Early Preschool Insight

Dear parents,

We had a wonderful Easter week! We welcomed a new student named Clémence into our group. Our group is getting bigger and more diverse. Now we have ten kids in the group.

Large group

This week’s major events for the large group were:

Books – this weeks' most requested book to be read was “when it’s bedtime.” Since all the kids wanted to listen to the bedtime story from the book, they all gathered up when we started to read the book. Dominic, Noah, and Nolawi are the biggest fans of this book. Some of the other books we read this week include “red riding hood,” “night sky.”

Songs- this week we sang the hello song every day during large group and all the kids started to sing along and say hello to all of their friends by calling their names. Some of the other songs we sang were the “Ali Baba farm” song, “wheels on the bus,” and “down by the bay.”

Message board – this week’s message board had three specific messages. The first message was about zoo phonics animals and the silly ways we can use them and at the same time practice the sounds we make and the stories behind them. The second was about math and social issues. We talked about patterns and numbers. On the social issues, we talked about how we can play respectfully and the upcoming events, such as Easter and Art Auction.

One of the most exciting large groups we did last week was on Thursday. We were excited to be joined by the kindergarten and pre k classes to decorate the Easter eggs. We got together with those groups and painted the eggs using food coloring. Then we hide the eggs and after snack, all the kids pretended to be bunnies and went out for the Easter egg hunt. It was fun!

Small group explorations

Math: on Monday we continued our activity with numbers. We explored with numbering cards to identify number digits and values. We used number cards, print out numbers and floor mats numbers to match and identify the numbers. Since the kids were introduced to the activity last week, it was easier for them to spot the right numbers. By the end of the activity, we introduced numbers 10 and 11.

Our next math activity will be shapes and how many sides they have.

Science – on Tuesday science exploration, we went outside to check on the carrots we planted weeks ago. We have noticed that the seed sprouted and the shoot is coming out from the ground and its growing leaves. So we talked about what we could do to make it grow even bigger. The kids suggested watering it, and we suggested to mark the places where the carrots grow using Pop sickle sticks so other kids won’t stamp on it.

Next week we are planning to make a volcano using soda and candy.

Literacy Thursdays – This week we practiced our writing skills using markers. We asked the kids to practice their writing skills by drawing lines and circles; then we asked them to choose their favorite zoo-phonics animals and practice writing their names on a separate sheet.

Next week we are planning to continue this activity.