Ms. Amy's Blog @Child Central Station

We live in a really cool place! I have really enjoyed participating in the post card exchanges hosted by Teach Preschool this past year. It has really given us an opportunity to learn and celebrate the things that are wonderful about our community in addition to learn about and hear from other children all around the world! (I will have a new post coming sometime soon as we have been receiving another pile of great cards!)   In a couple of weeks we are going to participate in a really cool postcard exchange with other daycares, preschools, and homeschools from around the world. (We registered to participate through Teach Preschool on Facebook.) We need to send about 6 postcards a week to the other participating schools/daycares/homes where we can tell them a little bit about our state and our community. I know that I would be more than capable of completing the postcards, but what good would that be? This project is an opportunity for us to learn about other places in the worl...

This fall, we have been participating in a post card exchange that was organized by Teach Preschool on Facebook . In order to participate, we needed to send postcards about our hometown/state to a number of other preschools/daycares/homeschools around the country and in some cases around the world. We spent some time learning about where we live, and now we are having a great time learning about all of the places where our new postcard friends live. We opted not to post a map and mark it on the wall, as this is an ongoing project that will last at least 6 weeks. Instead, we are using our large U.S.A. Map floor puzzle when we read our postcards. This way, the children have the opportunity to start learning the shapes of the states and where they belong. This puzzle has been a favorite for quite some time and our older 3s and 4s have no trouble getting started with it. They can even recognize places they are familiar with. I love to sit and watch as the younger children's learni...

After this weekend's UPAEYC conference with Dan Hodgins , my backyard is starting to become "famous," well, at least locally. What an honor and a surprise! In response to some of the questions and comments, I am going to provide a few more photos to help those of you who are looking to make some changes to your outdoor classrooms. Our Mudpie Kitchen Like the other sections of our yard, I did not come up with this idea on my own. I was really inspired for this area by my blogger friend Jenny over at Let the Children Play . She found an array of great mudpie kitchens . Immediately after her post, I started to scrounge around the house looking for things to add to our mudpie kitchen. We had a kitchen in our backyard (you know, one of those plastic ones), but I wanted a more natural and "real" kitchen. Our mudpie kitchen is evolving. The stove burners are made with moveable wooden cookies. We have 2 shelves right now, I do see this changing over time...

In a couple of weeks we are going to participate in a really cool postcard exchange with other daycares, preschools, and homeschools from around the world. (We registered to participate through Teach Preschool on Facebook.) We need to send about 6 postcards a week to the other participating schools/daycares/homes where we can tell them a little bit about our state and our community. I know that I would be more than capable of completing the postcards, but what good would that be? This project is an opportunity for us to learn about other places in the world, but it is also about taking the time and an opportunity to learn more about where we live. During our snack today, I explained to the children exactly what was going to happen. (That we are going to be sending postcards, and that other children would be sending postcards to us.) Then, I asked them, "What is cool about where we live, our town, our community, our state, and our daycare?" This is the list we came up with ...

What Could It Be? Sometimes I wonder if my brain works differently than most, but then when surrounded by other artists and teachers, I am reminded that some of us don't always see things just for what they are. We see things for what they could be, what potential they could have. There is definitely something magical about getting your creative juices flowing and allowing all of the possibilities unfold. Over the past couple of days, we have been working with markers. Many people would have seen an old dried up marker and tossed it into the trash. But, not here. We found that we could put those markers to use in many ways. ( First post- using the markers for their ink , Second post- using the marker caps for various creations ) After the wonderful response from those of you who have graciously decided to follow my blog (either publicly as listed, or just happen to stop by once and awhile), I realized that I could improve upon how I make my colored dye (mentioned in pos...