Preschool in the time of a world wide Pandemic

Our classes are smaller and we do lots of hand washing and disinfecting of surfaces, but life moves forward.  And luckily amid all the other changes this year, 3 and 4 year olds are still what they have always been: full of energy and questions and excited about every new experience.  Here are just a few things we worked on in Sept. 2020 along with some cute pics!

We learned to identify our names and began writing them by following the dotted lines.

We learned the names and sounds of A, B, C and D.  We sang about the sounds, played games like burping when you hear a word that begins with the letter B, practiced writing the letters and did art projects that reinforced the letter sounds.

We started learning the names of numbers 1-4, learned rhymes that helped us remember how to write them like "around a tree, around a tree that's the way to make a 3", filled bubble numbers with beans and other things so that we would remember how those numbers "feel" and for the older students we did counting pages and games.

We learned how to use a mouse on the computer and how to navigate to play the games we like best like color by number, building a pizza and knocking down a building made of letters.

We built objects with legos, waffle blocks, magnetic tiles and other building materials.

We each have our own playdough and used it to strengthen our hands and practice sight words like "and" and "are".  We have songs for both of those songs too.

 

We made new friends and learned their names by doing the rhyme "biddely, diddley, bumble bee won't you say your name for me?" 

We worked on pages for the ABC book that we will continue making throughout the school year.

We learned and sang lots of new songs.  One of them was about being BRAVE, because that was the theme for September.

We played in the dramatic play center with a kitchen and food, a cradle and dolls.  Pretending with friends is one of our favorite things.

We learned to each do jobs every day from the job chart.  Sometimes we're the weather person who also dresses Bobby Bear for playing outside.

Some of the other jobs they have are Guessing Can where they hide an object in a large can (think 5 lbs of flour) and then give clues to the other kids who try to guess what is hidden.  Usually the object begins with the letter of the week.

Snack time is definitely one of the favorite times of each day.  I always read them a book.  Here are just a few of our favorites.  "Ten Apples up on Top", "The Bravest Fish",  "Rufus goes to school", "You get what you get", "Max the Brave", "Be who you are" and "Chrysanthemum".

We painted with watercolors and  tempera paints and brushes.

We practiced counting the number of times we rolled a certain object on our special die.

And we matched shapes and numbers!

We even painted one day with soap bubbles when we were studying the letter Bb.

Then we blew bubbles in our chocolate milk at snack time.

We played outside every day too.  We soaked up the sun, ran, blew bubbles, threw balls around, drew with chalk and played on the playset.

Several of the students had September birthdays and we made them our SUPERSTARS near those birthdays complete with fun treats and crowns!

We did puzzles!

                                  We made "All About me" books.

It was a very busy first month and we're just getting started.

 

Now accepting new students for Fall 2020

If you are interested in signing your child up for preschool this fall, please email me at cindyspreschool@gmail.com and I'll send you a new registration form.  The one on the website is old and I'm having technical difficulties placing the new one online.  If you have questions or would like to take a tour of the school please give me a call or send a text to 208-713-8113.  My morning class is almost full, but I still have several spots in my afternoon class and would love to have your little one join us this fall.

preschool, sign up, fall 2020

2019 is off to a great start!

We have been in school for almost a month now and every day has been full of learning and fun!  Along with getting used to the routines and rules (like sitting in circle time, raising our hands, taking turns to speak, and not coughing and sneezing on each other), we have learned about letters Aa, Bb and Cc. 

We know that when we make a capital "A" we say "mountain slope, mountain slope, eeek".  You might need to ask your child to demonstrate that one.  We also know that letter Aa usually makes a short sound as in "apple, astronaut and animals"  We learned the sounds for letters B and C too.  We sing along with the Heidi Songs DVD to practice our letter sounds.  We practice writing the letters and we look for and SWAT (with flyswatters)  the letters up on the walls during circle time.  Sometimes I  try to fool them by showing the kids a picture that doesn't start with the letter of the week, but they are too smart to be fooled.  We've done the first 3 pages of our ABC book which when completed this spring will come home.

We have started counting out loud all the way to 100!  The kids love dancing to the music while we count.  They also have been counting objects in our centers and have started doing a couple of papers that let them practice seeing the numbers and counting/coloring objects with those numbers. 

The first day of school only a few of them could recognize their names which were written on frogs that had to jump into the pond, but now 3+ weeks in, most of them can tell which frog is theirs.  They also practice their name on laminated name strips and use dry erase markers to follow the dots.  At snack time each of them has a place mat with their name on it so they know where to sit. 

We've done several fun art projects and have been learning/reviewing how to hold scissors and how to use a glue stick and markers.  We've done water color painting, tempera paint, play dough and bingo markers and stamps.  I try to use materials that are washable and have them wear smocks when they are painting, so hopefully you won't have problems getting clothes clean. 

We do lots of singing.  Here are just a few of the songs that we've been working on:

1.  Brave song - sung to Bingo   "If you climb a tree even though it's high, then you are being brave. B-R-A-V-E repeated 3 X , then you are being BRAVE!

2.  The Autumn Song - sung to London Bridges   "Windy Breezes blow around, blow around, blow around, windy breezes blow around in the autumn.  Autumn leaves come tumbling down, tumbling down, tumbling down, autumn leaves come tumbling down in the autumn.  Take a rake and rake them up, rake them up, rake them up.  Take a rake and rake them up and jump right in."  (Scholastic songs)

3.  If you're happy and you know it

4.  Head, shoulders, knees and toes

5.  Days of the week song - start them with Sunday and listen to them sing.

SCIENCE -  With the change in the season we've been talking a lot about observing things around us.  We've used a magnifying glass to see up close a coconut (for letter C) which we later ate, a giant cucumber from Miss Cindy's garden and multi colored apples which we turned into an apple pie after peeling the apples.  

As you can see our classes are filled with funny, sweet and cute kiddos.  I feel lucky to spend several days a week with them.

Now accepting students for Fall 2019

I will be offering classes Monday, Wednesday and Fridays.  My morning class meets from 9:15-11:45 and my afternoon class meets 12:30-3:00.  The classes are a mix of 3 and 4 year old children.  Tuition is $110/month.  If you're interested please contact me at cindyspreschool@gmail.com or 208-713-8113.  I can answer questions and arrange a tour if you like.

Field trip to the Boise Co-op

Arriving at the Co-op

They had wonderful samples of fresh fruit for us to try.

 We also visited the meat department where we ate all beef, no nitrate hot dogs that were really good.

Next we visited the cheese section and learned how cheese is made and tried some samples.  Yum!

 At the end of our tour we took a break in the wonderful cafe/kitchen at the Boise Co-op.

Thanks Boise Co-op for helping us learn about eating healthy!!

Worksheets - another resource

Many of the worksheets that I use in my preschool come from a website called Education.com  https://www.education.com/games/preschool/ I subscribe to this website because it has worksheets, games, puzzles and even lesson plans.  They have so many resources for use in the home or in a school setting.  Below is an example:

Feel free to enjoy with your kiddo!