Monday, October 3, 2011

Wanna Get "Ooey-Gooey"????

We're going to get "Ooey-Gooey" in UPK this year!

At the very end of August, I attended a mandatory training for work - Ooey Gooey - presented by Lisa Murphy. It was by far the best pre-service training this year! The lively, personalized presentation easily held the attention of all that attended and there was so much shared that is going to be useful in the classroom this year - ESPECIALLY with this active group! Many suggestions that were made throughout the training have already been implemented in our classroom (although not necessarily obvious to the children at this point) and I have plans to incorporate many more throughout the year.

After the training, I decided to spend some of my hard-earned money to purchase 2 of the resource books authored by Lisa Murphy.

With over 65 hands-on art, science and outside play activity ideas for creating engaging environments both at home and at school The Ooey Gooey® Handbook is a MUST READ for anyone who spends time with children. This is the best book to start with if you are just getting exposed to the Ooey Gooey® way. It has a nice overview of how it all started followed by many activities to get your gooey juices flowing.

Each activity includes the "wolf" words (concept words) to explain to the skeptic in your midst what the children are learning.

Ooey Gooey® Tooey is the highly anticipated sequel to The Ooey Gooey® Handbook. No matter what age group you work with, this book will be a valuable addition to your resource shelf. With 140 activities for you to do with children, Ooey Gooey® Tooey is chock full of art ideas and sensory tub concoctions, and is sure to become an early childhood classic!
Sooo, to make a long story short... during the first full week of UPK, just as I was beginning to feel frazzled and as if there was no hope of getting the children into a routine, I decided I'd break out one of my new resources and give one of the recipes a try...

The Best Playdough Ever

Combine in a bowl: 3 cups flour, 1 ½ cups salt, 6 tsp cream of tartar, 6 TBS oil, 3 Cups water (color optional). Mix together. Cook over low heat until a ball forms. Cool. Knead. Store in Ziploc bag.

Having never made playdough before, I was a bit skeptical heading into this adventure. I'm not a fan of cleaning up big messes and I feared this was going to be just that... I must say, I was pleasantly surprised! The mixture came together very easily and cooked way faster than I had even begun to expect. Clean-up was fairly easy, as only a small amount of the concoction remained on the bottom of the pan. Hot water and Dawn detergent soaking for a few minutes cleaned what was left very easily!

AND... It just so happens I was able to catch the attention and pull my students into their "small groups," helping them settle into the program "routine" and me feeling a bit more at ease with the impending group of students that I'll be spending LOTS of time with over the next nine months! The playdough seems to be the hit of the different areas during "work time" and on any given day, there are at least 12 children crowded around the table mixing it and working it with the playdough toys. In their first exposure to the playdough this year, the little guy on the left built a "snowman", where as the little girl on the right opted to make a "frog in a nest"! Gotta love little imaginations at work!

I'm definitely looking forward to experimenting with the other playdough recipes this year (my next recipe of choice is likely going to be the pumpkin bread playdough)!!!





If you're interested in finding out more information about any of the books reviewed or if you'd like to purchase the books, click the cover image for a link to Amazon.com. I am an Amazon Affiliate, so any purchases you make after clicking these images will result in my receiving a small percentage of the sale price!

1 comments:

style='clear: both;' BookChook said...

It/they sound(s) like a terrific book for parents and teachers alike!