Our PreSchool Blog

Preschool Prep is working hard on not only recognizing our letters we have introduced, but learning how to build them. In Preschool Prep, we won’t start forming letters using a writing utensil (ie: pencil, marker, crayon) just yet, but we use other materials that help us learn how letters are formed. Playdough is a favorite sensory item to use to manipulate it into letters. Check out the photos below of how our little learners are starting their letter formation using playdough.

We have also been doing a lot of counting practice in our small groups. Being able to use items to count out loud is great practice of one to one correspondence. We will be continuing our practice of one to one correspondence throughout the year, but we have had a great introduction to this with some of our small group activities. We counted people into houses, and counted our fingerprints in another activity.

An objective in the toddler class is starting to recognize the different colors and shapes. We love implementing different methods of learning these objectives through play! Being able to incorporate gross motor and fine motor into our learning also makes the activities more fun and interactive. Check out some of the activities below!

In the toddler class, we’ve also been working on our crafts, which entails sitting at the tables, following directions, and taking turns. This is something we have to practice from the start of school, and our little learners have been doing great! Last week we made a “donut” out of the letter “D”!

Preschool Prep had a lesson in sharing! We read Should I Share My Ice Cream? by Mo Willems and then pretended to share our ice cream with one another; asking, “please?” and replying “thank you!” We discussed how we share all of our toys in our classroom, the same as we shared our ice cream.

Block shadow matching! Our courtyard classroom activity involved matching blocks to their outline on butcher paper

Fine motor skills: Preschool Prep will be working on letter formation in the coming months, and practicing our fine motor skills will help with this development. Lacing is a great fine motor skill to help strengthen the pincer grasp, which is holding objects between the thumb and index finger, such as you would when you hold a pencil.

Block shape match

Bubblewrap Beehive creation!

More lacing! We laced felt pieces onto krazy straws, but we also had to match the colored felt pieces to the right colored straws. They all worked together to make sure all of the pieces were filled up onto the straws.

Preschool Prep had such a great first week of school. We focused on getting to know our classroom and our new friends on the first day. Then, we started learning our schedule and how our days are going to look. Our last day involved practicing taking turns and raising our hands during group time. They did so well, and I am so excited to watch how much they learn and grow this year!

It was a great first day for our toddlers! They had fun exploring their new classroom, meeting new friends, and playing outside on the playground!

Looking forward to a great year ahead of us with this sweet group of kids!

We had such a great first day of school! It’s going to be so fun to watch how they explore their new surroundings and what they grow to love most about school 🙂

Below you can see pictures of your children enjoying their first day with their new friends!

Here’s to an AMAZING 2020-2021 school year ahead!

The studio toddlers had a penguin party, using penguins to help us match colors. They had to match the penguin’s hat to the color scarf the penguin was wearing. Sometimes our friends will choose a color on their own, and then they try to name the color for us. Other times we will direct them to a specific color to try and challenge them to find colors they may not know as well as others.

In our other small group, we used our shape of the month, triangle, to make a penguin of our own! Here, our learners follow 1 and 2 step directions to complete the activity.

Ms. Kelsey’s toddler class helped make chocolate chip muffins for letter M week!

During our hands-on whole group activity, we talked about following a recipe, practiced taking turns, and used our senses.

Asking questions and letting our little learners process what they are experiencing through their senses helps to connect these ideas to other environments and experiences outside of the classroom. Some things we discussed: What color was the mix? What color did it turn after we added our eggs? Was it cold or warm? How did it feel? Squishy or solid? We could smell the muffins in our classroom after they came out of the oven. And of course, we got to taste them, which was the best part!

Foundational math skills are an important part of developing the minds of young learners. Matching is one of the most basic math concepts we teach in the toddler room, but a very important one! Matching, which usually involves one-to-one correspondence, can help a child to better understand that different items can still share characteristics, such as size, color, or shape.

In our leaf sorting activity, our little learners chose a leaf, told me the color, and matched it to the tree of the same color.

Spider Ring Stacking

5 Little Pumpkins Craft

Monster Donuts!