Pre-K. This is where the educational fun enters a higher level.
The First Activity
Teacher: Sharon Forester
Title of Lesson: Floating On Water
Age or Grade Level: Pre-K, 3-5 yrs.
Lesson Date and Time: February 23, 9:15
Location in Classroom: Rug Space
NM Early Learning Guidelines Indicators
Pre-K and Kindergarten
Domain 2 - Children demonstrate development in expansion of listening skills, communicates experiences, ideas and feelings through speaking, participates in activities that promote the acquisition of emergent reading skills: 6.3 Engages in conversations that develop a thought or idea.
Domain 6 – Children cooperate with their peers: 20.2 Uses and accepts negotiation, compromise and discussion to resolve conflict.
Domain 7 Children exhibit imagination/creativity and show confidence: 25.2 Uses imagination to generate a variety of ideas.
Summary of the Children’s Interests, Characteristics and/or Needs
It is very important for the children to develop their skills having to do with literacy and their social emotional development. Some of the children in the classroom are very much into literacy. Some of them have been read a few books, and they are always interested in the story that is being read out loud to them. They always hand out comments about their thoughts on the story, and they explain or ask about what is happening in the story, making predictions and getting excited to see how the story is going to end. This kind of confidence and engagement should and would really motivate them to come up their own stories because children are honest and curious people that also love telling their own stories when they are talking to their peers. This is essential for their social emotional development and literacy skills because they are being guided on developing their listening, speaking and reading skills through their own thoughts and ideas during the act of self-expression while in participation to an activity involving a community.
Objectives or Intended Outcomes
It is hoped for the children to gain a few things when participating in this activity. Some of the objectives are how they are making predictions and making connections that will strengthen their social skills in conversations with their peers, and how they come to agreements/disagreements with what words to put in the story creation as the class works together to do so. It is also hoped that the children will be using their imagination and self-expression because it is believed that those are very important outcomes. Overall, it is hoped that they have had the pleasure of being able to come up with their own stories rather than having one being read to them instead.
Materials and Resources
Instructional Procedures
I. All the children will gather with the teachers in a circle on the carpet.
II. The book Float by Daniel Miyares will be introduced. The children will be shown the title page and be asked what they think the book is going to be about. The children will then be explained that they will all quietly view all the images in the book as the pages are turned until the book reaches its end.
III. The children will be informed that they are now going to look through the book again, starting from the beginning, and they are going to put words into all the images in the book by making up their own story according to what they see in the pictures. They will be asked questions about what is happening in the different images and what words they should or would like use to further the story to its entirety.
IV. Their words will be written down on a sticky note exactly how they are told by the children and the sticky notes will be placed on the corresponding book page and image.
V. Stepping to the beginning of the book once more, the story the children have created with the book images will be read to them as a finale so they can see the work they have done. Children might want to add more words to the story, which will gladly be added to the sticky notes if they ask to do so.
VI. When finished, the children will be congratulated on a job-well-done and move on with the rest of the day in the classroom.
Accommodations
There may or may not be any awareness of any child or children that might need any different accommodations, but if there happens to be some encounter of anything like that, a different approach will be used upon presenting the book and make the story creation sound more exciting. Sometimes there are children that need a closer look and they may be moved to sit near the book so they can see the images better, and the child or children can be watched more closely to see how their interest sparks and/or expands through the activity.
Assessment
It will be known how the children have learned by looking over the notes that they have made when giving words in sentences to the images in the book. This will allow views to details as to how much thought they have put into describing the images they saw in the book. How they took their interest through storytelling will be viewed by listening to the conversations they have with their peers, which will demonstrate how they made connections or predictions, used their imagination and expressed themselves. I would be able to tell what the children learned on another day if they referred back to the experience by conversations or if they began experimenting with water and liquids to either make origami or use the paper to play with liquids like water. I might be able to catch them looking at photos in picture books and they will be able to tell stories by simply looking at the images like they had done through the short lesson plan and other days in the classroom in general.
###
The Second Activity
Teacher: Sharon Forester
Title of Lesson: Art On Water
Age or Grade Level: 3-5, Pre-K
Lesson Date and Time: March 27, a.m.
