Preschools The Marigold School of Early Learning

Help your preschooler start the new school year

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101_5663 As the new school year approaches there are a few things to think about if you have a preschool aged child either continuing their preschool journey or starting their journey for the first time.

101_5812 * Consider the time of day and the meals your child has before you take them back to school shopping.

1. In the morning after a healthy breakfast or after a nap and a healthy snack, young children have energy! 

2. Back to school shopping takes energy.  There is a lot of external stimuli children have to filter out every time they go to a public place and that takes a lot of energy. So why not go when your children are fresh from sleep and energized with food?

3. If the morning time doesn’t work try taking your preschooler to the store after their nap and a healthy protein rich snack.  Young children need their naps to ensure their bodies are getting the much- needed recovery sleep young people require as they grow.  And again a healthy low sugar and rich protein snack will give their bodies the fuel they need to focus when you take them shopping.

4. Melt-downs in the store usually occur because young children get hungry and tired before us adults do.  They are still learning how to navigate our world and sometimes the store is very overstimulating.  When they are tired and hungry they are less apt to be able to stay calm. listen to advice, negotiate, compromize, or communicate how they feel. If you can possibly plan your outings for when you know your child is energized, your trip will more likely be a success rather than an emotional rollercoaster. 🙂

101_5812 * Your child’s feelings.  Your child’s first preschool experience can be a bit overwhelming from the start.  There is back to school shopping, discussions of school and any other information they have gathered from older siblings experiences, TV shows, stories you’ve read about it, and their own interpretations of something new.

  • Be a bit more observant of your child’s emotions during this important time of year.  Little things your child does out of the ordinary can add up and tell you that your child may be experiencing anxiety, fear of the unknown, excitement, eagerness,  and a whole lot of happiness etc.
  • Take a little more time to allow your preschooler to adjust to the changes in their daily routines that will be happening once they start the new school year.  With summer coming to an end it may be a good thing to start making sure your child is in bed earlier than the summer hours.
  • Start back to school discussions a few weeks prior to school starting.  Check out back to school books at your local library or purchase some at your local bookstore.  Ask for assistance if you are having trouble finding exactly what you want.  Books are a wonderful way to naturally fall into discussions about school.
  • Include your child in the back to school shopping.  Children need to be a part of the whole process.  After all, they are the ones embarking on this new adventure, so it makes sense that they get to be an active participant in getting ready.
  • Take the time to really notice your child’s emotional state.  Pay close attention to any small to large behavior changes, mood swings, or how they are interacting with their older or younger siblings and friends during this transitional time in their lives.  Stress affects young children too.  And young children do not yet have the coping skills to deal with emotions they do not yet fully understand.  So be empathetic and sensitive to this new and somewhat nerve-racking experience in their lives. Be sure to give them some leeway since their emotions may be a little all over the place till they have actually started school and their fears of the unknown are calmed and replaced with joy and anticipation.

101_5359 Preschool is just around the corner, so make sure you schedule a tour and come visit The Marigold School of Early Learning!  I would love to discuss any learning goals you have for this new and exciting school year! 🙂

Heidi Scott, BA & MIT

 

 

 

 

Week 6 Beans!

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101_5705 Week 6 blogging is a bit late.  Sorry about that, I was a tiny bit busy. 🙂  I really am enjoying the pretty purple flowers on this bean plant!  The bottom leaves are loosing their color too soon in my opinion, so I added some fertilizer.  I realize I have no bees to pollinate, but I’m still hopeful this plant may produce one bean!

101_5703 The vines have really taken off and are almost at the very top of the string I attached.  A nice amount of little purple flowers can be found over most of the plant.  I love this shade of purple, so I’m so happy the flowers are not white, but colored! 🙂

 

You can see here that the vines have been steadily growing.  They just needed a little help when they first started.  I am eager to see how far these little bean plants will grow before saying good night.101_5702

101_5700 If you have ever tried growing beans indoors just for the fun of it let me know how it turned out!  I’m not talking about growing starts for gardens indoors, but just seeing how far your plant flourished inside.  So far my window by my little kitchen area has a lovely window curtain of bean leaves, vines and purple flowers. 🙂

Heidi Scott, BA & MIT

The Marigold School of Early Learning

 

Green Apple Cinnamon Play dough

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Apple cinnamon play dough not only smells good, but this batch turned out super smooth and very malleable! Notice the above picture is of a young child starting with a medium sized flat circle of dough and then following it are three small ones with the last being super large.  This child started each piece by rolling each into a ball and then using both elbows, flat hands and her stomach to smash the dough flat.  Comparing the size difference between circles was not a Teacher directed provocation.  This child chose on her own to compare the sizes of the five circles she made herself.  Each time a child creates or constructs he/ she is cognitively and physically forming knowledge about that object and shape.  The young mind takes into account the smell, color, texture and how this medium changes and in what ways.  What better way to really understand shapes than to actually create them from a material designed just for young hands and minds.
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The next day apple cinnamon play dough was of great interest again, but more use was made with the adjoining craft sticks.  This time following a similar theme as above, this child chose to line up the sticks side by side. Comparing the same size and shape of each stick was the purpose.  And it was entirely the child’s idea.  Compare and contrast is also a concept that neatly fits into shape building.  Children explore the world around them by using tactile senses, eyesight, hearing, and movement as well as oral and sign language.  The whole child is engaged and the whole mind constructs the building blocks necessary for further academic learning.

