M is for Mail and Map

This week has been full of last minute ideas and pleasant surprises.  We decorate Diwali cards on Tuesday and realized that we needed a Post Office in our town if we were going to be able to mail them. Although we still haven't remembered to actually add the Post Office to the map, we have been busy pretending to write, mail and deliver letters. 

There was a little confusion about Letters (in the mail) and Letters (Alphabet). I asked one child, "Who are you going to write your letter to?" The response I got was, "The Letter E."

Today we were still talking about the Letter M. I kept emphasizing how Mail and Mom, both started with the Letter M.  I pulled out a flashcard to show them what M looked liked and was pleasantly surprised to see a MAP on the back of the card. Silly Teacher! Here we have been learning about Maps for two weeks and I don't even make the connection. So today we decided to each make our very own maps.

On Wednesday I pulled out some small blocks and transportation counters. The counters include fire trucks, buses, airplanes and trains. I thought it would be an appropriate activity to offer while we are learning about community.  It was an instant hit.

By Thursday we realized that we could use the blocks to make interactive maps that the vehicles could actually travel on.

Fire Station and a house that is on fire.

Happy Diwali

Although nobody in our current preschool community celebrates Diwali (the Hindu New Year and Festival of Lights), I decided this might be a great way to expand our knowledge of the diversity that can be found in a community.  It was a very "tip of the iceberg" approach, but the children seemed sincerely interested. If any of my information is incorrect, I apologize and please feel free to leave a comment. :)

At circle time, we were looking at the map of our imaginary town. I told the children that a new family had moved into "our town." This family was from India and celebrated a holiday called Diwali (pronounced Devali). I told them that I would like to make them cards for their special holiday and to welcome them to our community. We talked about how different families everywhere celebrate different things. One child added that some families don't celebrate at all. I explained that this holiday was about the goodness inside people.  The love and kindness that is like a little light glowing inside you (A very condensed version of good overcomes evil).

We then sang along with Raffi's version of This Little Light of Mine, 

We made cards with Diyas on them.

Image from http://www.peacetreeday.com/

Lights and sparkles are a major part of the celebration.

Our Diya cards.

Candlelight Lunch

For more information:

Slideshow of Diwali Photos from ABC News

NG Kids: Diwali

Some of the people in our neighborhood.

Firefighters 

After coming back from the weekend, we reviewed our map and one of the children suggested we add a Fire Station to the town. 

Doctor's Office

We were in the middle of our "town meeting" and the "phone rang." One of the newest members of our community had a bellyache and didn't know where to go. I asked the children where the person should go. They said "The Doctor's Office," and then suddenly they realized we had never put one in our town! So we added a doctor's office to the map and then went to work.

Building Our Town

Day One

This month we will be creating an imaginary town. We began with an empty plot of grass and a group of citizens who wanted us to turn it into a town. We brainstormed about all the things a town would need. The first thing they added was a playground :)  We had great conversations about all the things we needed. The children mentioned that we would need money. When I asked "where do people get money?" The two responses were "the store" and "work." Which resulted in them adding three stores for places to work. A food store, a clothing store (for bathing suits for the pool) and a treat store. Later when we were reading a book (featured below), we realized that we needed to have a trash truck and place for it to bring the trash.  I suggested a Town Office for us to hold our meetings in. No matter how much more I questioned and encouraged them, they ran out of ideas to add to our map. 

This is my artistic talent, not that of the children. Theirs would probably put mine to shame.

We used the construction vehicles to build roads, bridges, and ramps.

DAY TWO

On day two we added a few more places to our town. We added a train station, which meant we also needed to add tracks. We added a fence around the pool and discussed who could work at the pool to keep people safe.  We added pear trees to the apple orchard. A parking lot at the top of the map for all the construction trucks to park in. 

It started in complete chaos.

Soon I realized they needed to have "foundations" to build on.

When they got tired of building a couple of the "workers" went back to the office to draw up some blueprints. We haven't used rulers much at preschool in the recent past, so this was a very fascinating activity for them.

DAY THREE

The kids suggested that we add a fire station and police station to the map. We talked about how important those are and what would have happened in the town without them. We voted to hire 6 fireman total. Three that work at night and three that work during the day. We also decided that we would start with three policemen.  

Our new green felt, which is perfect for grass to build and drive on.

We also sang:

Wheels on the Fire Truck
Wheels on the Fire Truck go round and round, round and round, round and round
Wheels on the Fire Truck go round and round all around our town.

Sirens ...wee-ooo, wee-ooo, wee-ooo
Heroes ... "Here we come! Here we come! Here we come!
Ladders... up and down
Hoses... spray, spray, spray


Twinkle Twinkle Traffic Light
Twinkle Twinkle Traffic Light
Twinkle twinkle traffic light
Shining on the corner bright
Red means STOP, Green means GO, Yellow means go reeaallly slloww.
Twinkle Twinkle Traffic Light
Shining on the corner bring.