Location in Classroom: Carpet, Studio Room
NM Early Learning Guidelines Indicators
Domain 2: 6.3 Engages in conversations that develop a thought or idea.
Domain 4: 13.1 Communicates ideas and/or feelings through creative activities.
Domain 7: 25.2 Uses imagination to generate a variety of ideas.
Summary of the Children’s Interests, Characteristics and/or Needs
Most of children love art. It happens to be a huge part I development. Children speak through art as one of the thousand languages that they speak as they grow in development. There are many ways for children to express art, and sometimes having a goal as to what to do will help guide them in an activity where they can learn something new as well as building up on what they already know. This is also a great opportunity for them to use art and color along with their imagination and fulfill their curiosity as a team.
Accommodations
Some children might hesitate to approach the activity, not knowing what they want to do. A caregiver can motivate the child/children to interact with the page and the paint brush by asking them what they could do. Using the goal of drawing a place in which they can find water, I could help them list a few things that might interest them. If anything, I could also encourage them to talk to their peers about what they are drawing and watch them get involved in their own conversation. If the lesson seems to be taking away the interest of the children, then the lesson can be cut short. The disinterested children can move on to another activity and those that want to stay painting in the Studio can gladly stay.
Connection to Theory
This art activity ties to a man named Lev Vygotsky, a theorist that invented the Zone of Proximal Development (what a learner can do with or without help), believing in social interaction, the belief that children learn by having partners co-constructing knowledge with them. This involves cooperative and collaborative dialogue, a sociocultural approach that strengthens children’s cognitive development. The way children learn depends on how they grow up, constructing how they think and what they think about according to the culture that they belong to. In the activity, when the children make their paintings based on the subject of water, Vygotsky’s theory is in play. The children can construct their knowledge based on what they learned from social interactions with their peers about the different places they never knew they could find water and about the different colors and how to mix them to get other desired colors. Even with this, children are still creating their own masterpieces, expressing themselves through the language of art because each individual child is painting in their own way a location in which water exists, building a unique story behind the picture.
Guidance: Routines and Learning Environment
I will be present to guide the children all through the activity of the lesson plan, so I can best try to keep their interest or make accommodations accordingly. The children might be able to work together as a large group or they might work together in a small group. That could depend on how many children get interested in the activity. There is also the matter of how much space there is in the Studio Room because there might not be enough seating for all the children to make art together. As a caring educator wanting to demonstrate guidance, I will be paying attention to how the children are engaging in the activity. I would want them to be interested, and if the case occurred that they are starting to lose interest or they simply don’t completely understand what they are supposed to do, then I would use different approaches to them started on experimenting with paint or helping them chose a water location.
Learning Objectives or Intended Outcomes
Some objectives and outcomes that will be evaluated is…
How they are making connections and predictions.
How they are thinking critically.
How they are using their imagination.
How they are using their fine motor skills.
How they are engaging in social skills.
Identifying what water locations they know.
Identifying what color mixtures they know.
Prior Knowledge
Some of the children in the classroom are always eager to move into studio time because they love participating with art. That fact makes this lesson plan all the more valuable to do something they are interested in. Children get to explore the world as an interesting place when they use art. Social emotional development and cognitive development will also take place when children explore the world together, exchanging ideas, connections and predictions. The minds of young children need to fed with knowledge because they are on a critical age. It is also good to bring out something that is already familiar to them because it provides learning enhancement and further learning success.
Materials and Resources
Instructional Procedures
I. The caregivers and children will sit down on the carpet as a group and the subject of water will be introduced. They will be asked where they think they can find water, and everyone will have a discussion about the places they know.
II. The children will then be explained that they will be called one by one to grab a sticky note with their name written on it and they will be requested to put down the sticky note anywhere in the classroom where they think they can find water.
III. There will be a quick discussion as to where the children have located their sticky notes around the classroom. Then they will be presented with paint and paper (being asked questions about the colors), and then requested to do a painting on a place anywhere on planet Earth where they think they might find water.
