Moving Safely Through October

Safety and Transportation were combined this past week as we talked about police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances.  With only two days to work on this topic, we scratched the surface and will be going further with Police Officer and Fire Fighter guest speakers in the spring.  

We had a visit from the Palatine High School Police Officer on Friday as we practiced a lock-down drill with the children.  Our officer stopped in to tell us what a terrific job we did and passed around a high five to the preschoolers as they asked if we could, "do it again!"  We told them we will play the quiet game with him again at a later date.

While a visit from a police officer is going to be the highlight of the week, we had some pretty awesome experiences and activities dealing with modes of transportation as well.

A Sailing We Will Go!

We set 'boats' a sailing in trays filled with water by placing paper on the water's service and using surface tension to move the 'boat' across the water by adding a drop or two of soap to the water.  (If you try this at home, know that once you do this, you will need another new tray with water because the surface tension has broken and can't be set up the same again in that original tray.)

Green means go, red means stop and yellow means SLOW DOWN!  



We talked about traffic lights and then made our very own to take home after we played the very popular game, Red Light, Green Light.  Teachers and preschoolers took turns holding up either a red, yellow or green sign and then the children would respond to the signs by stopping, moving slowly or running toward the person with the signs.  You can also play this game with no visual cues once the players all know the rules.

Up, Up and Away!

The children talked with us about all modes of transportation that fly and then were able to paint air planes made out of toilet paper tubes.  They also loved learning about how hot air balloons work and participating in our science activity where teachers blew up balloons in a variety of sizes then let them fly about the room.  

The kids guessed which balloons would go further based on the size and amount of air that was in them.  This was another favorite of the week.

Checking for Understanding:

My favorite method used this week to check for understanding of modes of transportation was when we passed around various pictures of modes of transportation to the preschoolers and asked them to color and cut them out.  
 
They were then challenged to bring their image to one of two posters in the room of an outdoor scene where they needed to know the boat would go in the water, the bike on the sidewalk, the car on the road and the plane in the air.  This was such a wonderful way to see who mastered our topics for this week!  Try something like it at home!

What's Coming Up?
Next week is another two day preschool week due to College Night at PHS.  So, we will have preschool on Monday and Friday but NOT on WEDNESDAY!

The best family friendly night of the year is THURSDAY as Trick or Treat with Pirate Pete comes back around.  It's from 5 - 6:30 and is open to any family looking to trick or treat in a safe and warm place where they can really show off their costumes!  Come ready for games and treats!

Invitations went out on Friday for our Halloween Party which will be on Wednesday, October 30th from 9:30 - 11:00.  Please bring your child dressed in costume and ready to trick or treat.  We will be heading around the building for our treats as soon as everyone arrives then coming back in the preschool for snacks.  Please start bringing your snacks to school on Monday, October 28th and remember 1 dozen is more than enough.