Category: Development

Zones of Emotional Regulation

9/27/2022

Hello EC Families!

During our Feelings/Emotions Unit, we learn about a lot of different feelings and the zones that they fall into--green, blue, yellow, or red. Being able to identify emotions is very beneficial for all of us. Simply being able to name what you are feeling actually helps to calm your amygdala! This is one reason why it is so important for children to learn to name their feelings. Here are the feelings and zones that we learn about in class:

Green Zone - happy, calm, okay, focused, ready to learn, can do my best, show expected behaviors

Blue Zone - sad, tired, sick, bored

Yellow Zone - silly, frustrated, excited, worried

Red Zone - mad/angry, mean, terrified, hitting/yelling

We also learn that even though it is okay to experience all of these feelings, there are strategies or tools that we can use to get back to the Green Zone. We will learn more specific strategies throughout the year, but here are a few:
1) Take a break (in our classroom, we use the Cozy Corner)
2) Go for a walk (with a grown-up)
3) Drink water
4) Talk to an adult
5) Use breathing strategies (these will be learned throughout the year)
6) Use a calm down strategy (these will be learned throughout the year)

You can help your child at this at home by:

Helping your child identify what he is feeling
Reminding your child of things she can do to feel better and offering to do them with her
Practicing breathing and calm down strategies when your child is in the Green Zone. This will help your child be more likely to use them when in the Blue, Yellow, or Red Zone.

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Ways to Practice Letters with Your Child

1/25/2022

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Hello Preschool Families!

Letter recognition is a big preschool skill, especially if your child will be going onto Kindergarten next school year. I wanted to provide some ideas of different ways that you can practice letter identification together at home. That way, you're not always doing the same thing each time. Hopefully this will help to make it more fun and engaging for both you and your child.

