The Feast

In pre-k we have been reading a book titled Feast For 10. The book is a counting book that tells the story of a family who cook together and host a feast for family and friends. The book was so popular with the class that we decided that we could cook and host our own feast. We planned our feast by making a web that detailed what we wanted to cook, ingredients, tools, and who would attend. After cooking all day we hosted a feast in our school's salon and invited various members of the school staff as well as our family.

En pre-kindergarten que hemos estado leyendo un libro titulado "Fiesta para 10". El libro es un libro para contar que cuenta la historia de una familia que cocinan juntos y organizar una fiesta para la familia y amigos. El libro fue tan popular entre la clase que decidimos que podíamos Director de Operaciones y de acogida nuestra propia fiesta. Planeamos nuestra fiesta haciendo una web que detalle lo que queríamos para cocinar, los ingredientes, herramientas, y que asistiría. Después de cocinar todo el día se organizó una fiesta en el salón de la escuela e invitó a varios miembros del personal de la escuela, así como nuestra familia.

Block Play = Learning

The following information on the importance of block play comes from National Association of Young Children (NAEYC)

Socially -- Blocks encourage children to make friends and cooperate. Large block play may be a young child's first experience playing in a group, while small block play may encourage an older child to work with others in solving problems.

Physically -- When children reach for, pick up, stack, or fit blocks together, they build strength in their fingers and hands, and increase eye-hand coordination. Around two, children begin to figure out which shapes will fit where, and get a head start on understanding different perspectives -- skills that will help them to read maps and follow directions later on. Blocks help kindergarten and primary grade children develop skills in design, representation, balance and stability.

Intellectually -- Blocks help children learn across many academic subjects. Young children develop their vocabularies as they learn to describe sizes, shapes, and positions. Preschoolers and kindergarteners develop math skills by grouping, adding,
subtracting and eventually multiplying with blocks. Older children make early experiments with gravity, balance, and geometry

Creatively -- Blocks offer children the chance to make their own designs, and the satisfaction of creating structures that did not exist before. Beginning at the age of two, children may use a variety of blocks for pretend-play. Children may become life-sized actors in large block structures, or use figures to create dramas in miniature landscapes.
Children value their own block structures whether or not they represent specific things. Rather than asking a child, "What did you make?" say, "Tell me about what you made." This will encourage a dialog and offer the child new opportunities to explore.

Resources:
Hirsch, E.S. 1996. The Block Book.(Third Ed.) Washington, DC: NAEYC. #132/$5.
NAEYC. 1993. Block Play: Constructing Realities (video). Washington, DC: NAEYC.#838/$39.