Exploring Space The theme of the month is Blast Off to Space. We LOVE this theme. I have a ton of kids in my program who are in love with space. They have even taught ME somethings! During the week I have a different day for special activities. Monday- Library Day Tuesday-Geography Wednesday- Science Thursday- Music Friday- Show and Tell Every Wednesday we work on science. Picking a STEAM project is super easy every week since there is a whole page of age appropriate STEAM projects in the Mother Goose Time lesson plan book. This is super helpful for a teacher who does not have time to search online or modify a science activity for preschool aged children. For this week I decided to do something different from our normal science activities. By different I mean something that does not require a huge mess. I am usually a huge fan of big messes but this week I wanted to show the children a different side of science, so I didn’t have to spend 20 minutes scrubbing food coloring off the table…or my hands. The lesson plan book of Mother Goose Time had the STEAM activity of Bright Planets. In this STEAM activity I needed to hang up a piece of paper for the children to trace the shapes thrown on the wall from the shadow of a flashlight. Instead of using a flashlight I was able to use a Space Projector I found on sale at Target for my class. We looked at the slides that came with the educational toy and then I held up shapes in front of the light. They all took turns tracing the shapes and then afterwards I told them to create the galaxy around the shapes and make the shapes either stars or space ships. It was so so awesome. I turned on the soundtrack from the Original Star Trek. I danced around the classroom while they looked at the me weird. But it was a great time for all of us. During the time that they were drawing they described to their friends what they were doing and told them why. They discussed things that may live in space and decided which shape they were going to turn into an alien and why the alien was there. This STEAM activity not only allowed them to explore shadows and light, but their imagination about space expanded. They were able to use their creativity to make the project their own. I enjoyed listening to them talk about the project. More than the soundtrack even, and I LOVE Star Trek! This is a project I would suggest for all preschool teachers even if it has nothing to do with the space theme. Just sit back and let them talk about what they are doing. Don’t attempt to guide the conversation after it has started and only ask open ended questions. You will be truly surprised at the things they come up with and how much they remember from things you may have introduced months before hand. Live long and Keep Teaching! Ms. Tessie |
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