Preschool

Word of the Week: “Dog”

• Discussing the difference between upper/lower case.
• Sound out what each letter in the word makes.
• Using lined paper and pencil to practice and strengthen fine motor skills by writing the word “Dog”.
• Practice name writing.

Activity of the Week!: Homemade Bird Feeder

Supplies:

• 1 pinecone or toilet paper roll
• String
• 1 big scoop of sun butter
• Seeds/nuts/or grain cereal

Instructions: Tie a string on either your pinecone or paper roll so that it will be able to hang from a tree. Then have your child spread on the sun butter covering the entire pinecone. After the pinecone is completely covered, you can roll it in bird seed or cereal. Next, have your child hang his/her bird feeder and watch the birds enjoy!

Another bonus activity can be turning an empty milk carton into a bird house by cutting a hole in the front then having your child decorate it and placing some birdseed inside the house before hanging it outside.

Preschool Resource:

This link comes from the same website as noted above. However, in this particular link the author describes how she transitioned and created a more “homeschool environment” inside her home. Her schedule loosely reflects the one we have in the Preschool Classroom. It is important to remember that especially during this stressful time there is no need to complete anything or feel that you need to exactly stay on schedule. There are many times, that as teachers we change the game plan or alter the daily routine to the adjustments of the children’s needs on any particular day. Going with the flow and emotions being expressed are the best way to navigate through a crazy day. No worries, if it doesn’t all go perfectly!

Greeting Families,

We hope everyone is doing well and have been able to do some of the Preschool activities at home. Along with the upcoming weeks curriculum, we have included some videos by Ms. Nana with special story times and demonstrations of activities, so please be sure to check those out.

Word of the Week: “Cat”.

• Discussing the difference between upper/lower case.
• Sound out what each letter in the word makes.
• Using lined paper and pencil to practice and strengthen fine motor skills by writing the word “Cat”.
• Practice name writing.

Activity of the Week: Easter Egg Dying

(Traditionally during this time, we would be preparing for our annual Easter Egg Hunt at school. The children love to decorate their own Easter bags using paint and stickers then hunting for the eggs that they decorated in our school backyard)

This egg dying activity below creates a fun surprise when the children dip their eggs in the color solution 😊

Supplies:

• Hard-boiled eggs
• Easter egg dye kit (or vinegar and food coloring)
• White crayon

After hard boiling your eggs let them cool and create your egg dye solution. Then have your child draw on the plain hard-boiled egg with just a white crayon (this is a great time to practice name writing on eggs or just draw silly patterns). Next, dip your egg in the dye solution and watch your design appear! Happy Easter!

Preschool Resource:

This amazing website is created by a special-needs teacher located in Australia. Soon after her two little ones were born, she decided to start practicing homeschooling by mixing both the Montessori and Reggio Emilia approach. There are reflective articles about home schooling and a myriad of educational and creative activities.

In the spirit of Easter, the link above will take you to a very simple macaroon recipe that you can do at home with your family.

Letter of the week!: “Zz”

• Discussing the difference between upper/lower case.
• What sound does letter “Zz” make.
• What words start with letter “Zz”.
• Using lined paper and pencil to practice and strengthen fine motor skills by writing upper and lower cause “Zz”.
• Practice name writing.

(Note: After we complete the alphabet, we would usually move the class onto simple spelling words such as “Cat” “Mom” “Dad” “Sun” “Ball”)

Activity of the Week!: Sprout House

(If you do not have all the materials at home for this project, you can simplify it to “Bean in a Bag Project”. We started this in the classroom before our break, but it is easy to pick it up at home. All you need is to pick out a dry bean and soak it in a wet paper towel, then hang it in a ZipLock bag on your window to watch it grow!)

*Sprout House Instructions:

(You will need):

• 4 plain sponges
• scissors
• toothpicks
• plate
• seeds: wheat berries, chia, or alfalfa seeds sprout quickly

Have your child cut up the sponges and using toothpicks, construct a house. Then after soaking your house in water for a minute, rub the seeds onto the sponges and watch grow!

Preschool Resource:

This link comes from the same website as noted above. However, in this particular link you will find inspiring ideas on how to use objects found in the home and manipulate them into math concepts.

Letter of the week: “Yy”

• Discussing the difference between upper/lower case
• What sound does letter “Yy” make
• What words start with letter “Yy”
• Using lined paper and pencil to practice and strengthen fine motor skills by writing upper and lower cause “Yy”
• Practice name writing

Activity of the Week: Alphabet Line Up - an alphabet matching game!

