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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We recently began the Dinoland theme from the Experience Preschool curriculum, and my students are diggin' it! Here are the highlights from week one. Watch for future blog posts, too, as this is sure to be a lively few weeks! My students used the tweezers, links, and number mats, which were included in this month's curriculum subscription box from Experience Preschool. They pretended they were at an excavation site and had to carefully remove the bones (links) with their tools (tweezers) and lay them on the number mat. I have children ages 3 years-old to 5 years-old and they were all able to do this activity. Many of them wanted to continue long after they counted their "bones" for me. I was able to assess through play if they could identify the number, use the tweezers to lift links, and demonstrate one-to-one correspondence skills while counting the links on their mat. This activity stayed out for a few days so children could practice their skills during free-choice time and quiet time. Have you ever heard of a Zachasaurus or a Connorasaurus? One of the activities in our Teacher's Guide was to create name tags for the children and adding -asaurus to the end of each name. We receive name tags for every student each month that are decorated to match the current theme. Also included are creative ways to use the name tags. After the children traced the dinosaur names on the name tags, we hid them under a brown towel. Children took turns feeling under the towel for a name card. We read the card retrieved and said, "Look, we found a bone belonging to a Frediasaurus!" There was lots of laughter and requests to play again, which we did. The Invitation to Create is one aspect of the Experience Preschool curriculum that I really love. I am also blessed with an assistant that carries out this activity in a very beautiful way. Mrs. P. invites small groups of children over to the art table where the materials were set-up the night before. Children may decline if they are deeply involved in another project or activity elsewhere in the room. Mrs. P. engages the children in meaningful discussions as they observe the inspiration photo. Many new vocabulary words are introduced through natural conversation also. She then asks a series of open-ended questions regarding which tools and materials they might use to create their own project. Here, children created skeletons from an excavation site.
As I said in the beginning, these are just a few of the activities we did during the first week of Dinoland. Come back soon to see what else we did! Disclosure: Our program receives free curriculum in exchange for the sharing of our classroom experiences with the curriculum. We continue to have fun across all learning domains with our Ice Castle theme from Experience Preschool with Mother Goose Time. The children think they are just playing! As a busy teacher, I appreciate that the scope and sequence for the year have already been plotted out for me. I can rest assured that we are teaching skills in order and reaching all 35 skills in one school year. See how we had fun with icicle math below! Children practiced their eye-hand coordination skills by inserting pipe cleaners into plastic straws. We pretended we were making icicles. Then, we used unit blocks to "measure" how many blocks long their icicles were. For example, H. said, "My icicle is six blocks long." I observed the children as they explored the materials and could tell by their attention span that they were ready to be introduced to a ruler. I showed the children how to place their icicle next to a ruler and read the number. We used math vocabulary words such as longest, shortest, inches, long, tall. The main skill from our Experience Preschool curriculum for this activity was MR 4, Measurement. At Circle Time, we sang a song from the Teacher Guide and pretended the water from our "roof" (the green tape) was dripping and freezing. A few of my children are naturally drawn to the songs included in our curriculum, as it suits their style of learning very well. Others look forward to their turn in the game. Throughout the game, we counted how long the icicles were and determined which were the longest, shortest, and which ones were the same. Math skills MR 2 Spatial Awareness and MR 4 Measurement were the goals for this game.
If you are ready to see how deep learning can be, I encourage you to explore Experience Preschool with Mother Goose Time. This research-based curriculum works very well in home based programs as well as classroom settings within a school. I appreciate the HOURS I have saved by using an organized curriculum kit. You can read how I used it at home here. Here are some time-saving tips in my classroom, too. This post contains affiliate links. I receive a small commission with no extra cost to you. The opinions and recommendations are my own. Did your child get a new tablet recently? I encourage you to check out the apps the tablet came with. Delete the ones you don't feel add value to your child's screen time and add those that align with your family values. Things to consider: 1. Do the apps have external links or pop-up ads? These can lead to dangerous outlets for children. 2. Check to see if the app is Kid Safe Certified. This is an independent organization that has carefully screened apps for parents and caregivers. 2. Is the app appropriate for your child's age or developmental level? It is always great to offer your child a challenge, however those that prove to be too challenging are best to use later. 3. Can you set time limits or goals for your child on the app? 4. Can you view your child's progress?
Check out ABC Mouse In my opinion, this app has all the best components for young children:
Other apps to check out:
I hope you will take a few minutes today and explore your child's tablet a bit more and customize it to your families need. What is your child's favorite app? Please leave in the comments below.
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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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