Sand the wood carefully to smooth out rough spots and sharp edges. This area needs constant adult supervision with only a few students working at a time. Keep the area separate from your existing block area so the kids don't use the blocks with the tools. A large, thick block of wood works well for learning how to use hammers and screwdrivers.
Demonstrate how to use the tools safely. You may need to help young preschoolers hold the hammer to use them safely. Start the nails or screws in the wood so your students don't have to hold them and risk hitting their fingers.
The kids can then hammer or screw them in. Put bolts through a board so your students can put nuts on the other end of the bolts to practice hand-eye coordination. An adult who works with tools on a regular basis is an ideal candidate as a guest speaker. One of the parents may have woodworking experience to share with the students. If not, contact a local carpenter or handyman. Ask the guest speaker to bring in some of the tools to share what they do.
If a safe demonstration is possible, let the guest speaker show how the tools work. Set up a woodworking area. Find ways to let children saw, hammer, and sand!
Try using the pipes or gutters from the block area in the sandbox or on the lawn with water. Set up some simple machines like ramps, pulleys, and levers. Of course use rope with supervision….. Sing Johnny Pounds with One Hammer. Sort building and fixing tools screwdrivers, hammers, etc. Emphasize that both groups are tools because they make our work easier. Use it as an opportunity to talk about some tools they may not be familiar with.
Measure using objects for units. Examine shapes in architecture. Create a Word-Building Crane. Book Activities:. Alphabet Under Construction by Denise Fleming. What are some of your favorite building-themed activities for young children? Top photo by Lars Sundstrom. What a wealth of ideas.
Bookmarking this for sure! I want to say thank you for sharing your knowledge and ideas here. This has become one of my favorite blogs.
As usual, great ideas! For others out there, do places like Home Depot give away sawdust if you ask? I love your art ideas!
Tools for Parents Resources. Our approach has many small group activities, each led by a teacher, as well as activities in which teachers circulate to provide scaffolding to each child, individualizing instruction. Classroom practices, management, and individualized instruction are all informed by the same theoretical underpinnings and knowledge of child development. For this reason, we train both lead and assistant teachers together and consider both instructional leaders in the classroom.
It sounds like your program is ready for Tools——would you like to learn more about Tools approach, programs that have successfully implemented Tools, or are you ready to register your program for Tools training? Are you ready to register or do you want to learn more? We have lots of experience helping administrators with the transition to a new approach and curriculum. We suggest downloading some of the research articles on our website to share with teachers, sending them to a regional state or national conference where we are presenting or starting a study group reading our book,Tools of the Mind: The Vygotskian Approach to Early Childhood Education.
We can do an overview presentation for your teachers, and you can contact us with teacher questions and concerns so we can address them before teachers get started.
Are you ready to register, or would you like to access more information to learn more? We encourage you to explore grant and other funding opportunities. We also have an annual Carolyn Boyles Scholarship you can apply for, which covers the cost of training for one classroom team. Many of the programs working with us began with a study group reading our book, Tools of the Mind: The Vygostskian Approach to Early Childhood Education.
You can also get together and read research articles on the development of self-regulation and executive functions skills. Some programs write grants to cover the training and materials costs, so this is an option.
Other programs do a tiered rollout of Tools, beginning with Tools in a few classrooms with teachers who are invested and interested, building in more classrooms over the course of several years. This can be a good way to launch Tools in a program.
We also have an annual scholarship, the Carolyn Boyles Scholarship, awarded to one classroom each year, covering the cost of training, and encourage you to apply! In the meantime, you can still get started! Come see us and introduce yourself at one of our presentations at state and national conferences and reach out and contact us if you want to hear more about how other administrators put together funding to launch Tools in their program.
Tools of the Mind is a model that combines intensive professional development with a comprehensive curriculum in PreK and K. If this is what interests you, please let us know. Click below for registration. The resources below may be helpful. Some programs wrote grants to cover training and materials costs. We also have an annual Carolyn Boyles scholarship covering the cost of training and encourage you to apply.
In the meantime, you can still get started. And please, come see us and introduce yourself at one our presentations at state and national conferences, or reach out if you want to hear more about how other teachers and administrators put together funding to launch Tools in their program. Which of these resources wold be most helpful to you at this time? Some programs that really wanted to implement Tools added staffing to make it possible. Do you think this could happen in your program?
We encourage you to being a conversation with your colleagues and administrator, start a Tools of the Mind study group and explore funding and grant options. We also have an annual Carolyn Boyles Scholarship which you can apply for, covering the cost of training for one classroom. Our curriculum is comprehensive, with a unifying approach to teaching and learning woven across all activities. It includes literacy, math and science — but with a Tools twist; we embed self-regulation and executive functions practice in the design of our activities.
In Tools Kindergarten program, we do have an option to integrate district math curricula into our approach, but our research to date has been on the complete Tools program implemented across all activities and teaching practices.
You can read our book, Tools of the mind: the Vygotskian approach to early childhood education, or get to know us by coming to one of our state or national conference presentations. Many schools we work with, began with teacher initiated study groups, reading our book and integrating their learning into classroom practices.
Is Tools Right for Me?
0コメント