Our PreSchool Blog

One-to-One Correspondence

Practicing Uppercase M & N

Do You Eat Grass?

We started full swing today after our Thanksgiving Break.  We began a new book this week called, “Do you eat grass?”  We focused on one-to-one correspondence, comprehension, and sight word recognition during our first reading today.  We also began working on writing our numerals from one to ten.  We will continue working on this skill during the month of December.  Consider practicing at home to help support our learning in the classroom.  We also focused on the letter Mm during our writing small group with Miss Katie.  The kids did a great job….keep working on those homework folders!

A turkey is a funny bird

The children have been using bright and beautiful water colors to create turkey feathers.  This week we have been talking about the Thanksgiving holiday and they couldn’t wait to create their own turkeys! Here is a song we have been singing that you can try to sing at home!

(to the tune of “Pop Goes the Weasel”)

A Turkey is a funny bird

His head goes Wobble, Wobble

He only knows one word…

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble!

Dancing Moon and Running Deer came to visit us today to teach us all about the Southwest Native Americans.  We had the opportunity to pop the dry corn kernals off the cob and grind them on a matate.  A matate is the large stone on which the grain is placed. A mano is a smaller stone used to grind corn or other grains. It is rolled over the matate to break down the grains into a powder.  The powder is then used to cook many different things with.  We talked about all the different uses the native americans had for corn then we husked our own piece of cooked corn and enjoyed it as a snack.

Running Deer showed us all of the different types of tools and weapons that were used to hunt and provide food for the native american families.  We also got to see and feel a real deer fur and antlers along with a fox fur and skunk fur!  We explored and dressed up in native american jewelry and clothing and had a chance to make our very own piece of jewelry.  We learned that native americans would have used many different things to make their jewelry including shells, feathers, animal claws other things they would find in the area where they lived.

We learned that native americans did not have books like we do, they had “storytellers,” or people in their tribe that told stories to the young children.  These stories always had a lesson that the children could learn.  Dancing moon told us the story about “How Chipmunk Got His Stripes.”  It was an exciting story that taught us that we should not tease others or to brag about ourselves.  We will be reading other Native American Folk tales later in the week, including How Jackrabbit Got His Long Ears and Kissing Coyotes.  The preK children got to listen to a story on tape about another native american legend…The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush.

sensory table colored pasta

This week our sensory table is full of colorful noodles! The kids have been digging their hands in this colorful pasta and scooping and dumping it!  They have been using spoons to scoop the noodles into the bowls and pretend they are making soup!  Since all of the noodles are different colors this has been a great way to practice our color recognition as well!

N is for necklace

This afternoon at group time we learned the letter “N”.  For our art project today we made necklaces for the letter “N”.  Here you can see Rutva, Caroline and Connor working so hard at stringing the beads onto their necklaces.  They did a wonderful job working with those fine motor skills to make beautiful necklaces!

Here are some of our Early 3’s children working hard at their scissor skills!  They are cutting their paper into little pieces and sorting the scraps by color.  They are really coming a long way with their scissors!

scissor skills and shape sorting

children created and extended their own patterns

Our focus in math during the month of November is patterning.  The children were introduced to patterning last year during their preschool classes and this year the children are creating their own patterns and extending them independently.  The children used different types of manipulatives today to create various patterns.  Some children were still most comfortable doing a simple AB pattern based on color while some children created more complicated patterns based on size or type of animal (using the pet manipulatives set).  Using everyday objects in the kitchen are a great way to reinforce patterning at home.

Using a Toothpick to Poke "Stars" into our Number Eight

Number Eight Constellations at the Light Table

Our focus this week is the number 8.  The children sat on the floor, placed their paper on the carpet, and used their fine motor muscles to poke holes through the paper along the lines of the number using a toothpick. This is a prewriting activity which allows the preschoolers to begin understanding the skill of writing.  We began at the top of the number (just as we would if we were writing the number with a pencil) and worked our way around to “write” the number.  When they were done, they took their papers to the light table to see the tiny stars in the shape of their number eight revealed.  This is an easy activity to be done at home with letters, names, shapes, or numbers.  You can give your child a flashlight and help them project the object on the wall!

sand painting the letter "Bb"

Today and the rest of this week we will continue to focus on the letter Bb. The preschoolers used small paint brushes to paint their upper and lower case Bb’s with sticky glue. We talked about the shape of the letter and of course the sound that the letter Bb says. Once the letters were completely painted with glue we sprinkled them with bright blue sand. Using several different approaches in our letter Bb practice allows us to have repeated exposure to the letter and therefore better recognition. Not to mention, we’re having fun doing so!