TVCS uses this dynamic approach to teaching and learning in which students explore real-world questions and challenges, while simultaneously developing cross curricular and interpersonal skills. The teacher acts as a facilitator, working with students to pose worthwhile questions, structure meaningful tasks, provide new and engaging resources, and encourage the use of appropriate social skills. While allowing for some degree of student voice and choice, rigorous projects are carefully planned, managed, and assessed to help students learn key academic content, practice 21st century skills (such as collaboration, communication, and critical thinking), and create high-quality, authentic products and presentations. Because project-based learning is filled with active and engaged learning, it inspires students to obtain a deeper knowledge of the subjects they are studying. Research also indicates that students are more likely to retain the knowledge gained through this approach far more readily than through traditional textbook-centered learning.

We are finishing our project on motion by creating a unique performance for the Extravaganza.  We are making costumes and practicing our best dance moves.  We cannot wait to share it with you.

We were able to field test some of the water crafts built during our project on motion and force. 

Our project is nearing the end and we are finishing up loose ends.  Many students are working on costumes for our Extravaganza that tie in with our project.  We have new rockets, boats, and planes made each day.  We are planning a field trip Wednesday May 21st for next week to The Kid's Fishing Pond.  We will be field testing some of the items we made in our class as well as going on a nature treasure hunt.  Please join us if you are able. We will be eating a picnic lunch and hopefully enjoying beautiful weather. 

Many students continue with our mini-project of "shows".  Please ask your child for a private performance at home. We have some Oscar worthy performances.

The Grey Wolves went on an adventure to Warbird's Hangar to view antique war aircraft.  They were able to look at the planes and draw what they observed that made them the same or different.  Several students noticed that wings on one craft turned up and one had two sets of wings. They noticed that some planes had propellers and the others had jet engines.  They learned the difference between a training aircraft and a fighter plane (two seats for the training plane). It was a fabulous trip.

We also put the finishing touches on our project with our reading buddies.  We hope to celebrate a great project with them in some way. 

Our reading buddy project has been so successful. The students have worked together to create an item that uses air to move.  We have seen some creative uses of materials as well as functional objects.  Please take some time to view our slide show and stay tuned for the final products.

We have placed the beginning of our project documentation for "What Causes Air to Move?" on the wall above the cubbies.  Take a look in the next few weeks as we will be adding information.  We have continued our exploration of how things move by discussing wheel and axle, inclined plane, and pendulum (wrecking ball). The students have been busy building items in our art studio.  We have a pirate ship, a rocket, a sail boat, a wind chime, and various planes.  We started the conversation about gravity and will continue that next week. 

We continue our unit on motion with a visit from Fitzy and his vast knowledge of wheels and axles on Wednesday. On friday we discussed incline planes.  We experimented with cars, paint and incline planes.  Our reading buddies spent some time with us discussing, planning, and eventually we will be building "something" that moves with air.  This will be an ongoing project with our reading buddies.  Our Reading Buddies, The Tiger Wolves, studied simple machines last year so this will will a fun project for all.

We continue our exploration of air movement.  We have started the process of creating building plans for items that fly or use air to move.  Jemima drew a plan for an airplane.  Walker and Zane each created a unique plan for a rocket.  We worked on writing unfamiliar words and we thought about what items we would need in our art studio in order to build the plane and rocket. Tucker drew the plan for his rocket and cut it out of paper.  He then started the process of building the rocket by adding the drawing to a piece of bark. He found that the bark provided the appropriate shape for the body of the rocket.  He will continue to build upon his rocket design. We will continue to work on individual student plans now and after spring break. 

We continue to have a fascination with the marble run in the classroom.  This movement is related to gravity and we will be adding a bit more to that portion of our motion project after spring break.  It is interesting to observe a marble moving down and building the ramps so that they will allow a successful run.  It is difficult to get all the parts and pieces working well and staying in place to get the marble to the bottom. 

We are looking for swim noodles to do a project if you have any you would like to donate.

Today we met with our reading buddies but we did not read together.  Instead, they helped us do some observations around items that move in the air or fly in the air.  We will be meeting together to work through a project. The Tiger Wolves will be teaching us about how to do research using the science circle for our project.

