We LOVE Preschool!

This week we had a terrific Valentine's Day celebration on Monday as we made some terrific Valentine's for friends or family as we used our fingerprints for flower petals on some art projects.

We also spelled out our names using hearts with letters written on them.  This really helps children who are learning to spell their names figure out the order the letters go in by creating a word caterpillar and in this case, we used hearts for the holiday.

To work on the order of numbers, the morning and afternoon preschoolers practiced a Valentine's Day hopscotch where they had to throw a bean bag and then hop on the numbers in sequential order to learn the order numbers are supposed to be in from 1-10.

On Monday we heard lots of great stories about Valentine's Day and caring about friends and family.  We learned the main message behind this holiday is to show people you care about them.

We used hearts to create animals this week too.  The children used hearts of various sizes to create dogs and some other animals too.  Some children invented their own creatures.

We worked on writing some valentines as we traced letters to practice making letters we might not regularly write when practicing our names.

We made special valentine cookies for snack on Monday and the children were able to add whatever sprinkles in whichever patterns and designs they chose.

The afternoon preschoolers also worked on some fine motor skills by cutting and ripping strips of red and pink paper and filling up an empty heart.  If you do not have scissors at home, letting your child tear paper works the same muscles and often can help them improve their cutting and writing skills too.

Before going home on Monday, each group passed out valentines to their classmates in the bags we decorated with stickers.  Remember we learned the process of passing out valentines this week as we walked around the circle of bags passing out valentines.  

As the children get older they will be reading and writing names and the process of passing things out will be natural, but this process must be learned and that is why it is our focus each Valentine's Day.

We only had one other day this week so we decided to talk about something the preschoolers all love; their Disney Characters!  We spent a lot of time on Olaf since snowmen fit into this time of year and the weather unit we just completed.  The children built Olaf out of marshmallows and toothpicks and made their teachers laugh as they put the marshmallows in their own orders thinking outside the box.

We worked on some large motor skills by throwing a giant snowball into "Olaf's" belly.  This works hand eye coordination and helps teach social cues of waiting in line and following structured rules of a game.

We did switch gears to the ever so popular minions for a while too.  The children talked about the colors of the minions being yellow and purple then the children were given plates and paint to see if they wanted to make a yellow or a purple minion.  Some children blended the colors and made new colors of minions.  They then added a strip of head gear to their minion and an eye to be able to bring it home.

After making their minion characters, the teachers asked for their help during story time where together they were asked to draw the parts of the minion story the teachers wrote for the day.

We have quite the artists in our program!

Before heading home on Wednesday our morning preschoolers decorated some Mickey mouse heads using our dot markers to create patterns and designs.  Activities like this are always about the process and not the product as they build skills and creativity and do not just focus on what the end product looks like.  It allows for more creativity and skill building which is the main focus of early childhood education.

We also played with the parachute to get some wiggles out and then read some stories with Disney characters in the morning as well.

When the afternoon preschoolers arrived on Wednesday, we reviewed some letters with hearts and that made up the words Valentine's Day as a way to work on some pre-reading skills by letter recognition.  Some children worked with teachers to spell words while others worked to glue letters down and identify them.

After working on our reading skills with letter recognition, we became silly scientists by talking about what would happen to Olaf if he melted and used glue, water and Borox laundry detergent to make a goo that looked like a melted snowman.

We sang songs and danced to Disney soundtracks, played mystery listening games with Disney songs and then headed to the tables to make our own monsters like those from Monsters Inc.  Some children gave their monsters 6 eyes while others put the mouth on top of the head or the nose on it's belly, we had a lot of laughs before heading home for a long weekend.

What's Coming Up?

This week we do not have school on Monday due to President's Day.  We will see everyone o Wednesday for Decades week.  We will be learning about what life was like before smart phones and BubbleGuppies.

This coming week is spirit week at PHS and Wednesday is Whiteout day so feel free to wear white to preschool and Friday is Flannel Friday if your preschooler has any if they don't want to wear red or pirate gear.