Week 4 at Fraser Preschool

Another wonderful week has flown by at Fraser Preschool. The children are really feeling a sense of belonging now at preschool. They are settling into their social play and are learning to interact more and more appropriately. Having a sense of belonging is so important as they are then able to focus on other important areas of learning whether it be social or academic. Some of the growth in their social development can be seen in the many ways they play. We have camping happening outside and cooperative building inside. Children can often be observed just sitting and chatting.

This week we also had the Nutrition magician come and talk to the children about everyday foods and sometimes food. You could ask them what they think are in each category. He did this while doing some very good magic tricks. He performed for over an hour and the children were glued to the spot.

 

 

At the end of last term we had a visit from the The Little Left Lane Outreach Theatre Show – who performed‘The Grumpy Little Worm who Didn’t Like to Share.’ It was exciting having people coming into the school and do a play. We learnt about the grumpy worm who was getting pushed out of his underground house by a big plant and he had to find a new hole to live in. The children were able to move around and grow like the plants and wriggle like the worm. It was very interactive and fun to watch.

What's planned for preschool this term?

This term we will continue to work with preschoolers on developing oral language skills. The children will be provided with opportunities to take turns and conversations and express emotions in communication and play. In our prelit program we will focus on phonological awareness and oral language development through story book reading. We will support children to use longer more detailed sentences and to correctly use pronouns such as he, she, they, I, you, his, her. Children will practice following 3 step instructions and sequence familiar stories correctly.

Numeracy activities will focus on counting forwards and backwards,  in additon to recognising numerals 1-10.  Other learning experiences will involve classifying and sequencing objects. We will also investigate shape and play maths games involving matching and counting. 

At the library, the preschoolers will view the Children’s Book Council of Australia short-listed titles in the 2018 Early Childhood Book of the Year category. We will be reading the books and picking our favourite one. In August during Children’s Book Week we will find out the winning title and honour books.

The social skills we are continuing to build on this term are turn taking, sharing, showing respect for others and  co-operative play. Our explicit teaching experiences will focus on self-management, developing self regulation, resilience and self-motivation.

Through our Fresh Tastes program children will understand that diffferent foods help their bodies to go, grow and glow. They will learn that go foods (carbohydrates) give us energy to run, play and jump. Grow foods have lots of protein and calcium to help build strong teeth, bones and muscles. Glow foods are fruits and vegetables that contain vitamins and minerals to keep us healthy. During the term we will grow, prepare and taste some of these foods. 

We will continue to extend and enhance fine and gross motor skills through a wide variety of play experiences. 

Wondering what you can do at home to build fine motor skills?

Let your child try this.........

Finger Strength and Isolation:   

• doing up buttons and zips
• finger Rhymes, such as Incey Wincey Spider
• using tweezers and tongs to pick up objects
• sqeezing droppers
• using stickers                                                                            
• drawing in shaving cream or wet sand
• peg up clothes
• lift up flap stories
• using sticky tape 
• sewing/threading activities
• building with peg boards, paper clips, golf tees
• peeling fruit, for example mandarins 
• using spray bottles to water plants

Hand Strength:

• squeezing wet sponges
• action songs and rhymes involving tapping and clapping
• clay, play dough
• scrunching paper
• hole punching
• washing dolls clothes and wringing them out
• lacing and tying
• cutting, mixing, squeezing, rolling when cooking for example making pastry
• hammering