I Spy Virtually

Spring brings a new group of children into our virtual preschool classroom. This presented a challenge. It is difficult to know the children’s names if the parents do not know how to alter the name presented on the platform you have chosen as a host. Our preschool uses Zoom. As the host, I am able to change the names of each participant. Prior to our circle time meet up, an email was sent requesting children to make a name tag. During the circle time, the children held the name tags up and I changed the names for each child, One concern was that the names would appear backwards to the other participants. This was not the case. The name appears backward to the person holding the name, but all others see it written correctly. So, no need to invert your writing.

On Zoom (https://zoom.us/) you are able to change the name displayed by clicking on the three dots in the upper right corner of each participant. There is an option titled “rename.” This makes it easy to learn new children to the group.

Since we were having new children as well as returning, I wanted a way to get to know one another. After we displayed our name tags, we moved to reading a story. On Epic (https://www.getepic.com/) I found a book about a shy giraffe titled, “Too Shy For Show and Tell” by Beth Bracken. The book is available to buy on Amazon at the following link: Too Shy for Show-and-Tell (Little Boost). This book depicts a shy giraffe who has a lot about him people do not know because he is too afraid to share. He ultimately tries and finds he is successful and receives a round of applause. I found this book to be applicable as no one knows anything about the giraffe unless he shares.

A follow-up activity is playing I Spy. I made simple slides on PowerPoint ahead of time that included a box of the color the children were to find.

The children were given the instructions. They were all muted during this part. The instructions are simple. Find something nearby the color that they see. My screen was then shared with the PowerPoint slides visible. At this point, the children were all unmuted. You could hear them shout the color and then scurry off. All of the children were able to find objects. The teachers were prepared ahead of time so they had their items on hand. Once everyone returned to their screen, we talked about the different items. At the end of the game, we talked about how we got to know about one another by the items we found. This activity was very engaging and active! The children were not just sitting in front of the computer. They were active participants.

Our circle time lasted 30 minutes and included; our name tag introductions, reading the story, and finding 3 colored objects.