Learning the letter N and associating it with words and names we already know was very exciting today. While tracing the shape of the letter with our finger, we learned the sound that the N makes, and discussed items that begin with the letter N, such as nose, no, noise, note and newspaper. Using a glue stick, the children traced the N again, then tore newspaper to glue onto the N (excellent fine motor practice!). Some children remembered that they have the letter N in his/her name!
With a new month comes a new theme: Farms of America. There are many different types of farms to discover. This month, we will be learning about apple farms. Ms. Lori worked with the children on parts of an apple tree. Today the children enjoyed painting the trunk!
Sorting is a skill that is used in many facets of our day. The children may not realize it, but they sort items at home and at school all the time! Today we used triangles, squares and diamonds to discuss different ways to sort. We first discussed how the shapes were different colors and sizes. Using cooperative learning, the boys and girls decided how they were going to sort the shapes. Once they were done, they decided on another way to sort. The children had a great time discovering new ways to compare and sort our shapes!
We practiced our words from the farm today as a sneak peak into our theme for November. These dry erase cards and markers will be available to the students in the writing center during Pre-K classes. We practiced how to use the materials and clean them up when we are done. What will we find on the farm this month?
Names come in all different sizes. Long names are no easy task. However, recognizing letters that children already know helps make what can be a tedious process seem more manageable. Today we discussed how letters start from top to bottom, and left to right. We also pointed out letters we already knew. A difficult letter (and very common!) is the lowercase e. In preschool, we make an exception in teaching how to write lowercase letters when it comes to names. Writing names in all capitals is a very bad habit to get into!
When learning our letter sounds, it is important to make connections between the written letter and the sound it represents. These letter-sound connections create the foundation for young readers. While learning the letter R, the children were able choose different colored roller painters. While rolling out the letter R, Ms. Lori talked about things that begin with the letter R, such as rollers and rainbow.
Developing fine motor skills is a precursor to properly holding/using a pencil, tying shoes, using scissors, buttoning one’s own buttons…the list goes on. These muscles must be exercised and used to their fullest potential in order to develop further. Today, we used child friendly tweezers and pinching to put cotton balls onto our Halloween ghosts. We worked on squeezing the cotton ball between the tweezers and dropping it in the desired spot. We also pinched the cotton balls to pull them apart. We had a spooktacular time!
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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