Our PreSchool Blog

Helping promote the recognition of healthy emotions in the toddler classroom

Today at group time we learned the song “5 Little Pumpkins Sitting on a Gate”.  We are also talking about the color orange this month so it was fun to talk about the color of the pumpkins!  The shape we are focusing on this month is a triangle.  The kids loved playing the pumpkin face game by telling me what shapes I  should use for the face of the pumpkins.  The concepts of “happy” and “sad” are also important to talk about with children at this age.  The children laughed when I made one pumpkin a happy pumpkin and the other pumpkin a sad pumpkin.

Below is the song we learned today so you can sing it at home!

“5 Little Pumpkins Sitting on a Gate”

5 Little pumpkins sitting on a Gate,

The first one said “Oh my it’s getting late!”

The second one said “There are witches in the Air!”

The third one said “But we don’t care!”

The fourth one said “Let’s run and run and run!”

The fifth one said “I’m ready for some fun!”

Ohhhh Ohhhh went the wind!

And OUT went the lights!

Then five little pumpkins rolled out of sight!

learning about our firefighters

This month we are learning about community helpers.  This week we are talking about fire fighters and how they help us.  The kids love dressing up and playing the role of a fire fighter who saves the day!  One of the best parts is putting on the special fire boots!  I’m pretty sure Connor and Melanie spent the whole class time walking around in those boots!

putting out the flames

This week our sensory table was transformed into a place where firefighters are needed!  There were huge red flames in the table and the children’s jobs were to squirt the flames with water to put them out.  Not only it is fun to squirt water out of the bottles but it is also good practice for strengthening the muscles in the children’s hands.

There are so many fun ways to learn about colors at this age.  The toddlers are so excited during group time to play color matching games.  Their independence seems to grow with every day they come to school!  The best part of group time is when they get to come up to the magnet board to have that proud moment of accomplishment where they show us where something goes.

Independent color sorting

Exploring texture at the sensory table

At this age, children LOVE to pour and dump things out as I’m sure you have experienced at your own homes! The sensory table is a great oppurtunity for them to practice these skills.  This week the children have been able to play with packing peanuts.  In addition to pouring and dumping, they are able to explore the texture and weight of this fun new activity.

THE ARTIST AT WORK IN PREPARATION FOR THE TOTS ART SHOW NOVEMBER 13, 2009

What could be more fun than taking paint and splattering it all over your paper!  The toddlers had so much fun making their creative masterpieces this morning with all kinds of paint and a big mess at the end!  These special pieces of art were inspired by the artist Jackson Pollock and will be shown at our Art Show in November.

It is always an exciting day when Ms. Joanie stops by!  The kids danced happily along side  the beat of Ms. Joanie’s drum, clapping their hands and stomping their feet.  It proved to be another musical extravaganza!  Everybody got a chance to build their own beat on Ms. Joanie’s Drum and the kids loved it!

Miss Joanie with another great exercise for the kids to learn tempo and rhythm

Color recognition is learned quickly through the use of color mats and sorting.

Today we used a color sorting mat to practice color recognition and sorting.  The children loved taking the special items out of their containers and placing them with the correct color circle.  From brown footballs to yellow bananas to green frogs, the toddlers enjoyed playing and sorting with these fun items!

Group time with the Toddlers

It is only the third week of school and it is amazing to see how well the children sit so patiently at group time!  This morning we read a story about sharing with our friends and talked about how to be a good friend.  We also played a fun game on the magnetic board by putting different color crayons in the corresponding pockets of the overalls.  The kids loved getting their turn to go up to the board!

The children were excited today during group time when Elmo came to visit with his friend Dorothy the Fish.  Dorothy will be surprising the kids each week with a special letter on her fish bowl.  Elmo helped us count to three as we unveiled the mystery letter “L”.  Apart from touching and feeling, the toddlers will also “see” the various physical differences between the different letters and quickly begin to recognize the new letters each week.  We will be focusing on letter recognition and letter sounds as we sing and learn with Elmo and Dorothy!

Dorothy the fish introduces our toddlers to the new letter this week