We continued our work on sail boats this week. Students added more pieces to the boats as well as made new prototypes.  The boats were tested in the water table and we have found that the styrofoam floats the best (so far).  We have also learned that it is tricky to make a boat float for a long period of time and tape looses its stickiness in the water.   

We made pinwheels and practiced using and directing air flow to make the pinwheel move. The students tried using their breath as well as the fan.  We discussed the many types of propellers that can cause movement.  We have read The Treasure Hunter by William Boniface to inspire us to think about all of the ways a propeller causes motion.  We thought about windmills, helicopters, airplanes, and boat motors. 

We attempted to make a car that moves with a balloon.  It didn't exactly work so we will continue on the hunt for better materials. We need to build a light weight car with wheels that move very easily. 

We also worked on a scientific experiment with fabric and air flow.  We cut multiple pieces of fabric and labeled them with numbers 1 through 9.  We asked the students to choose the one they thought would fly the best and why.  They had very different answers and we discovered interesting information about each piece of fabric.  Now we can determine what fabric would make the best sail, kite, balloon, or para-sail. (It was open door Friday so we had comments from the Mountain Lions as well).

Here are some of the children's observations:  They were asked, "Which one will fly the best?"

Carly - #7 It is not too rough.

Owen - #7 It's light.

Maggie - #3 Because it is pretty and it's webbed. It has air holes to lift it up.

              #7 Flies well because it has even smaller holes.

Jemima - #5 & #4 are lighter than 6 & 7.

               I will choose 5 & 4 because I am 5 and I used to be 4. #4 flew better because it has less weight than 5.

Lily - #9. It floats because it's smaller.

Nico - #6 No air holes.

Cora K. #9 It's thin, it's rolled down more like a pie crust (flatter).

Fiona - #5 It's made of soft stuff. 

           # 8 I don't know?

           #9 "It works!!! It is best because it is made of feathers.

Zach - #1 I don't know why.

Tucker - #7 It feels like feathers.

             # 8 Is very flappy!

Nick - #5 Because it is light

          #7 Floats better because you can see through it.

Cadence #1 It's light.

This week we experimented moving materials that were flat such as paper, construction paper, cellophane, Styrofoam, and plastic. We changed our wind storm from a hair dryer to a box fan that allowed more surface area of wind to move items.  The students tried multiple wind speeds and various materials. We will use this exploration to guide our choice of materials as we move forward in our project.  Several students have built or are building sail boats in our art studio. They started the process and tested out the design in our water table.  We have already found that tape does not stick in water and so we must look to other connecting materials.  Braden shared some of his knowledge about living on a sail boat and we will continue to ask him questions.  He will be our sail boat expert in the next few weeks. 

Driving Question:  How can we as preschoolers experience motion?

Secondary Questions:  What causes something to move?

What uses air to move?

Our students have continued the interest in the helicopter, airplanes, and flight from our last project.  We have expanded on the topic of flight by experimenting with air and movement.

What causes something to move?

Walker - an engine and axle

Nick - Propeller

Jemima - energy

Rudi - Water can give you energy so you are not tired.

Nico - Friction

Fional - plants and trees get energy from sun and water

Nico and Fiona - bones and muscles make your body move.

Maggie - your heart

Tucker - and your brain.  Batteries

Cora K- Water

Zane - air

What uses air to move?

Windmill, helicopter, clouds, birds, butterflies, ladybugs, leaves, sand, water, rocket ships, kites, hot air balloons, and air. 

We started the project by providing some provocation for the students. 

First we used a variety of items that require movements.  We painted with the motion of the bumpy balls.  We needed to move the balls with our hands to create the painting.  We also used straws and eggbeaters in the water table. The water moved with our breath and the straws as well as the motion from the egg beaters.  We used hammers with the goop to observe how the material changed when we used force to smash it. 

Second we used the motion of air to move items in our classroom.  We blew through straws to move the paint around on the paper.  We used straws in the water table to create bubbles.  We used our breath as well as our straws to move different sized and weighted balls.  Some were easy to move and others were difficult. We then introduced the wind storm (hair dryer) to gain a more forceful wind (air).  We were actually able to move the basketball with the hair dryer. We changed the attachments to disperse the air as well as direct the air from the dryer.  We were able to balance a ball with the air.  It seems magical.  It takes some practice to gain the balance with the ball and the air.

