Only Fun and Games Around Here!

Pirate Pete Preschool is always full of fun and games but this week we really meant it!  After hearing from two great stars of the week, we turned all kinds of learning into all kinds of fun and games.

We had some great times out in the hallway in the morning and afternoon preschools as we set up various obstacle courses this week and even used one for pre-reading activities! 

Students were given a word and a path to follow and as they walked along their path they picked up letters to create the final word at the end of the line.

We had scooter races and played basketball too.  Even a little of the old fashioned 'Bozo Buckets'.  
Who knew you could have so much fun before even entering the room!


We mixed up some fun science experiments with cornstarch and water and the afternoon had color races.  (As they predicted the green color won, "because it means go."

We checked out what our sponges can do by playing with how much water they could hold after we squeezed them as hard as we could.  

We also tested the sound of a jar holding a lot of water against a jar holding a little water. We listened to see which jars made a high noise and which made a low noise.  Then, we took turns hitting the different jars with metal, wood and plastic spoons to hear the different sounds they make.  Lastly, we enjoyed taking turns closing our eyes and guessing which jar our teacher or friend hit with certain spoons.  It was a great day for science!

One of our final experiments started with teachers freezing water in bowls and placing that frozen water into bins.  We sprinkled salt onto the tops of the frozen water then the kids took turns picking different water colored paint and dripping it over the top of the ice to watch it dissolve and mix up over the ice.  

If you wanted to try it at home, use food coloring if you don't have watercolors handy.

Remember, this week we had to play A LOT of games!  We have I Spy BINGO and the kids were able to take turns calling out things for their friends to search for on their BINGO cards.

We also have many file folder games about sports, spring, animals, you name it!  

We played with play dough and used geometric shapes to build a variety of pictures like cars, frogs, butterflies, planes, rockets, etc.  We even enjoyed putting on puppet shows for each other and making movies on Mrs. Stary's iPad.

We worked on puzzles on our own as well as working as a team on 25 piece Disney puzzles. Way to go Pirates!

Then, we used our fine motor skills further with jewelry making. Creating bracelets and necklaces for ourselves, family or friends out of beads, fruit loops or noodles. 

Though there were many games played, sometimes we needed to rest and enjoy a story or two. We heard books read to us from our teachers and used the Disney Storytime app to read a story about Mike and Sully from Monster's Inc. in the afternoon. 
This app was used in the morning last semester during Disney week so we wanted to share with the afternoon preschoolers this semester.  If your child enjoys a variety of Disney tales, this app offers some for free you can read with your child too! 

We needed to practice writing our letters as many children are getting ready for kindergarten but with this being such a fun week, we didn't just work with crayons only!  
While we wrote with crayons for some of our lessons, we also practiced writing with Q-Tips and paint to change things up and make them more...FUN!



We used the app, Letter School and took turns writing our capitol letters with our fingers on the iPad with the class watching to help read what letters would be 'drawn' next.  Then, we wrote some of the letters we did on the app in shaving cream on trays.  A messy task but someone had to do it! Ha!

Besides games with shapes and sorting colors of beads and counting them to see which color each table had the most of after sorting those beads, we made turtle shells by cutting all kinds of shapes and numbers and gluing them onto our shells.  
To challenge our 5 year-olds, we asked them to count by 5's on their shells.  It helped get them thinking on a higher level as they practice skills they will see next year in school.







Sequencing things by first, second and third is an important critical thinking skill for anyone to start working on.  One of our other math games did just that.  
You can do it at home when you cook with your child, when you get ready to color with your child or even when you head out to go to the store.  Try getting into the car without putting on your coats or shoes.  The look on their face as they tell you you are going in the 'wrong order' will make learning this skill fun (and silly).

We had fun with art this week as we finger painted and marble painted.  
The finger paintings showed us flowers, pets, games and "just colors" while our marble paintings were more about choosing how many paint covered marbles to enter into the tray as they rocked it back and forth.

One last thing.  Did you know a capitol B doesn't look like a lower case b?  Many preschoolers don't either.  So, why not make up a game where they match the ice cream B with the ice cream cone b?  This is just what we did this week as we 'treated' the kids to some 'sweet' learning!

What's Coming Up?

Next week we will be finding out what the children want to be when they grow up.  

Remember we will be taking 'school pictures' on Monday, April 14th with our make up day being on April 16th.  The Class Photo will be on Monday the 14th.  We will give you a copy of your child's 'school photo' and a copy of the class photo at graduation.

There will be NO PRESCHOOL on these two dates in April:

Friday, April 18th (Non-attendance day)
Wednesday, April 23rd (PSAE Exams at PHS)