Ms. Amy's Blog @Child Central Station

The fall colors are really starting to show in our area- a signal that winter is soon approaching.  It also means that it is time again to take some time to share a little bit about the Upper Peninsula for while we are exchanging postcards with participants in the 2013 Fall Postcard Exchange hosted by Teach Preschool .  The boys thought this was a great tree, there have some very busy woodpeckers! This past weekend, I had the opportunity to spend some time hiking at Van Riper State Park near the Pesheekee River.   The scenic views were breathtaking, the camera barely does any justice.  The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is covered in trees, both evergreens and deciduous. We also have a number of rivers, streams, and lakes.      We have many opportunities to hike trails and enjoy time in nature.   Our fall colors have only just begun. When the colors peak there will be bright reds, purple...

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...

We are once again participating in an amazing opportunity organized by Deborah over at Teach Preschool. The first time we participated in an exchange, we spent a lot of time learning about our community. You can see the posts from that exchange here: Post Card Exchanges: October 28, 2010 Post Card Exchanges: October 2, 2010 What is Cool About Where We Live:  September 17, 2010 This time around, we decided to focus our postcard on "Winter in the U.P. "(U.P. stands for Upper Peninsula. Michigan is made of two large peninsulas: the Upper Peninsula and the Lower Peninsula).  Some of the children were quite surprised to hear that in some places around the world children do not have the opportunity to play in the snow. Some children (and even some adults) have never seen or played in the snow!  (I'm still not sure that all of the children believe me, but we will continue to learn and explore other regions and their weather).  It is hard for the children around here ...

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...

We are participating in two postcard exchanges this fall..... One of them is an international exchange, and we are participating as a representative from Danmark. (Allan is from there, I was an exchange student there, and we have a number of great photos from our visits there.) I'm pretty geeked about how well my postcard creations turned out! The second exchange is about where we live: Marquette, Michigan. The children helped to brainstorm ideas for this postcard: ( You can see the post where we talked about What is Cool About Where We Live Here.) I'll be dropping most of these cards in the mail tomorrow! I can't wait to start receiving cards from all over the world and helping the children to map out and learn about all of the wonderful places the cards come from!

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 ...