Tag Archive for: math

Oh No! It’s raining… AGAIN!

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You look out the window and realize that noise you heard was rain… again! And it doesn’t want to stop any time soon. But you have a three or four-year-old who doesn’t understand why they can’t go outside and run and play. Now just imagine you have a room full of four-year-olds all getting agitated because they can’t go outside! That’s what’s been happening at St. Paul’s Day School.

Luckily, we have some talented teachers who have all sorts of tricks up their sleeves. Here are some of the things they do and suggestions for things you can do at home with your preschooler.

First things first, some physical movement is a must! I walked into our preK-3 classroom and there was a dance party going on! Little ones doing their best impressions of dancing skeletons with arms swinging back and forth. You can find lots of appropriate pre-k dance songs on YouTube or Spotify. Another alternative is Yoga… try Cosmic Kids Yoga! The kids get a story to go along with the poses!

Then when they’ve got the wiggles out, we love to play with playdough. Don’t have any at home? Your child will love making some with you! Here’s my favorite recipe for NO FAIL PLAYDOUGH that lasts 6 months:
1.5 cups flour
1/2 cup salt
2 teaspoons cream of  tartar
2 tablespoons oil
1 cup of boiling water
food coloring (optional but fun)

Mix the dry ingredients. (Little ones love pouring the dry ingredients into the big mixing bowl.) Then an ADULT does this part – Boil the water and pour it into a measuring cup. Add the oil to it and as much food coloring as you would like. Pour the water mixture into the dry ingredients.  Stir with a sturdy spoon.

Once it’s not too hot for a child to touch, they can do some stirring. When it starts to clump together and it’s not drippy, dump it on the table and an adult starts to knead. When it’s just the right temperature, your child can knead it too. It feels so good when it’s warm and the kids love to smell and squeeze it. (If it is too dry, add a few drops of boiled water, too wet, add a little flour.)

The cream of tartar (found in the spice section of the grocery store) is the secret. You’ll get smooth playdough that just begs for kids to come play! (Hint: If you have a stand mixer, this is even easier! Dry ingredients first, wet added gradually using a dough hook. It’s a cinch!) Store in an air-tight container!

Playdough is great for strengthening little hands for writing. And measuring is a great math skill. Creating shapes and “snakes” leads to all sorts of possibilities including making letters and numbers, and encouraging a child’s imagination and vocabulary.

And when your child is done playing with that, they can build. Use blocks or magna tiles or boxes. Anything that has flat sides is fair game! Your child will learn about balance and gravity and physics like we do at St. Paul’s Day School!

Story books are always a great way to not only pass the time, but to share special snuggle time and build literacy. Use funny voices, ask your child what they think will happen next and enjoy learning more about how your child sees the world.

Cook together! You’ll find that children will try new foods if they help cook them! And along the way you can talk about how many items you are cooking along with colors, shapes, smells, and textures. Practice positional words like: beside, behind, under, over, and on top.

Coloring and watercolors are fun on a rainy day! And dry erase markers work great on mirrors and windows (with some adult supervision.)

Games are good too… Candyland, Bingo, Jenga, Uno. Go for it!

Make each other laugh. It makes the day that much better!

Pro Tip from Mrs. Ryan:

Don’t hesitate to be silly around your child.  It builds strong bonds, relieves stress and teaches them emotional resilience!

Why is Preschool so Important?

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I am often told, “it must be nice to have a job where you can just play with little ones all day!” My response is always a smile. And, a gentle explanation of why it’s so important for a child to have a solid early childhood education.

During the time a child is in preschool, from 3  to 5 years old, their body and brain are developing quickly. Synapses and bones and muscles rapidly becoming stronger, more efficient, preparing for the tasks of learning to come.

These children are developing language skills, reasoning, problem solving and a complex cognitive understanding of the world around them. They go from a toddler who tumbles over the “roses in the rug” and who puts everything in their mouth to figure it out, to an explorer who ponders the why’s and how’s of everything they experience.

Things we take for granted are important ways the early childhood educator provides the foundation for a child’s lifelong learning.

We read books. We read to teach our small charges that letters have names and sounds and that they are different than numbers. That if you put the letters together, they make words and that when you put the words together, they make sentences that tell us a story. And that all of those letters and words go left to right! We expand their minds with vocabulary they haven’t heard before and ideas that are new and interesting. They learn to hold books, to turn pages and to appreciate humor and mystery and the thrill of a surprise ending!

We build with blocks. And that teaches a child about math, spatial properties, physics and social interactions. They begin to understand counting, sorting, size comparison, patterning, and geometry! They start recognizing concepts like balance, symmetry, weight, and dimensions. They use scientific reasoning when they experience cause and effect and the force of gravity.

We color with crayons. Strengthening little hands and improving fine motor skills is essential to the ability to write. When they choose colors and make decisions about how their art will look, they learn to plan. These little scholars learn to deal with challenging feelings when their picture doesn’t look the same on the paper as it does in their mind. They are focusing for longer periods of time, improving hand eye coordination and attention span.

We use our imaginations. When the children enter the dress up area, they become a parent, a pilot, a chef, a princess, a doctor, and all sorts of other exciting characters. Each different role includes the ability to use their memory of the behaviors of each character. To use vocabulary that is particular for that play scenario. They learn to work with friends and play cooperatively. They practice their conversational skills and social emotional regulation.

Phew! That’s a lot in a simple day of play! Without it, without the stimulation of their amazing and incredible brains and exercising their growing muscles and bones, they fall far behind their peers. Their love of learning doesn’t develop. And there is no solid foundation to build on for the future.

That’s why preschool is so important. Why St. Paul’s Day School is so important. As Mr. Fred Rogers so famously said, “Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.”

 

Pro Tip from Mrs. Ryan:

Want to help your child remember your phone number or address? It’s really important information if they need help. Sing it! Children learn the words to songs much more rapidly than they do spoken words.  So use a “piggyback” tune (Row, Row, Row Your Boat, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, London Bridge is Falling Down etc.) and sing the words!