For this activity you would want to write each upper case letter on a single sheet of paper and tape the complete alphabet to the wall (one letter per sheet of paper). Then write each lower case letter on a sheet of paper. When completed, have your child match and tape the lower case letter to the upper case letter.

Preschool Resource: Wildflower Ramblings

This great website is created by a wonderful teacher that now home schools her young children. She has very thoughtful tips and ideas to keep the learning and artistic process excelling at home. This link directly correlates to our letter of the week curriculum and helps expand that concept outside the classroom.

At JDLC each child has their own writing journal and this link has great ideas on how to start one at home to help your child stay motivated about working on their letters and name writing.

Monday

• Letter of the Week!: “Xx”.
• Discussing the differences between upper/lower case.
• What sound does letter “Xx” make?
• What words start with letter “Xx”?
• Using line paper and pencil to practice and strengthen fine motor skills by writing upper and lower case “Xx”.
• Practice writing our names.

Tuesday

Life Cycle of a Butterfly!

Discussing the 4 stages of a butterfly:

• Egg
• Larva
• Pupa
• Adult

Creating the learning process through the child’s documentation of the life cycle.

Using different shaped pasta to represent each stage and having the child put them in order.

Wednesday

Water Wednesday!

During this raining time, children can place cups and buckets outside, and use measuring and math so see how much rain is collected.

• Go on rain walks.
• Create a mud kitchen in the yard for “cooking up some mud pies and mud cakes”
• Dig for worms and learn their body parts.
• “Paint the house” using just water and paint brushes outside.

Thursday

Art Day!

• Mix primary colors: “what colors will create a new color?”
• Fruit/Lego/ Block stamp art. Using the items at home to make prints with paint.
• Name tracing with paint
• Cutting old magazines or newspapers to strengthen fine motor skills and create collage art.
• Creating forts/houses out of old shipping boxes (small boxes could be used to make mini doll houses)

Friday

Fun Friday!

• Taking a walk around the neighborhood.
• Doing a cooking project.
• Having a Dance Party.
• Go Camping inside.

Monday

• Letter of the Week!: “Ww”.
• Discussing the differences between upper/lower case.
• What sound does letter “Ww” make?
• What words start with letter “Ww”?
• Using line paper and pencil to practice and strengthen fine motor skills by writing upper and lower case “Ww”.
• Practice writing our names.

Tuesday

Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day!

We have two activity planned for some St. Patrick’s Day fun!

1. Creating a leprechaun trap out of a box that your child can paint and decorate. Setting the box up while the child sleeps and placing gold coins or chocolate pieces inside the box, for wonderful surprise when they wake up!
2. Baking green sugar cookies for a yummy leprechaun treat.

[Recipe as follows]

• 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 ½ cups white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 drops of green food coloring
• Instructions

Step 1 - Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.

Step 2 - In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls, and place onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Step 3 - Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.

Enjoy!

Wednesday

Water Wednesday! (Typically, we use water tables for water sensory exploration, however you can set up pots/pans/bowls/cups filled with water at home)

• Filling your water vessels with water beads, soapy bubbles, bathtub toys, seashells or even toys that need a “good bath” is a great way to start a discussion on the science of why certain items “sink or float”. Also, depending on what items are placed in the water tables, topics that can be talked about include:
  • “What lives underwater?”
  • “Why do some animals live in fresh water and some salt water?”
  • “How do fish breathe underwater?”.
  • These are great jumping off points to get little minds busy!

Thursday

Art Day!

Thursday’s are usually based on Ms. Jenna’s curriculum, during this time we like to incorporate a book that relates to our art project. Art projects do not need to be completed in one day. We often like to have the children continue to work on a project for an entire week if they enjoy and stay interested in the subject matter.

As for the month of March, preschool has been discovering how plants grow. Some art ideas to incorporate at home can include:

• Painting with grass, flowers, leaves, sticks etc…
• Pressing flowers with contact paper
• Molding flowers out of play dough
• Leaf prints by pressing leaves and steams into clay, letting them dry and painting them later.
• Flower illustrations using paint, crayons, color pencils

Friday

Fun Friday!

Every Friday we enjoy a walk around our community and discuss about what and who we see.

Did we see the fire truck? What color was it? What shape was it? What do fire Firefighters do?

This a great time to talk about roles people have in the community, the weather, the shapes and colors surrounding our environment.