Our PreSchool Blog

The preschoolers have been practicing one-to-one correspondence. It is important to always start at the top and count left to right. When we reach the end of a row we need to start back at the beginning of the next row. Teaching children a method for counting can help with accuracy. It is easy to forget which objects we have counted when we are just pointing in any order we want! We rolled the dice, counted how many we got, then counted using our magic finger to discover which animal we needed to color. This is a really important foundational skill for math in general. Games such as Candyland, Monopoly, and Chutes & Ladders are great ways to practice one-to-one correspondence. Any time a child has to count objects individually is a GREAT way to practice at home!

The preschoolers used those listening ears to see how well they could follow directions this morning. We practiced letter recognition, letter sounds, crayon grip, and fine motor skills while we were at it!

The preschoolers practiced their listening skills, direction following abilities, and number recognition this morning. This is a simple way to practice at home. Write numbers and letters on a sheet of paper and ask your little one to circle something, trace it, cross it out, underline, etc. Have fun with it!

Now that we are in the second half of the school year we will be working with our names at least once a week. Recognizing and writing names is an important skill for moving on to Pre-K. Expose your preschooler to their name as much as possible. Have fun tracing the letters in their name in flour, sand, sugar, dirt, whatever you can find! Point out signs that have letters in their name. Talk about letters in the beginning, middle, and end. Sound out each letter of their name. Count the letters. Build their name in the bathtub with foam letter blocks. Write letters on masking tape on legos and build a name tower. The possibilities are endless! Have some fun with it!

This week we read an focused our small groups on the adorable story Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett.

Ms. Cally played “Listen & Color” and helped the preschoolers practice their listening skills. This is great prep for following directions and understanding classroom dynamic. So much of traditional schooling is based on auditory learning. Preschoolers need to practice being able to listen not only to directions, but for directions as well. We structure our classroom to give cues to call attention such as flashing the lights or clapping our hands. This helps create awareness for what is happening around us in the classroom. Ms. Cally instructed the preschoolers to ‘color the star orange’ or ‘find the spoon and color it purple’. This is a great activity to do at home with your little one!

Next with Ms. Lori we practiced our counting skills. Each child had a turn to roll the dice and count how many dots they had. Then we colored the spot on the gingerbread baby that had the matching number on it. This was a fun way to count, work on number recognition and strengthen fine motor muscles!

In Ms. Courtney’s group, the preschoolers practiced number recognition. On each gingerbread baby was a number. Their job was to count the right amount of pom poms to decorate the gingerbread baby. This is a great task for hand-eye coordination.

This was the first of our December Gingerbread Study. We are very excited to explore more stories!

Getting Reading for Thanksgiving!

The preschoolers practiced their crayon grip on sand paper. This is a great way to strengthen fine motor muscles. Practicing in as many ways possible is great for developing muscles. We colored fall leaves and felt the vibrations of the crayon on the sandpaper. This is a fun coloring activity to try at home!