT FOR YOUNGER CHILDREN:
FOR OLDER CHILDREN:
Our teachers have many new experiments ready and waiting to continue this fun way to learn about the world around us! Dramatic Play: Post Office: Our Dramatic Play area is a versatile space. It has already been used for many different scenarios, and is currently set up as a post office, complete with mailbox, mailbag, stamp collection, stationery and envelopes, zip code directory, mail sorting bins, etc. EXAMPLE FOR YOUNGER CHILDREN:
EXAMPLE FOR OLDER CHILDREN:
Construction Site Visit: An important part of our day at CNS includes exploring our neighborhood. We take walks, observing our community first-hand and noting changes as they occur. We have taken photos of what interests us, and created a map of our surroundings incorporating our photos. One of the most exciting stops on our walk has been at the site of a house under construction very nearby our school. This is a perfect example of a "learning opportunity" that can be used to open doors to discovery. EXAMPLE FOR YOUNGER CHILDREN:
EXAMPLE FOR OLDER CHILDREN:
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