Today we completed another portion of our Fire Safety project.  We surprised two other classes and documented how many students were wearing inside shoes and how many were not.  We gave each child wearing shoes a blue unifix cube and the ones without shoes a red unifix cube.  Then we asked the students with blue cubes to stand in one area and the ones with red cubes in another area.  We counted the number of students as we stacked the cubes up into a tower.  We took the tower back to our class and drew a graph for each class.  Thank goodness each class only had one student without shoes.  We reminded everyone of the importance of wearing shoes in the classroom. 

We have completed a book about our fire project that I will be editing and linking to this web site.  The portion of our project related to fire safety is over yet the interest in the helicopter and other machines continues.  We will be reviewing the book in class and asking students to reflect on the experience.  The teachers are reflecting on the project as well in meeting with other faculty and our mentor teacher. 

Our new project will be about motion.  Our driving question will be "How can we as preschoolers experience the properties of motion?" We have started this project because of the student interest in helicopters, airplanes, boats, rockets, marble runs, race cars, ramps, and tunnels. 

We had to say goodbye to the helicopter.  We were not sad but enjoyed the experience of demolition.  We saved a few pieces to remember our helicopter and we may need a control panel for something else at some point.  The final project documentation will be finished soon.  The puppet characters have been chosen for our show and now we need to practice.  Watch for a video on this site coming soon.

The interest in the helicopter continues for several students in the class as well as the fire station.  This can be a continuing project for those few interested but the remainder of the class will be finishing the project by writing, performing, and recording a puppet show.  This will be a great segway from our project to our next project or (mini-project). Several students have chosen the puppet they will be and also the lines they will say in the show.  We will finish the script next week.   

The students participated in a puppet show based on the story The Hat by Jan Bret.  We have discussed Jan Bret so the students are very knowledgeable about the story and the characters.  We will continue to make the story come to life with our puppets. Maggie worked very hard to create a hat for Hedgie so that it could be more realistic.  We also noticed that the puppets do not include Lisa the person character in the story.  We may need to create her for our next performance. 

We are wrapping up our fire project and we will be sharing more of the finalized products with you as soon as they are complete.  We have moved on to new topics and we are observing the students to determine our next project. One topic up for discussion is the puppet show.  The students used the dark space as a puppet theater and have been writing and performing shows each day.  This may be our next project!

We provided the opportunity for the students to spend time flying the helicopter.  We also took a moment to remember what we know about fire safety.  After we took notes about what we know, we started to think about how we can share our knowledge with the firefighters, our family, and our friends.  We discussed many options for the students to choose from.  For example, we could make a non-fiction book, a fiction story, a movie, a newspaper, a newscast, and a puppet show.  We have been discussing the difference between fiction and non-fiction stories.  Here is what the students suggest:

Jemima-Newspaper

Tucker-Puppet Show

Walker-Newscast or Movie

Rudi-Movie

Nico-Give books out to all of our friends and Mom's and Dad's

Cache-Newscast

Fiona-Give books out

Maggie-Make a Movie

Cora M.-News

Cora K.- Newspaper

Bode-Movie

Claire-Movie

Nick-Movie

Zane- News

Cadence-Movie

We will continue the discussion next week and determine which one (or all) of the methods of sharing information we will use.

We spent the week enjoying our rescue helicopter.  We flew many miles and invited a few friends to ride along the way.  We may continue this project when the students return but we may also finish the project.  We will see what the students want to do after returning from the break. 

The past few weeks we have been building separate pieces for our rescue helicopter.  We have finally added each piece to the helicopter and it looks more realistic. We put the control panel, steering column, rotor, lights, and computer screen in the helicopter. We added clear vinyl over the front so that the pilots can see when they are flying. We have the bed for the doctor to use when a person is rescued and in need of medical care.  It was exciting to take it for it's first flight.

This week we had to embrace some disappointment with our helicopter construction.  The buttons and lids glued to cardboard did not stand the test of time in our busy classroom.  The buttons fell off and the cardboard would not stand up and it would bend in multiple places.  We met about this disappointment at morning meeting and each student had the opportunity to vote on weather we kept the old and broken control panel or if we should build a new one. 