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Small hands formed the letter “O”.  This “O” is for now a representation of my name.  Yes, it is not a letter in my name, but it is a start!  Emergent curriculum happens when young minds show internal interest and motivation to understand.  My job is to make sure to support and draw out the knowledge from within and add to it as we go through our preschool journey.

 

Heidi Scott, The Marigold School of Early Learning

Come to the Preschool Fair!

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We are off to a great start for 2016!  

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If you are a family with young children ready for preschool please check out the link below.  Preschools from all over the Clark County area will be at the 2016 Preschool Fair!  So check out their information and come join us! 🙂

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/events/1636476286606893/

 

 

 

Heidi Scott, BA & MIT  The Marigold School of Early Learning cropped-cropped-100_8035.jpg

Dress for the Weather

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Just a reminder for all of the families out there with young children.  You probably already know this information, but I always like reminders.

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*Remember that small, young children warm up quickly indoors and cool off even quicker outdoors.  Keep your child bundled from head to toe literally.  

  • Have your young child wear a warm hat to prevent heat loss from the top of their heads
  • ear muffs to protect their little ears from the cold
  • mittens to keep their tiny hands and fingers warm
  • a child size scarf around their necks to prevent the cool air from getting inside their shirts
  • a warm coat to keep their body heat in
  • and thick warm socks for their feet.
  • rain-boots or other boots that are well insulated and have good traction will also prevent heat loss from their feet.
  •  Also make sure their shirts and pants are thicker for these colder months.  The outerwear is great, but regular clothes should not be the same as what they wear during the summer months.
  • When your young child comes back indoors make sure all of the outdoor warm clothes come off so the indoor heat can reach their bodies and they can acclimate to the warmer indoor environment.  

*Also make sure to hydrate your young child.  We often forget to drink as much water as we do in the warmer months.  Children need to keep hydrated year round, so make sure you encourage them to drink water, juice, milk and yes, hot cocoa! 🙂

 

Heidi Scott, BA & MIT  The Marigold School of Early Learning                                                                                                                                                                          download

Play Based Learning

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Cars and Blocks! 🙂  A three year old child decided that cars and blocks go nicely together and so began construction of a large one story building and some nice parking spots for cars.  And some cars park upside down. 

2008-01-01 12.34.42  I absolutely love how this child decided the parking spots should be on tall polls!  What do you think, is this the future of parking?  Maybe when cars fly like on the “Jetsons”? 🙂  Again mathematics and yes, physics are happening here.  This child put those cars on the pulls many times because gravity and balance claimed them.  Finally with much persistence they stayed put.  

2008-01-08 12.32.22 Moving along from cars and blocks, we find that using scissors to cut play dough is a great way to practice proper form and to strengthen our fine motor skills. This child follows a normal developmental pattern of going back and forth between using two hands to open and close the scissors and using one hand to cut and one to hold the object needing cutting.  As a mentor and guide in this situation, I modeled it once and let her try.  I encouraged her to keep trying when she felt it was too hard.  And she did wonderfully on her own! 🙂  The next time we used scissors for paper and for play dough she allowed me to model it once and she tried it until she felt satisfied.  

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Heidi Scott, BA & MIT  The Marigold School of Early Learning 🙂 

 

Come join us at The Marigold School of Early Learning!  We would love to play with new friends and together plan many exciting and new projects!

Following the Interest of a Child

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Before we went on winter break I captured these pictures from the morning preschool sessions. 🙂

 

2015-12-08 08.08.34 Using puzzle pieces and a small wooden bowl I set up a provocation for the morning. 🙂

2015-12-08 08.08.50  Here is  a small example of emergent curriculum.  I based this provocation off of what I saw happening in class.  The week before a three year old child used dominoes and cars to create pictures, so I thought why not try the same idea using puzzle pieces.  Again, I do not expect and am not crushed if a child does not take interest in a provocation, it is a learning process for both myself and the students.

2008-01-07 13.12.45  What ended up happening is the puzzle pieces were moved to a piece of fabric in the Reading Corner and buttons were added to the bowl.  And that is when a child’s imagination took over! 🙂  The puzzle pieces and buttons became cat food!  And as I was documenting this emergent process I also observed a strong interest in cats.  This particular child has a pet cat, so no surprise with the interest.  This is leading me to adding a few more cat books to our Reading Corner and non-fiction ones as well.  

school pics 023  Here is an example of  little bear and a cat book.  Since interest in cat behavior is showing up in play so strongly, I am going to incorporate facts about cats and see what types of provocations I can set up to entice young children’s interests in cats or other animals.  The content areas that will be covered will include literacy, art, and science.  How interested the children are in the topic will determine how deep we go into the content areas, but I can tell you from years of experience that when young children are interested in a topic, deep and meaningful learning experiences are the result.  And the wonderful thing about it is that is all stems from the children and is not topics forced onto them by the Teacher. 🙂

Heidi Scott, BA & MIT

The Marigold School of Early Learning