"In this classroom, relationships are fostered, families are respected, and children are honored.
In this classroom, nature's gifts are valued and children's thoughts are captured.
In this classroom, learning is alive and aesthetic beauty is appreciated." -Unknown

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Community Helpers: Preschool Style


We have been embarking on a Community Helpers/Careers unit this month. We've been learning about many jobs and the tools used with them. 


Our Science area was set up with dental equipment and we used some of the tools of the trade for art projects. Pictured above is some of our dental floss art and below is our toothbrush painting. 

Everyone loves brushing Mr. Mouth!

We played Spot's Spots. Each friend would roll a
dice, then place the number of pompoms on Spot
that came up on the dice.

Vehicle play-dough cutters are a hit!

Construction vehicles in sand in the sensory table

Lots of community helpers to play with in the
block area made for lots of fun scenarios.

Community Helpers Bingo found at www.prekinders.com
made for lots of conversation about the roles of each job.

With dramatic play set up as a post office
there were lots of opportunities to write
friends' names and letters to them.

I created a name card with each friend's photo
and name on it.
They love dropping letters into the mailbox.

Lots of rescues taking place at the firehouse.

Doctor dress-up clothes and stethoscopes got us all listening
to each other's hearts. They'd listen first, then go for
a run, and come back for another listen. 


I put out individual notepads in the post office and
they immediately started wanting to take their
friends' food orders. Little different than what I
intended, but it got them writing. Success!

Pulled out the police officer uniforms and they
 began writing tickets to "lawbreakers".


We've been blessed with so many parents willing
to visit and share about their jobs.
We still have a few more parents scheduled to come in to share as we move into our Transportation unit and we are having a blast!



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10 comments:

  1. Mrs BFebruary 21, 2013 at 11:25 PM

    wow looks like a lot of fun! loved Mr Mouth!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ms. BarbaraFebruary 22, 2013 at 6:46 AM

      Mr. Mouth is ALWAYS a hit. He's a willing patient, always opens wide, and doesn't complain. lol

      Delete
  2. HowToRunAHomeDaycareFebruary 25, 2013 at 6:05 PM

    I would love to get a Mr.Mouth for my home daycare, where did you buy him?
    Very cute photos, love the police man writing tickets of the law breakers and all the wonderful mail your kids are writing. Fantastic ways to get them writing for a purpose!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ms. BarbaraFebruary 25, 2013 at 6:20 PM

      Thanks for your feedback. I don't know where you could purchase a Mr. Mouth. This one is owned by our county office of Ed. I'll try to check it tomorrow for you to see if it has a manufacturer listed on it.

      Delete
  3. Ms. BarbaraFebruary 27, 2013 at 3:06 PM

    I found the manufacturer info. It's from Lakeshore Learning. You can find it at this link: http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/product/productDet.jsp?productItemID=1%2C689%2C949%2C371%2C896%2C070&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=1408474395181113&bmUID=1362006324542

    ReplyDelete
  4. Preschool for childcare in Yorba LindaMarch 14, 2013 at 10:44 PM

    Really very good this will make the kids aware of the real world characters.Very good we would love to have such activities in our preschool as well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ms. BarbaraMarch 17, 2013 at 9:31 AM

      I agree that it makes them aware of real world characters and there are many common all over the world, but there are probably some common to the areas where the children live as well. For example, we live near several lakes and national parks, so learning about park rangers would be relevant to our class. I love all the opportunities the unit presents.

      Delete
  5. UnknownApril 18, 2013 at 7:26 AM

    Oh my, I was a little stumped for what to do with my Head Start kiddos in the theme of 'Community Helpers.' It's such the broad topic and with so very many directions I didn't know where to begin or how to incorporate multiple jobs in a tangible/understandable way for the children. Your post has given me lots of ideas and activities to explore with the kids and I'm SO EXCITED to take the stethoscopes outside today to listen to heart beats! That is such a fantastic and creative idea, I know my little friends are going to be as eager to try it out as I am... Next week we'll try police uniforms and ticket pads outside with signs, sidewalk chalk crossing areas, maybe some crossing guard duty opportunities, and - drumroll please - we'll make our own driver's licenses and officer badges! I'm just tickled to share these ideas with my friends at school, I can't wait to see where they take us over the next few weeks!! Thank you so much for sharing more than the typical printable materials, you've inspired me!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ms. BarbaraApril 18, 2013 at 2:26 PM

      You're more than welcome, Tristan. It's my pleasure. I did lots of research when I was preparing to do the unit, myself. I actually combined Community Helpers with Transportation. I wanted to do something outside the norm, as well. Be sure to check out the Including Parents Through Sharing, as this was part of the community helpers theme, as well. http://msbarbarasblog.blogspot.com/2013/03/including-parents-through-career-sharing.html

      Delete
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