Family Matters

We are just like family at Pirate Pete Preschool and this week we were able to learn more about each other and what goes on at home.  We talk about how we are all alike and how we are different which helps to build connections for the children and teachers alike.

In honor of Mother's Day, we took time to learn more about grandparents and parents as we talked about, read about and made projects for various people in our lives we deem special.  After hearing from one of our last Stars of the Week we got right into making a project for the tea lovers in our lives with a teacup and note to send home.

In the afternoon we took a large spin on the traditional flower project as we took GIANT coffee filters, colored on them with markers and then rinsed them in the sink to give them a tie-die look.  They were then turned into hats to take home and share with family.  We also made flowers and butterfly magnets this week using the same method in the morning and afternoon preschool groups.

Everyone loves a card from someone they care about so this week we made cards for mothers, fathers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings and teachers.  It was so wonderful to watch the children create this simple project to share love with family.

This ice cream cone project was so much fun for the preschoolers to choose the a color to represent the flavor their family member liked the best then they chose words of kindness to add as 'sprinkles' to the cones.  

The morning group did something similar to this but with doughnuts this week.  It's great hearing the words the preschoolers choose to describe their family members as they decorate their projects.

We took quite a bit of time this week in the morning as we threaded beads on to pipe cleaners to create flowers then added tissue paper to the outside of cups creating pots to place these flowers in.  

The children were so focused on these two tasks that every child worked on this project for nearly 20 minutes!  Wow!  They really wanted to make this project a special one!

It's always great to have a memento when your child is small, so this week we used hand prints to create a plant in a picture then asked the children to complete the sentence about their parent, "I love you because..."  We had great answers!

The afternoon group has had many turns using the flour drawing technique to improve writing and other fine motor skills, this week (in honor of our family bakers) the morning group tried their hand at this.

There are so many wonderful books about families and the various types of families there are out in the world, this week we read a variety of books that each focused on a different type of family. 

To practice learning what letters make up the word MOM we had the afternoon preschoolers work on creating this word with beads.  In the morning we practiced how to sound out words like MOM and DAD and more.  These skills are great to lay the groundwork for pre-reading as we practice the sounds of each letter alone and then all together.

Now that spring is in the air, we took some time to practice all the traveling people we love do for us to help make our lives run smoothly.  We hopped, skipped and jumped to various areas to take on the challenges of 'errands' our family members run.

Flowers have been a way to show kindness to someone for years so we created more flower projects this week in more ways than you might have felt possible.  The afternoon was given the parts of paper flowers and a 'pot' to 'plant' them in then had to create them after our discussion about all the parts of a flower.  They did a wonderful job remembering all they needed to include to get a finished product!

After sending home my favorite assignment I appreciated the emails telling me what a kick parents got out of reading them.  This week, we asked preschoolers in the morning and afternoon questions about family members and then wrote down whatever answer was given.  

My favorite lines to hear about are the ages of parents and what they do for a living and what they liked to do in their free time.  Trust us when we say they were just as much fun for us to write about as they were for you to read!

We practiced patterns this week by making bracelets for someone we love.  The children were given a strip of paper with color patterns on it and the children had to follow that pattern as they assembled the bracelet gifts.

Since artwork is so important, we offered the children a way to create art and immediately frame it with them.  Some children painted while others drew pictures then chose what strips of color they wanted to glue to their paper to create a frame.  We hope the recipients of these works of art hang them in places of honor.

Free play is a great time for the children to get to know one another and our teachers better.  We play games as groups while some children head off on their own and others pair up to play at stations set up around the room.  This is an important time to develop the social skills all children need to be successful in school.  

We help those work on how to make friends with their peers and not just teachers while also helping others to expand their group of friends.  Remember, play is a child's work so this time is just as important as the structured time we have with the children each day.

The last activity of the week was marble painting.  This is a great science experiment to try at home.  All you need is some kind of tray (a cookie sheet can work just fine if it has a ledge or an old 9 x 11 pan too) and some paper, marbles and tempera paint.  This is guaranteed to have a new work of art every time!

What's Coming Up?

We have two weeks left of preschool this year!  This week we will be talking about Nature and all the magic of bugs, birds, butterflies and blizzards!  

Next week we will talk about the beach on Monday and Wednesday then preschool graduation will be on Friday.  The invitation and details were sent home last week so if you have questions, please email Kris Stary.