Possum is in four year old kinder this year and has now become very interested in writing. She is writing her name everywhere possible (thankfully only on paper though) and trying to write other things.

To foster this interest I have put together a writing box for Possum, so she can take it off the toy shelf when she wants and practice as much as she likes. At this stage of the writing process the most important skill for her to master is pencil control.

Once a child can make straight and curved marks, he/she may be able to move on to making some symbols. All symbols, both letters and numbers, are made up of straights, curves or a combination of both.

So the writing box doesn’t consist of letter sheets, but sheets with shapes to trace and copy so Possum can practice her curved and straight lines. This will help then to form the letters that she is trying to write. I won’t discourage her from writing letters at the moment, but will simply try and complement this with pencil control practice.

I found some fantastic pre writing sheets at KidZone. I have combined some that I think Possum will like and packaged them into the word document below. This allows me to print out more sheets when she has finished easily and also to print double sided.

Pre-writing Practice Worksheets

Other items to include in a Preschool Writing Box are:

Large Triangular HB Pencils - This style of pencils are easier for preschoolers to hold and encourage the correct pencil grip.

Large Coloured Triangular Pencils - As above

Blank paper - For free writing and drawing

Scissors - Using scissors helps to strengthen fingers and hands which are helpful to fine motor control. Many of the shapes on these sheets can be cut out once traced and coloured.

Paste - Of course once you cut something, you need to paste it somewhere! We are out at the moment. Will see if ALDI have it cheap when I go shopping there tomorrow .

Coloured paper - for practicing cutting and pasting.

By having this box prepared and available, I find that Possum will do this much more frequently. It is also an activity that she will apply herself to for long periods of time, without any involvement from me!

Technorati Tags: Children's Activities, fine motor, pencil control, preschool, writing

• 10 Preschooler Early Learning Activities You Can Plan Into Your Day.
• 10 Children’s Birthday Presents with a Difference.
• 10 Indicators of School Readiness
• 10 Things I Like To Keep In My Everyday Bag.

As I set out in my post about TV we limit the time our children have watching TV and we also deal with time on the computer in the same way.

I am happy to sit with my preschooler and teach her how to navigate the screens etc so that she can play some online games on the computer. Limited and used in conjunction with other learning experiences, I believe that the computer can be a learning tool.

I like find online games that are age appropriate, that are in areas of her interest and that have some learning possibilities. Here is a list of 10 such games that we have had fun with:

(1). Colour Game
This is always the first game that I introduce preschoolers to. The child needs to select a colour by clicking the mouse and then clicking the area of the picture that they want to colour.

It is a great introductory game as it really focuses on mouse control from a technical aspect and from a primary learning aspect you can name reinforce their colour identification.

(2). Animal Bingo
This game requires the preschooler to listen to the animal sound and then click on the animal which makes that noise. Great activity for them to practice their listening skills and increase their animal knowledge.

(3). The Bernstain Bears Pack A Picnic Game
This game requires the preschooler to follow prompts on the screen to find particular items. It focuses primarily on the observational skills of the child.

(4). Keyboard-o-rama
This is an exploratory style game for the preschooler, where Elmo explains what they keys on the keyboard mean.

(5). Memory Game
Most preschool game sites will have a version of the memory card game. It is a great way to move from the real world to the virtual world, as the preschooler is generally already aware of the rules of this game.

(6). The Wiggles Shape Match
The preschooler can work on their mouse skills as they need to click and drag shapes to their right spot.

(7). Joe’s Maze
Again this takes a familiar concept and adopts in to the computer for the preschooler. They preschooler has to use the arrow keys to move the rabbit to its broccoli. Perfect for discussion of directions for example right, left, up and down.

(8). Hickory Dickory Dock Game
Excellent simple game reinforcing the preschoolers recall of numbers and introducing the clock concept.

(9). Dress Caillou
This is a recent find for me and I am going to use with my preschooler as an way of teaching about what clothes are appropriate for the weather we are experiencing. (Possum still wants to wear shorts even though when we are walking to school in the morning it is only 7 degrees celsius!)

(10). Brick Buster Game
This is game probably requires the most nimble computer skills of all the ones I have listed. It requires the preschooler to match up colour bricks by clicking the right column for them to be dropped into. This a level style game, with the child able to progress to more complex levels.

I would love to hear of any online games that you play with your preschooler and have found fun and valuable.