IV. During the activity, different children will be approached and asked about what they’re painting, building on the findings of water, and motivating them to mix colors to get desired ones as well as writing their name to signature their art.
V. When the art activity is done, everything will be cleaned up and the children move to the next activity of the day.
Assessment
By doing this lesson plan, I will be able to assess how the children are making connections and predictions with one another. I will be able to evaluate how the children are using their imagination and critical thinking skills to make their paintings. Overall, they might have captured the newfound knowledge of new place in which they could find water as well as how to mix two specific colors to make a third one, and they might refer back to those things when they are having future conversations with their caregivers and peers.
Multicultural Education and Developmentally Effective Approaches
By participating in activities, like making art, children have the chance to use language with themselves and each other. Though language can be used as communication, it can also be used as a cultural tool to express themselves through their culture and views. Social interaction happens to be a very important part of development. Children have the opportunity to share ideas, and make connections and predictions when they talk about art and water locations. Using a multicultural approach gives a caregiver the chance to allow children to use their home language in order for them to be welcomed into the classroom activity and feel at home in the learning environment.
###
The Third Activity
Teacher: Sharon Forester
Title of Lesson: Paper On Water
Age or Grade Level: 3-5, Pre-K
Lesson Date and Time: April 20, a.m.
Location in Classroom: Studio Room
NM Early Learning Guidelines Indicators
Pre-K and Kindergarten
Domain 5: 14.3 Makes predictions and forms hypotheses.
Domain 6: 20.1 Plays/interacts with various children, sharing experiences/ideas with others.
Domain 7: 25.2 Uses imagination to generate a variety of ideas.
Summary of the Children’s Interests, Characteristics and/or Needs
Children in general love any activity that has to do with water, so the sensory table is a good place to start sparking their interest. The next step we can take is putting more interesting things inside this sensory table, like paper to experiment with. The children were always approaching the sensory table during studio time when the teachers had something to offer them inside it. They really enjoyed a sensory activity where the teacher placed toilet paper, water and a bar soap. They were able to explore what would happen to the toilet paper when water was placed on it as well as how the smell and mixture of soap effected the items. They worked as a team and imaged a play scene where they were building sand castles or creating mountains. It’s important for children to work and explore on their senses. Having different types of paper will allow children to see what each page looks like, what each kind of paper feels like and can predict what happens to each of the different pages when they are soaked in with the water. This is a great opportunity for them to use paper and water along with their imagination to fulfill their curiosity as a team.
Accommodations
Some children might hesitate to approach the activity, not knowing what they want to do first. A caregiver can motivate the child/children to interact with the paper and water by asking them what they think the paper and water might do together. They can be encouraged to do a lot of things with the papers, such as ripping, crumbling, and/or squeezing them. They can also be asked what they could do with the paper in their imaginative play. They can also be encouraged to talk to their peers by asking them what they are doing with the paper and water, and that could get them more involved at the sensory table. If the lesson seems to be taking away the interest of the children, then the lesson can be cut short. The disinterested children can move on to another activity and those that want to stay at the table can gladly stay at the table.
Learning Objectives or Intended Outcomes
Some objectives and outcomes that will be evaluated is...
How they are making connections.
How they are making predictions.
How they are communicating with peers.
How they are engaging in social skills.
How they are engaging in free play.
How they are using their imagination.
Prior Knowledge
Using sensory is a child-guided play that enhance children’s development. They get to explore the world as an interesting place when they use their difference senses to make sense of everything. Social emotional development and cognitive development will also take place when children explore the world together by exchanging ideas, connections and predictions. Exploring with paper will also give children ideas on all the possible things they can do with different kind of paper for different uses. They also have the opportunity to review what they already know about the paper they recognize. Whenever educators make activities that include the sensory table, the number one items that are added inside are water and paper, but they are used in different and similar ways that varies between teachers and programs.
Materials and Resources
Instructional Procedures
I. The children will be announced of the sensory table activity. The ones that wish to participate will be brought up to the sensory table where the warm water will be filled over half way. The children will then be told that they will be playing with paper, and the different kinds of papers will be introduced to them.
