News : Visiting the Pumpkin Farm is more than just a field trip

Students learned of the need to cover pumpkins if it freezes during the tour of Sanders' Farm.

Submitted by Deb Hesson- Tiny Vike’s Preschool Coordinator

There is no denying that students at Tiny Vike’s Preschool enjoyed their trip to Bonnie’s Pumpkin Farm! However, the students most likely had no idea of how much they learned before, during and after their visit!

Our goal at Tiny Vike’s is to teach children how to learn so they can be life-long learners. We do this by creating group time, small groups and play experiences that are purposeful, productive and fun.

Tiny Vike’s curriculum includes four areas of development, with specific goals in each area:

Social/Emotional: to help children develop independence, self-confidence, and self-control; follow rules and routines; make friends; and learn what it means to be part of a group.

Physical: to increase children’s large muscle skills- balancing, running, jumping---and to use the small muscles in their hands to do tasks like buttoning, cutting, & writing.

Cognitive: to acquire thinking skills such as the ability to solve problems, to ask questions, and to think logically—sorting, comparing, counting---and to use materials and their imagination to show what they have learned.

Language: to use words to communicate with others, listen to and participate in conversations, understand the purpose of print, recognize letters and words, and begin writing for a purpose.

Before the visit to the farm, students were busy with making predictions, learning new vocabulary and learning about life on the farm.

After their visit to the Pumpkin Farm, students enjoyed checking their predictions, discussing new things they learned about the farm and they enjoyed hands-on experiences as they explored what was inside of their pumpkins.

During their visit, Bonnie did an EXCELLENT job of helping children use their thinking skills by asking questions like: “What do you wear outside to keep warm?” Do our chickens wear coats?” “What do chickens have to keep themselves warm?” To help students practice solving problems, she asked, “If Big Bird likes to grab your hat….what do you think you need to do so Big Bird doesn’t get it?” Bonnie even helped students to exercise their large muscles by having children stretch like an ostrich, and waddle like a duck.

Enjoy viewing some pictures that show some of the activities that carried our students through their Fall Theme.

See those photos HERE.