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PRESBYTERIAN PRESCHOOL NEWSLETTER
© 2013 Presbyterian Preschool March 2013
As adults, we often tend to over-think howto go about teaching math to young childrenbut promoting mathematical thinking andbasic math concepts can come through allkinds of simple hands-on activities. In fact,there are many fun and easy ways tointroduce important math skills to youngchildren, which will not feel like traditionalmath at all. At Presbyterian Preschool wetry to integrate these basic math conceptsin interesting and fun ways.
CookingCooking presents a wide range ofopportunities to promote mathematicalthinking including measuring, weighing,counting, and estimating. Cooking alsoprovides ample opportunity to use
mathematical terms through casualconversation. “We are going to need twoeggs.” Or “The recipe tells us we need tomeasure out one cup of milk!” Cooking is aninviting, fun, hands-on approach to buildingmath skills. The greater role children cantake in the cooking process, the more theywill be able to put into practice basicmathematical thinking and skills. We try toincorporate several cooking projectsthroughout the year.
PatterningPatterns are all around us and it doesn’ttake long for young children to begin torecognize patterns in their everyday world.We use several classroom manipulatives tobuild our patterning skills as well as othereveryday materials like crayons, blocks, cars,and paper. We often extend the books weread into patterning opportunities too. Forexample, after reading Apples up on Top, wecreated apple crowns patterning red, green,and yellow paper apples onto sentencestrips. We also make action patterns byclapping a rhythm or repeating bodymovements during circle time.
Teaching Math Through Simple Hands-On Activities
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Exploring ShapesBuilding our ability to recognize and formgeometrical shapes and designs is anotherpart of our everyday math experiences.There are shapes everywhere in our realworld. Learning to recognize and identifysimple shapes that are in our world thenhaving the opportunity to manipulate thoseshapes helps us to understand thestructure and design of our world.Opportunities to work with shapes can befound in all areas of our classroom. Asthe children play with the materials in ourclassroom they are able to explore howshapes fit together to create buildings,cars, houses, and other items that havemeaning to them.
CountingWe work together in large groups as wellas individually, to count objects. Inside theclassroom we work together to share,organize, sort, and count blocks,manipulatives, toys, anything we areplaying with. Outside we count leaves,acorns, flowers, whatever nature hasprovided.
Math GamesPlaying board games and getting our wholebodies into the math process helps us toreinforce basic math skills. We play gamesindoors and outdoors that invitemathematical thinking and large motormovement. Outside we play games thattell us how many steps, hops, or squares
we can go. Inside we play board gamesand matching games learning patiencewhile waiting our turn and counting outthe number of spaces after rolling thedice.
Comparing and Contrasting It doesn’t take expensive materials tobuild strong math skills. We can usesimple items like our shoes or hats tocompare sizes, color, and purpose. Wemeasure and compare our heights at thebeginning and at the end of the year. Atcircle time we are always looking atobjects and asking, “What is the sameabout these items?” and “What isdifferent?”
SortingWe sort just about everything in ourclassroom. We sort by color, texture, size,and category. Part of building strong mathskills is developing the ability to sort andorganize materials so they can be easilycounted, categorized, divided, and added.Sorting promotes children’s ability toorganize the items in their world so theymake sense and are manageable.
These are just a few ways we integratemath into our classroom. The opportunityto explore math is all around us! AtPresbyterian Preschool, we try to combinechildren’s natural curiosity about theirworld with an environment full of hands-onmaterials and experiences, to help createlifelong learners.
Warmly,
Carlyn Knight, Lucy Loupy, and Linda MaloneyPresbyterian Preschool Directors
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Our Busy Threes
As you are reading this article we are wrappingup 5 weeks of observations. Hopefully you allfound that time enjoyable and insightful.
