Pre-Kindergarten

Current Unit: Plants

Next Units: Babies and Transformations

Summary of Unit: 

During the Plants Unit, students will learn all about the parts of a plant.  They will talk about the roots, stem, leaves, flower, seed and why each part is so important. Students will get to see what foods come from plants and what part of the plants we can eat.  They will also learn what plants we shouldn’t eat.

In unit 9, the students will learn all about Babies!  They will learn how to take care of a baby, what babies need, what they can play with, and why they cry.  Students will be introduced to baby animals and how they are similar and different from human babies.

In our last unit, Transformations, the students will explore things that change around them (trees, leaves, water/ice, people, etc…).  They will be doing activities on how objects change and making something into something else. The students will also explore caterpillars and butterflies.

At home you can:

• Take a nature walk around your neighborhood.  
• Plant seeds with your children at home in your garden or in a flower pot.  
• Take your child to the park, farm or a zoo.  Look at the baby animals, butterflies, and different bugs.  
• Show them a baby picture of themselves or family members and talk about how they looked then and how they look now.
• Talk about getting ready for kindergarten. Ask your child how they feel about moving to a new class next year. What do they think they should do to prepare for kindergarten?

Reading: 

Pre-k students have spent an entire year listening to and interacting with a read aloud each day! They have grown to love books and understand some basic concepts of print. In these upcoming units we will read books about plants, babies, transformations and kindergarten. As we continue to explore our daily read alouds, we will review the various parts of a book, including the title, author, and illustrator. Additionally, pre-k students will begin to be exposed to common sight words, such as “the”, “look”, and “my”. This will allow students to become familiar with some of the words seen most often in print. 

At home you can:

• Read books about plants, babies, transformations.
• Take a picture walk through a book before reading it together. Have your child make observations, connections, and ask questions. For example, “I see a family traveling in a car. I wonder where they are going. I’ve traveled in a car with my family to visit grandma before.”
• Let your child show off how to properly hold a book and turn the pages! See if they can tell a story using the pictures. Look out for any of our sight words in the text.

Writing:

• It’s been a great year for our writing development! During this unit students will finish learning how to write uppercase letters using our FUNdations writing program. After, students will be exposed to some beginning sight words. They will practice writing these words and understanding how certain letters are put together to form words. Additionally, students will practice writing numbers 0-10 on their own.

  At home you can:

  • Encourage your child to write their first and last name, making sure to leave a space in between. Make it fun by making a name train! (See image below.)
  • Provide your child with a list of family member’s names and have them try to write them. Notice how the first letter is always uppercase and the rest are typically lowercase.
  • Have your child try to write the letters they see to make their own sign. 
  • Have your child draw a picture of what they see at a park, zoo, or farm.
  • Have your child draw a butterfly’s life cycle. If you would like to order butterflies to have your own at home. (https://www.insectlore.com/) (External Link)

  Math: 

  • • Use a toy car to practice tracing numbers or letters. (See image below.)
    • Have your child practice writing numbers 0-10 using any fun type of writing tool, such as colorful markers or a fun pen.
    • Make simple addition and subtraction problems at home. For example, “You have five blocks out. If we put two away, how many will be left?”

      During our final unit, pre-k students will begin to learn basic addition and subtraction. In class we will use different objects to visually demonstrate these concepts. For example, we will show two babies at the park and show three more joining them. Then students will be asked to identify how many babies there are all together. Similarly, students will begin to explore subtraction by showing a group of people, taking some away, and identifying how many are left. Finally, students will practice writing numbers 0-10 on their own. 

       

      At home you can:

    • Use a toy car to practice tracing numbers or letters. (See image below.)
    • Have your child practice writing numbers 0-10 using any fun type of writing tool, such as colorful markers or a fun pen.
    • Make simple addition and subtraction problems at home. For example, “You have five blocks out. If we put two away, how many will be left?”

       

Parent & Student Voice

“Aliyah told me that she liked to draw the fish in the water. She wants to learn to swim like fish in the water.” - Aliyah’s mom

“I liked playing in the water table.” - Conrad

“The ocean was in our dramatic play center and we actually played in there like swimming and going fishing. It was cool!” - Alysa