A sense of Belonging and feeling Welcome
We start off our day with a welcome song I learned from my friend Brooke in a home school co-op, greeting each child.
“(Joey’s) come to play today, We’re glad he’s come to Discovery Sprouts to play, Hello, Joey!!”
Alphabet play
We then sing the alphabet song with our quilt, using first letter sounds, then letters, as a matter of routine.
(Later in our day, we do activities that play with letters and their sounds, such as looking at alphabet quiet books, jumping to the letter sounds, playing with alphabet puzzles, reading books about the alphabet, etc. I taught seven of my nine children to read, and will eventually teach them all. Playing with sounds and letters, identifying and writing them prepares them to read and I will teach your child according to where he or she is at in the process of learning to read.)
Connections to God, Parents and Family come first
We proceed with a devotional including nursery or spiritual songs, games, discussion, role play, Bible story or making a beautiful principle simple and easy to understand.
Literature
Our activities generally themed around a book or a few books.
In Audrey Woods’s playful book, children hear, “I’m as mean as a shark” or “I’m as gentle as a lamb”, etc. This book makes simple the many sides of being human without shame or inflation of ego, in simple honesty and confidence. On one of the days we read this book, we then made paper dolls of our selves in art.
Our preschool guest sang as she colored a paper doll rendition of herself and wanted to make a boy cut out doll too. These two paper dolls had a great dance together. Writers in preschool could write their names and their own, “I’m as (sly) as a (fox).
We get our preschool youth talking. Talking is a wonderful pre-writing skill, as is re-telling a story. Summarizing and synthesizing will help them begin to do the same in their writing. We can make predictions and ask questions, as good writers and readers do.
Stories and literature bring so much to the table including imagination, sequencing, role playing, drama, dance, movement and pretend. All subjects can be integrated through good stories. For us, stories often brought in dance. We played records with story and music such as “Gingerbread man”, or “Three little Bears” The kids loved when we used our costume box to dress up.
Snack-Time for Manners, Health, and Longer Story Reads
Using the tiny picnic basket and tea set, the table was set each preschool day and we ate whole grain homemade crackers or organic crackers from Costco and homemade muffins, small pb & j’s, with a variety of veggies and fruits, always water, sometimes cubed meats or cheese and occasionally a treat after eating something healthy first.
The kids practiced asking politely, taking turns, passing food, careful pouring, and developing dexterity while spooning blueberries for example. They also gained taste for healthy foods.
I usually read a longer story, here in our day, following the theme or inserting a number awareness or science learning book about nature and animals.
Or alternatively, the kids packed the outdoor picnic basket and we ate outdoors, enjoying nature.
MATH
Play to teach MATH, with learning colors, telling time, learning months and days of week, sorting and Counting,matching and comparing, building,number awareness and familiarity and pre-adding and subtracting.
We used songs, books and natural integration such as counting for curiosity or cooking, to teach Math, as well as my favorite, using Montessori materials and hands on activities to learn math. I set these up as centers that rotated. The kids were engaged and happy in their “works”. See Maria Montessori Works. These activities also honed in on fine motor skills and hand eye coordination which are also pre-writing skills.
Playing with dominoes and dice are a wonderful way to develop number awareness and counting, as well as adding.
Music
Along with math goes Music. We used the program Prodigies to teach music. It engages each student and teaches rhythm, time signature and reading music with the use of bells songs and clapping. This is bright, fun and hands on!
I also played simple songs, for example, one was about ice skating and our guest got the idea to skate on papers as we sang the song! This was imaginative, fun and fitness for kids!
Another day, we were learning about horses. We sang a pony song and the kids clapped “coconuts”, (bottles and cups) to a rhythm while one child got to ride our wooden pony.
Science
At this age science is mostly gaining an eye of wonder for the world around them. This breeds observation, patience, investigation, gathering, prediction and question making. It is a sensory and tactile experience. We planted seeds, gathered nature, learned about gardening, blew dandelions, observed a worm, and had a field trip at “Baby Animal days” this year.
Our goal was to spend at least some time in nature everyday. This led to fresh air, exercise, exploration, socializing and science based activities.
Writing and Art
Holding a pencil and moving from left to right are pre writing and reading skills. The kids colored, used color pencils and this work in Montessori was useful in writing. After tracing the shape, they used a ruler to write lines that went from left to right and from top to bottom of their shape. These directions preparing their their eyes and hands as they read and write left to right. Top to bottom of a page.
We painted Hollyhocks as a mother’s day gift. I will post a video so you can watch me teach art, later this week. Here is the demo I did and the kids copied as I instructed them.
Service Project
Occasionally, we work an age appropriate service project into our preschool. This semester, the children enjoyed helping to wash organic eggs, a couple rimes. This component builds empathy, an outward focus toward other’s needs as well as is skill building.
What to look Forward to
Thursday you will see our precious “Three Little Bears” day, Friday you will see Discover Sprouts’ “Gingerbread Man” and “Where the Wild Things Are” days, and next Monday, you will get to watch me teach my 3-8 year old little class how to paint Hollyhpcks!
Registration
Registration opens this week! July 30th -Aug 4th 2024.
Registration fee: $50 for new students, $40 for returning student.
To register, send you and your child’s name, birth date and contact information here: (Be sure to use the text for any questions you have as well! 😊
Text: Emily Balling 763-742-3708.
You will be able to fill out our paperwork at our Preschool Open house Tuesday, August 27th, 6:30-8pm, the week before our preschool begins.
Schedule
TUESDAY, THURSDAY
Benson Utah
1-3:15
Tuition: $125 due the first week of the month.
First day of School Tuesday September 3rd 2024
December runs through December 12th and is off for the rest of the month.