We read Somewhere in the Ocean by Jennifer Ward today and discovered the beautiful Jellyfish! We watched a video about the Lion’s Mane Jellyfish and the Common Jellyfish. Click the pictures of the Jellyfish below to view the videos we watched in class, again!
We were so excited to see Ms Joanie today for the first time this year! She brought along some of her instruments and a new song about the ocean. What a perfect way to start our study of the Great Barrier Reef!
Children who grow up hearing music, singing songs, and moving to the beat are enjoying what experts call “a rich sensory environment.” That’s just a fancy way of saying they’re exposed to a wide variety of tastes, smells, textures, colors, and sounds. And researchers believe this forges more pathways between the cells in their brains.
Musical experiences are an important way to help create these pathways, also called neural connections. And while listening to music is certainly key to creating them, it’s when children actively participate in music that they make the strongest connections.
Research shows that kids who are actively involved in music (who play it or sing it regularly):
Our class is traveling to the Great Barrier Reef this month as we visit Australia during our country studies. After learning about the difference between an octopus and a squid, we dove straight into our small math groups today and worked on number recognition and one to one correspondence.
There are many benefits to incorporating yoga into our children’s lives. Yoga for young children develops body awareness, language, good listening skills, cooperation and powers of observation. It teaches pre-kindergarten children about nature, their environment and inspires their imaginations. They learn by playing, singing, moving and imitating. Looking at the smiling faces below, it’s clear that FUN may be reason we love it!
We continued our letter sound practice today with a twist! When given a sound, the children found both the upper and lowercase letter that makes the sound and prints it into the play dough! Making learning fun is the quickest way to get our little ones engaged and ready to learn!
The best way a child learns at an early age is through song or rhyme. We introduced number formation 0-9 today through number rhymes. We will be using these rhymes all year to help your child remember the proper way to write their numbers. In a few weeks you will be recieving a packet of number formation rhymes along with a “squishy bag” so you an practice at home. Remember, learning can be fun!
We are all readers and all writers at any age. In pre-K we will begin introducing proper letter formation for upper and lowercase letters throughout the school year. It’s important to start with the basics of lines…curves, zig zag, straight, and slanted. As we become familiar with the language of letter formation we will begin putting these lines together to properly form letters. Written word is a powerful tool that we use every day and we are well on our way to becoming a classroom of writers! For pre-writing printables you can do with your child at home click on the first picture below.
We’ve made an addition to our classroom library this year….big books! We learned how to take care of our big books and how to turn those BIG pages from the bottom corner without ripping them so they last us a very long time! You can check out big books from the local library. Great tip for those little ones who are reluctant to read read read!
Pre-K is off to a great start! We explored our letter sounds today and learned how to take care of our classroom. We also got our fine motor muscles moving as we reviewed our basic scissor skills. Keep an eye out for your child’s homework and V.I.P. folders in backpacks today!
Check out some photos from our carnival: August 19, 2012!!
{Miss Sarah}
Photo Booth Fun:
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.
Click below to learn more about our program offerings: