Black History Month

This month for Black History month we looked at 3 different iconic people. Firstly we looked Mae Jemison, who is an American engineer, physician and former NASA astronaut. She became the first black women to be admitted into the NASA astronaut training programme. Eventually she became the first black women to travel into space aboard the space shuttle Endeavour in 1992! Preschool took this opportunity to create some space artwork using star stamps, and brushes using a flicking motion to splatter the paint around to represent the stars in space. We also dressed up using the astronauts hats and role played going to space.

We then learnt about Alfred Cralle who was American businessman and inventor. We learnt that when he was working in a hotel, he became aware of servers struggling to scoop ice cream onto the cone as it was sticking to the spoons and required multiple utensils to get the ice cream onto the cone. From this he was inspired to create the famous mechanical ice cream scoop! This 1897 idea is yet another invention that we still use now. Preschool then created their own sensory ice creams using the ice cream scoops and cones. This was lots of fun!

Lastly we learnt about Lewis Latimer. He was an American inventor and patent draftsman. The telephone was famously invented by Alexander Graham Bell. But did you know that working alongside him was American inventor Lewis Latimer? As well as his work on the telephone in 1876 he also worked on lightbulb filaments, competing against Thomas Edison! Preschool then had the opportunity to make their own ‘phone calls’ using the telephones, with note pads and pens to jot down any important notes.

Well done preschool for your great learning and participation in these activities!