Our PreSchool Blog

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  • The Pre-K and Preschool Classes are Preparing for the Art Show

    Ms. Penny joined our class today to talk about a famous Japanese artist, Katsushika Hokusai.  Hokusai loved to draw when he was child and as a teenager loved to make woodcut engravings.  The children learned today that he was famous for his block printings.  He made his art by carving a picture onto wooden blocks, rolling them with ink and pressing them onto paper.  He would use one block for each color.  His most famous print was The Great Wave Off Kanagawa.  The children followed in Hokusai’s footsteps today and tried their hand at block printing.  They made their own carvings, rolled them with paint, and printed a picture that will be presented at our Art Show on November 13th.  Here’s a sneak peak…

    Block Printing

    Block Printing

    Preparing our Block for a New Color

    Preparing our Block for a New Color

    The Great Wave by Hokusai

    The Great Wave by Hokusai

  • Bear Patterning

    We are working on patterns this month in our Preschool Classroom.  The kids used the counting bears to create all different kinds of patterns during small groups today.  We completed AB, ABB, and AAB patterns by size and color (i.e. large-small-small; yellow-green; red-red-blue).  Some of the children caught on very quickly and were creating their own patterns independently before we knew it!  Way to go boys and girls!  Patterning is fun activity to practice at home, especially in the kitchen.  Click on the picture for some ideas…have fun!

    ABB Pattern

    ABB Pattern

    AB Pattern

    AB Pattern

    AAB Pattern

    AAB Pattern

  • Creative Tots Preschool Orchestra

    Ms. Joanie came today for a great musical experience!  We used rhythm sticks, bells, and cymbals to create our own orchestra.  We listened carefully and followed our leader to create our masterpiece.  The kids did a fantastic job listening (which is sometimes a challenge at this age).   Keep up the good work!  We also had a chance to play “Brownie,” which is one of Ms. Joanie’s special guitars she shares with us.  Each child had a chance to choose one of their favorite songs and help Ms. Joanie play the song on the guitar.  We heard everything from the theme song from Toy Story to Batman to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  Ms. Joanie will be back next Friday morning for another musical adventure.

    our preschool orchestra is taking new members

    miss joanie taking requests



  • A Tree for all Seasons

    We talked last week about how trees change during each season.  We sequenced these seasons during group time after reading A Tree is Nice.  We discovered that a tree “sleeps” during the winter even though it may look dead without the leaves.  We also discovered that all the rain in the spring brings small buds on a tree, which are the beginnings of the leaves.  Summer trees are full of bright green leaves but they begin to change colors during the Fall and tumble off the branches.  Some of the children in our Wednesday class had the opportunity to create their own seasonal tree using their arm as the trunk and fingers as the branches.  We added details to the trees with our fingerprints whether it be fall foliage, white snow, small green buds, or a full green canopy.  We are still working on these and our seasonal forest will continue to grow throughout the next week.   Check them out!

    Tree-768x1024copy

    our seasonal forest project this week

  • Don’t forget the question of the day!

    When your child arrives don’t forget to have them find their name on our class name board by the sensory table and to answer the question of the day!   Some of the answers we get are just a hoot!  If you have a child in our PreK class, don’t forget to have them sign their name when they arrive in our Signature Book!  We encourage you to have your child carry their own backpack, find their name on the cubbies, and hang it up along with their own coats etc.  These are great experiences in independence, fine and gross motor development, name recognition and responsibility.  They all doing a fantastic job with being responsible in the classroom, we are so proud of all of them!

    Question of the Day

    Class Name board and question of the day

  • The Moose Have Arrived…

    Our Tuesday Class used their hands and feet to create their own herd of Moose.  It was a great sensorial experience!  Don’t forget to check them out!

    Moose Footprints
    Moose

  • Creative Tots Chefs!

    Cooking with children is a wonderful way to teach them the benefits of measuring, numbers and working as a group.

    Cooking with children is a wonderful way to teach them the benefits of measuring, numbers and working as a group.

    Today we worked together to make apple crisp!  We sat around the table and talked about how we use measuring cups to help us make different kinds of foods.  For our apple crisp recipe we measured flour, sugar, and baking powder and stirred it all together.  We sprinkled cinnamon and sugar on top of our crisp apples and put it in the oven to bake!  The kids loved the smell of our wonderful creation as we all sat and ate it for snack!

  • Exploring Pumpkin Textures…

    pumpkintextures

    Shape, pattern, and texture are properties important not only in art but in science and math as well. Preschoolers need engaging opportunities to explore these concepts.

    Evelyn is very concentrated on exploring the pumpkins and gourds from our science shelf!  She is using her magnifying glass to really study the different bumps on the pumpkins.  She was talking about the different colors and shapes on the pumpkins and even moved positions to get a really good look!

  • Colorful Sorting

    Color sorting

    Color sorting

    Color recogition

    Color recognition

    The kids have loved practicing their sorting.  Parker and Ryan have seperated all of their bowls and are putting the color bears in their matching bowls. This is such a fun skill for them to practice at this age!

  • Magnetic Exploration

    Today Joey and Jessica were exploring with magnets!  They used their magnet wands to see how many magnets they could pick up at one time.  It was so exciting for them to watch as the magnets attached to each other in one line.  This was also a wonderful exercise for counting.  After attaching all of the magnets they possibly could, we took them off and counted them as we put them back in their special trays.  The individualized trays work wonderful for one-to-one correspondence when counting.

    magnets

    Tactile or kinesthetic learners are those who learn through experiencing/doing things.