Reading -- this is such a simple way to practice! Many families read stories together before bed. During this time, you can point out the letter of the week and see if your child can find it on the page! You can also talk about what sound it makes. See if your child can produce the sound on the next page with the letter.
Playdough -- make the letters out of playdough! Hands-on activities are a great way for preschoolers to learn. This will feel like play and your child might not even notice that he is learning. You can do this to practice the letter of the week, letters we have already learned in class, or to practice with the letters in your child's name.
Shaving Cream -- write the letters in shaving cream! This is another fun hands-on activity for your child to practice the letter of the week or letters in her name. One advantage to shaving cream is that it is basically soap. So, when your child is done writing, you can have her use the remaining shaving cream to clean off the table!
Pipe Cleaners -- make the letters out of pipe cleaners! You will likely have to help your child bend and manipulate the pipe cleaners in order to form the letters. If you want, you can even string some beads onto the pipe cleaners before bending them. This would add another fine motor element to the activity. This is another one that can also be used to practice your child's name.
Rainbow Writing -- grab some markers, crayons, paint, or colored pencils and have your child write the letter in each color of the rainbow! This will give your child practice writing the letter multiple times and he will be able to use many pretty colors in the process. Again, try this with your child's name as another way to practice name writing/identifying letters in his name.
Alphabet Stamps -- if you have some alphabet stamps at home (or are able to purchase some), use these to practice letter identification. Your child could stamp the letter of the week, letters in her name, or simply stamp the letters in ABC order on a page. This activity also doubles as fine motor practice.
Letter Collage -- use magazines or newspapers. Have your child find and cut out the letter of the week. Then, paste these letters on a paper to create a collage. Not only will this help your child with recognizing letters, but it is also great emergent reading practice!
ABC Cookies -- use alphabet cookie cutters to when baking cookies! Practice saying the letter names as you cut out cookies together. If you decorate the cookies after, you can see what letters your child is able to name again. You could also do this while eating them.
Become the Letters -- try to make the letter of the week using your bodies. You can work together with your child to build the letter. Maybe you can even get the whole family involved! If your child is active, this might be a great way to practice.
Letter Hunt -- see if your child can find the letter of the week while out and about. Maybe this could be in the car, while walking through the neighborhood, at the store, or out at a restaurant. See how many letters your child can find! Get the whole family involved. See who can find the most of that letter. If your child knows more letters, maybe see if she can find all of the letters of the alphabet in order. Turn it into a game to see which member of the family can find them first!
Alphabet Puzzles -- doing an alphabet puzzle together can be a time to review letters with your child. Talk about the letters as you find them. Ask your child to bring you a certain letter. Use the letters to spell your child's name. Talk about names in your family that start with each letter. Talk about the sounds the letters maker. See if your child can tell you some of the sounds.
Letter Magnets -- use magnets to practice letter recognition! See if your child can find his letter (the first letter in his name) or other meaningful letters to him. Practice spelling your child's name with the magnets. Review the letter sounds together. Make silly "words." Try to read the "word" your child spells (which will likely be random letters strung together).
Legos -- write upper and lowercase letters on legos using a permanent marker. Have your child match the letters, sticking them together to form a match. For instance, your child should put the "A" block with the "a" block and the "B" block with the "b" block. This is another way you can sneak fine motor practice into your letter recognition practice, all while playing! If your child isn't ready for matching lowercase letters yet, modify the activity. Write uppercase letters on the legos. So, there should be two blocks with "A", two with "B", two with "C", and so on. Have your child match the same letters together.
Printable Block Letters -- you can print off these block letters at home to practice each letter as we learn it (found here: https://www.themeasuredmom.com/printable-block-letters-150-ways-fill) and have your child fill them with various objects. The website lists many ideas, but some include: stickers, buttons, coins, candy, feathers, kidney beans, pasta, etc. You can even fill it with something that starts with that letter! You can turn it into a craft and have your child glue the objects down. Or, you can keep reusing the paper with different objects over and over again. If you don't have a way to print these letters, you could also draw your own on a piece of paper.
Do-A-Dot Letters -- if you have Do-a-dot or bingo markers, you can print off these free Do-A-Dot letter patterns (http://totschool.shannons.org/do-a-dot-upper-case-letter-worksheets/). Your child can practice stamping the Do-A-Dot markers on each dot to form the letter. See if your child can name the letter when finished and/or produce the letter sound.
ABC Mat -- if you have an ABC mat (giant foam puzzle pieces), you can use this in a variety of ways to practice letter identification. Build it to a form a road and have your child name the letters as he drives cars on it. You can put it an ABC order or in a random order, depending on what level your child is at. To make it more challenging, you can use lowercase magnetic letters (or write lowercase letters on pieces of paper) and place them in a toy dump truck. Have your child drive around the ABC mat road and match the lowercase letters in the truck to the uppercase letters on the mat. (Side note: This mat usually has numbers with it as well, so you could also use a similar activity to practice number identification, or matching quantities to the number).
Alphabet Maze -- create an alphabet maze for your child. Write letters on post-it notes or pieces of paper and place around the house to create a maze. Have your child sing the ABC's to find which way to go to get through the maze correctly (meaning your child will move from A to B to C and so on).
Squirt the Letter -- if it warm outside, use water bottles or water guns to squirt the letter on the pavement. After making some letters, you can even let your child squirt you (or allow your children to squirt each other) to cool off.
Sticker & Paper Towel Tube Letter Match -- if you have an empty paper towel roll, write letters on it using a marker. Then, give your child letter stickers (or, you can use circle label stickers and write the letters on them). Have your child match the stickers to the letters on the tube.
ABC Cup Hunt Game -- write letters on paper cups. Hide a small toy or object under one of the cups when your child is not looking. Have your child guess what cup the item is under. Your child must say the name of the letter in order to guess. Take turns hiding and guessing.
Musical Alphabet -- kind of like musical chairs, but with letters. Set out letters and have your child walk around them. When the music stops, your child should stop on a letter. See if she can identify the letter she stops on. If she can, take it a step further and see if she can produce the letter sound.
Chalk -- use chalk on the pavement outside to practice writing different letters. These can be done with the letter of the week, letters we have already learned, or letters in your child's name.
Teachers Pay Teachers -- you can also find other activities on Teachers Pay Teachers that you can print and do together at home. Simply search "letters" or "letter recognition" and click "Preschool" or "Kindergarten." You can also check the box for "Free" so that you don't have to pay for activities. You will need to create an account, but it will save all of your downloads on your account for future use. Link: www.teacherspayteachers.com

There are countless ways that you can practice letter and sound recognition with your child! I hope that you will find some of these ideas helpful and enjoyable. Have fun learning!

Blessings,
Ms. Barker

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Rhyming

1/25/2022

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Hello Preschool Families!

I wanted to write a post about rhyming. This is an important pre-reading skill for preschoolers to master. Being able to rhyme, will help your child become a stronger reader because he will be able to more easily notice the sounds in words.

While doing assessments the past couple of weeks, I noticed that many of the preschoolers this year struggle with rhyming. Therefore, I wanted to provide you with some ideas/resources to help you practice rhyming words together at home.

