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.

We are working hard with our letters!  We are learning to recognize them, name them, give their sounds, and build them.

Before we start learning to write letters it is important for children to really know what a letter looks like, and what kinds of lines it contains.  So for example, uppercase A is made of only straight lines but lowercase a is made of a curved line and a straight line.

We work hard to learn to build them the correct way, to make the transition to writing them much easier.  Starting at the top and going down is always important!

We continued our letter Ss study while building our hand strength in small groups!  Continuing to develop large and small muscle strength in the hands and forearms is extremely important during the preschool years.  When the large and small muscles of the forearm and hand are slow to develop, weakness and incoordination may result.  The large muscles of the forearm may overcompensate for weak inner hand muscles.  As a result, the child will find ways to hold, pinch and grip small objects in awkward ways.  By now your little ones should have transitioned from their fist grip on their writing utensils into a more developed grip.  Find the age appropriate pencil grip development chart here.  If you notice that your child shows signs of awkward grips, never hesitate to contact their teacher.  Click on the picture below for easy activities to build fine motor strength and hand strength at home.

We have introduced smaller writing utensils to continue to strengthen different fine motor muscles. Developmentally our preschoolers are ready to try controlling those muscles while tracing smaller letters as well. We are also working on writing our names without lines to trace.

We focused on independent letter formation and orientation during our sight word study today.  What an amazing job they did!  I’m so very proud of their hard work and perseverance.  They are on their way to becoming independent writers ready for Kindergarten.

The preschoolers traced their names this morning. We learned proper letter formation and practiced letter sounds. We focused on using the correct grip and  recognizing our own names.

The preschoolers worked out identifying their letters and numbers today. Next, they traced the letter or number with their finger while erasing it. This is great formation and fine motor practice. Have fun playing at home!

We introduced letter formation through pre-writing lines in sand. Tracing in sand or various substances creates a sensory connection to help little ones remember letters and numbers. This is a fun and easy way to explore at home too!