My favorite part of Pre-K was…

In the last few days of school, we tend to spend our time reflecting on what the students enjoyed the most during their time here in Pre-K. Sometimes it’s  activities we did together such as going on field trips or doing our play, and other times it’s as simple as playing with friends or spending time outside. We have had such a wonderful year playing, learning, and growing.

Here are the favorite activities of the 2012-2013 pre-kindergarten class.

Egyptian Artifacts and Field Trips

The field trip to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History went quite well yesterday. We arrived about 10:15 and headed directly up to the third floor to check out the permanent Egyptian exhibit.  We spent about 45 minutes exploring in groups of four and each group discovered a separate favorite section or display.

Flooding the Nile

When we first started our investigation of Ancient Egypt, many of the students wanted to know where people got their food and how they lived back then.  As a means to answer this question, we began reading a book that explained that the Nile river provided the Egyptian people with fertile soil each summer when it would overflow onto the banks. The people would plant seeds including wheat, barley, beans, and peas. Then they would let nature do the rest.

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To demonstrate this, we created our own river bed out of some potting soil, foil, rocks, and lots of water! We then planted some grass seed on the river banks and proceeded to flood the river. The water spilled over the edges of the river, effectively watering the seeds. Now we wait. Hopefully by the time we return from spring break, we will begin to see some noticeable changes in our river banks.

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Horses or Egypt

For our new unit of study, our students have actually selected two different units. One group of students decided they wanted to continue learning about horses, while another group chose to learn about Egypt after a student inspired half the class to dress up like mummies. The students choose each day which subject they would like to work on, but may choose differently the next.

Both groups have discussed the facts they already know, what they would like to know, and how we might find the answers to their questions. Now, our little researchers are beginning to delve into their resources to find out more information.

Take some time to check out the information we have thus far.  (Please click on the image for a larger view)

Horses KWL Web

Egypt web 2