Life and Death The Grasshoppers went through some really wonderful and new experiences this summer. We helped to care for another classroom’s pet hamster named Dragon. It was exciting, heartwarming, fun, entertaining and became the topic of a study of rodents. What was not so fun, was having Dragon...

Exploring Power It is not uncommon to see children running around open spaces, chasing one another, perhaps even pointing pretend weapons at each other. Postures of heros, doctors, and even families show an understanding of natural orders of power. “Good guys” and “bad guys” are common archetypes in...

Let’s start a band It all began when we read, Max Found Two Sticks, by Brian Pinkney. We noticed that a persistent tap-tap-tapping started to emerge on a daily basis in our class. Feeling inspired by the story, Grasshoppers found sticks themselves to test out the sounds of various surfaces in our...

The Silent Coyote Summer-time in a pre-k classroom is a time of many transitions. While some Grasshoppers move on to summer camp, others might stay in the classroom until kindergarten begins, or perhaps a child is in pre-kindergarten for two years. With all that movement, there is bound to be a...

Seeds are Super! The Grasshoppers have been very interested in seeds. These days, we look forward to finding seeds in our foods during snack and lunch times. Part of our interest began as the Grasshoppers participated in preparing and making our community snacks in the classroom. Many children are...

Dr. Seuss on the Loose! It all began with Green Eggs and Ham! The Grasshoppers have just wrapped up a lively study focusing on the prolific author Dr. Seuss, aka Theodor Seuss Geisel. We dove into developing literacy skills as we devoured title after title of the 40+ books written by Dr. Seuss. It...

The Fireflies, with some help from the Grasshoppers, finished their food drive for Philabundance last week by filling up Lead Teacher Joanne Schock's SUV. According to Joann, the response from the PIC community was great! "Over the course of the drive, I saw the children really begin to understand...

Recently, the Grasshoppers invited friends from other classrooms to come to a Fire Safety Open House. After spending two months exploring different elements of this important topic, they were eager to share what they had learned. What they learned During their study, the class visited the...

Staying Safe At PIC, we support learning by finding topics that are of great interest to the children and giving them opportunities to expand on the things they already know. Sometimes it is a short exploration, sometimes it blooms into a several months of deep investigation. Recently the...

One of the biggest sources of anxiety in parents of young children is preparing for kindergarten. It’s a time when you say goodbye to the familiar and dive into the somewhat unknown. In the eyes of adults, there seem to be more questions than answers. Will they be able to sit still? Will they make...