MTSD Preschool Students Conclude the Buildings Study with a Special Production & Visitors That Bring Education and Exploration to Life!
The Manchester Township Public School's Preschool Program concluded the Creative Curriculum’s Buildings Study this week. This curriculum incorporates Studies that focus on different educational topics throughout the school year. Studies bring classroom lessons to life by encouraging critical thinking and working together as a class to explore as they learn and grow.
After concluding the Trees Study last month, classes moved into the Buildings Study. Although this is a new Study for MTSD, the benefit of Creative Curriculum is that it is child-led so no Study topic can become stale. It has a routine and a curriculum base but the learning is coming from student questions and exploration around the Study topic. If a preschooler has had an experience with the study before, the experience still can never be the same because they are learning with a new class, classroom, teacher, and experience. Being that this Study was brand new to the students and staff it paved the way for extra excitement, learning, and fun!
To begin the Buildings Study, students took a walk around the school building to discover the features of where they spend their school days. They then discussed in their classes what they knew about buildings and posed questions to their teachers about what they still wanted to learn about buildings. The Study focused on what types of buildings there are and challenged students to critically think about how buildings may be the same or different. Students then learned about who builds buildings, what tools are used to build buildings, what materials buildings are made of, what makes buildings strong, and so much more!
Children are naturally curious about buildings. They build tall towers with blocks, they draw their homes and favorite places, they love construction sites and even visit NJ amusement parks that have construction equipment! At the end of each Study, MTSD’s preschool classes conclude with a fun educational activity to culminate their experience. In Mrs. Cataldo's class, a construction professional came to visit the students to talk all about his job with them! The construction worker, Mr. Cataldo, spoke to students all about the tools on his tool belt, and the importance of safety clothes and accessories, they discussed engineering and saw blueprints, they helped him measure and level items around their classroom and even got to see his work van!
In Ms. Yunginger's class, students performed The Three Little Pigs for staff and fellow students! The story of The Three Little Pigs resonated with students as they learned about buildings throughout the Study. They learned through this classic story about different types of structures, the importance of choosing strong building materials, the tools used to build a building, the types of buildings that could be built and so much more!
In Ms. Nardone's class they built a holiday village using a variety of recycled materials. So much student-driven creativity was exercised during this Buildings Study!
We look forward to following the preschool students into the New Year as they continue their journey through their Studies. Next up is Clothing!