Questions For Families

On occasion, we will provide families with good questions to ask preschool teachers. We hope that not only families, but also that teachers and preschool centers will find these to be helpful. Teachers can send these questions home in advance of conferences or home visits. They can also use them as a guide when preparing remarks for conference time. These are just a few of many helpful discussion topics. Stay tuned for more!

Good Questions for Families to Ask:

Can you tell me how my child gets along with other children? Does my child play with other children or next to other children?

What is my child’s favorite activity?

What does my child like to do when you play outdoors?

How does my child respond when you give directions? (In other words, can my child follow 2 or 3 step directions?)

Does my child look at books?

Does my child know how to hold a book properly?

Does my child listen to a story when you read aloud?

Families Helping at Home:

Can you tell me 2 things I can do at home to help my child listen to directions better?

I know that reading to my child at home is important. Can you suggest good books for me to read?

Standards Alignment:

Head Start – II. A, B, C; IV. A; VII. A.

NAEYC – 2B; 2E

Sequencing

Sequencing is an important topic for school readiness. But we need to be sure we are being realistic in what we ask children to do. Sequencing should be developmentally appropriate.

Let’s start by defining sequence. It’s a list of numbers or terms arranged in a definite order.   

You can begin teaching children the idea of sequence by showing them pictures. You can hold up the large turkey and the small one. Say, “Here is a large turkey. Here is a small turkey. Put them in order from small to large.” When you model this, be sure you hold them so children’s eyes move in a left to right direction, the way eyes move when we read.

We have provided three turkey outlines for you to have children sequence from small to large. Ask them to glue them on a sheet of paper and verbalize the sequence. Talking about sequence is important as it gives children a mathematical vocabulary.

Look around your room – are there objects that children can sequence? Books can be put in order from smallest to largest. They can be put in order from lightest to heaviest. Use your scrap box. Children can glue four pieces of paper in sequence from small to large.  Encourage children to look outside and name three or four objects like grass, flower bush, holly tree, and pine tree that could be sequenced the opposite way - from large to small. This will encourage thought about the natural world and about an important mathematical idea: the school readiness skill of sequencing.

To see Dr. Kathy explain sequencing, visit our YouTube channel at
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrUwLecwxVr37x0XDgckQig/feed

Standards Alignment:

Head Start: Mathematics Knowledge and Skills - 10 D1

NAEYC: Early Mathematics - 2.F.08; 2.F.10

Thanksgiving Preschool Crafts!

In our emergent reader activity for this week, we highlight a fun turkey craft for children. Like many holiday crafts, assembling it helps children with fine motor skills. The finished product makes a wonderful 3D bulletin board. 

Families appreciate the art as a decoration for their Thanksgiving table. For more on this delightful project, please be sure you are signed up to receive our free activities! To tempt you, we are posting the activity this week under our “Sample Activities” tab, in English and Spanish.

Like many preschool crafts, this one requires preparation on the part of teachers and caregivers.  This has many benefits as it helps children follow directions and sequence instructions. They need to glue the tail feathers on from small to large. We know this type of sequencing and color recognition is helpful for school readiness. But, there is another type of activity that we can’t forget about and must also celebrate.

We need to encourage children to create their own art. Merely giving children a blank piece of paper can encourage a world of wonder. You may not recognize what is drawn, but a simple, “Tell me about your picture” can bring forth valuable verbal descriptions and creative thought.

For November, we suggest simply drawing the outline of a large plate on a paper. Ask children to think about their favorite Thanksgiving foods. Without much prompting, this preschooler immediately picked up a marker and started drawing a serving of turkey.

He continued by adding mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberries, and salad. While these foods may not be recognizable to adult eyes, they are to his eyes. This allows for creative and critical thought. He proudly shared his full plate and verbalized what he drew. This encourages use of oral vocabulary.

 

We must remember that while those many wonderful art projects available here and on other sites are valuable, simply providing a “blank slate” for preschoolers celebrates their creativity!

Standards Alignment:

Head Start:

Social and Emotional Development B

Creative Arts Expression C

Language Development B

NAEYC:

2.D.01, 2.D.03, 2.J.06,

A "Worldly" Address

Children need to know their community but they also benefit from feeling grounded, as they understand their place in our big universe. Young children like to look at the sky and imagine what the moon, stars, and even clouds are like. We, at Maggie's Big Home, suggest you help children understand how their home or school relates to their town, state, country, continent, planet, solar system, and the universe. Watch the video below for a practical and teacher-tested idea to give children a concrete example of their universal address! 

You can write this address on chart paper and have children practice "reading" it as part of your morning routine. Take a photo of it and share with families so they can reinforce this long “worldly” address at home.

You may want to add art to the activity and ask children to decorate the boxes to represent their town, continent, the Earth, etc. this would make a good creative arts center activity for interested children.

While we are on the subject of addresses, we hope you help your preschoolers learn their home address and phone number. This is something families can partner with you to accomplish.

Your children don’t have the memory for this yet and you’re going on an outing? We suggest pinning a cell phone number inside a child's shirt so this can be shared should someone become separated from the group. It was rare that we pinned children's names to the outside of their clothing, as we didn't want strangers calling children by name. But the helpful hint of each child carrying a cell phone number in a hidden spot has proven to be helpful. We even role-played scenarios to help children understand who they should approach if they became lost. 

