School!

This week we introduced the children to different things we will be using throughout the school year like glue, scissors, and watercolors.  I love letting the children discover and paint with watercolors!  They love seeing the colors "wake up" as they get their pallet wet.  We will paint more specific pictures later in the year, but this time they just got to paint a plain white paper however they wanted to.  Painting is a calming activity that fosters creativity and strengthens their dexterity.

We introduced Elmer's glue to the children, which we call "Magic Glue" since it magically rubs off if they get it on their fingers as they're working.  They all love the idea of "Magic Glue!"  This project helped them learn the first letter of their name.  It also was a great way to work on those little fine motor skills as they practiced picking one sequin up at a time.  They were very pleased with their colorful, sparkly letter and they all did a great job!

These children really enjoyed playing with our magnetic numbers and letters.  What a fun way to practice letters and colors!

Playing during centers each day of preschool helps the children work on social skills like sharing and taking turns.  It is also a time when we work on learning through play.  That is the best way for children to learn!

This beautiful fall weather has been so enjoyable for recess!  Although we go outside during all the seasons, fall is a perfect time to play outside!

These cute kids were enjoying a story together.  I love reading to them!  Stories and books come alive when you're a preschooler!  And it's fun to see how much they enjoy the stories.  

We've learned the letters "I" and "S" so far and the numbers "1" and "2."  Be sure to point these out as you read with your child or as you see these letters around the house.  Reinforcing what we learn in preschool is the most effective way for your children to learn!

First Week of Preschool!

What a wonderful start to our year!  The beginning of the school year is so fun to get to know all our new students!  What sweet little ones we have in our preschool this year!

We have expanded our preschool and are using our new classroom this year for some of our classes!



 Dressing up is an exciting part of being a kid!  Pretending and imaging is important for little minds as they try new things!



Ms. Rebecca is our newest head teacher for one of our Pre-Kindergarten classes.  She studied at BYU and has a lot of great experience with children.  She is creative, loving, intuitive, and a wonderful teacher!
This week Franklin the turtle came to visit our classes and let them know that he felt nervous when he started school too.  The kids love when puppets come to life! : )

 I love these pictures!  I love when children are free to express themselves and I love when kids just enjoy looking through books!

At the beginning of each class, the children start their preschool day learning through play.  We work a lot on social skills during this time as the children play together and practice using words to let their classmates know they would like a turn.  This is also a time to practice independence since the children get to choose what they play with and if they want to play independently.

Going outside every day is important to continue our learning in a different setting.  Lots of sharing, taking turns, running, being loud, experiencing nature, and having fun!

We also practice manners and enjoy friendship as we sit down and have a snack together each day too!

This week we talked about how as we work together as a team in our classes, we can do lots of great things together.  We practiced this teamwork by helping each other put puzzles together.  As the children worked on fitting the pieces together, they helped each other and enjoyed seeing when all their pieces fit together.  We hope you will promote more puzzle time at home too! 

We are off to a great start this year!

Farm Animals!!

For our last summer camp this year we learned about farm animals!  

We learned "Little Boy Blue" this week.  We have the various parts of this rhyme printed on little cards which we put in the correct order to help us learn the rhyme.  This gave us a good opportunity to talk about first and last and what was in the middle and what would come next.  Sequencing stories and rhymes or familiar activities is important for children to learn order and figure out what comes next.  

The children also made their own little book of "Little Boy Blue."  They cut and colored and put them in the correct order.

 We also learned the letter "F" for "Farm"!  The all did a great job writing the uppercase and lowercase letter!  These kids were so proud of themselves as they wrote these letters.  I love kids' enthusiasm to learn and improve their abilities!

   We sang "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" and enjoyed making the sounds of the many animals on the farm!  We also made a cute cow craft for one of our projects this week.  

 They had a great time pretending to be cows and chewing on the "grass" in the preschool!  I love children's imaginations!

These cuties decided to make their cows dance to a little instrumental music as they waited for their moms to pick them up! : )

 Working together to put farm puzzles together!

 This book, "Farm Parade!" was so fun to read and pull out the long parade of farm animals together!

 Reading farm animal stories together!  I love when children develop a love for books!  Be sure to take a few minutes each day to read to your child!  They will fall in love with books and learning if  you do!

 This little class played memory match with farm animals!  Memory match is such a good game for these young children to practice remembering where things are and waiting for their turn.

These children had a great time building farm buildings and ponds and whatever else they could think of!

It's always sad to see the fun of summer camps come to an end.  It's hard to believe school starts in just 2 weeks!  Looking forward to another great year!