Our PreSchool Blog

Today in small groups we used our fine motor skills to string a bead pattern onto our halloween necklaces.  Fine motor muscles are very important small muscles located in your child’s hands that need to be developed in order to hold a pencil properly and attain the ability to write successfully and without difficulty.  Scissor activities also help build these muscles needed to write.  If you find your child having trouble holding scissors properly, holding a crayon or large marker incorrectly, small muscles activities are needed to help build the muscles.  We include these activities into our daily curriculum through scissor “skill” activities, prewriting activities, playdough activities, through the use of stickers (it takes these small muscles in the hand to peel the stickers off the paper), beading, and the use of tongs in the sensory tables and center games…etc.  Click on any of the pictures for other small motor activity ideas.  Have fun!

Reading My Pattern

I did it!

Checking My Work

Stringing a Pattern

Today there was a lot of team work going on as the kids decided to build a big castle!  They worked hard to make each block balance on top of the next one!  The best part was knocking down all of the blocks at the end!

We are making great progress in our patterning skills.  Some children have progressed into extending their patterns much further this week while others began making more difficult patterns independently.  We observed some of the children choosing to create their own patterns at the art center this week with the halloween stickers available.  In small groups we used our fall felt stickers to create fun fall patterns to take home and share our progress with you.  We will be wrapping up our patterning unit next week and will revisit it at the end of the year.

patterning independently

reading time today

We love to read books in our early 3’s class!  Carson asked his friends to join him so he could read them a story about 5 little pumpkins.  It was so fun watching him read each page and act out all of the pictures.  Joey also took some time to sit and relax in our reading center to read a book.  It is so wonderful to watch them take steps at becoming readers!

This afternoon the early 3’s practiced tracing the letter P on our art table.  They used roller paints to trace over the letter P’s on the table.  Not only is it fun to use the roller paints but it was great writing practice for them!

practicing printing skills with roller paints

letter sorting

The kids were so intrigued today when we did our coloring sorting activity.  We had a bunch of different color bears and six different color bowls.  Our job was to work together to put the bears in the right color bowl.  Each child had a turn to take a bear and find the right home for him.  They did a wonderful job sorting the bears!  They couldn’t wait until it was their turn to take a bear!  We had many friends help each other to make sure the bears were put into the right bowls.

Ms. Laurel joined us today for Yoga class and of course she brought her yoga music with her.  One of the children’s FAVORITE songs is “Tick Tock Little Yoga Clock.”  You might have heard you’re little one singing it around the house.  Next week we will start using our NEW kid’s yoga mats that Ms. Laurel found for our school.  Thank you, Ms. Laurel!  Ask your child to show you some of their favorite yoga poses….warrior pose seems to be the favorite!

Our Pre-K class had a special art class with Ms. Penny on Wednesday.  She taught us that artists create all kinds of art, not just paintings.  We learned about Edgar Degas, a famous artist, who was not only a painter but also a sculptor!  His famous sculpture was Little Dancer.  Then, we tried our hand at sculpting.  Our sculptures will be displayed at the art show on November 13th.

The toddler class had so much fun this morning creating their Pumpkin Pie with the letter “P” on it!  Edie loved sprinkling cinnamon all over her pumpkin pie and as you can see Owen took a really good sniff of his cinnamon!

In our early 3’s class, we have a writing center where the children are free to sit and make their very own books.  Throughout the year we have been talking about authors of the books we read and how we can all be authors.  It is important for children to start the writing process using pictures to express their thoughts and ideas.  Today Emma told us that she was making a book about “trains”. Andrew was so excited to show us that he wrote the “letter P” in his book.  It is so much fun to watch them “read” their stories to us and to be confident in themselves as they begin to write!