Our PreSchool Blog

We reviewed our numbers to 20 today and put them sequential order by creating a elephant number train.  The kids did a GREAT job!  Keep practicing numbers 11-20 at home!

A new month means a new theme!  This month, the children will be traveling to Africa.  We have transformed our room into our very own savannah, along with offering new activities in each center.  Today, we took the time to get acquainted with what’s new in our room.

The animal we focused on today was the jaguar.  Did you know that the jaguar is the largest of all of the cats in the rainforest?  These animals have so many spots, how could we ever count them?  Well, we did just that!  First, we put the spots in numerical order, which practiced our counting to 16 and number recognition skills.  Then, we glued the spots onto our jaguar.

We continued working on color words as well as patterning during our reading groups today.  Color words are a great addition to your basic sight word list if you child is ready!

Did you wear your green today??  Our room was full of green, white and yellow as we celebrated St. Patrick’s Day.  Our day started off with a visit from a wee little leprechaun who left us not only a highly guarded pot ‘o gold, but some leprechaun dust, his shoes and hat!!  We never did find him, but we sure enjoyed a piece of his chocolate coins.  Here are some fun facts about St. Patrick’s Day:

-Leprechauns stem from Irish folktale.  In Ireland, they are not associated with St. Patrick, which makes leprechauns an Americanized symbol of St. Patrick’s Day.

-St. Patrick is actually English.

-March 17 is the day of St. Patrick’s death, hence St. Patrick’s Day.

There are lots of unique dishes that come from Brazil, but none as tasty as biscoitos de maiz.  These cornmeal cookies are popular in Brazil, and easy to make.  The children enjoyed making this yummy Brazilian representation!

Biscoitos de Maiz (cornmeal cookies)

2 cups cornmeal

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2tsp salt

1 ½ sticks unsalted butter

¼ tsp vanilla extract

1. Place the cornflour, salt and sugar in a large mixing bowl and mix well.
2. Add the egg and vanilla and blend thoroughly then add the butter and mix well.
3. Set aside for 15 minutes to rest.
4. Preheat oven to 375.  Line 2-3 cookie sheets with parchment paper
5. Form the dough into 1-inch balls and place on the lined baking sheets, spreading well apart. Bake for 5 to 7 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.