Preschoolers!!

Dear Parents,
Here are some ideas you can use with your child in learning about zoo animals. Here are some materials you can use to begin this thene unit; colorful construction paper, white paper plates, google eyes, crayons, scissors, and glue. Before beginning the art activity you can label different animals that live in the zoo. You can pick a short story related to zoo animals; for example, by the famous author Eric Carle. Once your ready to make the art activity its very easy. You can make the ears and pick the color for a hippo, flamingo, bears, etc. Children enjoy making different types of animals in general. There is a great website called orientaltrading.com that has different related theses from seasons, eating healthy, transportation, colors, shapes, and letters of the alphabet.

Nourishing the minds of our little ones!

STAY AT HOME MOMS:
You can begin nourishing the minds of your little ones, each day during the week with basic cognitive skills such as the letters of the alphabet. For example, you can start on a Monday, with the letter Aa and continue the rest of the weeks till you reach letter Zz. Simple materials needed for this activity at home are using glue, scissors, and colored construction paper, thats about it and maybe some tape if you choose to hang them up in the house or their room. I use this all the time when starting with a new student. They can be used either for a learning disability student toddler or regular toddler. Begin each week or day depending on their learning capability, a new letter of the alphabet of the day or week, for example: Aa, apple. I cut out the letter and have them paste it onto the paper. Also, making tiny pieces of marche and having them paste it on top is good too. In addition, you make an apple and having them color it and paste it onto the paper, writing the word next to it is important as well.

I love this activity, where children use playdough to make the letters of the alphabet. Its very easy and they follow along very well. Singing to them the letters of the alphabet also adds to the activity. The playdough prices are very cheap and convenient to buy anywhere, don't miss out and use it. Its a great activity. Another idea, is using simple small cups of paint and a paint brush have them paint over a yellow letter with paint. Make a yellow alphabet on paper using a highlighted marker and have them follow it. Playdough and paint can also be used for other concepts such as shapes and numbers. I recommend having all the concepts on separate posters hung somewhere in the home, being the refrigerator or their own room. Children always go back and take a look, you will be surprised how some toddlers recall and repeat it later on at home or school. This promotes memory skills for toddlers and pre-k students.

I would buy alphabet blocks and books Dr.Suess, ABC, A family Alphabet book, Alphabet City, there are many writers and related themes to the alphabet and reading to your child over and over again helps also. You can go to the 99 cent stores they have small letter and number sponges that you soak into paint and kids place it on white paper its an awesome way to learn the concepts too.

You can also make a short schedule for those kids that don't go to preschool yet. For example set a routine for your child so by the time they get to the preschool they might have an idea of what to expect. Write it on white poster paper. Put the days of the week and month, full date is better, the time and picture activity next to it. Monday, January 05, 2009. 10am- Painting, 11am- Playdough, etc. The child will look at the schedule each day and become surprised of what activity will come next, don't forget to add nap time. LOL. Most of all, adding literacy to a child's activity day is very important books books and more books is the best way to educate and blossom our child's literacy and language development each day.

Websites to Visit

These are excellent websites to visit and print out:

www.enchantedlearning.com

www.preschoolactivitybox.com

www.kindercare.com

www.kinderkorner.com

www.kinderthemes.com

5 Essential Learning habits Parents Can do at Home with their Child

As a current New York City teacher, I am dropping by some cognitive learning activities ideas you can do with your child at home. Preschoolers at this age are beginning to develop all areas, cognitive, language, social/emotional, physical, and adaptive skills. My motto is learning is best in its beginning "the earlier the better".

Here are some ideas: 1. Read to your child everyday before bedtime, or even before a short nap, or before dinner, lunch, or breakfast. The stories that best captivate preschoolers are the characters they enjoy watching, i.e. Barney, Dora, Backyardigans. I found that these stories keep students into the story and they enjoy participating to teacher questions. Its important preschoolers learn to answer simple "wh" questions related to the story to enhance and develop their speech and language skills. Telling them to describe simple objects in the story helps them produce new vocabulary words. 2. Playing nursery rhyme music at home is another good idea for language skill development, children love to hear music especially ROW ROW ROW YOUR BOAT, HUMPTY DUMPTY, WHEELS ON THE BUS type of songs and you would be surprised how children remember the words of the song very quickly. Places to find the tapes can be found online such as amazon.com which has good price affordability. 3. Many free online websites I will add soon for preschoolers, have free number, alphabet, shape and color concepts.

I recommend a good site called childcareland.com. This website has numerous activities where you can print and laminate this lessons for your child at home. They are very effective and useful for children to use at home with parents during a mini break or learning with friends at home. The best learning toys are items such as blocks, puzzles, playdough, alphabet blocks, and posters. Preschoolers at this age enjoy learning their basic cognitive skills such as shapes, number concepts, letters, days of the week, months, and primary colors, the earlier the better. Hands on toys are the best learning toys for children, blocks, soft letters and numbers, shapes. 4. Taking your child to the city's local museums, library, or local zoo enhances their learning too. 5. Using playdough, crayons, markers, and paint at home helps the child occupational skills to be developed at a young age. These are some ideas that can be implemented at home easily with parents.
These activities can also be done in a group with family members, aunts, uncles, grandparents, put the activities in a bookbaggy and can be completed anywhere. Try to spend as much time reading to your child and taking them to a near by library, literacy is the root to essential skill areas.

In the math area before I forget, you can buy hands on math manipulatives at very affordable prices with Lakeshore Learning. They are very easy to use and sold at every age level. Try these activities and make a difference in your childs life starting now!!!!

Preschoolers

Good afternoon from the city of New York, one of the best cities in the United States, which has cultural mixtures of many children and families living here today. A city that is growing and improving our early childhood education system everyday and assisting our early childhood students with the best programs and teachers they can offer. An urban city that has made progress and changes in the lives of students. Each day more and more students are being registered for pre-k or headstart programs in New York City. The increase of registration shows a positive beginning in our system as far as education development.

As a NYC special education teacher for the past 9 to 10 years, I made this blog in the hopes of sharing with parents, people, teachers, and college students the insights of why, when, where, and how preschoolers should begin learning at a very early age. I find that education begins once they have reached the age of two. Eventhough, babies learn as well. However, toddlers can make big accomplishments in education by starting at home or entering in a private or public preschool setting right away or receiving early intervention services at home, or with parents. When the child enters a preschool setting it gives the toddler a awareness not only of learning new skills but a form of routine, organization, and socialization skills. The toddler learns that learning begins in a new setting called pre-k or preschool. The best part of this is that it gets the toddler ready for kindergarten. The most important part of earlychildhood education is the development of all skills.
In the following blog, I will add ideas and activities parents can do at home to educate their children and make a difference in their lives at a tender age of beginning two's, three's, four's and five's.....