Our PreSchool Blog

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!

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!

Body awareness and gross motor movement are both extremely important at the preschool age. Children are developing and strengthening gross and fine muscles that create more opportunities for independence as well as abilities to hold a crayon properly and form letters and numbers. Today we touched on all three at once! The children worked on number recognition while tip-toeing the proper formation of 1, 2, 3. They had a ball! This is an easy game to play at home with any kind of tape on the floor!

Today in Early 3’s we learned the letter “Z” and its sound. We practiced our number recognition from 1 to 3. Our book for this week is “I Like Me.” Small Groups: Group #1 painted Z’s with black paint and marbles to make “Z is for Zebra.” Group #2 practiced writing out Z’s with magnetic dots. Group #3 practiced their one-to-one correspondence and fine motor skills with a peg board.

{Miss Sarah}

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.

The best way a child learns at an early age is through song or rhyme.  We introduced number formation 0-9 today through number rhymes.  We will be using these rhymes all year to help your child remember the proper way to write their numbers.  In a few weeks you will be recieving a packet of number formation rhymes along with a “squishy bag” so you an practice at home.  Remember, learning can be fun!