Dino-mite Preschool Fun

We went back in time this week to the land of dinosaurs and had a roaring good time!  

Since the word dinosaur starts with letter D our first project was to make a dinosaur out of the letter D!  The kids had a great time cutting out the heads, scales and tales and gluing them onto their letter D's on Monday.

We focused on number recognition and object recognition with amounts as we counted dinosaurs and then had to find the correct number that corresponds with the amount in that row.  When counting with your children at home, the store, anywhere, please be sure to help your child touch the objects and count slowly.  It's age appropriate for them to want to just guess the amount and race through counting to a set number in their head as opposed to the amount shown so help them get into good mathematical practices by touching the objects to help them keep track of the amounts they see.

We reviewed some 'old favorite' songs this week and watched some sing along dino tunes as well.  If you are looking for songs our preschoolers enjoy, search for anything by Dr. Jean, the kids (and teachers) enjoy "Tooty Ta" and "We're Going on a Bear Hunt."  Later in the year you will see more posts about music and fun songs the kids enjoy.

For one of our science activities this week, we became archaeologists  when the children were able to break open some fossils we made with Crayola Kraft Dough (ahead of time) then the kids were given 'scrapers' (forks) and (toy) hammers to break open the fossils and find dinosaurs to take home.  They also then were given that same clay, which was still soft, and they were able to make fossils themselves using the dinosaurs they found in class.

We talked about what animals are born in eggs and then made a take-away art project where the children were able to make a 'dino-egg' that opened to show the baby dinosaur inside to help them remember our discussions in class.

We had a visitor thanks to Dino Dan and his pterodactyl.  There are many Dino Dan apps but this one shows a pterodactyl fling around the room and as we put it on our big screen, the kids loved trying to catch it as it 'flew' around the room.  Check it out on your phone or ipad!

We made brachiosaurus with paper plates as well and had a good time deciding what eyes to add to it and what color to make them.  With a little cut here and glue there, the circle plates turned into terrific dinos!

There are great dinosaur apps for kids to get to be archaeologists at home and learn more about dinosaur names and the correct way to pronounce them.  Puzzles and matching games are out there as well but the archaeology game was the class favorite for the week.


We had a great Star of the Week presented and a special guest this week as well!  The school nurse came by on Friday and will return again on Monday and Wednesday for hearing and vision tests.  She introduced the machine to the children and then let them play the listening game with me while I put the headphones on and listened for the beeps as the took turns pushing the button to make the noise for me.  After that, as the day went on, we brought the kids to our kitchen with a friend as they listened for the beeps for the hearing game.  Monday she will be coming back for our vision tests and will do make ups where needed.  Once I have the paperwork from her, I'll be sending you copies for your records.

What's Coming Up?

This week we will have preschool Monday and Wednesday with Friday off for the Thanksgiving Holiday.  We will be talking about Thanksgiving this week and have many fun things in store for the kids.

Registration for our Spring Afternoon Session is in full swing so please pass along this link for Mailing List Sign Up as we take names for the MWF session running from 1:00 - 2:30.

Don't forget the $200 tuition for the Spring AM Session is due by December 6th and follow me on Pinterest or Twitter for more ideas you can do at home with your kids about any and all of our themes for this year in preschool!