By Renee Hennessy, Preschool Director
Our preschoolers are curious and ask many questions in a day. We build on this curiosity and their everyday experiences, and support them in pursuing the answers to their questions of “Why?” A few projects have emerged over the past couple of weeks where the children are engaged in observing, predicting, and reflecting on the outcomes of their experiments. Currently, we have crystals and bean sprouts growing in the Trailblazer class, and the Adventurers gathered objects from their classrooms and placed them in water outside to see what would happen. Group discussions are then used to encourage children to hear the ideas of others and to support their own developing theories. Our teachers follow up our children’s ideas by taking dictation of their thinking, or by asking them to draw their ideas. Science concepts are always supported by hands-on experimentation and play.
Looking for an activity to do on a wintry day at home? Place water in a bowl and add food coloring. Have fun coloring the water, encouraging your child to make swirls or designs! Then place the bowl outside overnight and see what happens. The next day, bring the bowl inside and place some salt into a smaller bowl to use as “paint” with a small paint brush. “Paint” the frozen water with the salt to see what happens. You can also use salt water in small droppers to observe the change. What does the salt do to the frozen water? You can set this activity up in a foil baking pan or a cookie sheet as a tray to “capture” the water as it melts.
Chinese Lunar New Year Parade
It’s the Year of the Pig! Please have your child wear something red (for good luck) on Tuesday, February 5th. Our preschoolers and junior kindergartners will parade through the Lower School to kick off our celebration.
Preschool Doughnut Day
You are invited to join your child for doughnuts on Friday, February 8th. We will be serving doughnuts and coffee immediately following carpool at 9:00 a.m. For those parents new to the School, this event usually only lasts 30-45 minutes. If a parent can’t make it, a grandparent, aunt, uncle, or a family friend is invited to drop in. We hope to see you there!