All joking aside, knowing to sew is important. I will never forget sitting in front of my pre-K class and enthusiastically reading a story. I would change voices for different characters, read with passion, use my entire body to illustrate the tone of each page. I gave it my all, and in an instant, my pants decided to give out too. Luckily, my students were so engaged in the read aloud, no one noticed. The read aloud continued but my legs would no longer be a part of the whole-body dramatization of the reading. I managed to get coverage (in more than one way) as I grabbed my sewing kit (that my mom bought me) I kept in my classroom and ran into the nurse’s bathroom to stitch up my pants.
Do you know how to sew? When I was a child and it was time to change the bed sheets, my mother would always stitch the duvet cover openings closed so the duvet would not slip out. I would watch her thread the needle and go to work. It seemed liked such tedious work but she always did it and I would watch. As I grew older, I stopped watching. However, as she got older, it became more and more difficult for her to thread the needle. She would ask for my help, saying I have “better eyes” than she did. She taught me how to be careful with the needle and gave tips to keep the loose ends of the thread together. Every time I successfully threaded the needle in record time, my mom would praise me, and I would fill with pride. My mother was a seamstress. It’s a nicer way of saying she worked in a sweatshop when she came to the U.S. She worked ridiculously long hours for very little pay. We would always have various colors of thread and needles at home. And like most Asian families, all the sewing materials would be kept in those tin Danish cookie containers. Imagine the disappointed I would succumb to every time I craved for one of those plain butter cookies and only found those small metallic spools of thread people used for sewing machines. My mom taught me how to sew. People would be surprised when they found my hidden talent and my close friends would jokingly ridicule me. My go to manly response would “Real men know how to sew. They sew the open wounds of their comrades in war!” All joking aside, knowing to sew is important. I will never forget sitting in front of my pre-K class and enthusiastically reading a story. I would change voices for different characters, read with passion, use my entire body to illustrate the tone of each page. I gave it my all, and in an instant, my pants decided to give out too. Luckily, my students were so engaged in the read aloud, no one noticed. The read aloud continued but my legs would no longer be a part of the whole-body dramatization of the reading. I managed to get coverage (in more than one way) as I grabbed my sewing kit (that my mom bought me) I kept in my classroom and ran into the nurse’s bathroom to stitch up my pants. Sewing is important but how young can a child learn to sew? Recently I introduced my students to puppets. I love to bring a lot of myself into teaching. Watch Avenue Q once and it inspired me to bring in over 30 puppets ranging from finger to whole body. I wanted them to have a great appreciation for the art of puppetry and the work that goes into making them. If sharing Darci Lynne videos wasn’t enough, I believed the appreciation will surface once our children embarked on the journey of sewing their own finger puppets. I had to start small and safe. The introduction of plastic needles to help develop our kids’ fine motor skills and muscle memory associated with threading and sewing. Since the beginning of the year, I’ve asked parents to send in recyclables for our class to use in art projects. The Styrofoam egg containers were great as paint palettes, but the top cover served no purpose and I would always feel bad for throwing them out. When we were starting to sew, I finally found a purpose (or should I say repurpose?) for the top Styrofoam part of the egg containers. Our students would thread yarn through the plastic needles and lace it through the Styrofoam. Giving our kids the choice of what shape to lace kept them interested in the projects. Cardboard was also an option for students that had more finger dexterity. As a whole group, we discussed needle safety and how to hold them properly if we were to pass it to a friend (same rules as holding scissors). When the time came to introduce the real needle, our friends learned vocabulary such as sharp and dull to describe the differences between needles made from metal vs the ones made of plastic. The most significant discussion was about the importance of focus and concentration. Our hand and eyes MUST work as a team. If the eyes lose focus the hand will pay the price. It was sew time. The sewing center had to start with a small number of sewers for safety reasons. The first two ambitious preK kids were brave. It took a lot of concentration, coordination, and coaching but it was a great success. The two girls did wonderfully on the sewing part. We would move onto the decoration and the use of the hot glue gun and tweezers. We talked about glue gun safely; how to properly hold the glue gun, the places to avoid touching, and how to maneuver the pieces to be glued with the tweezer. We are constantly looking for ways our students be independent. Giving them the responsibility of items such as needles and glue guns shows them how much confidence we have in them and they thrive knowing that we believe in them. LZ and CZ successfully completed their puppet. These two girls were the quietest in the beginning of the year and would often play by themselves or was simply content with watching their peers play. They have grown so much since the beginning and have found pleasure in each other’s company. They are now great contributors to our classroom noise which indicate busy students at work!
