Pre-K Home Connection

 "I can do it myself!"  Every parent has heard this preschool battle cry at some point and it is cause for celebration!  This is evidence that your child is growing and developing. However, at some point even the most independent preschooler can be resistant to doing some things for themselves and in some cases that's ok.    What are some things a 4–5-year-old should be able to do for themselves?  Dress themselves, choosing clothes appropriate for the weather Put on and take off their own jacket or coat Zip or button clothing and jacket/coat Use the bathroom completely independently (this includes "wiping") Feed themselves Be able to brush their teeth and wash hands/face independently Put their toys away Simple chores, such as making their bed, setting the table, or washing vegetables Sometimes kids will want to give up when things are hard to do. To get past this, parents and teachers need to provide a lot of ...

 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...