Technorati Tags: learning, online games, preschool

• Selecting TV Programs For The Kids.
• 10 Online Learning Game For Junior Primary School
• Rotating The Children’s Toys
• 10 Preschooler Early Learning Activities You Can Plan Into Your Day.

On Saturday I posted about thoughts of mine and some leading educators on the purpose of preschool. One of things I love so much about blogging, is the sharing of information and ideas. There are some fantastic comments on this post and if you have to make some decisions regarding preschool, I can highly recommend reading them.

I also thought I’d post another couple of links - one which I received yesterday through a newsletter that I subscribe to and some which I didn’t quote in the post.

Should preschools teach all work and no play?
“Parents want to prepare kids, but experts say drills can kill love of learning.”

Parents Connect with Children Through the Arts
“Since the enactment of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), schools are spending more time testing students in reading and math and less time ensuring students receive a balanced education that includes creative learning.”

Let Children Play!
“The importance of play is strongly supported by researchers from a range of disciplines including psychology, education, philosophy, anthropology and recreation. In spite of this, society as a whole continues to view play as a frivolous pastime. How can we gain a better understanding of play?”

Thanks for the wonderful comments that have provided me with more information to help me make an up coming decision on preschool.

Technorati Tags: parenting, preschool

• The Purpose Of Preschool
• March - Posts Of The Month
• Posts of the Month (Not mine!)
• Education - Key To Ending Poverty For Women.

I have been giving preschool and its purpose significant consideration over the last month or so, for a number of different reasons. I have my third child attending four year old kinder (preschool) this year and soon have to make some decisions on preschool for my fourth child.

I often wonder if there is certain levels of literacy that they should achieve during their preschool year. My philosophy has always been to “follow the child” and support their interests along side what they learn at preschool, as the moment arises, but I wonder is this enough?.

My eldest son went to a Montessori preschool which I loved, but we moved and it was no longer and option to send my children there. My second son went to the same kinder, where my daughter now goes, but had a different teacher. I think we have been lucky as all three teachers have been great, they engaged and respected the children and had a beautifully set up class room.

There was a stark contrast moving from Montessori to traditional preschool in terms of equipment, daily structure and fees! However there was a similarity in that the programs were “planned to enhance physical, social, intellectual, language and emotional development”. At neither was there a big push to have children reading, writing and getting them “ready” for school.

In the blogosphere I have recently come across many criticisms of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and some of its flow on consequences for preschool:

Because NCLB focuses on literacy, math and eventually science, these content areas are driving K-3rd grade curriculum, and influencing preschool curricula. Kagan et al (2006) have pointed out that all state preschool standards focus on academic areas at the expense of other areas.

Although in Australia we do not have NCLB, I think the push down of curriculum into preschool is something that is also creeping into parts of the preschool system. I think the expectations of what children learn in preschool is changing and mainly from the parenting arena. (Not all parents though!!!)

Kathy Walker (a Melbourne based education consultant) spoke about this in her article in The Age Newspaper:

The preschool year is not, just like any year of school is not, simply a year in which we somehow get them prepared for the next year. Each year is valuable and a means unto itself. Sometimes parents believe preparation for school means using the preschool year to practise lining up, learning to read, reciting the alphabet or learning to count. This is not necessary and neither is it preparation for school. Each year of preschool and school needs to be valued for the time and experience and stage of life and learning that each child is at.

Having read the above information, when I left the beautifully set up classroom of my preschooler yesterday morning, where she had an opportunity to move from role play, to fine motor activities, to outdoor activities that encourage development of gross motor skills, I concluded that I think this is enough.

In the words of Kathy Walker:

we all need to ensure our children enjoy, engage and make the most of each year of their education. Learning is not a race to be won to see who gets there first. Learning is about acquiring satisfaction, meaning and skills and feeling good about ourselves. It is learning to interact and respect others, rather than intimidate, criticise harshly or judge others.

Giving ourselves permission as parents and teachers to enjoy the year our children are having - rather than spending endless hours preparing them for what we think might occur in the future - will help all children experience a meaningful and happy year, whatever year they are in.

What are your expectations from preschool?