The discussion went as follows:

Tucker:  We can make skids from the long strips.

Nico:  We need a new control panel that is metal.  We can drill on pieces from the art studio.

Fiona:  We should move the loft so the skids will fit and have a horn that says "beep..beep".

Cache:  We need a real control panel. We should look all over Idaho for buttons, wires, and screws.

Braden:  We need a new control panel.  We can't do tape and glue.

Cora:  We need a real control panel then we could fly!  We need a lot of buttons different shapes not all squares.

Nick:  We should use the control panel we have and work on that.

Jemima:  I think we should glue them on for 5 minutes then tape over that.  Use duct tape, gorilla glue, and gorilla tape.

Walker:  I think Tucker had a good idea for the skids.  I think we need a real helicopter things, a level, rotor, tail, real motor, add little sticks to build the helicopter up so it won't scratch the ground.

Zane:  We need a real one.  We need a couple real ones but not all. We should go to the store and buy some real pieces.

Maggie:  Get stronger glue and some stronger tape! Make it double sticky.  Add some more stuff to make the control panel look better and make a new one so it won't look bad.  Put on different things too.

Zach:  Put wheels on it.

Rudi:  We should definitely be more careful!

Bode:  We need to make a new one.

The class voted to make a new one so Bonnie and Chris gathered wood pieces, real tools, real nails, and screws. The kids drilled holes in the wood and the materials from our studio.  Then they nailed them into the wood pieces.  We even found shelving brackets so the wood pieces would sit at a 90 degree angle.  We will continue to work on this the next few days because hammering and drilling is very hard work.

Chris and Bonnie are collecting broken electronics to take apart so that we can use the "real" pieces.  We are also looking for real gauges if anyone would like to donate some to the cause.

We have been working on the construction of our helicopter.  The students started working on the control panel.  We chose items from our art studio that looked like buttons and dials that can be seen on a real helicopter.  We also took apart a computer keyboard and used the pieces as control panel buttons. The cockpit will be the next project on our list to complete.  Tucker had worked and worked to design a steering wheel for the helicopter but we did not have the correct materials in class to build one.  He made one at home with his Dad and brought it in for us to use in our helicopter.  It even has buttons that shoots the water out of the hose when we fight fires. Maggie wanted to name the helicopter the "Grey Wolf Helicopter" and the rest of the class approved.  We will use the red part that we made last week for the doctor to take care of the patient.

The Control Panel:

Tucker:  The big red button is the parachute button. You have to lift the lid to push the button.  There is a shift button that makes it go down and a bad button that makes the helicopter blow up and when they crash into the lake it will push out a boat.

Nico:  This is a rotor button (looks like a line, x, and cross).  The straight one makes the rotor stop, the "x' makes the rotors start, and the cross makes the rotors go really fast.

Cora:  The (blue polka-dot cup) makes the helicopter go really fast! This one (green stripe cup) tells what all the other buttons do.

Nico (Camera lens) This is the radio.

Walker: (Circuit board with cable) is to plug it in and it helps the helicopter land.

Maggie:  These are all the buttons you press. (Buttons) This makes it land (yellow button). This makes it go (black button) and this makes it go really, really high (white button).  This one makes people buckle up (gray button) and this one gets people drinks and food (pink button).

Cora (rubber button pad) This lowers the bucket to scoop up water.

Maggie and Nico (bear shaped buttons) These spray bear spray.

Fire, love it or leave it?

We were extra busy in our classroom project this week.  We built helicopters out of clay and materials from our art studio.  We filled our sensory table with "loose parts" that we thought might work to build a rescue helicopter.  The students observed the pieces and looked at photos of real helicopters.  We brought in a large box and a smaller box to use for the body of the helicopter.  The students explored the box and determined which way it would work for the helicopter.  We then drew plans of helicopters so that we could know what materials we needed to start our building project.  The construction began on Friday and we will continue working on this project in the next few days.

We are anticipating that our cardboard box will be transformed!  

Stop by and take a look at our helicopter plans.

Chris asked each student what part of the helicopter he or she worked on and this was the reply:

Cadence, Nick, and Bode:  The rotor.