Here are some websites you can visit the provide both ideas and resources for teaching rhyming to your child. They include suggested books to read together and downloadable resources that you can use to practice this skill with your child.

Also, you can check out Teachers Pay Teachers (TPT) and find even more printable resources that you can use with your child. Some are free, some cost a little money. I will provide some of my favorites (free and non-free) that you can choose to download and use at home.
FREE:

Ice Cream Cone Rhyming: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Double-Dip-Rhymes-397754
Rhyming Concentration Game: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Rhyming-Concentration-Cards-282368
Christmas Tree Puzzle Rhyming: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Rhyming-Around-the-Christmas-Tree-Puzzles-2904231
A Tisket, A Tasket Rhyming Game: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Rhyming-Game-FREE-1727607
Rhyming Bingo: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Rhyming-Bingo-230140
Easter Egg Rhyme Puzzles: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Easter-Eggcellent-Rhymes-FREEBIE-628864
Rhyming Word Puzzles: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Rhyming-Word-Puzzle-Freebie-2713460
Rhyming Word Mats: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Rhyming-Mats-780130
Whack-a-Rhyme Game: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Whack-A-Rhyme-251061

NON-FREE:

Easter Egg Rhyme Puzzles: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Rhyme-Easter-Egg-Matching-616030
Candy Corn Rhyme Puzzles: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Rhyme-Candy-Corn-Rhyme-Matching-348786
Rhyming Picture Cards: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Rhyming-Picture-Cards-90-Cards-1593751
Does it Rhyme?: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Rhyming-Sort-A-rhyming-activity-for-beginning-rhymers-1998649
Clip the Rhyming Frogs: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Rhyme-Clip-the-Frog-Rhyming-Game-225781
Rhyming Lotto: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Rhyming-Activity-Matching-Game-Rhyming-Game-for-Preschool-and-Kindergarten-2134672
I Have, Who Has Game: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/I-Have-Who-Has-Rhyming-Words-with-Pictures-1336717
Rhyming Games: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Rhyming-Games-1444375
Apple Rhymes: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Apple-Rhymes-1391207
Mitten Rhymes: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Rhyme-Mitten-Match-420947
What Doesn't Belong? Rhyming: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/What-Doesnt-Belong-Rhyming-1353148
Rhyming Clip Cards: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Rhyming-Activity-for-Kids-Interactive-CVC-Rhyming-Words-Clip-Cards-1044108

I hope you will find some of these ideas helpful for you and your child! Thank you so much for all you do at home to help your child continue to learn and grow at school and in life.

Blessings,
Ms. Barker

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Fine Motor Practice Ideas

1/25/2022

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Hello Preschool Families,

Fine motor skills are an essential part of preschool. Many children enter school with low fine motor skills. We use a variety of activities at school to develop these skills, but you can also help your child develop these skills even further at home during play and daily activities. Here are some ideas that you could try:

