As a culminating project for the Environments Unit of the preschool curriculum, students and teachers created a coral reef mural. Through a variety of preliminary learning experiences in the classroom, students gained knowledge of the environments in their immediate community and expanded to larger aspects including the coral reef. As the culminating project, students used materials within the classroom environment to represent and convey their knowledge to others. Various creatures were created through art materials within the classroom and those donated from the home environment. Children shared their knowledge with others through conversations, the written word, and drawings.

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Watch the Coral Reef project video

Today we explored with glow sticks and made letters and shapes. This is a fun way to get children to make connections and enhance their knowledge of the developmental objectives.

Focus objective: 16a: Knowledge of the alphabet- identifies and names letters

Doing science projects helps develop your child's resourcefulness, particularly their skills at goal-setting, planning, and problem-solving. It also nurtures intellectual curiosity, helping children acquire new ways of asking questions and understanding their world. This week we explored snow and ice with different tools. We asked the children different open ended questions to spark their curiosity about the world around them.

Focus objectives:

• 7a- Demonstrates fine motor skills- Uses fingers and hands
• 11d- Positive approaches to learnings-shows curiosity and motivation
• 11e- Positive approaches to learning- shows flexibility and inventiveness in thinking

This week we extended our play with our glow sticks and had an instrumental dance party. Why instrumental music? Our brains and ears naturally go to the lyrics in a song. Eliminating the lyrics helps children internalize the beat and freely express themselves through the music. 

Why is this important? Music is the only thing that activates and stimulates the entire brain. Studies show that when young children are exposed to music it benefits them in every developmental area. Music ignites all areas of child development and skills for school readiness, including intellectual, social-emotional, motor, language, and overall literacy. It helps the body and the mind work together. Exposing children to music during early development helps them learn the sounds and rhythm. 

It’s also FUN! I encourage you to expose your child to many different instrumental music; jazz, African, classical etc.

Young children are naturally curious and inquisitive scientists. Little Hornet Preschoolers have the opportunity to use tools to enhance these instincts and develop critical thinking skills. Tools, such as this magnifying glass, help a child to focus intently on an object as well as provide a different perspective when exploring their world. 

Focus objectives:

• 11d Positive approach to learning- shows curiosity and motivation
• 22: Compares and measures
• 26: Explores physical properties of objects
• 28: Uses tools and technology

Check out our preschool progress! It’s important to create activities that expose children to many different learning objectives. We took turns tracing each other (3a,7a) after we created a life size self portrait (29, 33) and lastly we measured ourselves using real tools and blocks (20a, 21a, 22a). This gives children an opportunity to explore many different learning objectives which stimulates their brain development

Learning objectives include:

• 3a- Participates in group situations- balances needs and rights of others
• 7a- Demonstrates fine motor- uses fingers and hands
• 20a-Uses number concepts- counting
• 21a- Understands spatial relationships
• 22a- Compares and measures
• 29- Knowledge of self
• 33- Explores visual arts