Our PreSchool Blog

Today the Toddlers molded and manipulated homemade playdoh using spring cookie cutters at the morning art table!

Today the Toddlers finger painted pet snakes. The boys and girls loved feeling the cold and slimy paint run through their fingers. We made sure to wear our smocks so we did not get paint on our clothes!

Since we’ve been talking about water, we couldn’t leave out the ocean and all of the creatures that call it home! During group time we read “Mister Seahorse” by Eric Carle. The boys and girls were fascinated by the hidden fish in the pictures. During art center, we reviewed our colors and the boys and girls used their fine motor skills to sponge paint all over the paper. They loved the mess they were making and we loved the product that came out… check out our very own Mr. Seahorse!

Summer has yet to make it’s official arrival, however, the weather has fooled us!  To kick off the season to come, we made Summer Fruit Pizza.  This delicious, kid friendly recipe was a blast to make, and even more fun to eat!

Summer Fruit Pizza:

Pillsburry pizza dough

Cream Cheese

Blueberries, strawberries, kiwi, bananas, and mandarin oranges

Directions:

1. Bake pizza crust according to package directions

2. Cut up fruit while pizza dough is cooking

3. Spread cooked dough with cream cheese, and then top with cut up fruit

The very last vowel that we have been working on this month is the letter A.  Today, the children worked with the letter A in several ways.  They had the opportunity to write the letter, point out words that began with the /a/ sound, compare that capital and lowercase, along with creating their very own wooden letter A’s (that are at school drying!).  It was an A+ day!

With Easter just around the corner, we, fittingly, used our cooking day to dye Easter eggs!  The children had the option of drawing on their egg before dying it or just dipping it into a variety of fun Easter colors.  Once our eggs looked egg-stra perfect, the boys and girls learned about how to hard boil an egg.  Looking at the difference between a hard boiled egg and a raw egg, the children decided hard boiled looked much more appetizing!  They got to put their taste buds to the test when each one had the opportunity to crack open their own hard boiled egg, slice it up, and eat it.  It was a delicious experience!

Throughout the year, we have been learning about different country’s habitats.  Everything from the tundra of Greenland to the Great Barrier Reef of Australia taught us how different animals thrive in different living conditions.  This month, we had the zoo come in for a special visit.  This time, we got to pet a baby alligator and a hedgehog!  We learned that alligators like to live in dirty water (yuck!), and hedgehogs live in sand.

A cooking day is upon us once again!  The weather has turned and it’s time to head outside and enjoy the sun and warmth.  Here is an easy snack to put together and bring on those long walks, hikes or car rides:

Talkin’ Trail Mix:

Ingredients:

1 cup Chex Mix

1/2 cup pumpkin seeds

1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup yogurt rasins

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup almonds (we did not use these in our mixture today)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

On a foil lined baking sheet, combine almonds, pumpkin seeds, and coconut. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until coconut is golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool thoroughly.  Combine all of the ingredients into a bowl, mix and enjoy!

In the rainforest, there are lots of animals that use their tails for practical purposes.  One example is the monkey.  Monkey’s swing from tree to tree using their tails.  Today, Miss Krista, our zoo animal expert, introduced us to two animals that have significant uses for their tails.

Meet Angelina: She is a type of bird called a galaf.  She likes to be in trees with bright pink flowers.  She eats seeds, nuts and fruits.  Her tail has two uses: to balance in trees and to help slow her down to land when she is flying.

Meet Cornflower:  He is a blue tongued lizard.  He uses his tongue to smell.  He eats flies, worms, flowers and loves snails!  His tail is used to help him climb rocks.

Our memory is a muscle that is constantly at work.  Using different tactile ways to learn how to write helps to strengthen motor memory.  Today, the children used sandpaper to write their numbers.  They put a piece of paper over the sandpaper and wrote the numbers one through six.  Each child took their sandpaper home to practice with.  It can also be used for letters.