Our PreSchool Blog

We started a new math unit this week…Comparing Quantities of Sets.  We will be using a variety of graphs to explore what the words more, fewer, and equal mean.  We began our study at group time with a graph about which drink we wanted for snack.

Sparkles anyone?!  Activities with sequins, or anything sparkly for that matter, are always exciting.  Digging through to find the exact color and shape that you want is excellent fine motor practice.  Using the tips of their fingers, each child grasped and place sequins to trace his/her name.  As we outlined the names in glue, the children were also able to practice tracing their names. Each child was very focused as they paid close attention to their sequin details!

Reinacting real life in the dramatic play area is very helpful in strengthening socialization skills and respecting others.

The fun part about gingerbreads are decorating them!  Today, we traveled to our favorite nation, the imagination, and had a fun time pretending to decorate our gingerbreads.  Using number recognition, the children pulled a number, then put their one-to-one correspondence skills to work by putting the corresponding number of buttons on the gingerbread.  Working with the numbers four through nine really helped the children focus on their counting skills.

What better cookie to have to celebrate the holiday season than the traditional gingerbread cookie?  Today, the children helped to measure, pour and stir our ingredients.  We discussed wet and dry ingredients, smelled some of the ingredients (molasses anyone?!), and talked about getting the dough to just the right consistency to roll and stamp.  The children enjoyed all of the stirring involved and cracking the eggs, but I think kneading the dough, stamping out the gingerbread, and decorating topped their list!  Everyone brought home a festive, tasty treat!

‘Tis the season for gingerbread!  Ms. Courtney spiced up our fine motor skills by having the children cut out their own gingerbread houses.  The children worked on following lines while holding the paper with the other hand.  There was more fine motor practice when the children were eager to color their very own houses!

The winter weather is here!  With that comes heavy winter clothing.  With heavy winter clothing comes misplaced mittens, hats and coats.  Today we practiced how to keep track of our things.  We began with learning the “preschool flip.”  This helps the children put their coats on correctly themselves.  Ask your preschooler to show you how to do this new fancy trick!

Once we come in the classroom, the children build their responsibility and independence by hanging their coats on their hooks.  Showing the children that they can hang their coat using a “magic hook” inside their coat, the hood, or the top of their coat helps the children realize that there is a specific spot to help aid with hanging.  Putting their backpacks over their coats helps to keep the coat where it belongs.  Hats and mittens can be safely stowed in each child’s cubby.

With the month of December comes a new destination to learn and explore! We have traveled to the land of gingerbread, Germany! Today in small groups Ms. Lori and the students created the flag of Germany while strengthening their fine motor skills. By ripping bits of paper and gluing them in the right spot we worked together as a class to create the flag of red, black, and yellow. Along with a new destination comes all new activities at our centers. Some of the activities were introduced and practiced during small groups to ensure that everyone understands how to play and will benefit as much as possible during free choice time.

Our weather has taken quite a chilly turn the past few days.  The children enjoyed every second of it on Wednesday during recess.  Because of the change in weather we talked about how weather changes quickly and what causes it on Wednesday during group time.  We used an interactive weather maker to create all sorts of wild weather by changing the humidity and temperature gauges.  To round out our patterning unit in math we recognized and extended weather patterns on our magnetic board.  Weather is wild and wonderful!

Our weather was the topic of our discussion during group time on Tuesday afternoon.  It was a rainy, rainy, rain day.  It seemed to last forever.  We read the book The Rainy Day by Anna Milbourne which told us about how clouds are formed and what happens inside the clouds to make the rain fall.

The children shared their favorite things to do on a rainy day…playing games was the top on the list!  We played all sorts of Rainy Day learning games in small groups including Dominos, Colorama, and Seasonal Science Sorting Game.  Sometimes rainy days can be the best days.