Playing in the Car Wash

On Friday we had a special treat! The 7th graders at our local Jr High were required to job shadow someone in a profession that they are interested in. My darling neighbor, and best friend to my daughter since she was 3, chose me and Busy Bees Preschool to job shadow. It was a great experience for both of us. It seems just like the other day that she was one of my preschoolers and now here she is planning and preparing for her future! I don't know if she will want to be an educator when she grows up but she is so great with kids and seemed to really enjoy the day.

 Our lesson on Friday was all about cars. We talked about what makes a car go and learned about clean fuel for our cars. We sang a cute song from the MGT lesson book "Drive the Car" to the tune of "Skip to My Lou". While we were singing the class pretended to be cars and drove around the room. There were a few traffic jams.

To continue on with our lesson, we made some cars out of paper and straws. It was great having a helper to work with the kids.

To assemble the cars they had to poke the straw through the car and then attach the wheel. It was a little frustrating for them because it required a fine motor skill that not all of them were able to do.

 But in the end the final product was great! 

To go along with our monthly Mother Goose Time theme we read a non fiction book  about transportation. It was all about the different kinds of transportation people around the world use. 

To finish our day we had a great time in our car wash tunnel. My MGT teacher guide suggested building a car wash to encourage gross motor development. My class loves these kinds of activities. They really reinforce learned concepts because children learn best when they are having fun.

Incorporating gross motor activities in my class is all about developing the whole child. I think a lot of times we don't realize how important big movement activities can be. To put in words why letting the kids "run wild" is so important here are some thoughts…

•  They learn how to Solve Problems (how am I going to get down from here?)
• Encourages Imagination through make believe and Active Play
• Builds confidence in what their bodies can do
• Coordination becomes more fluid
• Keeps their bodies healthy and strong
• it's FUN!
• Better Sleep
• Happier Children

Sometimes when I'm planning my lessons and read what some of the big activities are, I panic!  I'm like "you want me to let them do what?" or "I'm supposed to turn my classroom into what?" Then I think, "the kids are going to go crazy! How will I be able to keep control over them"?  I tend to like a quiet class that is orderly and proper. It takes me out of my comfort zone to let them "run wild".  I don't always take advantage of the ideas for activities like this mostly because of time, but when I do I'm always so glad I did. They have so much fun and it's totally worth it. This car wash was a blast. 

 One of my teaching goals this year is to become a bit more laid back when it comes to letting my class be loud and silly. I like to have fun but I usually have it all planned. Sometimes I just need to be a bit more kid like and just let them have at it and think about the mess later.

Keep on trucking friends,
xoxo- Miss Mandy