Technorati Tags: parenting, preschool

• More On The Purpose of Preschool
• 10 Indicators of School Readiness
• March - Posts Of The Month
• 10 Online Learning Games For Preschoolers

My preschooler Possum, has started showing lots of interest in the early steps of numeracy and literacy. That is, she wants to know lots about numbers and is constantly “writing” letters to her friends and family. I like to take the lead from the kids as to when they need additional stimuli in the key developmental areas, so I have given quite a bit of thought lately as to how I can satisfy her needs in this area.

I also like to keep learning at this age informal - it should not feel like a lesson, just something fun to do with mum. Finding the time to fit in learning opportunities can be tricky, so where possible I try and format the activities so that they fit into part of our daily life. Below I have listed 10 activities that Possum and I can do together, which will help stimulate and support her interest in early numeracy and literacy. I am probably doing about two thirds of these activities with her already. The remainder are ones which I did with her brothers at a similar age, so will try them with Possum and see how we go.

ON THE WALK TO SCHOOL
(1). The Letter Box Game
As we walk along we take turns in reading aloud the numbers on the letter boxes of the houses we pass.
AIM: Number recognition.

(2). “I went shopping and I bought……..” Game
Modified version of the traditional game that I play with the older children. We play that one of us says “I went shopping and I bought four things……..”. For example I bought an apple, a carrot, juice and bread. The other player has to remember the four items.
AIM: Memory and counting up to four.

AT AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITIES
As noted in a previous post, we can spend a lot of time hanging out at Possum’s brothers after school activities. This can actually can provide us with opportunities for short session of fun.

(3). I spy
Again this is a modified version of the original game. I will choose three objects to have in front of us, whose names start with a different sound, for example a car, a ball and a snake (obviously all of the toy variety!). I will get Possum to name all the objects. This just clarifies that we have the same name in mind for each object, for example it ball and not football. We then have a short discussion on the starting sound of each object and then we start to play. “I spy with my little eye, something starting with c.” Always using the phonetic sound of the starting letter.
AIM: Start awareness of phonetic sounds of the alphabet.

(4). Rolling Die
My kids love die, so this is always easy to get even the older children to play along (I just add more die for the older children; get them to work on their addition). We take turns in rolling the die and work out what number each has rolled. We then work out who won by having the highest/lowest number.
AIM: Start building one to one matching numeracy and an understanding of the relativity of numbers.

(5). Pencil Control
I pack a clipboard and pencils to take with us to the after school activity. I put together a pack of activities for her to do, all based around gaining adequate control of the pencil. Before a preschooler can write letters, they need to be able to have control of the pencil. I am focusing on two types of sheets at the moment - tracing over patterns and mazes. (Both these links have free printables.)
AIM: Increase pencil control

AROUND THE HOME
(6). Cooking
Cooking with a preschooler provides many opportunities for them to learn early numeracy skills. Discussing amounts in numerical terms, time values, number recognition on measuring cups, in the recipe etc. I just need to remember to talk about all these things as we do it!
AIM: General numeracy awareness.

(7). Sorting and Classifying
These are both essential learning paths on the road of maths! There are also many opportunities in the daily activities of home life that I can let Possum practice on like: putting the cutlery (no sharp knives though!) away; sorting out the dirty washing and; putting waste in the right bin - rubbish, compost, recyclables.
AIM: Introduction to mathematical vocabulary and concepts.

SHOPPING
(8). Gatherer Game
When we are at the market or the supermarket, Possum is my Gatherer. I tell her how many of each item we need and she gathers the right amount and puts them in the trolley.
AIM: Practice counting, one to one matching

(9). Paying the Bills
Allowing Possum where possible to have a turn at paying for the goods we purchase. We talk about the numbers on the money and how there are dollars and cents. Talk about whether or not we will get change.
AIM: Introduction to currency.

(10). Symbol Spotting
Point out to Possum symbols around the shops and in the car, so she can gain an understanding of what these things mean. For example on exit signs, the icon of the man running - that’s where we can exit the building, the S symbol of non standing signs - mum can’t park there because it is not allowed and she would get a fine.
AIM: Introduction to symbolism.

Planning these early learning activities into part of our everyday life means that:

- We will actually do them.

- They are fun and not overly structured.

- Allows Possum to become more aware of the environment around her and how it is filled with numbers and words.

Technorati Tags: learning, parenting, preschool

• 10 Online Learning Games For Preschoolers
• How To Create A Preschool Writing Box
• Selecting TV Programs For The Kids.
• 10 Online Learning Game For Junior Primary School