Pre-K Home Connection

 Our Holiday Market this year was a huge success! The children were involved in the planning and preparation for the market, from making signs and categorizing the items for sale, making decorations, and shopping and wrapping their gifts. Best of all, during all the fun your children were also learning valuable lessons and skills without even knowing it! There were many cognitive areas targeted, but let's take a look at a couple of specific aspects of the market and see what was going on under the surface in your child's learning.  Taking Stock As a class we discussed and named the types of categories our market might contain. Once we determined the categories, we went through each bag of donated gift items and the kids identified where they belonged. We then counted up how many items we had in each category. Categorization helps kids understand the similarities, differences, and connections between things. Counting allows kids to practice one-to-one correspondence and rote co...

To give your preschooler a leg up on literacy, read more nursery rhymes! I know, it's hard to believe such a simple thing can make such a big difference, but according to child development experts,  it does! Traditional rhymes help kids develop an ear for language and increases phonological awareness. They also teach patterns of language,  and the repetition builds fluency and also makes for excellent first memorization pieces. Also, though short, nursery rhymes teach that all important idea of beginning, middle, and end.  Later outcomes are also affected. Research shows that in 1945 the average elementary student had a 10,000 word vocabulary. In 2010, that number dropped to 2,500 . For more information on the benefits of nursery rhyme, check out Rhymers are Readers: The Importance of Nursery Rhymes. Here's a list of some essential nursery rhymes: Humpty Dumpty Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star Itsy, Bitsy Spider Jack and Jill Hey Diddle Diddle Hickory Dickory Dock Mary Had a ...

Dramatic play is an important part of childhood that engages every part of a child's brain. Creativity, communication, and social skills are just some of the areas tapped into during dramatic play. For the onlooker, dramatic play truly taps into the wonder of childhood, where anything you want to be is possible through pretending and imagination.    Children naturally engage in dramatic play and enjoy creating stories and scenarios based on things they might have seen. Dramatic play also allows kids to experience things as yet unfamiliar to them, building new knowledge and vocabulary.    One summer my three children transformed my house into an elaborate mini golf course.  They twisted and taped together paper to make golf clubs, crumpled paper golf balls, and made a winding path of 18 holes up and down the hallway, into the bathrooms and bedrooms. They played with this for weeks on end and enjoyed it way more than the vast number of toys they had that came ...

Sensory play engages all the senses and is wonderful for developing language, social, and motor skills, as well as for fostering cognitive development. With so many benefits, you don't want your child to  miss out on these kinds of experiences. We engage in sensory experiences in preschool as often as possible. Playing with playdoh, shaving cream, and finger paint, as well as engaging in theme-related sensory play is a regular part of our daily routine - just not all at once! But there are simple things you can do at home that can give your children the same benefits. Bath Time Have a variety of bath toys available for your child to use in the tub. This is a good place to incorporate things you might not want to do on dry land, such as shaving cream. You can also try some of the many bath products available for kids, like this bathtub paint for kids or bathtub crayons .  Cooking and Baking Yes, it might be a little messier and take a little longer than doing it your...

Apple Week is a fun theme for preschoolers and kicks off our awareness of the special things about the season of fall!  Our first letter of the week and Apple starts with "A" so we will jump right into letter recognition and letter sounds. Apple harvest season is in the fall, during September and October, so this is a great time for your family to visit an apple orchard, make an apple pie, or just eat more apples you got from the farmer’s market.  Apples also open doors to other learning experiences. Language Arts There are many books to read, songs to sing, and discussions to have about apples. Be sure to ask your kids about the apple songs they are learning at school. At home you can read books about fall and apples too. If you have an opportunity to go apple picking, that could be a really fun experience for your preschooler. This  article  lists 15 places in the DC Metro area for apple picking. Call before you go to verify hours and what each location offers....

  In Preschool, every day is the same yet different. We follow a predictable routine that kids grow accustomed to which is vital to their growth and development. At the same time, kids are, by nature, creative and spontaneous and we try to nurture that as much as possible. We also have several, scheduled bathroom breaks throughout the day, but children are encouraged to use the bathroom whenever the need arises. Arrival Each morning, when your kids arrive at school, we head down to the cubbies where they learn to unpack their backpacks, putting their lunches and snacks in designated spots, and then they will use the bathroom and wash their hands before entering the classroom. Centers We start the day with Centers or Free Choice. Your children will be able to choose what they want to do during that time, with a variety of choices including Blocks, Dramatic Play, Reading, Puzzles, Literacy, and Art. The Centers available will change throughout the year, based on our theme and the nee...