Music and movement As winter melts away, the Peanuts are raring to get outside as much as we can. Once outside preschoolers really move and express themselves freely. The Peanut focus of study naturally turned to movement. We began documenting how the Peanuts liked to move on the playground, and...

Making music Spend a few minutes in the Leapfrog classroom and the children's love for music and performance is very apparent as they sing, play, and put on shows throughout the room. With this clear inclination towards music, we naturally began a study of music and sound. As teachers, we worked to...

A very serious study on sticks A fascination with sticks usually starts on the playground where children find some particularly exciting fallen branch. Lately, the Fireflies have been wanting to bring many sticks inside and back home. As teachers, we began to take special notice when friends picked...

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...

I did it all by myself! As the season has shifted solidly into winter we spend a lot more time in the classroom preparing for the weather. Each time we go out we have many, many more layers and often we change from shoes to boots. Not only do the children get to experience the wonder of winter, but...

Why set limits? As parents and caregivers, we see places where our children struggle and we want to give them a helping hand to move forward. One of the most effective tools to help a child who has gotten stuck in a particular spot is by setting a limit. When an adult sets a firm, loving limit, and...

An experiential study of community At ages 3-4 years, children begin opening themselves up to the world. In turn they navigate a world much bigger than the one they’ve previously known. Models of child development such as Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems theory and Vygotsky's constructivist...

Our focus caught on fire! The Fireflies have settled into their newly renovated classroom and teachers have gotten a chance to watch their play and see what types of things they are interested in these days. While we took some time to get to know each other last month, we noticed that the group had...

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...

Our Pet Dragon When we brought our new hamster into the classroom in March we spent a week or so brainstorming names at morning meeting: Hamster, Hairy, Prince, Softy, Pillow, Carpet, Speedy, Princess, Dragon, Cat, Cow, Fluffy..and so on. We took a secret ballot and settled on Dragon (with Prince as...