Camping and Native American Village- Dramatic Play

Hooray for November! A Camping we will Go! 

Set Up: All of you will work on set up. Some of you will assemble our wooden tents that will go up on the loft. These will be our camping sleeping area. Some of you will organize and stock our camping information area. This will consist of maps, brochures, etc.  Some of you will set up a camp fire, cave area and forest stream. Your Lead will help delegate everyone to a task during set ups. Please find some photos of a past Camping Unit and select items, to give you an idea of what we’re looking for with regard to set up.

Take Down: You will all take down the Campground. You will return furniture and items to their original places and recreate the original “kitchen/house” environment.

Camping
There will be a lot of temporary donations needed for this one. Please CLEARLY LABEL anything you bring in that you would like back at the end.

What we will need if we go “Camping”:
•Turn the "under loft area" into a Picnic area/ Nature Center. We have the table and chairs and the background furniture what we need is to borrow any camping cookware you might have.
 •Kids binoculars made from toilet paper tubes start making them now we need at least 10

• Bug catchers * I found this one does someone want to make 5 of them maybe more?

• Christmas trees (smaller we need around 3)
• A couple of small sleeping bags
• A sign- This is our old one and I loved it I couldn't find it would someone want to recreate it.
• Small flashlights
• Small backpacks
• Child size beach/ lawn chairs
• Small cooler
•  silk plants (just to borrow)
• Pots and pans (from dramatic play center)
• Picnic blanket
• Maps, and brochures visit your local city hall. Most have free maps for nature trails etc.
• Campfire (a ring of rocks with firewood or sticks in the middle)create flames from felt
•Sticks with "Marshmallows" (felt or cotton balls) glued to the end. Some with Felt Hot dogs glued to the end
• S'mores made of felt
• A River or stream with fish. I would like the fish to have some kind of magnet on them fishing poles with another magnet so that the kids can actually go fishing for the fish.
•Make a Cave (Black- Blackout curtain two panels)
• Make bats, borrow a giant bear, any other ideas for the cave?
• Canteens
• Mosquito netting
•Compasses made out of cardboard. Maybe around 15 of these. Something similar to this http://bestpractices4teaching.blogspot.com/2013/09/compass-craft.html?m=1&utm_source=feedburner
•I would like to make a waterfall coming down the side of the loft on the staircase/ side where the sink is in the classroom something similar to this

or like this


•Please Print out the animal tracks and pictures and laminate them for a game the kids can play in the camping center.
http://www.montessoriforeveryone.com/assets/PDF/Animal_Tracks.pdf
• I would also like some animal tracks made for different animals that the kids can set out so 20 of each animal track. Perhaps bears, coyote, mountain lion and deer. The kids can then make a trail with them that their friends will have to track
• Artwork. Does anyone like to paint? I will look but I think we will need at least one art scene of a forest print created.







• Smallish fake Christmas trees




• Pinecones, rocks other natural elements







• Use vines/ greenery on the staircase rail to the loft as well as on the loft itself

 The school has three of the above tent we will need to put together

Post Office- Imaginary Play

EMAIL THIS LETTER TO MEMBERS HELPING WITH SETUP
Hi Everyone,
I just wanted to send you all a friendly reminder that you signed up for the Post Office Imaginary Play center. Listed below are your fellow committee members

Group Coordinator: Person A (2 Day)

It is the Group Coordinators job is to delegate jobs to everyone else. To make sure that everyone is helping as necessary. To keep up with communications between group members as well as to make sure that when collecting donations that everyone knows where to go so that everyone doesn’t go to the same exact store. The Group Coordinator must also keep track of all items needed and collected so that they can ensure the Imaginary Play area has all that is needed. The group coordinator is also responsible for setting up a date where everyone can get together to create the Imaginary Play theme and also to decide who will be helping with clean up.
I know it sounds like a lot but don’t worry I am always here to help and I am more than happy to do so.

