Bananas for Learning

 Banana Entomologists After our wheels study the weather was warming up and I could tell the students were itching to get outside. I presented options for our next study and surprisingly, most of our students chose to learn all about insects!  We started out by learning what an insect is...did you know that bugs are insects, but insects are not bugs? We learned that all bugs have three body parts, six legs, and two antennae. Some have wings, some have two sets of wings, and some have stingers. We learned that spider are not insects, they are their own special species called arachnids.  Next we talked about how insects live; what do they eat, where do they live, and how do they protect themselves? We discussed the word camouflage and what that means. We looked at lots of different insects and how they hide to protect themselves.  In the middle of our unit we introduced cups of caterpillars to our classroom. We used magnifying glasses to observe them eating and moving around within their

Wheels, Wheels, Wheels! At the end of our pet study, I gave the students three options of what topic we would explore next. The options were: balls, buildings, or wheels. The response was overwhelmingly wheels! One of the things that I love about our Teaching Strategies Gold Curriculum is that it takes simple items that are part of our lives and turns them into multi-week investigations that encourage our children to think deeper and more critically about things that they see and experience everyday (there is even a box study!).  We transformed our classroom to include centers that helped us explore wheels; different kinds of wheels, how wheels work and move, and how wheels are used in our everyday lives. Mr. Red built us an awesome convertible that we had in our dramatic play center. They were able to use tools to work with bolts, wires (bungees), and lights. In preschool we enjoy using as realistic items as possible, so students had access to paintbrushes and sponges to do body work

  Puppies and Kittens and Birds...Oh My! The Bananas loved the pet unit in February! We talked about what makes a good pet (although many of them really wanted tigers and giraffes to live at their houses), characteristics of pets, how they communicate, and how we can best take care of our pets.  We had some special visitors, including a dog trainer who showed us the appropriate way to approach a dog and what a dog's body language is telling us.  Our dramatic play center was transformed into the Frankie Lemmon Animal Hospital where the children had the ability to take care of a wide variety of pets. They looked at X-Rays, used veterinarian materials such as scrubs, stethoscopes, and cones, and had the opportunity to go to the pet shop to purchase collars + leashes, pet treats, and other essential supplies. This was a favorite center the entire month!  We also added some more opportunities to our writing center. Students were given the opportunity to pick a pet, trace the word, build

 Bananas in Pajamas...and Shirts, and Dresses, and... For our first study of 2024, we decided to focus on clothes and use the Teaching Strategies Gold Clothes Study! Winter brings all kinds of changes in weather and I thought it would be a good idea to take the opportunity to learn more about all the different kinds of clothes we wear, the features of clothes, how we take care of our clothes, how clothes are made, and who wears certain clothes for their jobs. While it may seem like a simple study, the students loved digging deeper into this topic.  Before the students even came back, I put out a variety of dress-up clothes in our dramatic play center. These were given to us as part of a grant from SmartStart and gave our students the opportunity to see kimonos from Japan, try on textiles from Africa, and accessorize with scarves, mittens, hats, and more. Josephine loved showing off her new outfit When we explore a topic, we try to incorporate it into our daily learning, including small

Fall in the Bananas I'm not sure how, but November is nearly over and we are barreling ahead into December and the end of 2023! My apologies for not updating our blog earlier, but we've been so busy learning and having fun!  Through October and November we learned so much about fall; about the things we see, hear, taste, touch and smell as the weather gets cooler. During our apple unit we did painted with apples, learned about the apple life cycle, and even made homemade applesauce. While everyone agreed it smelled amazing, not everyone liked it!  After learning all we could about apples, we moved onto learning about leaves! We talked about the different colors of leaves, the different shapes and sizes, and why they change colors during the fall. The students were given rakes and the ability to rake up the leaves while they were playing outside. The following week we learned about pumpkins! Again we talked about the pumpkin life cycle and how pumpkins grow in a pumpkin patch. W

September Wrap-Up! I cannot believe that the month of September is gone and we have been in school for a month! These kiddos have been doing amazing things at school and I can't wait to tell you all that we've been up to!  I've also had a few people ask me for another link to our Amazon Wishlist so you can find that here:  https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1YRSO7IXK43F0?ref_=wl_share And many thanks to those who have so generously already donated from it!  The first couple of weeks in school we focused on routines and expectations at school; how to use the materials, appropriate behavior on the playground, and to clean up after ourselves. These are things we need to do every day so we have to make sure that we are doing them correctly! As the materials that went home outlined, we also made sure to talk about our feelings and how they fit in The Zones of Regulation. That has really helped give us language to talk to the kids when they are upset and help them problem solv