From Your Pre-K Classroom

To Parents and Friends of our Pre-K Class, from Harper's Mom:

This is a quick roundup to the parents of the kids in the Pre-K class. I've copied Mrs. Banks and Mrs. Coleman in case I made a mistake, also because I don't think I have Emma's parents emails -- could you please forward this to them and/or send me their emails?

Those of you who were at the parent meeting may recall that one of the topics was that parents wanted to have a little more information about what the kids were up to in the classrooms. Here’s a little information about some of the activities the Pre-K kids are doing now:

General themes for the month of October will include fall leaves, spiders, pumpkins, and later in the month a more specific focus on Halloween.

1.      Number boards. The number board is a traditional Montessori activity in which kids place number tiles on a board to count by tens. It helps with number familiarity, counting and also with the fine motor skills of a thumb to finger pincer grasp, which is a pre-writing skill. Mrs. Banks told me that some of the kids have already counted up to 100, and that the teachers will be encouraging all the kids to try it. In additional to the traditional Montessori board, the kids are also using seasonal tiles. Right now they’re using small rubber Halloween icons. Earlier in the year they used bugs and butterflies and apples.

2.      Metal insets. This is another pre-writing activity in which the kids are using any one of about two dozen different metal shapes and tracing shapes onto paper with pencils. Once they’re done tracing the shapes they can use them as a basis for drawings – Mrs. Banks said some of the kids are turning the circles into pumpkins.

3.      The take-away game. This is another traditional activity in which a group of objects are placed on a tray and covered with a towel, and then one child takes an object away, hides it behind their back, and then whisks the towel away. The other players then have to guess which object is missing. This activity helps kids practice taking turns and waiting. It builds observation and memory skills and also builds their vocabulary. For example, this morning’s take-away tray contained objects including acorns and hexagons.

4.      This morning Brennan demonstrated color-mixing for me, which was fun because he explained it very carefully and seriously. There’s a muffin tray with a small amount of water in each cup. Mrs. Banks put a couple of drops of red food coloring in one cup and a couple drops of yellow in another, and then Brennan used a dropper to put a few drops of each color into a third cup and mix them together, and told me that they made orange. In addition to showing kids how colors work this is yet another way to practice those fine motor skills and pincer grip.

5.      This morning Emma was working with the rubber band board. She was stretching rubber bands from peg to peg on the board to make different geometric shapes.

6.      I almost forgot yesterday's visit from the red-eared slider turtles Pebbles and Neptune. If your kids are really into said turtles there are a tank of them at the pet store at the corner of 45th and the highway, aka the free mini zoo. Also Harper may be telling your kids the "Turtle Trouble" story, which is blatant ripoff of the Trouble with Tribbles, but please note the turtles did not actually escape and lay eggs in the dollhouses.

Thanks, Deirdre!  This is great information!!