It is one of the hallmarks of our school, and animportant aspect of parenting~ to know yourchild. The children are learning and discoveringeach day they attend school. As they learnabout an appropriate way to feed a guinea pig,or discover how high they can stack woodenblocks before they tumble, they are learningnew principles about their world. The childrenare "learning through doing" and Jean Piagetsaid,"...each time one prematurely teaches achild something he could have discovered forhimself, that child is kept from inventing it, andconsequently from understanding it." Theupcoming themes will be Fair/Circus andSpring/Easter. Once again it is a joy to be withyour children. One of our favorite chants atschool is the following:
"Riding My Tricycle"-ask your child to show youthe hand motions.
Riding my tricycle round and around
Feet on the peddles, the wheels on the ground."
It is pretty fun to start out slowly andincrease the speed each time it is chanted.
Most warmly,
Linda Maloney
Half Step Happenings
The Half Step class is a vibrant group of 12preschoolers who have recently enjoyedeating the fruits of their labor. You see, theyjust made "Monkey Bread" with Miss Mabryand it was a "hit" to say the least. Inkeeping with the monkey theme we acted outthe old folk tale called, "Caps for Sale".
The children are also making homemadedrums, which is a lengthy project thatincludes many steps. You might see them oneday drying in the hallway above the cubbies.These children are becoming familiar with all26 Zoophonic sounds and it is such a treat tosee the sparkle in their eyes as they hearthe sound of the first letter in their name.
Most warmly,
Linda MaloneyHalf Step Director
A Note from Mrs. Maloney in the 3’s Class and Half Step
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A Note from Mrs. Loupy and Mrs. Knight in the 4/5’s Classes
February was another busy month in theFours/Fives classroom. In early February welearned how to combine primary colors to makesecondary colors. We mixed yellow and bluepaint to make green. We then painted safaribinoculars with various shades of green. Weswirled red and yellow food coloring intoshaving cream and then printed our swirls ontocardstock. They were so lovely and unique. Wemade purple by mixing red and blue liquidwater colors together, using droppers and icecube trays
We were visited by Classroom Safari and wereintroduced to many wild animals. We met ababy Alligator, a baby Python Snake, aHedgehog, a Desert Fox, a Jennet, an Ocelot, aServal Cat and a crazy Ring -Tailed Lemurfrom Madagascar named, Rick O’Shay. It wasvery exciting.
The second week of February we had afabulous week of warm weather andcelebrated Valentine’s Day. We sharedvalentines and talked about friendships.
The loft room was magically transformed intoa busy office and mailroom where handmadevalentines were crafted and then sent toclassroom friends. The children finger paintedin red paint and made handprints for a page intheir book and on a large cutout heart. Theydecorated their own Valentine bags whichwere bursting with classroom friends'valentines. They explored office equipment andmailed valentines to their classmates in ourschool mailbox. At circle we sang Skid-a-ma-rink and A-ram-sam-sam, and the childrensorted hearts into colors and sizes. We had afriendship tea party where we used our bestmanners and tried chamomile tea with honeyand enjoyed grapes and tea cookies. We hadsome lovely conversation and drank out of real
china tea cups.
The last two weeks of February we focused onwinter/snow themed fun. We read the story ofThe Mitten, and acted out the story duringcircle time. The children wore animal masksand snuggled into the mitten to keep warm.The mitten bulged and stretched to manytimes its size. A bear in the mitten sneezedand the animals scattered and the mitten wascaught by its owner. It was quite fun. Thechildren decoupaged and laced their ownmitten at the art table. Then later cut outand colored the animals in the story. Duringcircle, we sang about snowmen melting in thesun and “If all the raindrops were lemon dropsand gum drops...”. We even had a cottonsnowball toss!
During our final of February, we continued ourunit on winter/snow and shared our knowledgeof penguins and polar bears. We sang sillypenguin songs and enjoyed a penguin felt-boardgame about matching colored skates, scarves,and bow ties. On the last day of the week wehad a Pajama Day. The children and staff worepajamas to school and we all enjoyed hotchocolate with whipped cream andmarshmallows.