II. The children will be asked questions about the types of papers they see (ex. If they are rough or soft, thick or thin, etc.). They will also be allowed to touch the different kinds of paper so they can feel the difference between each one in thickness and texture. They will then be asked to make predictions as to what would happen to each of the different papers if they were dipped in the water (ex. Whether they think the papers will sink or float, break or maintain, if the water will change color or not, being able carry water on the paper without the paper breaking etc.).
III. The children will then be allowed to grab the desired papers and dip them into the water, so they can see for themselves what would happen, and they can continuously play at the sensory table with the results. As the children play, they will be asked questions about their feelings on the papers, what is happening to each of the different papers, and during their interactions, they will be asked what kind of imaginings they are picturing as they play freely.
IV. When the children are done, they will make sure to keep the papers inside the water table instead of a mess around the area of the sensory table, and they will move on to the next activity.
Assessment
By doing this lesson plan, I will be able to assess how the children are making connections and predictions with one another through their social skills when they have conversations with their peers, including myself. I will be able to evaluate how the children were using their imagination and thinking skills as they engage in free play. I may identify what they might know on another day if later activities are done using paper and they recall what they did at the sensory table with the different kinds of papers, mentioning moments that stood out to them or what they remember from their hypotheses and the senses they felt that day.
Multicultural Education and Developmentally Effective Approaches
Activities, such as using the sensory table, children have the chance to use language with themselves and each other. Language can be used as communication as well as a cultural tool to express themselves through their culture and views while participating in the lesson plan. Social interaction happens to be a very important part of development. Children have the opportunity to share ideas, and make connections and predictions when they talk about the cause and effect of the different paper types with the water inside the sensory table. Using a multicultural approach gives a caregiver the chance to allow children to use their home language in order for them to be welcomed into the classroom activity and feel at home in the learning environment. So that no child is left out of the activity, they will be encouraged to join in with any mention about it that can spark their curiosity.
Teacher: Sharon Forester
Title of Lesson: Floating On Water
Age or Grade Level: Pre-K, 3-5 yrs.
Lesson Date and Time: February 23, 9:15
Location in Classroom: Rug Space
NM Early Learning Guidelines Indicators
Pre-K and Kindergarten
Domain 2 - Children demonstrate development in expansion of listening skills, communicates experiences, ideas and feelings through speaking, participates in activities that promote the acquisition of emergent reading skills: 6.3 Engages in conversations that develop a thought or idea.
Domain 6 – Children cooperate with their peers: 20.2 Uses and accepts negotiation, compromise and discussion to resolve conflict.
Domain 7 Children exhibit imagination/creativity and show confidence: 25.2 Uses imagination to generate a variety of ideas.
Summary of the Children’s Interests, Characteristics and/or Needs
It is very important for the children to develop their skills having to do with literacy and their social emotional development. Some of the children in the classroom are very much into literacy. Some of them have been read a few books, and they are always interested in the story that is being read out loud to them. They always hand out comments about their thoughts on the story, and they explain or ask about what is happening in the story, making predictions and getting excited to see how the story is going to end. This kind of confidence and engagement should and would really motivate them to come up their own stories because children are honest and curious people that also love telling their own stories when they are talking to their peers. This is essential for their social emotional development and literacy skills because they are being guided on developing their listening, speaking and reading skills through their own thoughts and ideas during the act of self-expression while in participation to an activity involving a community.
Objectives or Intended Outcomes
It is hoped for the children to gain a few things when participating in this activity. Some of the objectives are how they are making predictions and making connections that will strengthen their social skills in conversations with their peers, and how they come to agreements/disagreements with what words to put in the story creation as the class works together to do so. It is also hoped that the children will be using their imagination and self-expression because it is believed that those are very important outcomes. Overall, it is hoped that they have had the pleasure of being able to come up with their own stories rather than having one being read to them instead.
Materials and Resources
- Float by Daniel Miyares
- Sticky Notes
- Writing Utensil
Instructional Procedures
I. All the children will gather with the teachers in a circle on the carpet.
II. The book Float by Daniel Miyares will be introduced. The children will be shown the title page and be asked what they think the book is going to be about. The children will then be explained that they will all quietly view all the images in the book as the pages are turned until the book reaches its end.
