We continued our phonics study today in small groups. We hear about the phonics but what is it? Simply put, phonics is the connection between letter symbols and sounds. As adults, this relationship seems apparent and common sense. However, in reality there is no natural connection between words and their meanings.
At the very core of phonics lies the alphabet. In order to master phonics a person must master the alphabet. Letters then need to be connected to their corresponding sounds. As we know as English speakers, this is easier said than done. Many letters can represent a number of different sounds. This means that learning phonics is an ongoing process for a developing reader. Because letters and sounds were introduced in our Preschool Program we will have a “crash course” in letters and their sounds over the next nine weeks. We will be focusing on three letters per week. We will complete letters Aa, Bb, and Cc this week and the next three will be introduced on Monday.
We continued our phonics study today in small groups. We hear about the phonics but what is it? Simply put, phonics is the connection between letter symbols and sounds. As adults, this relationship seems apparent and common sense. However, in reality there is no natural connection between words and their meanings.
At the very core of phonics lies the alphabet. In order to master phonics a person must master the alphabet. Letters then need to be connected to their corresponding sounds. As we know as English speakers, this is easier said than done. Many letters can represent a number of different sounds. This means that learning phonics is an ongoing process for a developing reader. Because letters and sounds were introduced in our Preschool Program we will have a “crash course” in letters and their sounds over the next nine weeks. We will be focusing on three letters per week. We will complete letters Aa, Bb, and Cc this week and the next three will be introduced on Monday.
We have reached week 3 of our school year!! Yay!! Today the children listened to a read aloud called “All About You.” We talked about where we live, what we wear, who we live with, what we eat, etc. The children are currently learning the color red and the letter “R.” During group time, I had a bin with various items, and the children had to identify which items were red. During small groups, we painted rainbows (for the letter “R”) for our ABC book we will be working on throughout the year. They also painted a muffin tin and printed it on paper for the art show in March. The children worked on our numbers for the month (number recognition 1-3). They also practiced one-to-one correspondence and fine motor skills with pipe cleaners and colanders. The playground has a new feature that the children absolutely LOVE: a sandbox!! Check out all of the fun photos from our day!
{Miss Sarah} 🙂
(Muffin Tin Art: Art Show Piece)
(“R” is for Rainbow)
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.
More from the toddler room!!! 🙂 We had fun fingerprint painting and playing with play dough. 🙂
{Miss Sarah}
Today we did fingerprint painting with Ms. Diana. We also explored the various centers to work on developing our cognitive and physical skills and aspects. We played outside on the slide and playground to continue to work on developing our gross motor skills. During group time, we read the Eric Carle book “From Head to Toe” to kick off our theme for this month: “All About Me.”
{Miss Sarah}
The Early 3’s class did so so soooo well today! I was very excited with how well the children sat at group time and listened. We practiced our line up procedure and quiet signal responses. During small group time, one group learned about our transportation center and how to clean up. Another small group learned about the restroom and how to wash hands. The other group worked on their fine motor skills with paper ripping. I taught them how to pinch the paper and pull to make it rip. We sang our ABC’s and our “We Like to Come to School” song. There is also a new routine we are working on with the children when they enter the classroom. They will be working on name recognition throughout the school year, so one of the ways to help them learn is by finding their name and matching it to the magnetic person with their face on it each day. (See photo below)
{Miss Sarah} 🙂
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!
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.
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: