Color sorting
Color recognition
The kids have loved practicing their sorting. Parker and Ryan have seperated all of their bowls and are putting the color bears in their matching bowls. This is such a fun skill for them to practice at this age!
Today Joey and Jessica were exploring with magnets! They used their magnet wands to see how many magnets they could pick up at one time. It was so exciting for them to watch as the magnets attached to each other in one line. This was also a wonderful exercise for counting. After attaching all of the magnets they possibly could, we took them off and counted them as we put them back in their special trays. The individualized trays work wonderful for one-to-one correspondence when counting.
Tactile or kinesthetic learners are those who learn through experiencing/doing things.
The first time I saw a light table was at a Reggio Emilia inspiried preschool in New York City. Every classroom had one and I began to wonder what they were all about. After researching the various ways these could benefit preschool age children in their learning process, we decided to get one for our own classroom.
Today as I walked by our light table I overheard a child saying, “Let’s count the squares! While the other child responded, “I’ll count the diamonds then we can count them together!” They were referring to various translucent geometric shapes that had been placed on the light table for the children to manipulate. We have been talking about classifying and sorting objects by different attributes (color, shape, size, number of sides, etc.) What I was witnessing was the children taking what they had learned in small groups and applying it to their other classroom experiences. Great work kids!
Our light table allows children to experience everyday objects in a whole new way. In the coming months we will be using the light table for a multitude of activities as well as free choice play with ever changing manipulatives. Here are some of the activities that may take place at our light table this year: building our names and sight words with special translucent letter tiles, exploring and creating colors with color paddles, using various stencils, using the light table to trace our letters and names, manipulating shapes to become more aware of spacial relationships through the use of translucent geometric pieces while discovering the basics of geometry, viewing x-rays of various types of animals and shells, and finger painting on parchment paper (just to name a few). These should be great experiences for your children and ones that they will not soon forget.
What is more fun than driving cars through paint to make letters! Today the early 3’s children had the chance to make the letter of the week “H” with cars! They took the cars, covered the wheels in paint and drove over the letter H.
During the month of October we talk about fire safety. Today Jessica was our group time helper and modeled what a fire fighter wears when on duty. We went through each item of clothing as she put it on and talked about how fire fighters stay protected. These items are also in our dramatic play area so all the children were excited to get their chance to be a fire fighter!
Hey everyone, I was pondering some of the comments I have heard over the past few weeks about the struggle with potty training at home for some of your little ones. I began searching for tips and found few I would like to share with you. Click here for a link to a great suggestion from a dad who was struggling with potty training and found a great way to help his little one while making an unforgettable memory that will last a lifetime.
I have also heard many parents say that they still have to remind their child to use the potty in order to avoid accidents…well I’ve found a great solution that will help your little one gain independence and self confidence as the become more successful in the bathroom. Click here to find a great product that might just be your answer. Good Luck!
Introducing our special "letter birds" as the eager Early 3's beginning picking eggs from the letter bird's nest.
Every Monday we will be introducing a letter of the week. Today during group time our special bird flew in to help introduce the new letter. Each student got a chance to pick a egg from the bird’s nest and open it to find out our special letter. This picture is showing everyone opening up their eggs and holding up the special letter “L”.
A tremendous advantage to programs as specific as those that we strive to provide at Creative Tots is the ability to select a unique subgroup of students from our kids that seem to find themselves in the limbo of that birthday range which could go either direction. Over the years the early 3’s program has grown out of our teachers concern for those students which by birthday criteria may find themselves on the precipice of transitioning to preschool, but not fulfilling the age requirement.
The Early 3's program sees tremendous success
This is not the only time parents will face such a decision, as these very children will soon be on the steps of their Kindergarten classes with the same birthday and the same situation. It is our theory that many of these children should be advanced, or some encouraged to be further attended to if necessary as early as possible. Intervention at this age makes the Kindergarten decision a much easier choice and allows kids to have a much more fulfilling time while finding themselves between toddler and preschool.
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Creative Tots has specialized in the private education of both toddlers and preschool age children for over 15 years. We began in the heart of Madeira and now also have a new Mason location. We are specifically designed to focus on early childhood development for children ages 18 months to 5 years.
Click below to learn more about our program offerings: