PRESCHOOL NEWS
The preschoolers have once again this year become the authors and illustrators of their own hardcover book. The title of our book this year is My Favorite Thing to Do in School is…..In addition to publishing a book, we have also found time this month to extensively explore the topics of healthy habits and team work.
Considerable time and energy went into our classroom book the last two weeks. The first step of the writing process was to actually determine what each child’s favorite activity was; at least on that particular day! Next each child practiced their rough draft in their personal writing journals. The next step of course was drawing and writing on our book pages. Finally, each child gathered an item from the classroom to depict their favorite activity and we snapped the photo for the cover of our book! We are all excited to see the finished product of all our hard work!
I recently found a health curriculum titled Crawford the Cat on line. Each lesson is accompanied by a five minute video that playfully illustrates a particular health topic and follows up with some very simple lesson ideas. Our first lesson was “Crawford Is a Good Nighter”. After watching the video, the preschoolers sorted a list of activities into two groups; activities that are good or not good to include in a bedtime routine. The children were each given a laminated door hanger to hang on their bedroom door to help them remember those good nighttime routines. 1. Set a bedtime 2. Take a bath 3. Brush your teeth 4. Read a book 5. Use the bathroom
Fun Fact: According to WEBMD.com children 3-6 years old need 10-12 hours of sleep per day. Studies show that children who are sleep deprived are more likely to be depressed, catch cold, and flu, and suffer accidents on the playground. Just one hour less of sleep a night causes measurable memory and concentration problems.
Teamwork can make it work! Teamwork! That was the theme the preschoolers embraced Valentines week. The children watched the short video “Crawford and Harriet Work Together” and then we discussed that one of the first things you must do to be a good teammate is to “cooperate”. Then we read the book I Can Cooperate! This book gave us many examples of how we can cooperate with family and friends. Each day we practiced cooperation by moving to the song “Partners”. This movement song was very challenging, but by the end of the week we had more of an idea of what teamwork really meant.
Since February is Dental Health Month, the preschoolers spent a week delving into what it takes to keep a healthy set of teeth. The activity that created the most stir was our science experiment which included soaking three boiled eggs in three different beverages; namely Coke a Cola, milk, and water. After four days, it was quite obvious that milk and water were the healthy choices for our teeth!
.
