Disclosure: Our program receives free curriculum in exchange for the sharing of our original classroom experiences. Our preschool program adopted Experience Preschool, which is a research-based preschool curriculum. Parents, teachers, and students alike love it. There are seven learning domains and 35 skills, uniquely woven into play experiences that promote school readiness. Below are a few activities from the Dinoland theme; Week 1, Paleotonology, Lesson 5: Tyrannosaurus Rex. We began our day creating T-Rex Teeth Necklaces. Even children who don't usually visit the art center, participated in the Make and Play activity. Skills focused on: MR 5 Patterns, PD2 Fine Motor, and CA Visual Arts. Each Make and Play activity has three sections: Discuss, Make and Play. We discussed how many teeth the children think a T-Rex had vs. how many they have. We explored our teeth in a mirror, then used our small muscle skills to cut straws for beads and strung them with the foam teeth. Children wore their necklaces while I played music from this month's CD: Dancing with the Dinosaurs. So much more than an art project! How big was the footprint of a T-Rex? We used math, science and social skills in this fun activity. We stood in the footprint of a T-Rex, which was approximately 4 ft. x 3 ft. Our little Friday group fit just fine in it, too! The children predicted (science skill) that our entire class will fit in it on Tuesday! Skills: MR 4 Measurement, SCI 1 Investigation and Inquiry. We have writers! Back in December, our students writing skills began to flourish. So exciting! They learned that those "squiggle lines" everywhere are letters and that groups of letters create words-which they can write! Learning is a process Dinosaur names on bone cards and a word cube with illustrations were available at our writing center. By watching the children write, I could assess where they are in their writing skills. From the teacher's guide: Did the child write the letters or letter-like symbols on the paper? Did he fit every letter on the paper? Did the child understand the activity? Could they identify the letters? Our students are ages three years-old to five years-old and all demonstrate skills at different levels. Experience Preschool curriculum stresses that learning is a process and provides the Developmental Continuum to map each child's growth. Word Wall Review Throughout the week, we visit our Word Wall so I can assess Alphabetic Knowledge (Skill: LLD 4) and Phonological Awareness (Skill LLD 3). It also provides repeat exposure. At Circle Time, we review our core concepts: 2-3 letters (which are on the Word Wall as well as our Circle Time display) 2 numbers, a shape, color, and topic of the day. We do this through music and movement to help cement learning.
I hope you enjoyed a glance into a day of learning at St. Mary. In one day we covered at least 13 school-readiness skills had a lot of fun in the process!
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AuthorSheila Anderson has over 25 years experience in the Early Childhood Field and still loves going to "school" everyday. Archives
January 2022
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