Braden:  Control panel and lights

Jemima:  Lights and sirens.  The red bowl would be like a light that when there was a fire it would push up and make a ding, ding, ding sound when someone was in trouble.

Fiona:  Pencil and pad control to write their names when it beeps it means someone is calling them.  The guy who needs help then they can write their names down.

Nico:  The buttons and the electrocuting that makes it go.  A button that you push and water comes out.

Zane:  I put the light in to see in the dark.  To find a pond to put the hose down and scoop up water then spray on the fire.  Water is blocked by a cap until they get to the fire.

Cora:  Putting the long pieces of paper down. It transformed it into a helicopter because it was red.

Tucker:  The steering wheel.

This week we have started the process of learning how to build a helicopter.  We will start small and then work toward building a larger version of a helicopter. We have provided the students with three separate opportunities to build helicopters in small groups or individually.  We encouraged the students to build a helicopter out of the Knex blocks.  The long pieces provided a great material to use to make the rotors.  However, Zach and Bode found that the body was difficult to make. 

We then encouraged Bode and Zach to look in our art studio for materials that might resemble parts of a helicopter.  They returned with a plastic container, two metal tubes, cardboard, and tape.  Zach and Bode placed the tubes on the floor for the "skis" (skids) and then placed the cardboard on the tubes. They then placed the container on the top. Zach wanted a "guy" to be in the tube so he put one inside and closed the door.  At that point they requested Bonnie's help to hold the pieces together so they could tape all the pieces together.  As Bonnie held the pieces, Zach and Bode took turns wrapping short pieces of tape around the materials.  The short pieces of tape would not stick so they had to come up with another solution. Zach's solution was to use other materials such as long pieces of paper to hold the pieces together and Bode wanted to try glue.  Nick noticed the excitement and came over to observe the building project.  He suggested trying longer strips of tape and demonstrated to the two younger students.  His idea worked!  Braden, Zach, Bode, and Nick added long strips to the helicopter and the "skis" and the tube stayed in place.  Now they needed a "propeller" (rotor).  Bode immediately returned to the Knex and started to build a rotor. Nick noticed a hole in the cardboard and pushed the long plastic pieces through the cardboard and it stayed in place. 

The class had a lively discussion at morning meeting about what to call the parts of a helicopter.  We have some students saying that skis are really skids and that the propeller is really a rotor.  We decided that we needed to find out the answer. Bonnie and Chris brought in pictures of multiple types of helicopters with labels to determine the real names of the parts.  We will be discussing this topic further in the next few days. 

The second opportunity to build helicopters was in the clay studio.  We have placed craft sticks, straws, rocks, pipe cleaners, and tubes in the clay studio to use for helicopters.  The students are experimenting with the materials and we will continue to add materials as we discover what we need.  We have seen some creative helicopters already and are excited to see more.

We created a paper helicopter and flew it from the top of the Fire Station (loft).  We even attempted to race the helicopters and the competition was fierce.  The students wanted to have the helicopters fly into the hats on the floor so they made changes to how and where they dropped the helicopters to allow them to move differently in the air and land in a designated spot.  Now we need air traffic control!

This week we discussed the plan for our classroom helicopter. We watched videos of several different types of rescue helicopters and collected some data on what all helicopters have in common. We noticed that rescue helicopters can be many different colors but they all have "skis" and a "propeller." We also noticed that they are quite large and that some have hoses hanging down to pull water up and others carry rescue baskets for people.  At this point we have only watched demonstration video of helicopters and not real rescue situations. I will be vigilant about the types of video we watch for research purposes.  Some rescue footage can be a bit intense so I will leave that up to you as parents to decide whether or not you want your child to view a real rescue.

We gathered at morning meeting and made a list of items necessary to make a helicopter. This list is posted above the teacher's desk in our classroom. It includes items such as a engine, propellers, skis, hoses, ropes, and

Please take a look around your home or work for items that we may be able to re purpose in the construction of our helicopter. Let us know if you would like to help in the construction process.

This week we reflected on some of the information we have learned about fire fighters.  We know that fire fighters arrive to the fire in various ways.  We have seen the local fire trucks and have also met a forest fire fighter that arrives in a helicopter. We have drawn plans of fire trucks and have looked at what fire trucks looked like in the past.  We took a vote to determine what type of fire vehicle we should build in our classroom.  The helicopter won the vote so we will be working on a rescue helicopter.  If you have materials that we could use to build a helicopter please let us know.

