A New Game
We are always looking for good examples to help our students understand a constructivist view of cognitive development. This one is classic demonstration of how prior experiences are processed, assimilated, and adapted to create a new construct – in this case understanding what a game is and how rules apply to playing one.
One of the Sunflower’s (3 year olds) current finger play/game favorites during the transition from group meeting to lunch is “One Little Leaf.”
One Little Leaf
One little leaf, two little leaves,
Three little leaves today.
Four little leaves, five little leaves,
Blow them all away. Whew!
Five children at a time are chosen; each child is given a leaf with a numeral 1-5 on it and holds up his/her number when it is said. At the end, the children blow their leaves, then go wash their hands for lunch. This continues until all children have had a turn.
Katharine announced at large group time that she had brought something to share and had made up a new game for us to play, ?but only four people can play.? When asked to describe the game, she said, ?You get one of the leaves then you gotta do what I say. You shake it and then blow.? We let Katharine go and get her leaves, which was a branch containing four leaves (so she clearly understands the one-to-one correspondence connection that determines how many can play)
. She called four children at a time to stand up, then handed each child a leaf. Then she said, ?now shake it and blow!? The children happily followed her directions, then Katharine told them, ?Now go wash your hands!?
Block-building is a highly valued activity at ECDC, as sustained engagement supports the development of fundamental math/science concepts and spatial awareness/intelligence. Recently, several of our kindergarten children spent the better part of a week working on a very complex structure they named “The Ancient Scroll of China” – it was actually several structures linked together conceptually and linguistically in different ways. One of the components was actually a several story building constructed entirely atop rollers! Look for a more detailed documentation of this work on our website soon.
Congratulations to our Butterfly teacher, Deanna Satzger who recently won a mini-grant. Lakeshore Learning Materials sponsored 11 mini-grant awards announced at the recent SCAEYC Annual Conference in Columbia, SC. Applicants described how the SC Early Learning Standards could be supported and assessed with materials for a particular learning center or interest area. We were proud to learn that from the 60 applications, Deanna won the mini-grant for the Library center. Deanna received a large crate full of new books and storytelling props that our children are already happily using!
Welcome back to all of our returning and new families, our lead teachers and student teaching assistant staff! This first week has gone very smoothly and we are looking forward to a productive and interesting year. We are working on updates to our website that will include an emphasis on providing information and resources for families, CofC students, and the general public. Keep checking in regularly for updates!