The children tried out the new water table that Kerry built over the weekend. It still needs to be sealed and finished, but we covered it with plastic and set up all the activities. Today there were four tubs filled with water and a variety of different toys to experiment with. We'll keep adding activities to the table throughout the rest of the summer. The very last picture is my favorite. One of the boys has discovered how to make a stream of water flow from the table to the grass.
Today the teachers created a tin foil river for the children to float different objects such as toy boats, bottle caps, and cut up pool noodles. The kids had a great time experimenting and getting wet!
Yesterday Yiwen reviewed colors with the children in Chinese. The children were then given paint sample cards with holes punched in each color. The children's task was to find objects that match the paint samples by placing the cards on different objects. Yiwen reinforced Chinese vocabulary and at the same time the children practiced using visual discrimination skills. Visual discrimination is an important skill children need as they learn to read and do math. While it may seem that matching colors is pretty basic the children are actually learning to compare objects and look for differences and similarities. The task our kids were engaged in was made a bit more complex as the children had to find which of the four colors on the card best matched the object they were looking at. For further information about visual discrimination and it's role in education look at this link: Early Childhood Development of Visual Discrimination - School Sparks. To top it all off our children learned Chinese vocabulary while practicing this vital skill!
The children are also participating in the Multnomah County Library Summer Reading Program. The children made an extra large game board to keep track of their daily reading. Each day the children color in one marker on the board. At the end of the summer the class will earn a prize for all the books they've read. The children are visiting the library every other week to check out books. 
The children and teachers just completed a month learning about tropical rain forests. They began the month making a mural that stretched across the gym wall and then also learned about the water cycle. The rest of the month was spent learning about the different animals that inhabit the rain forest. We watched videos of many animals and discovered some we hadn't seen before including the capybara, the kinkajou, and the boto (pink river dolphin). The children also painted a beautiful picture of an okapi. The kids made butterflies, birds, flowers and snakes. Some of these can be seen in the rain forest created in the gym. The month ended with a week long rain stick project. 
This is the first year Little Pandas Playschool has offered the Zoo Phonics curriculum. So far I'm very pleased with the results. Each day our preschoolers review all the letters and sing "Come Meet us at the Zoo." A project or activity is completed after reviewing the letters. Then we focus in depth on one letter every two weeks. This week the children participated in an activity reviewing letters a through l. Magnetic Zoo Phonics letters and non-Zoo Phonics letters were made and put on a white board. The children were given a dry-erase pen to draw lines to the matching letters. Nearly every child could complete the activity!
This month the children are learning the Zoo Phonics letters k and l. One of the projects included exploring kaleidoscopes. The kaleidoscopes we used had mirrors inside and a glass dome at the end allowing the children to look at objects in our classrooms. After experimenting with the toys they made some beautiful kaleidoscope pictures.