Be sure to sign up for our free weekly activities with your email (box to the right). These are wonderful classroom or home learning opportunities.  

Standards Alignment:

Head Start: Social Studies Knowledge and Skills – A.5

NAEYC: Curriculum Content Area for Cognitive Development: Social Studies - 2.L.11

Preschoolers and Their Community

As teachers and parents of young children, we often emphasize holidays like Thanksgiving and Valentine's Day, but our children can and should be exposed to other special days such as Veterans Day. For more on this, please sign-up to receive our fee activities. 

Include family and community members in your celebrations. Perhaps a relative or neighbor of a child is a veteran. You can ask the class to create a special letter for this person. 

One way we like to introduce children to the wide-range of services in their communities is to adopt an assisted-living facility or even a Veterans' Center. This is a wonderful reciprocal relationship. Children can draw pictures or write simple class letters that the facility can display in their dining room or recreational era. This brings joy to the residents and children feel a sense of pride in their work. As you deliver the letters or art, ask if you can take photos of the residents enjoying it. This type of display in your own classroom can make children feel a part of something larger then themselves. 

If you have easy access to a bus, you can take children to the facility on special occasions such as Veterans Day to sing a song or recite a poem. This brings great joy to everyone.

Children bring a smile to residents of assisted facilities. 

Standards Alignment:
NAEYC:

Standard 2. Building Family and Community Relationships

Head Start:
Knowledge of Families & Communities

Scientific Inquiry All Around!

There are so many ways for children to use inquiry in daily experiences. Looking at the sky and wondering where a bird might be heading, studying a tree to determine what animals call it home, or gazing at the ground to watch a worm's movement are all valuable science opportunities. The best part? This seems like play to children. And remember...play IS the business of childhood!

Take a look at this short video I captured while on a playground.

While watching this worm, I was struck by the number of learning opportunities. To help children ask their own valuable questions, I would pose a broad question: "What do you notice about this worm?" Responses might be that it looks like the ground. What a wonderful chance to talk about nature and camouflage. Some children might note its movement. When you get back to the classroom, children can act out the worm's movement on the classroom floor. This gives them a good chance to experience how animals in nature move in different ways. It can lead into a movement learning experience: children role-playing the movement of various animals they see in books.

They may even pose questions for which you have no answer. This is my favorite type of inquiry! It allows adults to say the important phrase, "I don't know but I know how to find out." What a model this is for children. It shows that no one has all the answers but by using references, we can find out.

Additionally, it is a good beginning science activity to have children draw pictures of what they see, such as the worm on the playground. This helps prepare children to document their observations.

For a home-school connection, you can give children something specific to look for on the way home. Ideas include a yellow tree, any kind of water, or a park. Post a sign and/or picture outside of your classroom so families understand what children are to look for outside of school. This helps develop verbal skills as children are encouraged to discuss observations about their surroundings. In our experience, families love to have this opportunity to help children with "school work."


Standards Alignment:
NAEYC:
Knowing and using the central concepts, inquiry tools, and structures of content areas or academic disciplines
Head Start:
Expands knowledge of and abilities to observe, describe and discuss the natural world, materials,
living things and natural processes.
Begins to describe and discuss predictions, explanations and generalizations based on past experiences.

Choral Reading: An Important Skill!

Singing, doing finger plays, and reciting poetry are an important part of a preschooler’s day. These are more than just fun activities. They help prepare children to read in unison, an important way children learn sight vocabulary and fluency. Remember to note this with families and share this with them in your newsletters and conferences because singing together, in any language, helps children get a sense of the rhythm of how words and phrases slide together.

You can further develop this in your classrooms by having children chorally read the morning message or text from our free activities (see the samples and sign-up in the box to receive yours!).  I like children to have their own copies of the material, if possible. Have them point to the first word and walk around praising children for having their finger in the correct place. I usually give a signal and read along with the group to model fluency. I move from table to table to be sure children are pointing to each word as we read. The passages should be practiced over and over to help children get the cadence of the language and perhaps even learn a few sight words. They will certainly learn how to follow a line of text!

You can also have children read the morning message together by having one child use a pointer as the class reads. This allows children who may be nervous or unsure to speak in a lower voice. Gradually we want these children to feel confident and proud when reading chorally.

Our downloadable activity for this week focuses on pumpkins. For more on choral reading and child writing using their own pumpkin recipes, take a look at this fun-filled idea:

Standards Alignment:

NAEYC:

Standard 4. Using Developmentally Effective Approaches 

Head Start:

Shows progress in recognizing the association between spoken and written words by following print as it is read aloud.

Begins to represent stories and experiences through pictures, dictation, and in play.

Dr. Kathy’s Opinion Corner:

As I visit classrooms, I notice some teachers put on a video and let children sing and dance with it. While that expands children’s exposure to different songs, I also encourage teachers to remember the power of leading singing and even dancing on your own. This encourages an important personal connection between children and teachers. I know my former students still write to me remembering the joy of doing the “Tooty Ta” together!