Written by Roadrunners Teacher Danny Galpern Using Laughter to Resolve Feelings Children are naturally joyful and excited. But if something scary or painful happens, they can feel alone with powerful emotions. As Preschool Program Coordinator Tamara Clark wrote in her recent blog post , children...
Senses and Sensibility We know that our children learn about the world through their senses. The Rainbow teachers were excited to study the five senses as a way to build upon what our toddlers had already discovered in their young lives. We also planned to explore literacy and numeracy through books...
Does putting your child down for a nap or to bed at night seem a little challenging? Are some days more challenging than others? Do you feel like you’ve tried everything? Few families get through the early years without sleep struggles. Surely, there are no one-size-fits-all or easy answers for...
Powerful Peanut Performances As 3- and 4-year olds grow, the exploratory and experimental curiosity that defines early childhood development turns to family, teachers, and friends. Both bio-ecological and constructivist models of development posit that children’s cognitive ability to think about...
For the past month the Bumblebees have been exploring the five senses: seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching. All of these senses help children get to know and understand the world around them. For the sense of sight, we added bright water colors inside of a squeeze bottle and placed a...
Varied and Unusual Clubs A recent series of clubs gave the Startlights some interesting hands-on opportunities for learning. During a club devoted to Egypt, we looked at timelines of interesting events and studied maps. We brainstormed a list of words pertaining to Egypt and talked about their...
For the fifth year in a row, the Mott Campus Clowns have come to PIC to put on a show. This year, they entertained the children in our After School Center with sing-along songs, classic clown skits and comedy magic-- all with an anti-bully message . But, these are no ordinary clowns! These clowns...
written by Lead Teacher Demita Hill What is Pre-literacy? I am taking a literacy course at Penn and recently read an interesting article about pre-literacy skills for infants and toddlers. It took me back to my childhood when my mom used to read to me. Parents and caregivers lay the foundation for...
written by Joann Schock Experimenting with Science The Fireflies have begun exciting new investigations in science. The classroom has The Big Science Book , which has plenty of experiments to explore. The Fireflies really liked the experiment about bridges. As we read about the idea, the kids are...
Learning Sparked by Pretend Play With winter upon us, many Leapfrogs have been to the doctor for check-ups, illnesses, or for their annual booster shots. These memorable visits generated many conversations throughout our classroom about doctors and their roles. This spark led our classroom into our...
