Our PreSchool Blog

The kids had fun this afternoon in the sensory table filling presents and matching the right lids to the right presents.  They were using their imaginations to fill the presents with toy cars, dolls, trucks and many other things!  

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.

As a farewell to Fall and the month of October, the PreK class explored the interesting parts of some of our classroom’s pumpkins. We opened up some of our Science Center’s ghords and pumpkins and learned about each one of their different parts. From the gooey pulp inside and the curving ribbed lines outside, we really enjoyed taking a closer look at the pumpkins. Once we  were finished exploring the kids were given lables and their own picture of a pumpkin. Together we takled about all of its parts and put each lable next to its corresponding part. We also have our pumpkins and ghords in the sensory table this week, the children can have one last chance to scoop out the seeds and gooey insides!

taking inventory

the anatomy of a pumpkin

This week we have some creepy, crawly, colorful spiders in our sensory table. There are over 100 spiders hiding in the table and the children love searching for the small creatures. Once they’ve found a colorful spider they place it in the corresponding color bucket with the tongs. This spooky spider activity is great for a our fine motor skills!

introduction to mathematics and sequencing using patterns

The preschoolers had a howling good time today when they used the halloween cards to create different patterns.  We created AB patterns along with AAB patterns. Most children were able to extend the pattern I created, independently.  The next step is for the children to create and extend their own patterns.  We will continue patterning in math through the end of October.  They are doing a GREAT job.  Keep practicing at home…and have fun!  Helpful Hint:  Use the upcoming BUCKETFUL of halloween candy, before you begin to pass it out to the trick-or-treaters, to create yummy patterns (i.e. nerds-candy bar-lollipop; nerds-candy bar-lollipop; nerds-candy bar-lollipop).

treasure hunting at the sensory table

This week we have added rice and colorful jewels to our sensory table!  The kids have loved feeling the texture of the rice and sorting through it to find the shiny and colorful jewels!  We had quite a crowd at the sensory table today scooping and dumping the rice over and over again!  The rice was used for many different things today.  Some kids were “building houses” while others were “cooking different foods.”  The jewels were also a big hit for finding “treasure” and talking about the different colors.

sorting ourselves by hair length, shoes by color and frogs by pattern

We had a ball on Friday sorting on our giant math grid.  We sorted our shoes by color and type of closure.  We sorted frogs by the patterns on their backs and size.  We also sorted geometric pattern blocks by color, shape and number of sides.  And for the finale we sorted OURSELVES!  We sorted ourselves by hair color, type of clothes we were wearing (pants vs. skirts), and hair length…Pre-K sorting activities are easy to incorporate into your child’s everyday play. You have so many opportunities to practice sorting with your child.  Your child probably does some of it naturally- putting green blocks together, lining up matchbox cars, or putting farm animals in a play barn. Click the first picture for some other great sorting ideas to do at home.