Pre-K: "Ii" Week...Inventions, Inchworms and Ice Cream!
Language and Literacy
As we work our way through the alphabet during our year together, Martine and I are noticing how eager your children have become to read on their own. Fluency in reading is by no means a requirement for Kindergarten, and some children may express their eagerness quietly, while others are more boisterous about it. Wherever they are in their quest, we try to meet them with a variety of approaches. Some like tactile exploration of letters and phonemes, while others prefer a more traditional method of sounding out each letter. Whatever their preferred style, we are thrilled to see each child really start to dig in, in their own way.
This week, the letter "Ii" was front and center. Children don’t necessarily think they need vowels to sound out words, and, as they start to write, you may notice that vowels frequently get left out. Vowels are tricky because they are so open-ended in their sound and because there are multiple sounds they might make. Our only vowel left to add in, after this week, is "Ee", which is commonly thought to be the trickiest because of the variety of rules and forms it follows. So, as your child starts to put together simple CVC (consonant vowel consonant) words like “pin,” remind and encourage them to focus on the sound a letter makes, rather than simply on the letter recognition! This will help them as they learn to read and, eventually, as they start to write on their own.
We celebrated being in school for 100 days all together on Thursday! Make sure you collect artwork from your children’s cubbies so that you can see what they envision for when they are 100 years old. We also became inventors again, and photos are on display of our Pre-K inventions (although, sadly, a number of classmates were out that day).
Math and Science
Pre-K children went on a treasure hunt for laminated pictures of different-sized inchworms. Once children found them, they brought them over to our math table and measured them with 6-inch inchworm rulers!
Children worked in pairs this week to build ice cream cones; they shared a cone and took turns using tongs to pull out tiny pom poms to add scoops, according to two rolls of a die. On Friday, we did a series of insect math problems and Anthony (Jack and Gracie’s dad) led the kids through adding parts to make a whole, in small groups. Your children are now ready for 2nd grade math!
For Science Friday, Martine led a fantastic activity on optical illusions! Pre-K designed their own and brought them home; they are adorable.
Dramatic Play and Building Area
Our dramatic play area was transformed into an ice cream parlor this week, and children LOVED scooping, serving and eating. Toward the end of the week, children were inspired by images of different types of bridges and used legos to build different types of bridges. Then, they tested them in our sensory table that was filled with water.
Finally, we talked about our Zones of Regulation. There are 4 zones: blue, green, yellow and red. Make sure to ask your child which zone they are in when they wake up in the morning and how you can help them get to green, if they’re not already there. I've included an image of the zones in our photos this week.
I will be at a conference on Monday, but Barbara will be in with Martine! Have a wonderful weekend.
Emily and Martine
Books included:
The Race
Imogene’s Antlers
Iris and Isaac
Should I Share My Ice Cream?
It Looked Like Spilt Milk
