Intro to a graph

Today we decided to introduce the concept of a graph to the kids.  I don't think it's academically important at this age, but it is interesting to them, so that in itself makes it important.  We took our list of where we see light, and the kids decided whether they see light in each of the items during the day, the night, or both. Then, we counted how many day lights and how many night lights we had on our list, and graphed them.  It was good counting exercise.  The graph was a nice visual, and it was good for them to recognize the difference between the two bars: size, height, design (it bothered one kid enough that they didn't match, that he mentioned it much later in the day).

This Little Light

For pure enjoyment.  These sweet little voices make me so happy.

Songs to practice impulse-control

Here are a couple examples of songs we use to practice impulse control.  In the first, they have to wait to play their instruments, and in the second, they have to stop playing their instruments.  It's good, hard work!

In this one, the kids are working hard to keep their bells quiet until the person in the middle "wakes up!"

 In the second, we are practicing counting, steady beat, and impulse control.  They are working hard to stop after clapping 3 times.  In the song, we start by clapping and saying, "1, 2, 3 (stop!)"  Then we transition to "sea, sea, sea (stop!)"  Finally, we do the song with only clapping, and no words on the claps.

Love-Light

It's a word that we use to describe the love that comes from inside and shines through our eyes when we give our love to others. This month, our theme is light, which is a theme I love working with!  We started out brainstorming where we see light.  Most of the obvious places came to mind:

One of our kids mentioned the light in your eyes.  This was amazing to me.  She is a very bright little preschooler, who can speak 2 (maybe 3?) languages.  She learns music quickly and accurately, and seems to have a knack for several levels of communication.  Considering this, it makes sense that she would notice something like light in the eyes.

So. . . we went there, and talked about what it means when someone says, "light in your eyes." We named it love-light.  The best I could do is tell this engaged group of preschoolers that they all have love inside their little bodies, and when they let that love come out, that is their love-light.  We can see the love inside someone else's body when it shines in their eyes.  Our theme song is "This Little Light of Mine."  We hold our fingers up as a pretend candle.  When I ask them, "Is that a real candle you're holding?" or "Are we really singing about a candle?" They say, "Nooooooo," like the question is the silliest they've ever heard.  Then we talk about how "let your light shine" means letting your love-light shine by loving other people or things.  We will talk about this repeatedly throughout the month, because repetition plants seeds at this age, and our job is planters.

This first week of the month, we have focused on the light around us, too.

Sun coming through windows, made into "stained glass"
Flashlight tag
Drawing and measuring our shadows
Building a house with blocks, and trying to keep all the light inside
"Candle" lit lunch
Mystery lights that come on and off when you talk to them, or blow them, or smile at them
Sun and moon stories and songs
Finding out what happens when we add white paint vs. black paint?
Sun bread
Light and the absence of light