III. The children will be informed that they are now going to look through the book again, starting from the beginning, and they are going to put words into all the images in the book by making up their own story according to what they see in the pictures. They will be asked questions about what is happening in the different images and what words they should or would like use to further the story to its entirety.
IV. Their words will be written down on a sticky note exactly how they are told by the children and the sticky notes will be placed on the corresponding book page and image.
V. Stepping to the beginning of the book once more, the story the children have created with the book images will be read to them as a finale so they can see the work they have done. Children might want to add more words to the story, which will gladly be added to the sticky notes if they ask to do so.
VI. When finished, the children will be congratulated on a job-well-done and move on with the rest of the day in the classroom.
Accommodations
There may or may not be any awareness of any child or children that might need any different accommodations, but if there happens to be some encounter of anything like that, a different approach will be used upon presenting the book and make the story creation sound more exciting. Sometimes there are children that need a closer look and they may be moved to sit near the book so they can see the images better, and the child or children can be watched more closely to see how their interest sparks and/or expands through the activity.
Assessment
It will be known how the children have learned by looking over the notes that they have made when giving words in sentences to the images in the book. This will allow views to details as to how much thought they have put into describing the images they saw in the book. How they took their interest through storytelling will be viewed by listening to the conversations they have with their peers, which will demonstrate how they made connections or predictions, used their imagination and expressed themselves. I would be able to tell what the children learned on another day if they referred back to the experience by conversations or if they began experimenting with water and liquids to either make origami or use the paper to play with liquids like water. I might be able to catch them looking at photos in picture books and they will be able to tell stories by simply looking at the images like they had done through the short lesson plan and other days in the classroom in general.
###
The Second Activity
Teacher: Sharon Forester
Title of Lesson: Art On Water
Age or Grade Level: 3-5, Pre-K
Lesson Date and Time: March 27, a.m.
Location in Classroom: Carpet, Studio Room
NM Early Learning Guidelines Indicators
Domain 2: 6.3 Engages in conversations that develop a thought or idea.
Domain 4: 13.1 Communicates ideas and/or feelings through creative activities.
Domain 7: 25.2 Uses imagination to generate a variety of ideas.
Summary of the Children’s Interests, Characteristics and/or Needs
Most of children love art. It happens to be a huge part I development. Children speak through art as one of the thousand languages that they speak as they grow in development. There are many ways for children to express art, and sometimes having a goal as to what to do will help guide them in an activity where they can learn something new as well as building up on what they already know. This is also a great opportunity for them to use art and color along with their imagination and fulfill their curiosity as a team.
Accommodations
Some children might hesitate to approach the activity, not knowing what they want to do. A caregiver can motivate the child/children to interact with the page and the paint brush by asking them what they could do. Using the goal of drawing a place in which they can find water, I could help them list a few things that might interest them. If anything, I could also encourage them to talk to their peers about what they are drawing and watch them get involved in their own conversation. If the lesson seems to be taking away the interest of the children, then the lesson can be cut short. The disinterested children can move on to another activity and those that want to stay painting in the Studio can gladly stay.
Connection to Theory
This art activity ties to a man named Lev Vygotsky, a theorist that invented the Zone of Proximal Development (what a learner can do with or without help), believing in social interaction, the belief that children learn by having partners co-constructing knowledge with them. This involves cooperative and collaborative dialogue, a sociocultural approach that strengthens children’s cognitive development. The way children learn depends on how they grow up, constructing how they think and what they think about according to the culture that they belong to. In the activity, when the children make their paintings based on the subject of water, Vygotsky’s theory is in play. The children can construct their knowledge based on what they learned from social interactions with their peers about the different places they never knew they could find water and about the different colors and how to mix them to get other desired colors. Even with this, children are still creating their own masterpieces, expressing themselves through the language of art because each individual child is painting in their own way a location in which water exists, building a unique story behind the picture.
