Our PreSchool Blog

Teaching preschoolers how to cook is not only a great way to spend time together, but it encourages critical thinking skills, along with developing language, reasoning, reading, math and science skills.  Today, we made delicious apple strudel.  Before we began, we talked about where apples come from, the different colors of apples, and read a book about the different seasons of an apple tree. Once we had some background knowledge, every child had the opportunity to cut their own pieces of apple with a plastic knife (great fine motor practice!).   Following our recipe, all of the children helped to add our ingredients, gave it a good stir, and poured it onto our pastry.  The children were able to taste our yummy ingredients, and I think we all agree…apple strudel is an excellent way to eat apples!

From the outside, pumpkins come in all different shapes and sizes.  On the inside, they are all the same.  During our pumpkin exploration today, the children were able to get oooey gooey with the insides and outsides of a pumpkin.  We had two different types: a French pumpkin, also known as a Cinderella pumpkin, and a Hubbard Squash.  Using their senses, the children encountered the smell, feel, look and even the taste of the pumpkins.  Using tools such as spoons to scoop, and magnifying glasses, our little scientists became pumpkin experts!  To follow up our activity, the children had the opportunity to describe their findings using pictures and letters.  The children enjoyed sharing their thoughts with one another!

It’s always an exciting day at Tots when Ms. Joanie teaches us music!  Today, she introduced the metronome: a device used by musicians that marks time at a selected rate by giving a regular tick.  The children used a drum stick to mimic the “tick” that the metronome was giving.  These keen ears didn’t miss a beat!

Today, the children got in touch with their creative sides using a cob of corn to roll out some art!  Using different textures sparked curiosity and interest.  The children had the opportunity to explore the corn a little more in our sensory tub.  The corn can be manipulated and plucked off of the cob to follow up this creative art activity.  The United States is, by far, the largest corn producer in the world.  Here’s to home grown food made in the USA!

This month, as we focus on the letters M and N, the children are working hard to remember the distinct difference between the two.  Word associations are a great way to practice.  Today, using a word sort, each child identified the picture or letter, decided if it began with a M or N, and then put it in the corresponding bowl.  The children learned first hand how tricky some sounds can be!

The preschoolers explored all different types of harvest vegetables from the farm today.  Cutting them open we found that some have seeds while others do not.  Some are soft and easy to cut through while others are hard and tougher to cut.  Some have prickles on the outside leaves and some even have a large pit in the middle!  Vegetables of all kinds were the exploration of the day!  We had a ball!

Sorting items is usually done by their obvious attributes: shape, and color.  Today, Ms. Courtney challenged the children by suggesting different ways to sort squares, and then letting the class decide which way was best.  The children came up with the first way: to sort them by color.  After that was complete, suggestions were made, and they decided to sort by how many holes were in each square (very clever!).

What starts with the letter M?  Mirror, marble, markers, magnifying glass…the list goes on.  Having the children manipulate these items and make the connection that these items begin with the letter M, helps the M to become more concrete in each child’s memory.  What child doesn’t love to use markers?!

Counting and number recognition are two very important mathematical foundations.  Putting those together and practicing those skills brings a child’s thought process to the next level.  For example, some of the older children were able to recognize the six dots on the die with out counting them, and then identify the number six on the paper and stamp it.  These types of hands on activities are excellent practice to those children who are still working on building up their math skills.