Sea, Land, Air and What?

This past week's preschool theme was Transportation.  What does it mean when I say we do preschool and I pick a theme?  Is it all about just that theme?  What is it that we truly learn?  Well, it depends on how you present your materials and display your materials which shows a level of respect for their hard work. Have open-ended questions and discussions, allowing them to express what it is that they do know and allows you to fill in the blanks of what they don't know.  It does mean crafting and art too, but that is just another part of our learning. 
Here are things we learned and practiced this week: 
~How to hold scissors and use them safely.
~How and when to use liquid glue, glue sticks or tape (don't suck the tops of the glue lol).
~How do they see each craft taking shape.
~New vocabulary words used daily, normally relating to theme.
~How to work together, sharing our resources.
~Manners, passing the glue or the scissor bucket.
~Colors and shapes.
~Counting how many of any item they are working with. (How many circles in a street light?)
~Patience since it takes a while to complete a project from beginning to end.
~How to connect what we learn to our outside world.
~Safety.  Transportation also means we need to be safe out there.
~Different forms of transportation. 
~Being polite and using indoor voices.
~The list goes on and on.  So without further ado... here is our theme "Transportation".

We will begin with our discussion on safety.

What is on the road to keep us safe?

STOP SIGNS!
What color should Stop be?
RED!

AND SIGNAL LIGHTS!

How many lights are on a signal light?
THREE!

What are the colors and what do they mean?
RED, YELLOW, GREEN!
STOP, SLOW DOWN, GO!

Name forms of transportation:

MOTORCYCLES, AIRPLANES, HELICOPTERS, CARS, BOATS, TRAINS, BUSES!
Can you think of anything else?
FEET.....

....Oh, and HOT AIR BALLOONS!

We put together Hot Air Balloon Puzzles.

 

 Do all tires leave the same tracks? NO!

 

Can you find the 5 missing items on the matching bottom picture? YES!

Can you trace your names?
Anakin-age 2

Reed-age 4 1/2

Tanner-age 3 1/2

Marilla-age 3

Elijah-age 4 1/2

Laurel-age 3

Can we paint transportation pictures?  YES! Tell me about this? These are lots of tires for my mommy's car!

Can you trace a car and it's word? YES

Without prompting, I found a little guy drawing on his own.  I asked him to share what this was.  He described it as lots of tractors that he and his dad want to dig up their yard.  The green one is a John Deer!

Below are some extra pics I had to share, unrelated to our theme:

Caring for our GARDEN

Compare the 2 pics below-2 weeks apart:

 
Last, when I said displaying is part of learning about our theme; the kids love seeing their work displayed on the walls weekly.  They feel proud, they discuss with their friends what they learned, they show their parents and they know I respect all their hard work that went into learning.