Our PreSchool Blog

Writing our name is a skill that we, as adults, use every day.  The children have been working hard all year to form their letters correctly and in the right order.  Today, the boys and girls continued to practice forming the correct letters when they used white crayon to write their name, and then paint over it with water color. Instantly, the children could see their name in white appear through the paint!

Did you know that the rainforest is comprised of four separate layers?  Each layer plays an important role and is home to specific animals.  The boys and girls learned about the rainforest floor, understory, canopy and emergent layer.  The children built a model demonstrating each layer, along with the animals that live there.

As we move further into March, the boys and girls have been working hard on their new letters: O, C and Q.  Today, we focused on the O and C.  Using playdough, the children rolled out and molded their playdough to create the letters O and C.  While practicing the sounds, the children came up with words, such as ostrich, octopus and ocelot that begin with the /o/ sound.  The words cat, cut, car and coffee were used to describe the /c/ sound.

In Brazil, the national language is Portuguese.  This month we are focusing on the letter C, along with O and Q.  In portuguese, cachorro means dog.  Today, the children learned that C is for Cachorro.  They also counted how many spots are on the dog.  Learning language develops naturally as children interact with adults and their peers.  Experimenting with foreign language at a young age develops the “web” of a child’s brain even further.

Spring is just around the corner, so what better way to usher in the new season than with a refreshing drink!  The boys and girls did a nice job slicing the lemons and adding all of the ingredients.  They even helped press the buttons on the blender!  The recipe below yields 4 cups.

Ingredients:

2 limes

1/2 cup sugar

3 tbsp. sweetened condensed milk

3 cups water

ice

Directions:

Wash limes thoroughly.  Cut off the ends and slice into 8 wedges.  Place limes and all ingredients into blender.  Blend, and then strain out rinds.

As we review our letters, the children often times reverse /b/ and /d/; /k/ and /r/ were up for a review too!  We discussed how letters create words, which is why it’s important to know the sounds of each letter so we can correctly spell our words.  By matching the first sound of each word with the correct letter, the boys and girls did an excellent job working on their letter/sound recognition.

During the month of March, we will be working on the letters C, O and Q. In Ms. Lori’s group today, the children used their letter recognition skills while searching for the letter C or pictures that begin with the letter C.  When one was found, the children cut them out and glued them onto their paper.  In Ms. Leslie’s Group, the boys and girls practiced all three letters by building the letters on their magnetic board, writing them on the magnetic board and practicing their sounds.

Improving our fine motor skills is always an ongoing process.  Today, the children put those skills to work while cutting zig zag lines.  We are working on holding the paper in such a way that it helps guide the scissors along the lines.  The boys and girls did a fantastic job!

On our first day of March, the children enjoyed learning about their new center activities.  Taking time to teach the boys and girls the correct way to do an activity ensures that they are getting the most out of their learning.  We also spent some time outside today working on our listening skills and following directions.  The children were delighted to be out in the warm sunshine!

As we roll into March, it’s time to introduce new activities in our centers!  Today, the children learned how to use the activities in our math, literacy and art centers.  So many ways to practice our letters and numbers!