*Here is an idea for delegation you change the job description or needs as necessary
* Everyone helps with setup and takedown
Members: Person B (Class) Collect Donations and specific items
Person C (Class) Collect Donations and specific items
Person D (Class) Collect Donations and specific items
Person E (Class) Create Something Specific
Person F (Class) Create Something Specific

You will be responsible for setting up AND taking down this center. The setup date will be ---- and the take down date will be---- If you are unavailable it is YOUR responsibility to trade with someone from another month.
The School/ teacher Barbara has the Following:
• Post office bags
• Shirts
• Use kitchen units to make tables for Post Office
• Cash Register
• Scale?
You will need to Create, Collect, or get donations for the following:
• *MUST HAVE- Make a conveyer belt with turning handles use a large box (got to Bike Store ask for bike box)per Teacher Barbara
• A large mailbox (big box)
• Lots of Envelope’s scrap paper, pens/pencils, stickers, rubber stamps and ink pads,
• Does anyone have an old mailbox? If so bring it in maybe go to a hardware store ask for a donation?
• Go to the post office and get a bunch of empty priority mail boxes and whatever else you can get (seals and stickers etc)
• Make post office hats and badges
• Create a cubby space where the kids can put envelopes/ letters into different slots ( try BevMo or Trader Joes ask for donations of wine crates)
• Make a specific Teacher Barbara and Teacher Jackie mail Drop box
• Bring in small kid size tables for the kids to sit at and write
• Make a large sign that says LPPP Post OFFICE hang from loft
• Bubble wrap
• Post cards
• Junk Mail
• Scale (if the school doesn’t have one) ask TB
• Paper Punch
• Ask Post Office for the Bins to hold mail while on vacation sometimes they will donate
* What do you think about using the wine crates and labeling them, create our own letters so that if the children choose they can actually really sort the mail. We can use words, and perhaps shape sorting. So a name and a + sign so that readers and none readers can sort easily if they so choose.
• Buy $2 or $3 worth of 1 cent stamps for the kids to use
• Use voting booths as back drop
• Anything Else you can think of?


Go Here for the Donations letter for the Post Office of basic items needed remember you can always add to it as needed. Simply Copy and Paste into a Word Document (change Font size as needed)Include the Base Donations Letter along with the specific Donations Letter for the unit you are working on

Please “REPLY TO ALL” and keep me in the loop with all emails so I can stay up to date with your progress and ideas.

Go Here for the Donations letter for the Post Office of basic items needed remember you can always add to it as needed. Simply Copy and Paste into a Word Document (change Font size as needed)Include the Base Donations Letter along with the specific Donations Letter for the unit you are working on

Please “REPLY TO ALL” and keep me in the loop with all emails so I can stay up to date with your progress and ideas.

Our Post Office Sign

We added a sign with prices of postage etc

The Post Office counter consists of registers scales and postage and microphones so they can call out for who is next

Back of the post Office Counter

Lots of envelopes

Plenty to sell
We turned the upstairs loft area into a writing center which includes two mailboxes one for each of the Teachers

The are envelopes, stamps, paper, markers, and more to create all the letters for sending and sorting



Mail bags for carrying the mail

Very cool Mailbox it even has a door in the back to pull all the mail out

The Letter sorting game

A letter game I created with small boxes to further their sorting

Each box has an Upper case and lower case letter they also need to be sorted into the right larger box with assigned letters

Racks for all the boxes and sorting

Plenty to mail in these great boxes

Shirts for the Post Office employees

Hats for the employees

We created badges for the children to wear

Our Mail chute
The mail shoot is connected to the top of the loft where the writing center is so after the children have written a letter it can be sent down the mail shoot to the conveyor belt where it can then be sorted and sent off to the mail truck to be delivered.

There is also a mail bin with some bags for carrying letters and packages to the mail truck.
The mail lands on the conveyor belt

The inside of the mail truck has an awesome shelf

The back of the mailbox

Front of the mailbox


Instructions on how to build the Mail Boxes above are in the link below
http://notjustcute.com/2009/02/18/how-to-build-a-mailbox-for-your-preschool-post-office/