Teaching children the correct pencil grip. VIDEO!

Research shows, preschool is the most opportune time for children to master the correct way to hold a pen or pencil. It is called the "tripod grasp."  This will help them in their later years of school, to not get "tired fingers!" 

 

A child’s natural response is to hold a pencil with his entire fist, pinky finger closest to the paper and index finger and thumb on top. A correct pencil grip involves holding the pencil between the thumb and pointer finger, and resting the pencil on the middle finger for added stability.

At Gan, we taught the children a fun song- to help them remember the correct way to hold a pencil!

Enjoy the video!

 The words are:

I bend my thumb 

pointer points to the tip

Tall man uses his  side

I bend my last two fingers in

And take them for a ride!

Combining letter recognition, life skills & Fine motor!

One morning this week we put out a bunch of laminated words- combining the children's own names, and familiar words.

We stuck individual letters onto clothes pins! (another real life object, children should learn the skill of using, as well as opportunity to build those fine motor skills!)

 

Children  needed to find a matching letter from the word they chose, and place it onto of the letter using clothespins. It was interesting and helpful for us to see the different skills levels in the class.

Many of the children are able to now recognize their friends names, and become familiar with different letters and their sounds! 

This is a wonderful preparation for later reading and phonics.

 

Obstacle Course- Gross Motor Skills!

We are so lucky to have a large enough classroom, where we can set up lots of opportunities to promote the children's gross motor skill development.

From balancing to climbing, coordination to flexibility....we had lots of fun this week with some new provocations set up!

 

We duct-taped a stack of large blocks as a balancing beam.

 Using masking tape, we drew a ladder on the floor. Children had to carefully walk through it without stepping on the lines. 

We also did this with jumping...

Hopping on one foot...

Walking backwards...

Kicking a ball from a marker, into a designated goal...

This took concentration and coordination.

We helped the children do headstands, sumersaults and experiment with different positions they could put their bodies in!

After all the tasks...we asked the children what was the most challenging job to do?
and what was the easiest job to do?

Here's what some of them said was most challenging...
BL:  "Hopping on one foot"
CS: Balancing on the beam"
SK: Hopping on one foot"
YH: "Walking backwards"
RL: Walking on balancing beam"
MM: "Headstand"

Here's what some of them said was the easiest..
BL:  "Jumping on trampoline"
CS: "walking backwards"
SK: "Kicking a ball"
YH: "Sumersault"
RL:  "Jumping"
MM: "Kicking a ball"

Nuts & Bolts- exploring real life materials

We like to offer the children real life materials to work with, as they build their skills and grow!

 B&B hardware gave us a wonderful discount, in purchasing this set of Nuts/Bolts & Screws to put out for the children to work with!

 It wasn't easy at first....
Finding the right sized nut to screw on. There were 4 different sizes for the children to experiment with.

Older children modeling for the younger ones.

Look! I did it!

This activity was a fun way for the children to build their fine motor skills, discern different sizes, spatial and math concepts, and of course allow the children to feel BIG using materials that are needed for building and fixing REAL world things.

Discovering new materials...manipulating them!

Now that Chanukah is over, we like to spend a couple weeks focusing on each of our students individual development, in various areas of growth.

In addition to the most important area of growth- the children's social/emotional well-being, we monitor how the children are progressing in their academic goals (math/cognitive/linguistic), fine motor skills, gross motor skills and more.

Throughout the year, we offer opportunities for growth in all areas, but at this time, we like to invest even more energy to document and take note of where each child is at- to include in each child's professional portfolio. (parents, you will enjoy looking at these towards the end of the year!)

We put out a variety of opportunities for the children to manipulate, explore and learn.

One day this week, we put out a bunch of colanders, alongside all sorts of funky shaped/textured pipecleaners!

At first the children weren't sure what to do. 

We asked the children if they thought the pipe-cleaners would fit inside the holes?

The holes in this colander were too small for the thicker pipe-cleaners, which encouraged some problem solving!

 

Chaya discovered that her colander had different sized holes, and that the larger ones would fit into the larger holes, and the thinner ones- could fit in the smaller holes!

After several attempts...

the children were able to manipulate the new materials...and come up with all sorts of creations!

Look, I made lots of tunnels...i can put my fingers through it!

This activity provided us with lots of information about the children's skills, and was a wonderful opportunity for the children to explore and investigate new materials!

It also promotes:
* creativity and independent thinking
* sensory and tactile play
* hand to eye co-ordination
* developing fine motor skills
* vocabulary: texture and descriptions (children could describe some of their creations.)

Doughnuts...just my size!

We wanted to do something fun & yummy each day of Chanukah...

yet at the same time...not overload on sugar...

We came up with Doughnuts- JUST THE RIGHT SIZE!

Using cheerios as the doughnuts- the children dipped into 4 different toppings! Chocolate & sprinkles, powdered sugar, cinnamon & Strawberry!

The process is sometimes more fun than the product!

Each child took home a box!

Just my size!

Another day this week we made edible Dreidles...

children copied hebrew letters onto their Marshmellow dreidle using edible markers

Here's my Dreidle! YUM!

Latke Center!

We are not always lucky enough to have the whole week of Chanuka with our preschoolers! 

This year, we had so much fun- each day- experiencing the Chanuka traditions and excitement with the children.

On Monday we made latkas from scratch- and turned our dramatic play /kitchen center into a "Latke Center!"

We stocked up the shelves with all the ingredients...

Starting with a visual recipe card...

 

children followed along from the card, placing items in the bowls!

 Eggs...

ping pong balls placed in empty egg cartons!

 

Potatoes, onions, spices....

 

Frying pans, spatulas, latkes (some burnt and some raw)...

Morah keren turned some old socks into soft play latkes for the children!

After practicing and having lots of fun in our play kitchen...

we brought out the real thing! What a blast we had working on our fine motor skills peeling those potatos! 

And taking turns to place them in the blender! We all know how to be safe around a blender that has a sharp knife in it!

 

 

Menorah + Candles = Math Mania!

The Chanukah Menorah gives us such wonderful opportunities to focus on the children's math skills!

From simple rote counting, to corresponding a written number to its value in object...

We had lots of fun with these different Menorah Math Centers!

 

  We put out lots and lots of candles... the children found the number on the can, and placed the corresponding number of candles into it!

counting and placing real candles

placing them in the correct order, from Right to Left.

 

More Math....

  This activity also included color matching. How many of each color?

Chanukah Shape discrimination! Creating a menorah, spinning top, latkes, and more using familiar shapes!