Lace beads on a string or pipe cleaner. You can even combine this with patterns practice by alternating colors! Or, if you purchase letter beads, you can practice spelling words or your child's name using the beads.
Playdough-- children strengthen many muscles when using playdough. You can also add various materials for your child to use with the playdough to further fine motor development. Ideas for materials you could use include: pasta, candles, googly eyes, rocks/pebbles, beads, buttons, shells, colored rice, bottle caps, wooden or plastic letters/numbers, and stamps.
Stamps--let your child use stamps (letters, numbers, or anything) to spell words or create artwork. Your child will learn how much pressure is needed to get enough ink on the stamps and push it down onto the paper, which will help to develop fine motor muscles.
Make pasta necklaces! Use regular or colored pasta and string it onto pipecleaners or yarn to create a necklace. You could also make bracelets in the same way!
Lacing cards-- purchase (or make) a set of lacing cards for your child to practice weaving a string in and out of the holes.
Pipecleaners and colanders--give your child a colander and some pipe cleaners and instruct him to push the pipe cleaners through the holes in the colander. Alternatively, you could purchase artificial flowers and have your child arrange them in the holes of an upside-down colander.
Beads on spaghetti--place some pieces of uncooked spaghetti into a ball or clump of playdough. Provide your child with beads to place on the spaghetti. Your child can also practice making patterns with the beads during this activity.
Sensory writing tray--place salt, sugar, jello powder, sand, or anything of similar consistency into a small try. Let your child use her finger (or an object such as a wand) to write letters or numbers in the tray. This provides practice with writing, letter/number recognition, and fine motor skills.
Pom pom drop game -- use empty water bottles and place a number on each bottle. Provide your child with a container of pom poms. Have your child place the correct number of pom poms into each bottle. Alternatively, you could also see how many pom poms your child can fit in each bottle (for this one, you might want to have bottles of different sizes and/or different sizes of pom poms to compare how many fit).
Painting with Q-tips--if you don't mind getting a little messy, you can get out some paint, paper, and Q-tips. Have your child paint with the Q-tips instead of a paintbrush.
Use jumbo tweezers or tongs to pick up small objects and place them onto a mat or into another container (such as pom poms, buttons, bottle caps, small toys, beads, beans, pasta, etc.). One idea is to use jumbo tweezers to place pom poms into an ice cube tray. Your child should place one pom pom in each section of the tray.
Paint with water outside on the pavement. When the weather is a little nicer, give your a child a cup of water and a paintbrush. Let her use this to paint pictures outside on the driveway or sidewalk.
Spider Web Game--tie white string in a basket to create a web. Place toy spiders in the bottom of the basket. Instruct your child to use a clothespin to get the spiders out of the web.
Hole Punch Game--combine math and fine motor skills! Roll the dice to see what number you get and then punch out that number of dots. The first one to the finish line wins.
Pipettes and Water play--fill cups with water and food coloring. Place a pipette in each cup and let your child play with the water. Alternatively, you could also use eyedroppers.
Tracing Lines with Gems--draw lines on construction paper and then have your child place colored gems/stones on the lines to "trace" them. Alternatively, you could also use buttons, beads, or pasta.
Cutting Mazes--draw a "maze" for your child to cut on a piece of paper. Your child should try to follow the lines with scissors as closely as possible.

These are just a few ideas! Hopefully you find some of these helpful for your child at home.

Blessings,
Ms. Barker

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Ideas for SUmmer

1/25/2022

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Hello Preschool Families!

I sincerely apologize for my delay in this post (and in making videos). I've been busy moving into my new house! My internet will get set up tomorrow morning and hopefully I can start posting videos to YouTube after that! Look for new videos later this week! For now, I just wanted to give you some ideas of things you can work on over the summer and some fun ways to practice these skills together at home!

Skills to Practice:

Letters (identifying by name, matching upper/lower case, producing sounds, etc.)
Numbers (identifying by name, matching to counted objects)
Shapes--2D & 3D (identifying by name, describing)
Writing name
Writing letters
Pencil grip
Fine Motor skills
Vocabulary (incorporating new words into everyday conversations)
CVC words/sight words (for those ready, likely going onto kindergarten)

Ways to Practice:

