Our PreSchool Blog

Today, the boys and girls had the opportunity to practice their letters and sounds with alphabet cover-up!  Honing in more specifically on letter sounds, the children were asked to find and cover-up the /b/, /d/, /y/ and /z/.

As we wrap up our month in the Great Barrier Reef, the boys and girls practiced their ABAB patterning skills with Ms. Lori.  The children had the opportunity to choose which fish they wanted to make a pattern with, then they laid out their pattern before sticking them on.  What a fun way to practice our patterning skills!

The children were at it again as we poured and stirred our way into salad dressing!  This easy recipe makes a yummy dip for veggies or can be used for salad.          Creamy Feta Dressing & Dip (yields 1.5 cups):

–5 oz. feta cheese

-1/4 cup milk or buttermilk

-1/2 cup sour cream

-1/2 cup mayonaise

-2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

-2 cloves garlic, finely minced

-1 teaspoon of chopped, fresh dill (1/4 tsp. dried)

-1 teaspoon dried oregano

-salt and pepper to taste

Mash the feta and milk together until you get the consistency of cottage cheese.  Next, add the remaining ingredients and blend well.  Let sit, covered, in the refrigerator to blend  flavors.

Today, the boys and girls perfected their patterning skills with Ms. Courtney!   As Ms. Courtney showed the children how to create an ABABAB pattern, the boys and girls extended their very own.

Our little scientists discovered what happens when when you try to mix oil and water.  Using scientific predictions, the boys and girls made a tally chart of who thought the two would mix, and who thought it wouldn’t mix.  We first poured in our water, ten food coloring, glitter and oil.  While the children were shaking the bottles, they thought it was mixing, but found that once it settled, they separated.  To best describe how oil and water separate, we used magnets and their poles (ie, north repels north, south repels south).  Feeling the force field between the two poles gave a more hands on, concrete explanation as to why oil and water don’t mix.  We then went back to our predictions and found that most of the children predicted that the oil and water would not mix.

Love is in the air this week…especially in the form of counting and patterning Hershey Kisses!  Using an ABABAB pattern the children helped create and extend our red-purple-red-purple pattern.  Next, we practiced counting numbers eight through fourteen by picking a number, then counting out the corresponding number of Hershey Kisses.

Touching on social studies, the boys and girls created their very own Australian flag! The blue represents vigilance, truth and loyalty.  The white stands for peace and honesty.  The red stands for bravery and strength.  The boys and girls did an excellent job creating these works of art!

How do you create a memorable experience?  By writing letters and numbers using shaving cream!  The boys and girls had an ooey gooey time using their pre-writing skills to create the letters Y, Z and T, along with numbers 2, 3 and 4.

Happy Valentine’s Day!  These little heart breakers had a love-filled morning with our Valentine activities.  Using our color recognition and sorting skills, the boys and girls sorted their very own box of candy hearts on their candy heart graphs.  Ask your little valentine how all of the hearts were sorted.  The children then had the opportunity to pass out their Valentine’s to each child.  The boys and girls really enjoyed celebrating friendships!

We used the small motor muscles in our hands and fingers throughout our small group activities to help prepare for our future of writing!