Book Love: Explorers of the Wild

I'm a lover of all things mountains, and so this book spoke right to my nature-loving heart. It was also a great book to introduce a word that is so meaningful in my preschool classroom: EXPLORE.

Children are natural explorers, paying attention to the smallest details and learning through their senses as they discover the world. I used this book during the first week of school since we are spending a lot of time exploring the materials in the classroom and figuring out what we can do with them.

Read-Aloud Tip: I included some preschool exploring tools with this read-aloud, such as tweezers and magnifying glasses for the students to hold while we read the story. This was a fun way to introduce these tools, and give them a connection between the story and being explorers in our classroom.

Connecting Activity: I set up a table with some loose parts from nature for the students to explore (in addition to using the word explore all around the classroom as they discover other materials and activities :) )

Using open-ended activities like this one is the norm in my classroom, but I especially love the opportunity it gives me to observe them and their play at the beginning of the year. As a teacher, I'm exploring and making discoveries as well!