Guidance: Routines and Learning Environment
I will be present to guide the children all through the activity of the lesson plan, so I can best try to keep their interest or make accommodations accordingly. The children might be able to work together as a large group or they might work together in a small group. That could depend on how many children get interested in the activity. There is also the matter of how much space there is in the Studio Room because there might not be enough seating for all the children to make art together. As a caring educator wanting to demonstrate guidance, I will be paying attention to how the children are engaging in the activity. I would want them to be interested, and if the case occurred that they are starting to lose interest or they simply don’t completely understand what they are supposed to do, then I would use different approaches to them started on experimenting with paint or helping them chose a water location.
Learning Objectives or Intended Outcomes
Some objectives and outcomes that will be evaluated is…
How they are making connections and predictions.
How they are thinking critically.
How they are using their imagination.
How they are using their fine motor skills.
How they are engaging in social skills.
Identifying what water locations they know.
Identifying what color mixtures they know.
Prior Knowledge
Some of the children in the classroom are always eager to move into studio time because they love participating with art. That fact makes this lesson plan all the more valuable to do something they are interested in. Children get to explore the world as an interesting place when they use art. Social emotional development and cognitive development will also take place when children explore the world together, exchanging ideas, connections and predictions. The minds of young children need to fed with knowledge because they are on a critical age. It is also good to bring out something that is already familiar to them because it provides learning enhancement and further learning success.
Materials and Resources
- Sticky Notes
- Writing Utensil
- Primary Color Paint
- Paint Brushes
- Art Paper
Instructional Procedures
I. The caregivers and children will sit down on the carpet as a group and the subject of water will be introduced. They will be asked where they think they can find water, and everyone will have a discussion about the places they know.
II. The children will then be explained that they will be called one by one to grab a sticky note with their name written on it and they will be requested to put down the sticky note anywhere in the classroom where they think they can find water.
III. There will be a quick discussion as to where the children have located their sticky notes around the classroom. Then they will be presented with paint and paper (being asked questions about the colors), and then requested to do a painting on a place anywhere on planet Earth where they think they might find water.
IV. During the activity, different children will be approached and asked about what they’re painting, building on the findings of water, and motivating them to mix colors to get desired ones as well as writing their name to signature their art.
V. When the art activity is done, everything will be cleaned up and the children move to the next activity of the day.
Assessment
By doing this lesson plan, I will be able to assess how the children are making connections and predictions with one another. I will be able to evaluate how the children are using their imagination and critical thinking skills to make their paintings. Overall, they might have captured the newfound knowledge of new place in which they could find water as well as how to mix two specific colors to make a third one, and they might refer back to those things when they are having future conversations with their caregivers and peers.
Multicultural Education and Developmentally Effective Approaches
By participating in activities, like making art, children have the chance to use language with themselves and each other. Though language can be used as communication, it can also be used as a cultural tool to express themselves through their culture and views. Social interaction happens to be a very important part of development. Children have the opportunity to share ideas, and make connections and predictions when they talk about art and water locations. Using a multicultural approach gives a caregiver the chance to allow children to use their home language in order for them to be welcomed into the classroom activity and feel at home in the learning environment.
###
The Third Activity
Teacher: Sharon Forester
Title of Lesson: Paper On Water
Age or Grade Level: 3-5, Pre-K
Lesson Date and Time: April 20, a.m.
Location in Classroom: Studio Room
NM Early Learning Guidelines Indicators
Pre-K and Kindergarten
Domain 5: 14.3 Makes predictions and forms hypotheses.
Domain 6: 20.1 Plays/interacts with various children, sharing experiences/ideas with others.
Domain 7: 25.2 Uses imagination to generate a variety of ideas.
Summary of the Children’s Interests, Characteristics and/or Needs
Children in general love any activity that has to do with water, so the sensory table is a good place to start sparking their interest. The next step we can take is putting more interesting things inside this sensory table, like paper to experiment with. The children were always approaching the sensory table during studio time when the teachers had something to offer them inside it. They really enjoyed a sensory activity where the teacher placed toilet paper, water and a bar soap. They were able to explore what would happen to the toilet paper when water was placed on it as well as how the smell and mixture of soap effected the items. They worked as a team and imaged a play scene where they were building sand castles or creating mountains. It’s important for children to work and explore on their senses. Having different types of paper will allow children to see what each page looks like, what each kind of paper feels like and can predict what happens to each of the different pages when they are soaked in with the water. This is a great opportunity for them to use paper and water along with their imagination to fulfill their curiosity as a team.
