Science

I think science is fantastic and we incorporate it into the classroom in a variety of ways.  We have live pets on the premises (chickens, rabbit, dog, fish, and earthworms).  It’s amazing the growth that can come from just being brave enough to touch an animal that you’re afraid of.  We also give the children many opportunities to hypothesize, giving their guess at what will happen, and then follow-through with the actual outcome.  Simple science experiments are my favorite, like: lifting an ice cube with a string, insulating ice cream with merengue, and watching raisins bounce up and down in soda.

Reading Readiness

In teaching them their letters, we focus on one letter a week, but discuss them as a whole the entire year.  With each letter, they learn some fun facts about a wilderness animal/plant/object that starts with that letter (A-ant, B-bear, C-cattails, etc.)  We run through the alphabet flashcards each day, making the sounds and doing an action to pantomime each object.  Each child also begins each Tuesday filling-in a page or two of his or her letter-learning workbook before they can run off and play.  Occasionally on Thursdays they will print their first and last name on a personal white board, along with their phone #.  Throughout our days, they are encouraged to write their own name in most situations, even if it requires some hand holding.

Music

I’m a big believer in the value of music.  It lifts our spirits and can make learning and bonding fun and easy.  I have yet to develop a piano or guitar-playing talent, but we sing along to CDs or our favorites accapella.  We try to sing at least a few songs each day.

Cooking

Everyone’s favorite!  I find cooking an amazing venue for teaching children.  They feel valued as they take turns adding ingredients and capable as they create their own dishes.  They learn math skills, cutting some recipes in half and doubling others, and in counting the items needed.  They learn that things have to be done in a specific order (important to reading readiness) and learn to “read” the recipes.  They also learn cooking vocabulary, simple techniques used in recipes, cooking tool names, and different food varieties (i.e. the different forms of a potato-hash browns, mashed, baked, dehydrated, raw).  Cooking usually occurs in my upstairs kitchen with just half the group at a time on Tuesdays.  The other half stay in the basement for art and then we switch.

Math

To me, math is learned in our everyday experiences in the preschool.  Rarely do we pull out math worksheets, although we do focus on counting and number recognition in circle time. When, as a group, we do the calendar, books, and songs, math comes in.  Patterning, cooking, art, large movement…so much of it involves math.  We teach them many board games and encourage them to play them during free play.  These are a tremendous resource in using their math skills.  They also LOVE learning to count to ten in Spanish, and I love seeing them rattle them off like they knew them all along!

Field Trips

I generally do two field trips during the year, with the possibility of a mini one thrown in.  The Phoenix Zoo has been beneficial in going along with our themes of Desert Animals and reptiles and, of course our African theme.  I’d rather visit places that the children may not have been before, though, so I’m always open for new options.  We usually take a walk to the farmlands south of us when we have our Old MacDonald theme.