Dear Preschool Families of Transitioning to the 4 Year Old Year of Our Program

June 2017

Dear Preschool families of transitioning to the 4 year old year of our program,

Families frequently ask what they can do with their child in the summer months in order build on the skills they have worked on throughout this school year. There are many ways that you can engage your child in learning in day to day activities that are fun and don’t involve any drills! We recommend limiting the use of entertainment electronics (tv, computer, video games) to one hour per day in order to give your child various opportunities to build skills across all areas of development. Visit local places like farms, zoos, aquariums, and museums. Often times you can get free passes at the library. Some places only ask for a donation or have a specific day of the week that is free.

Literacy- Have conversations with your child about the things they notice and wonder about the world around them. Encourage them to investigate their questions. Please read to your children and talk about stories and non-fiction books. Reading aloud and the conversations that surround book reading build many language skills (comprehension, rhyme, vocabulary building etc). Does your child have a library card?? Now is a great time to start visiting the library and taking out books together. Libraries have wonderful programs available during the summer.

Here are some book suggestions that children love: Happy Birthday Moon Bear Shadow Noisy Nora Bunny Cakes Max Cleans Up A Bird is A Bird The Very Hunger Caterpillar The Very Busy Spider The Grouchy Ladybug Don’t let the pigeon drive the bus! The Little Engine that Could Knuffle Bunny I Can’t Said the Ant The Day the Goose Got Loose The Jacket I Wear In the Snow Harold and the Purple Crayon The Carrot Seed The Cow that Went Oink The Doorbell Rang The little mouse, the big hungry bear, and the red ripe strawberry Corduroy Rainbow Fish The Apple Pie Tree Joseph Had a Little Overcoat What do you do with a tail like this? The Mitten The Hat Peter’s Chair The Snowy Day Miss Bindergarten gets ready for kindergarten Inch By Inch Fredrick Swimmy Three Billy Goats Gruff Caps For Sale Goldilocks and the Three Bears Three Billy Goats Gruff Henny Penny The Gingerbread Man The Little Red Hen The Three Little Pigs Little Red Riding Hood

Create a writing and art tool box for your child. Put fun things to write with, paper, envelopes, stickers, a small clip board, a notebook. Encourage children to draw and write. Remember: writing is emerging now. Let them experiment with making the shapes of letters, lines and curves. Resist the urge to have your child practice writing letters repeatedly; instead have them write in real experiences: making lists, cards, signs, books, etc. Print is all around! Take the time to notice letters and words around you at home, in the store, on the street, etc. Young children naturally like to see their name in print and have a desire to know the letters in their name. Have children start with the letters in their own name when attempting to recognize, name letters, and make letters. Use materials like: shaving cream, play dough, clay, glitter crayons, sidewalk chalk, wikki sticks, paintbrushes and water, cotton swabs and paint, and magnetic letters.

Make up silly rhymes, sing finger plays and songs together. Play “I spy” with letters or sounds. For example: I spy something with the letter M or /m/ sound.

Social Skills Provide opportunities for your child to spend time with other children playing and talking. Give small chores or jobs to your child so that they may experience responsibility and a sense of accomplishment. Have a daily routine so that your child is used to consistency. Talk and model how to express feelings appropriately and with self-control. Remind children to listen when others talk (looking into the speaker’s eyes, waiting their turn to speak). Involve your child in cooking, gardening, shopping. Play board games and card games. Involve your child in packing up used clothing or toys to give to others in need.

Math- Have children use math in their day to day life. examples-Take 5 animal crackers for snack, read 2 books before bed time, we have 2 more days before we go on our trip, eat 10 peas before dessert etc. Let your child help assist you in the kitchen. They can pour, mix, measure roll etc. Encourage sorting skills when cleaning up, helping you fold laundry, playing with toys. Children love to count, have them count things around the house. Play simple board games, matching games, dominoes, memory etc. together. Make simple math books-write a number and help your child match stickers or foam pieces for each page.

Fine motor skills Children need practice working with a variety of materials to build up small motor strength. This helps children become more successful with the writing process. Some fun things to do to promote fine motor skills: Playing with playdough-rolling, pinching, cutting with a scissors etc. Snipping paper with scissors or cutting out shapes, pictures from magazines, coupons etc. String beads, fruit loops etc to make necklaces. Use tweezers and tongs to pick things up. Play with legos, bristle blocks, tinker toys, peg boards and other building toys.

Gross Motor skills- give your child many opportunities to climb, jump, swim, balance, ride a bike, and run!

Are you looking for camps or childcare for your child for the summer? Finding camps that include preschoolers can be difficult. A good place to start is by accessing Infoline by calling 211 or searching www.infoline.org Infoline keeps a database of childcare and summer programs in each town. This will include places like local child care programs that are open throughout the summer and summer camps that include preschool.

We hope your family has a wonderful summer. The Preschool Team