Accommodations
Some children might hesitate to approach the activity, not knowing what they want to do first. A caregiver can motivate the child/children to interact with the paper and water by asking them what they think the paper and water might do together. They can be encouraged to do a lot of things with the papers, such as ripping, crumbling, and/or squeezing them. They can also be asked what they could do with the paper in their imaginative play. They can also be encouraged to talk to their peers by asking them what they are doing with the paper and water, and that could get them more involved at the sensory table. If the lesson seems to be taking away the interest of the children, then the lesson can be cut short. The disinterested children can move on to another activity and those that want to stay at the table can gladly stay at the table.
Learning Objectives or Intended Outcomes
Some objectives and outcomes that will be evaluated is...
How they are making connections.
How they are making predictions.
How they are communicating with peers.
How they are engaging in social skills.
How they are engaging in free play.
How they are using their imagination.
Prior Knowledge
Using sensory is a child-guided play that enhance children’s development. They get to explore the world as an interesting place when they use their difference senses to make sense of everything. Social emotional development and cognitive development will also take place when children explore the world together by exchanging ideas, connections and predictions. Exploring with paper will also give children ideas on all the possible things they can do with different kind of paper for different uses. They also have the opportunity to review what they already know about the paper they recognize. Whenever educators make activities that include the sensory table, the number one items that are added inside are water and paper, but they are used in different and similar ways that varies between teachers and programs.
Materials and Resources
- Sensory Table
- Warm Water
- Variety of Papers: Computer, Construction, Cardstock, Foam, Art
Instructional Procedures
I. The children will be announced of the sensory table activity. The ones that wish to participate will be brought up to the sensory table where the warm water will be filled over half way. The children will then be told that they will be playing with paper, and the different kinds of papers will be introduced to them.
II. The children will be asked questions about the types of papers they see (ex. If they are rough or soft, thick or thin, etc.). They will also be allowed to touch the different kinds of paper so they can feel the difference between each one in thickness and texture. They will then be asked to make predictions as to what would happen to each of the different papers if they were dipped in the water (ex. Whether they think the papers will sink or float, break or maintain, if the water will change color or not, being able carry water on the paper without the paper breaking etc.).
III. The children will then be allowed to grab the desired papers and dip them into the water, so they can see for themselves what would happen, and they can continuously play at the sensory table with the results. As the children play, they will be asked questions about their feelings on the papers, what is happening to each of the different papers, and during their interactions, they will be asked what kind of imaginings they are picturing as they play freely.
IV. When the children are done, they will make sure to keep the papers inside the water table instead of a mess around the area of the sensory table, and they will move on to the next activity.
Assessment
By doing this lesson plan, I will be able to assess how the children are making connections and predictions with one another through their social skills when they have conversations with their peers, including myself. I will be able to evaluate how the children were using their imagination and thinking skills as they engage in free play. I may identify what they might know on another day if later activities are done using paper and they recall what they did at the sensory table with the different kinds of papers, mentioning moments that stood out to them or what they remember from their hypotheses and the senses they felt that day.
Multicultural Education and Developmentally Effective Approaches
Activities, such as using the sensory table, children have the chance to use language with themselves and each other. Language can be used as communication as well as a cultural tool to express themselves through their culture and views while participating in the lesson plan. Social interaction happens to be a very important part of development. Children have the opportunity to share ideas, and make connections and predictions when they talk about the cause and effect of the different paper types with the water inside the sensory table. Using a multicultural approach gives a caregiver the chance to allow children to use their home language in order for them to be welcomed into the classroom activity and feel at home in the learning environment. So that no child is left out of the activity, they will be encouraged to join in with any mention about it that can spark their curiosity.