What a wonderful time of growth for yourchildren. They are all so unique and special.We are amazed at their developmentalgrowth. They know so much and are so willingto share their knowledge. Watch outworld…here they come!
Warmly,
Carlyn Knight & Lucy Loupy
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“May the God of hope fill you with all joy andpeace in believing, so that by the power of the
Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”
Romans 15:13
Mark your calendars…
Spring Parent Work Day is NEXT SATURDAY!Saturday, March 9
Stop by anytime between 8:00 am- 12:00 noon.
Please bring gloves, rakes, shovels, and sanders, and wear your paint clothes! Don’t forgetto label your personal tools with your name to help avoid confusion. Your participation inour workday helps keep tuition costs down and makes the preschool a clean and beautiful
place for our children to attend.
Reminder: this is an adult work day, little helpers are not needed :)
Questions? Please contact:Jenna at (707) 535-9117 or [email protected]
Dear preschool families,
A few of you have asked about the possibility of paying monthly tuition online with acredit card or PayPal. The board looked into it for you, and now we have a few questionsfor the parents. Below is a link to an anonymous survey. We'd really appreciate it if youcould take a few minutes to fill it out, it would be most helpful to us. Thank you somuch!
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5FP3LW9
Kerry [email protected] (707) 548-3189
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Presbyterian Church Events
Moms 4 Moms: Moms 4 Moms, our monthly gathering for mothers with younger children,will be on Thursday, March 28 at 10:15 am in Room 113. Our guest this month will beTrish McCall. Trish is a successful realtor, and some of you may know her in thatcapacity. She is also a wife, mother of three young adults, three grandchildren and apassionate and talented communicator of the gospel to children of all ages. Trish willshare her experiences as a mother and raising children of faith, and the joys anddisappointments that are part of that journey. Childcare is provided with areservation to Nancy Glazier ([email protected]). All are welcome!
Moms Small Group: If you are interested in study, prayer support and fellowshipconsider this group which meets on Thursday mornings (1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5thThursday of each month), from 10:00-11:30 am in Room 113. If your child isn’t inPreschool at that time, we offer childcare with a reservation. To make a childcarereservation contact Nancy Glazier at 542-0205 x166 or [email protected].
Getting ready for EasterChildren's Ministries at First Presbyterian has put together some fantastic resources forfamilies to enjoy in the weeks leading up to Easter. The Lenten Calendar has 40 days ofideas for fun with your child from now until Easter. You can find the Calendar at thewebsite (http://www.fpcsantarosa.org/sedond-sunday-in-lent/). Also on the website isan inspiring weekly devotional for parents. Like the church on Facebook and get updateswhen new Lenten devotionals are available and hear about other great things happeningin the life of our church.
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Board of Directors2012-2013
DirectorsCarlyn [email protected] Loupy [email protected] Maloney [email protected]
Chairperson Lucy [email protected]
AdmissionsTerah McIntosh [email protected]
TreasurerKerry [email protected]
ProgramsSharon [email protected] [email protected]
SecretaryKelly [email protected]
NewsletterDebra [email protected]
FacilitiesJenna [email protected]
Bookkeeper Jocelyn McCord
March & April Events
3/3 Sunday Child led worship3/9 Saturday Parent Workday #2 (8am-12pm)3/18-22 Spring Break (no school)
4/1 Monday Easter Monday (no school)4/4 Thursday Dine and Donate event at Crepevine4/18 Thursday Parent Meeting #3 at 7pm
March Birthdays
Information removed to protect studentprivacy.
Crepevine Fundraiser
Mark your calendars for our preschool’s “Dine and Donate” fundraiser.Simply visit Crepevine restaurant in Montgomery Village between the hoursof 3pm-10pm on Thursday, April 4th to participate. Up to 50% of the costof your meal will be donated directly to our preschool’s endof the year potluck fund for the 4/5’s classes. Pleaseremember to tell the staff at Crepevine that you aresupporting this fundraiser when you place your order. Wehope to see you there!