0 Comments
Water We Learning About? It all started with a broken bathroom sink. With the water constantly running, a few concerned students voiced out loud “Mr. Andy! The bathroom water is being wasted!” At first it wasn’t a big deal for the adults in the room. It was explained that if we shut the water off, we wouldn’t be able to wash our hands. Hand washing is a crucial parent of the pre-K day. As the week went on, it drew the attention of more students and soon enough, almost every child was worried about the wasting water. The issues with the bathroom sink became a topic in our morning meeting discussion. CZ: “The sink is broken.” JW: “If we break our other sink, we’ll have no sink!” AL: “Bathroom sink was wasting water!” OW: “The bathroom sink water keep going…water being wasted.” What do we use water for? CY: “To wash our hands.” JW: “We use to drink water. There’s water in the toilet.” HM: “Sharks need water to live.” WC: “Animals need water.” CY: “Trees need water to grow.” Even in our very own classroom, the children realized that there were living things that needed water to survive. BS realized our Stick Insects needed water to live. HM pointed out that Tails, our leopard gecko, had a water dish in her tank. RC noticed that our fish lives in water. JW, our plant helper who waters the classroom plants, stated that plants also nee water. Most importantly, all of us need and use water on a daily basis. In one of our discussions, JW wondered “Why do we put water inside the toilet?” Through questioning, JW was able to figure out the answer to his own inquiry. He was asked why he thinks we put water in the toilet. When asked why he thinks we have water in the toilet, he paused for a moment and responded, “Waste will get stuck in the toilet, (water) help flush out. Water We Going to Do With This Table? |
| |
Making dumplings at home with my mom is a memory I cherish but never recalled sharing the experience with my classmates and teachers when I went to school. When asked what I did over the weekend, I never felt comfortable sharing the experience. I don’t want that to be the case for my students and their families. I want them to feel welcomed in school and think of our classroom as a second home where all are accepted and embraced with loving arms.
When the project was funded, we were quickly approaching the end of the school year. Unfortunately, we did not have enough time to make dumplings with that group of pre-K students. Summer was around the corner and that would be the perfect opportunity to bring in the experience. Our incoming pre-K campers were excited and thrilled to hear that we would be making dumplings. We introduced the different ingredients needed and the appliances we would use to cook it. We read the books that introduced characters that looked familiar and topics that our kids are familiar with. Dumplings, Dim Sum or yum cha, Xiao long bao, all the different vocabulary that seemed to be only used when they were with their families were now a part of our language in school.
It was such a beautiful experience watching beginners, intermediate, and expert dumpling makers all get a chance to partake in an experience that is so unique in a school setting. Our summer teacher’s assistants helped our kids in the processes. Many shared their experience of a time when they were younger and also made dumplings at home with their parents.
Bossk the Bearded Dragon has been the mascot of pre-K 108 since 2013. Her home in the terrarium by the entrance of the classroom was a welcoming sight for families entering the class or just passing by. She caught the attention of many children and stunned adults who believed she wasn’t real when she moved. She guarded our classroom and warmed the hearts of our students.
A few responses from our students in regards to the news:
“We need to bury Bossk in the ground.” - T.E.
“Where’s Bossk?” - C.C.
“When will he be back?” – S.C.
“Can we get another pet? A frog?” - B.J.
“When he becomes bones, we need to give it to the museum.” - B.J.
“I miss Bossk.” – A.Z.
Our kids took a neighborhood walk to find fallen leaves. The children collected them during the walk and some even brought some in from their trek from school to home. The leaf collection had a purpose. In the classroom, Ms. Ashely read Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert and our students were really engaged by the beautiful illustrations and hidden animals they saw in the leaves. “A leaf man goes where the wind blows,” and the leaves blew right into our classroom and made the art center its home. They used the leaves along with materials we received from our Beautiful Stuff for Beautiful Learning project and created stunning works of art. Their creativity was unleashed during this time and they were introduced to using glue bottles and scissors. Please stop by to check out our Science Scene bulletin board and see if you can spot your child’s work!
We are mid way through the month and very excited to see what else October has in store for us! As the temperature drops and snow may soon be in the forecast we want to make sure all our children are warm and prepared to play outdoors.
When the weather starts getting colder, we will give out the winter attire. We ask that your child bring them to school every day during the winter. They may use them outside of school whenever it is needed but please make sure they have it for outdoor play as well! After the winter, it is theirs to keep.
We do hope to get some healthy snacks for our kids through DonorsChoose.org. If you would like to spread the word or support it yourself, the link is below.
Fight Hunger Back With a Snack Attack!
Categories
Author
Currently in my eighth year of teaching Pre-K at an early childhood elementary school.
Archives
October 2022
April 2020
March 2020
May 2019
March 2019
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
October 2017
April 2017
March 2017
September 2016
March 2016
February 2016
December 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August 2014
July 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2012
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009