Our Week of Color Explorations, Animal Sounds and Creative Thinking in Early Preschool!

Dear Parents,

We have had a wonderful week filled with fun and engaging activities that supported the children’s learning and social growth. It was great to see them share ideas, work together, and build friendships. We look forward to another exciting week ahead! Read on to see what we were up to…

Large Group

Our large group this week was fun, amazing, and full of excitement! Some days we gathered in our classroom, while on other days when the weather permitted, we enjoyed the refreshing outdoor area. We began with a discussion about the color red, exploring the red materials displayed on the board. The children were very engaged as we sang the song “Meet the Color Red”, followed by our cheerful Good Morning Song. We also took attendance together, which helps build a sense of belonging. To wrap up, we read the book “Little Lion Shares”, which encouraged the children to think about the importance of sharing and playing fairly with friends.

Gymnastics

Our gymnastics session this week was full of movement, laughter, and energy! The children enjoyed doing the activities together in a fun sequence — walking, jumping, and kicking.

We started by walking on the balance beam. Some children walked slowly and carefully, focusing on each step, while others moved quickly and confidently with big smiles on their faces. This activity helped them improve their balance, coordination, and concentration.

After that, they moved on to jumping in and out of the hula hoops. The children were very excited, and they showed different styles of jumping — some jumped high and far with both feet, while others hopped carefully one step at a time. Their friends clapped and encouraged them, which made the activity even more joyful. It was wonderful to see their confidence grow as they tried again and again! After this, the students got active with a delightful round of kicking practice. Each child had a chance to kick the ball into a goal. Every time someone scored, their classmates celebrated with cheers and clapping. This made the children feel proud of themselves and also helped them learn about teamwork and supporting one another.

Since the activities — walking, jumping, and kicking — were all done together in one session, the children had the opportunity to use their whole bodies, develop strength, and enjoy active play. Most importantly, they practiced patience, turn-taking, and cooperation while having so much fun.

Art

Our art session this week was connected to our focus color — red. To make the activity meaningful, we prepared a paper with the outline of an apple. Inside the apple, the space was empty so the children could fill it with their own creative work.

Each child was given a piece of red paper to tear or cut into small pieces using their hands. This simple step gave us the chance to observe their fine motor skills, hand strength, and control. At the same time, it encouraged them to recognize and use the color red in a fun way. We were happy to see that many of our students are now beginning to recognize red on their own.

After preparing the small red pieces, the children were given glue. They carefully spread glue inside the apple outline and then placed the red pieces onto the paper, filling the apple shape. Step by step, their apples began to look bright and colorful. The  activity was not only about art, but also about building fine motor skills, practicing patience, and strengthening color recognition. The children enjoyed the process and were proud of their finished apples, which turned into a beautiful display of their learning about the color red.

Literacy

Our literacy session this week was full of enthusiasm and learning! We took the children outside of the classroom to enjoy an active activity. Laminated pictures of different animals were placed in front of the children, and then we played the sounds of the animals one by one. After listening carefully, the children were asked to pick the picture of the animal that matched the sound.

The children were very excited and focused, listening closely to each sound. Some of them quickly picked the right animal, while others took a little more time to think before choosing. It was wonderful to see how they used their listening skills, memory, and thinking to connect sounds with pictures. The  activity also encouraged turn-taking, patience, and confidence as each child had a chance to participate. The children showed great teamwork by clapping and cheering when their friends picked the correct animal. We noticed that many of them are starting to name the animals and even tried to copy the animal sounds, which made the session even more fun.

Through this activity, the children practiced important literacy skills — listening, identifying, and connecting sounds with words and pictures. At the same time, it gave them an enjoyable way to expand their vocabulary, improve their communication, and strengthen their understanding of the world around them.

Library

Our library session this week was filled with excitement and joy for reading. We began by reading the children’s favorite story, “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” — a book that every student knows and enjoys. The children happily joined in, repeating the words and predicting what would come next in the story. Afterwards, the children had the chance to take turns reading books by themselves. Some looked through the pictures carefully and told the story in their own words, while others shared what they understood with their friends. It was wonderful to see them talking about the books, asking questions, and showing interest in one another’s choices.

To end the session, each child had the opportunity to choose a book to take home. This gave them a sense of responsibility and pride in caring for their book, as well as excitement to share reading moments with their families.

Math

In our math session this week, we focused on exploring the color red in a fun and interactive way. We began our activity by singing a cheerful “red color song”, which immediately caught the children’s attention and set a joyful tone for learning. The song helped the children warm up, connect with the theme, and get excited about discovering red all around them.

After the song, we provided the children with a variety of red objects and materials such as blocks, balls, toy cars, cups, and building shapes. Each child had the chance to pick up an item, say its name out loud, and recognize its color. This gave them the opportunity to build vocabulary, practice clear communication, and reinforce their color recognition skills.

Next, we encouraged the children to line up all the red items one by one. They were very enthusiastic about putting the materials in order, and we guided them to notice how the items could be arranged from big to small, soft to hard, or tall to short. This step not only strengthened their sorting and organizing skills, but also introduced them to early math concepts like classification, sequencing, and size comparison in a very simple, hands-on way.

To make the activity more engaging, we asked guiding questions such as:

“What red item did you choose?”

“Is your object big or small?”

“Can we count how many red things we have all together?”

The children excitedly counted the items with us, showing how math can be playful and joyful when connected to their world of colors.

We ended the session by reviewing all the red objects and celebrating their effort with claps and smiles. The activity was a wonderful blend of math, language, and color exploration, helping the children strengthen both their cognitive and social skills while having lots of fun.

Next Week’s Schedule:

     Small Group

Monday Gymnastics

Tuesday Literacy

Wednesday Music

Thursday Math

Friday Science

     Work Time

Tuesday -Art

Thursday -Library

Friday- Ethiopian Center once in two week

Reminders:

• Every Wednesday is art day, so please send your child with art appropriate clothing.

• Every Monday is library day,  so we will be sending a book that your child picked from our library, which will be returned after a week on library day.

Have a nice weekend!