Author: PCSPreschool

February, We Love You! 

Room 5 has had a very full February! We began our spiritual and social/emotional focus on the Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) and memorized them with a very fun song by Steve Green, aptly titled; “The Fruit of the Spirit”. Here is a link to the video on YouTube: The Fruit of the Spirit by Steve Green 😊 

We dove right in to the seasonal festivities surrounding Valentine’s Day, flooding the classroom with hearts and Valentine card-making stations. We set up a romantic Italian Trattoria in our dramatic play center, and filled our class library with books about the meaning of love and how to share it. 


For Valentine’s Day we made a “Friendship Fruit Salad” with fresh fruit and a dollop of cool-whip. Each child brought a piece of fruit from home to share with their classmates. We took turns chopping them up and adding them to our fruit salad bowl. At the end, Mrs. Erin topped it off with a bit of whipped cream for flair, and everyone enjoyed their healthy Valentine’s Day snack! 


It’s been marvelous to witness our little ones growing up and growing together this year. We’ve been able to make some amazing collaborative works of art, have extended morning meetings together for learning units of time, and some good old fashioned friendship forming on the playground. We deeply love each and every child in our care here at PCPS. Watching them learn to love and play together fills our hearts with joy every day. The beauty of God’s love shines so brightly through their diligent and faithful hearts… it is a daily reminder of how blessed we all are to be here. ❤ 


“Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”  – 1 John 4:8 (NIV) 

Family Fun!

Family Fun Ideas

Family bonding is essential for the developmental growth of children. It does not only encourage stronger relationships, but it helps develop language. Research has indicated that positive parent-child interactions benefits children’s social, cognitive and language development. According to Mary Ainsworth, children who are engaged in a secure parent-child relationship are more likely to be independent, emotionally stable, and have trust. Some activities that foster family bonding include going on vacation, museum weekends, and going to the zoo. Family bonding can also include simple family activities that can be done at home. Playing ball, baking, making crafts, and playing board games are all easy ways to enjoy time together. The main goal/idea is to bond and interact with your children.

    

Some ideas that can increase family bonding time include making slime or going on a scavenger hunt.

Making Slime

   

 

Making slime is a fun and interactive way to talk to your children. You can ask open-ended questions that can develop their critical thinking skills. As questions such as: How does it feel? What do you think will happen next?

Making slime can be done with stuff at home…

Slime Recipe:

½ cup of glue (clear or regular)

1 teaspoon of Borax or liquid starch

2 measuring cups

water

2 medium bowls

Add food coloring or glitter if desired. Tip: Add food coloring directly to the water.

Procedure:

  1. First, start by pouring 1 cup of water and 1 teaspoon of Borax into a bowl. Mix together until dissolved.
  2. Next, mix ½ cup of glue and ½ cup of water into the other bowl.
  3. Add the water and borax mixture little by little into the bowl with the glue.
  4. The mixture should start thickening.
  5. Knead it together until you get a slimy texture. It should ooze freely without sticking to your hands too much.

 

Scavenger Hunt Game at the Zoo

   

List your favorite animals onto a list before going to the zoo. This offers a great opportunity to ask children about their favorite animals. Such questions may arise such as what sound does that animal make? What do they eat?

Whatever activity you choose, enjoy and cherish this time with your children. Stay relaxed, smile lots, and truly get to know them.

By: Marbel Torres, CSULA Intern

Delicious Lessons in Early Mathematics! 

Last week Room 5 had a rockin’ hot cocoa bar with our morning snack and got a yummy lesson in applied math and graphing at the same time! One by one everyone came up to customize their own hot cocoa cup, and afterwards we voted on our favorite topping. We learned new vocabulary, made scientific observations about which items melted and at what speed (marshmallows take longer to melt than whipped cream!), and each friend cast their vote for favorite topping on our bar graph! Whipped cream and chocolate syrup tied for first place with marshmallows just one vote behind. This might be one of our favorite ways to introduce graphing to preschoolers. What do you think? 

Chilly but Silly- Room 5 is Back! 

We had a long and restful break for Christmas but now we’re back at school with brand new friends and brand new stories to share! 

Our two-year-olds jumped right back in to the cozy routine of their classroom and warmly welcomed all our new friends to the Room 5 family! They have been eagerly awaiting their return to the big playground and we all know that two-year-olds are nothing if not tenacious negotiators… these toddlers were NOT going to let a little rain keep them from a good time! So, we layered and buttoned up and headed outside! 

The teachers of Room 5 enjoyed their break but we sure missed these little guys!! Everyone is looking forward to a fantastic rest of the year in 2017…. Happy New Year and God Bless. 

Mom’s Club Preschool Fair – January 21

Do you know anyone looking for a preschool? Spread the word…we have your one stop preschool shop! The annual Mom’s Club Preschool Fair will be held on the PCS campus on January 21st from 10:00 am – 1:00pm. There will be more than 40 local-area preschools and preschool-oriented vendors on site. Bring the kids as there will be face painting, a train ride, and more!

Bring your friends! We hope to see you there!

Cooking for Christmas 

Today in Room 5 we baked gingerbread cookies! We practiced literacy skills as we read the recipe together, math skills as we measured and counted our ingredients, and learned important lessons about science and nature as we manipulated those ingredients to see them transform into gingerbread dough! We counted using one-to-one correspondence as we laid our cookies out on their baking sheet and enjoyed listening to a reading of “The Gingerbread Man” as we gobbled them up with our snack. Yum!