Shaving cream (write/draw letters, shapes, numbers, name, CVC words, sight words, etc.)
Sidewalk chalk/chalk paint (write/draw letters, shapes, numbers, name, CVC words, sight words, etc.)
Playdough (make letters, shapes, numbers, name, CVC words, sight words, etc.; also great fine motor practice!)
Dry erase markers & dry erase board or laminated paper (write/draw letters, shapes, numbers, name, CVC words, sight words, etc.; also great to practice pencil grip!)
Rainbow writing--write multiple times using different colors! Start over each time or trace over with a new color each time (write/draw letters, shapes, numbers, name, CVC words, sight words, etc.; also great to practice pencil grip!)
Scavenger hunt--go on a scavenger hunt around your house, yard, neighborhood, grocery store, etc. to find letters, numbers, shapes, etc. For a challenge, you could also instruct your child to find the letter that makes a particular sound
Find & Jump--write letters (or numbers, shapes, sight words, etc.) on pieces of paper or on the pavement with chalk. Call out one for your child to find and jump on! Mix it up by incorporating letter sounds or having your child spell his name or simple words he/she knows.
Run & Find--same concept as find & jump, but this time, your child should run to the letter (or whatever else) you call out!
Squirt guns/bottles--use water guns or squirt bottles outside to spray on top of chalk on the pavement. The chalk should be letters, numbers, shapes, or words that you have written out. Just like previous activities, call out what your child should find and spray. (Hint: this also adds in some fine motor practice and is a good way to cool off this summer!) You could also have your child try to trace the letters/words/etc. with the water gun/squirt bottle.
Memory--make some cards to practice one of the skills above (such as letters, numbers, or shapes). Your child has to match them AND say what it is in order to keep the match! The person with the most matches at the end wins! (This could be a fun one to include siblings in, as long as the siblings can play along and give the younger one a chance to practice/win!) For letters, you can do all the same (uppercase) or have your child match upper and lower case letters together for extra practice!
Writing tray--you can use sand, sugar, salt, or another similar material. Fill a tray and have your child practice writing/drawing in it! If you have a sandbox outside, you could also use this instead! Your child can practice letters, numbers, shapes, name, and words with this! (It is also great fine motor practice!)
Find the missing letters (or numbers, shapes, etc.). Write each one down on a piece of paper and hide it around your house. You can make it as easy or as tricky as you like! Have your child find each one and identify what it is! You can also incorporate positional words with this activity and give your child clues (over, under, next to, behind, etc.). There are so many fun ways you can modify this game! You can even hide them inside something, like Easter eggs!
Letter sound scavenger hunt--find items in your house that start with a particular sound! See how many your child can find! Or, turn it into a competition and let the whole family join in!
Beads--beads are a great way to practice fine motor skills! You can lace them on string, wire, pipe cleaners, etc. You can also try making a pattern with the beads to incorporate some math skills!
Pasta--if you don't have beads, you can also use some types of pasta to thread onto string, wire, etc. instead!
Opposite game--this was an activity from Seesaw! Go back and forth with your child, naming what you see and then have your child respond with an object he/she sees that is the opposite. For instance, you might say "I see a big table" and your child might respond with "I see a small book." Go back and forth as long as your child shows interest. This can be played at home, in the car, at the store, etc. The whole family can join in, too! This is a great way to practice vocabulary and language skills.
Rhyming game--say a word and see if your child can produce a word that rhymes! This is another game the whole family can play! For older children (older siblings), you can also try talking in rhymes. For instance, say a sentence and then the next person responds with a sentence so that the last word of that sentence rhymes with the last word of the first sentence. It can get really silly!
Vocabulary practice--try to learn a new word each week and use it as much as you can! Maybe you can turn it into a contest for your family and come up with a prize for the family member who uses the word correctly the most during the week!
For more fine motor activities, check out my blog post on the topic (from earlier this year)!
There was also a blog post earlier this year with ideas for practicing letters! Check it out for more ideas. Most of these can also be modified to practice other skills such as numbers, shapes, name, words, etc.

I'll certainly be on the lookout for more games/activities I can share with you guys! I hope this is a good start, though. I will get more videos posted ASAP. I appreciate your patience. Enjoy your summer and hopefully I will be able to see you all again soon!

Blessings,
Ms. Barker

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Developing the Ability to Focus

1/25/2022

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Hello Preschool Families!

One of the main skills we practice in preschool is the ability to focus on a single task for an extended period of time. This is something we will be working on all year long! Some of you might be interested in ways you can help with this at home, too.

Here are a few ideas/tips:

Limit screen time. Preschoolers should only get a maximum of ONE hour of screen time a day, preferably educational screen time. Screens actually make it harder for children to focus because of the over-stimulation in screens. Consider establishing set times for your child to use electronics for specific activities. Also consider limiting screen time at least an hour before bed time (more if your child struggles to fall asleep).
Consider buying or building a DIY light table. Light tables are an excellent way to help develop focus skills in young children because they are naturally drawn to the light and want to stay there longer. Light tables can also be a fun way to practice letters/numbers/shapes/Bible stories/etc. at home! I'll post another blog post in the upcoming weeks with some light table activity ideas that you can try.
Set a timer for your child to focus on a specific task/activity. Start with a short length of time, based on your child current ability (this could be 3 to 5 minutes). Do this for an entire week. When your child is ready, add an additional minute the timer. Keep doing this, working on the goal for your child to be able to focus on a task for 15-20 minutes (or longer)!
Puzzles. Puzzles are another great way to develop focus. Be sure to pick a puzzle that is at the appropriate level for your child. If it is too difficult, your child will lose interest before the puzzle is finished. However, if it is too easy, then your child will finish quickly and will not have a chance to strengthen her ability to focus and persist.
Board Games. Board Games require a lot of focus and attention. Children need to remember the rules of the game, whose turn it is, etc. Choose an age appropriate game that interests your child. This is also a great way to practice turn taking, following directions, and early math skills!
Reading together. Reading with your child helps your child develop early literacy skills AND helps strengthen your child's ability to focus. Consider making reading together part of your daily routine.

I hope you find these suggestions helpful!

Blessings,
Ms. Barker

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Zones of Emotional Regulation

Ways to Practice Letters with Your Child

Rhyming

Fine Motor Practice Ideas

Ideas for SUmmer

Developing the Ability to Focus

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