Our PreSchool Blog

The K Prep students did the first entry in their journals today about what we were thankful for, after reading Bear Says Thanks.  We saw a lot of family faces in those entries!

Journal writing is one of the foundation blocks of our language arts philosophy. Each week, the children have a set time to write in their journals. The journal serves as a valuable learning tool. The children are beginning to get their ideas on paper and learn first hand the power of words. Research shows that journaling is one of the most effective ways to teach and learn phonics.

Children at the beginning stages often use “scribble writing” or random letters to represent words. As they progress, they will begin to use the letters that represent the sounds in the words that they are attempting to write (“btrfli” for butterfly). We make good use of the children’s growing phonics by helping them listen carefully to the words they wish to use. Our ultimate goal is for each child to learn to communicate on paper whether it is through words or illustrations.

Children draw pictures as the main part of their communication at these early stages. Drawing helps them find the words they might want to use in their writing.  We saw a lot of words in these first entries….very impressive!

This past week we talked about cows and how they make milk for us to drink and use to make other foods.

Ms. Susan planned a special small group where the children got to help make whipped cream and butter.

We had to shake, shake, SHAKE the containers of cream to turn it into butter:

Then the children got to help make whipped cream!

In another small group, we practice “milking a cow” by squeezing the water out of a glove and into a pail.

We had a very special snack: Our very own homemade butter on bagels and our whipped cream on crackers!

Since it was so cold last week, we had a great opportunity to go into the preschool room and use the smart board! The boys and girls had so much fun doing music and movement in the “big kid room”. All the children did a great job listening and following directions! We can’t wait to use the smart board again!

We learned about the white-tailed deer in Preschool!

We talked about fawns and how they are camouflaged with their white spots.

The children learned that the deer flip up their tails to show the white underside, which alerts the other deer of danger.

Deer have very special eyes. They can focus on what is in front of them and what is in the distance. I had the children look at their hand and notice that their hand is clear, but the rest of the room behind them is blurry because their eyes were focused on their hand. I explained how deer have this special vision to keep them safe while they are eating.

During small groups, we colored a picture of a fawn and made our very own deer hoof prints!

This month in the Toddler room we are all about the Farm! The children have had so much fun dressing up like cowboys, playing in the farmers market and feeding the farm animals in the sensory tub. More farm activities to come!

We are learning all about nocturnal animals in K Prep this month!  If you asked us, we could tell you that nocturnal means that the animal stays awake at night and sleeps during the day.  We could also tell you that we are diurnal because we sleep during the night time!

Last week we learned all about the animals that steal our trash… the raccoons!  We learned that they are nocturnal animals and that they are omnivores.  We learned that there are multiple theories for why they have the bandit mask on their eyes and one is that it helps reduce glare and enhance night vision!  We learned a lot about the raccoon and we made a raccoon craft to close out our lesson too!

This month the Preschool Prep class is learning to write their names! Such an exciting time! I work one-on-one with each child to practice their pencil grip and talk through the process of forming letters. In group time we have been discussing what it means to write a straight line versus a curved/curvy line. We have talked about what it means to write a line up, down, and across. The more practice they have at school and at home, the faster they will learn how to write their names and be ready to go in Preschool next year!

You caught us red handed! Our little artists have been busy working on Art Show all week. No peeking! So, no art is going home this week but get excited for some awesome works of art!

We had a special visitor in the Preschool Classroom: Whiskers the Bunny!

We really liked petting his soft fur.

He is a Mini-Lop.  Check out his long ears and HUGE back feet!

He likes to eats carrots for a snack.

Such a fun time with our furry friend!