Wednesday, May 10, 2017

We had a great Wednesday in preschool!

A few reminders first...many dates to remember for the end of the year!

Preschool Night at the Park…Monday, May 22 we will have a Preschool Night at the Park from 5:30 - 7:00 at Legacy Park in Cottleville. If you would like to bring a picnic dinner, we has reserved the picnic pavilion. Please note that we will not be providing any dinner foods, BUT new this year…we will have an ice cream/popsicle truck. Please also note that you will need to stay with your child(ren) for the time that they are in attendance. It will be a fun night!

Preschool Closing Chapel(s)…this year preschool will have 2 closing chapels!  You are invited to join us on Tuesday, 5/23 and/or Wednesday, 5/24 at 8:10 am (both days) as we worship together to close out the 2016/2017 school year!

On Friday, 5/19 Zion will be providing...cheese pizza (from Dominos) and fruit to preschool for lunch (our treat). If your child does not want pizza or is unable to eat this lunch due to allergies, please have your child bring a cold lunch on Friday, May 19th.

The last week of school (5/22 - 5/24) there is NO HOT LUNCH program.  Your child MUST bring a cold lunch with a drink these last 3 days of school!

The last day of school for preschool is Wednesday, May 24. (Thursday, 5/25 from 8:00 - 10:00 is for grades 1 - 8 ONLY)

Whew...on to our day...

Near the end of free choice yesterday we FINALLY opened the sensory table.  Our friends were VERY excited to see it was sand.  But, not just any sand, kinetic sand!  Kinetic sand is "sand in motion".  It is designed to improve fine motor development, sensory development, and cognitive development.  It forms just like wet sand, but give it a little tap and it "melts" right in front of your eyes!  Feel free to try it out the next time you drop off your child(ren)!

 Jack was excited to do a little art with his fun pen he brought from home!

 Owen and SJ took advantage of our "leftovers" from yesterday to improve their scissors skills!

 As we near the end of the school year, we begin to realize that preschool days are coming to an end for many of our friends! In 2 weeks, some will be Kindergarteners!!!

So, each friend that is making the move to Kindergarten began creating a book.  He/she took a little time drawing (and telling me) about what they think they will learn in Kindergarten, what they will like the most, and what they will miss about preschool!  Then, next week these same friends will get to "tiptoe into kindergarten" to get a sneak peek into Kindergarten!

We got our bodies moving outside on the preschool playground!

To finish up morning meeting we tried a new way to practice recognizing and recalling (early math skill). One friend hid in the bathroom, while I had another friend hide under a blanket.  The first friend had to recognize who from the class was missing (under the blanket). For those that it was a bit tricky for, I would give a small hint or two! All in all, we did awesome (and we LOVED it)!

 We introduced the letter "Z"!  

We remembered start your letter "at the top" then little line across, big line down diagonal, little line across.  Then we came up with words that start with "Z".

Anytime one of our friends thinks of a word that starts with "Z" we can add it to our big letter.  Or, if at home, your child sees a small picture or item that starts with an "Z", bring it in and he/she can glue it to our big letter!

Then we practiced writing "Z" with crayons (nice and short to reinforce proper grip)!

We have wrapped up a short project on doctors and nurses, so today we webbed what we know about doctors and nurses now!  A great way to see what new things we learned during our project.

With Mrs. Dose, we worked on matching beginning letter sounds.  This week we worked on the letters N - Z! She held up a picture, each friend had to find another picture that started with the same letter sound.  For example...she held up a QUILT, there was one picture on the carpet that started with a "Q", in this case a QUEEN!  After we found the match, each friend had to tell what letter made that sound!  Recognizing and identifying letters sounds is an early literacy skill.

We not only improved spatial reasoning as we put together the alphabet train, we also improved letter recognition, the order of the letters in the alphabet, and working with others!  We sure heard the "ABC song" many times in preschool today!

Time for a bit of exercise on the big playground!

During Jesus Time today we asked each other some questions...Should we be worried about what we will eat?  Should we be worried about what we will drink? Should we be worried about what we will wear?  Goodness NO, God is taking care of everyone of us!!!