Fingerplays help children to develop their cognitive small motor, memory, and language skills.
Fingerplays also offer a way to learn about poetry, which is an extremely valuable and delightful experience for children. The beauty of fingerplays is that they can either soothe and calm children or stimulate their intellect and imagination.
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.
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.
Sorting was everywhere today in the PreK classroom. We got our life size grid out at group time and sorted our shoes and even sorted ourselves! The children decided that they could sort their shoes by color, type, size, and laces/no laces. We also sorted ourselves by hair color…sorting is fun!
Laces/No Laces
Hair Color
We explored math today in preschool during small groups. We talked about different constellations (or parts of constellations) during group time and viewed them on the smartboard. Then, we tried our hand at creating our own “Number Constellations.” We used our fine motor skills (important for successful writing in the future) and poked holes in black paper to create different numbers. Then we traveled over to the light table to view our creations.
The PreK class has been working hard on their big book this past week and a half. They were the authors and illustrators of the book, All About the Farm. They had a chance to read it to the Early 3’s class today after lunch and they did an absolutely wonderful job! Way to go!
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!).
Recognizing his/her name is most likely the first word that a preschooler learns. Once that is established, the next step is to learn the letters and the order they belong in. Today, we reviewed the order of the letters by matching them to the name that was written above. We then talked about what each letter was, and counted the amount of letters in his/her name.
Fall is a colorful time of year. Today, the children were able to express their creative sides with Ms. Lori while creating their own fall tree. The children discussed fall colors and why the leaves change colors. Using our fingers to paint is always a memorable experience!
Apples or….apples? Apples are a healthy snack, especially if you’re on the go. Today we learned about how our yummy snack can differ: dried apples. Using our taste buds and Smart Board, we made a graph that told us who liked fresh apples and who liked dried apples. The results? Fresh won by a landslide, but dried had a few votes!
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.
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