prek snowmen

I teach a class of 4 year olds twice a week. They are just a wonderful group of little ones. We often do tons of sensory activities and we use the 35 minutes I have with them very well. For this drawing activity I had all kids, all 17 of them, on my rug with a clipboard and a sharpie, yes, a sharpie. I talked extensively about how we behave and do not behave with a sharpie. Then, step by step I demonstrated, as they followed, how to draw a snowman; while all along asking what comes next? what comes next". When we finished we turned the paper over and did it all over again. This time a few kids took off and did not wait for me to cue each new part. 

Holidays at Claremont

Every few months we have an art party. This is more about having the kids have different centers in which they could choose to either linger or switch as they want, when they want. My main focus in these activities is having students follow an agenda and reading each part to know what to do next as well as being able to go to each center and really enjoy making art that is personally meaningful to each child. 

Making ornaments that will last many years to come was the goal. At the end of the hour and 10 minute class most children had 4-5 ornaments. 

One example of an agenda children might follow in class. It often has both words and images to assist the kids in identifying the words much easier.