We have also developed an exit plan for our classroom in case we have a fire.  We drew the floor plan, labeled the furniture, and created a plan to escape our building safely.  We practiced the exit plan and discussed what it was like for the students. Some students did not have shoes and others were very concerned about stuffed animals left inside our classroom.  It is hard to remember that we need to have indoor shoes to keep our feet warm and dry in case we have a fire in our classroom.  We also reminded each other that the fire fighters told us not to get toys or shoes in a fire.  It is more important to get out of the building because we can always get more toys.

Several students started building a fire station out of legos.  It was really cool and they worked very hard on the station so we decided to keep it and continue working on it next week.  We were worried that it might get ruined before Monday so the students wrote a sign to ask people to "Please do not touch"! We will see the new additions to the station next week.

Our firefighter project was on hold for the week because we were preparing for the Harvest Fest and Grandparent's Day.  We continue to observe how the students are using the materials and making notes about how and when we will complete the list of recommendations from the firefighters.  We will be busy finding a name for our station, building a fire truck, and creating a fire exit plan for our school.  Please ask your student about our project and see if they have any questions or ideas that they would like to share with the class.

This week was busy for our fire fighter project.  We delivered our invitation to the fire station in Victor and toured the station.  The firefighters taught us to crawl if we are in a fire or a smoke filled room.  We looked at the station and the trucks so that we could research what we need in our fire station.  We were surprised to see that the trucks are not red but yellow.  We also looked at how the firefighters store their gear and what is carried in the truck.  The firefighters answered some of our questions and we hope to show them our finished fire station in our classroom. They also suggested that the students create a safe exit plan for their homes and to determine a family meeting space in case of a fire.  That is great advice and I encourage all of you to create this and discuss it with your family.

Wedenday the firefighters came to our class to tell us what we might need in our classroom fire truck and station.  They suggested that we name our station and create job descriptions for the firefighters.  We need a captain, a driver, and a fire fighter.  We would need to know what to do quickly and should teach the others students about fire safety.  They suggested we create an exit plan and practice it so that we are prepared.  We showed the men our plans and our equipment so they helped us create a list of equipment that we need to have on hand in case of a fire. 

Stay tuned for more as we progress through this project.

The firefighter project is off to a wonderful start.  The students have made plans for a fire station, a fire truck, and a forest fire.  We have discussed when fire is harmful and when fire is helpful. We practiced stop, drop, and roll outside.  The students have some strong existing knowledge about fire already so we will be focusing on some topics that are less familiar.  We will continue to add to our list of harmful and helpful items.  Take a look in our classroom to see what your students already know about fires.  We created an invitation to the fire fighters today so we will deliver it to the Victor Fire Station on Monday.  Maybe we will have a special visit from some amazing people.

The Grey Wolves have started the first child-initiated project. Chris and I have noticed a topic among four or five students that has been present since the first day of school.   At the beginning of the school year the dramatic play area (loft) was left plain and ready for the students to create a space they would like in our classroom.  It has been a home, a restaurant, a store, and a place for Rapunzel to let down her hair.  The one theme that has returned day after day is that the loft is firehouse. Wednesday I asked the students what they would need to add to our classroom to be a firefighter. They responded with some great ideas such as: 

1. hoses
2. fire fighter boots
3. a fire truck
4. a fire pole
5. an ax
6. a fire house
7. a fire fighter jacket
8. a police man

Nico asked, "What did fire fighters do before they had trucks?"

This project will be progressing as we move forward but we would like to hear questions or comments from the children on the topic.  We will be asking for comments and questions in class but if your child asks a great question at home please bring it in to class. If anyone has dress-up gear for fire fighters that may be sitting in the bottom of a closet we would love to borrow it for our project.

We are observing some interesting play in the classroom that is including the helicopter and also other vehicles that move through the air and on land.  The students are loving the marble run and ramps that allow the cars and marbles to race down to the floor.  We had a city built on the floor so that the cars could drive and it also contained a water park.  These are all wonderful ways to explore motion and the laws of physics.  It may just be our next project.