In the month of May we continued to explore life cycles. We invited a few new living creatures into our classroom and we continue to observe the living creatures that are all around us each and every day!
Our caterpillars arrived early in the month and we have been watching them eat and grow. We observed the caterpillars climb to the top of their temporary home (the plastic container they arrived in from Carolina) and form their chrysalises. We also watched a fantastic video that speeds up the process of chrysalis formation and allows you to see just what is happening when they enter this phase in their life cycle. I implore you to check it out - you may be surprised at just how this natural phenomenon occurs.
Some of the seeds planted in April began to sprout and we discovered that the sunflower seeds were the quickest to germinate. The peas were next and for most the green bean did not sprout. We decided to explore flowers and their parts, as well as the insects that feed on their nectar. Learning about the important work of bees, their jobs and their value helped to ease some of the fear of these incredible insects. Side note: often times we don't realize the impact that our own fears have on our children. Reflect on your feelings and try understanding your fears. Talk with your child about what makes you feel afraid and how you might overcome or cope with fear.
This month we did an author study of the famous author and illustrator, Eric Carle. This began, of course, with a reading of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. We read many of Carle's stories and compared the illustrations in his books to the illustrations of other familiar books, looking for similarities and differences.
How to Engage Your Preschooler in Developmentally Appropriate Play:
** Cognitive Milestones **
Milestone for 2 year olds
- begins to sort by shape and color -
** As we previously examined in our February newsletter, at this age your child is recognizing similarities and differences. There are endless opportunities for sorting and categorizing by shape and color. We begin with concrete exploration of shape and color using tangible objects, such as fruits or toys. As your child develops an understanding of these concepts you can begin to lay the groundwork for a little bit of abstract reasoning by discussing the colors and shapes you see around you and talking about how they are similar or different from a familiar object or picture. For example, when reading an unfamiliar story to your child take a moment to notice and point out the colors and shapes in the illustrations and make a comparison to an illustration from a familiar story, a beloved toy, a favorite fruit, etc. Make a side-by-side comparison using the familiar object as you begin to introduce this concept, eventually moving away from the visual/tactile representation and allowing your child to recall it instead. **
Milestone for 3 year olds
- understands the concept of same/different -
** At this point your child likely understands the concept of same and different, but we can dive deeper into this concept with a little bit of intentional questioning. It is likely that your child knows the difference between a cat and a dog. They have developed a schema, or an organizational structure, that allows them to understand that cats have certain characteristics while dogs have others. Build on this by closely investigating characteristics with your child. Sometimes it can be easier to identify the differences in things because there are so many things in our world that are not replicated exactly - like living things. Think about the characteristics of an animal, a person, a toy, a plant. At first glance all of these things are different, but there are similarities, too! How are they similar? Are they the same color? Are they the same size? Are they living things? Do they breathe? Do they move? How do they move? Enter your child's world and be just as inquisitive as they are! Encourage them to question...and when you don't know the answer...tell them so and look it up together. **
Milestone for 4 year olds
- correctly names at least four colors -
** This is another revisit to our February newsletter, so let's build upon what we previously explored. As your child becomes familiar with the color basics they will likely begin to notice that there are many variations of a given color. Yellow can be bright, light, or deep. It can be called canary yellow, butter yellow or lemon yellow. When we mix colors together we get a new color, like teal, turquoise or aquamarine. Experiment with mixing colors and introduce your child to new color vocabulary. You can try matching an existing color, like the color of their favorite shirt, or you can discover a new color and create your own color name. **
