It is one of our favorite times of the year at The Little Lamb Christian School as we all take a pretend journey to beautiful Hawaii. Our building is transformed into a tropical paradise as we discover what it would be like to live in Hawaii. We‘ve spent the week learning all about Hawaii’s culture, climate, geography, and animals. This morning the Pre-Kindergarten classes enjoyed a wonderfully interactive Science Day that was focused on sea creatures. Because Hawaii has such scenic ocean views and tropical beaches, this seemed like the perfect theme!
We started by discussing the children’s book, ‘Seashore’, by Hannah Wilson and Simon Mendez. This book is a flip the flaps book, which provides a much more engaging look into sea creatures’ world. We defined the word endangered and talked about sea turtles being one of the endangered species. Pollution is a big factor in making it harder for sea turtles to thrive and the children came up with ideas for how to protect the sea turtles.Today our sensory tub was filled with sand and shells. Mrs. Barb asked the children if they knew how God made the sand. She then added water to the tub and began making waves with the water to push the sand and shells back and forth. It was a great illustration for the children to discover the effect of the ocean’s great waves.
The children enjoyed feeling the wet sand and adding sea creatures to the sensory bin. It was a lot of fun!
At another learning center the children used fishing poles to catch some fish! Of course, this was only imaginary, but the children loved counting the fish as they caught each one. These wooden puzzles are an excellent way to work on fine motor skills for children who need some extra practice. It’s fun to make a game out of it and count, sing the alphabet, or practice Spanish as you play.
Of course there is always plenty of painting in the Pre-Kindergarten classes!
Here we have an assortment of seashells and each one has a letter written on it in permanent marker. The children took turns spelling out their name and other words. What a creative use of shells!
The felt board was perfect for recreating an ocean landscape! The children used this as a dramatic play center to make up different stories about the sea creatures. Felt boards are simple yet fantastic for children to develop imagination. Another great use for felt boards is to have the children organize and characterize the animals. This helps children pay attention to detail and use other key cognitive thinking skills.Aloha!
To learn more about The Little Lamb Christian School, schedule a tour today and we’d be happy to show you around!