Leaving your Child

Saying Goodbye to Mom or Dad

One thing that is consistent with every single preschool across the land is at some point Mom or Dad are going to have to say GOODBYE!!

This one thing alone causes more angst than any other aspect of sending their child to school.  I wanted to blog about this because it really is important and in some ways it is really misunderstood.  

First let me start by telling you that preschool teachers have seen it all.  And by that I mean it would take something earth shattering to surprise us.  

Now what might be new is for you to see your child do one of the many "things" you have been having nightmares for weeks that they might try in front of all those other parents and the teachers.  

I am here to tell you it is no big deal, really I promise, scouts honor. The teachers know how to handle anything that comes up and they will do the best they can to minimize any angst you or your child might be feeling.  

So what should you do if you get to school and your nightmare begins to become a reality?  Great question I am so glad you asked!

First off let me tell you my NUMBER ONE RULE, this is really important and will help you and your child out for many years to come.  Are you ready for it?

Always say Goodbye!!!

Did you get that? What a I trying to say is please, I am begging you be honest with your child and say goodbye, do NOT just sneak out.  The terror in their eyes when they realize you have disappeared breaks my heart every single time.  And not only that it also sets me up to not be trusted.  

I will deal with the tears as you say goodbye every single day, because as  I talk you and your child through this step I will have you show your child on my clock when you will come back to them.  And then reassure them that you will keep your promise.  As you leave and they cry (and some will that first few days) I will keep talking and walking them through their day and why you brought them to school.  

Then the miracles start to happen, and these are some of my favorite things. 

First one is that they stop crying, really they do.  Let me tell you a secret, almost every child I have ever had do this has stopped crying in the first minute of your departure.     

And at my school if they don't I am giving you a call, that is my promise, my guarantee to you.  I am a Mom too and I would not want my child to cry for hours on end and not find out about it until much later that is inexcusable to me.  I won't let it go much past 4-5 min and I am dialing that phone and seeing what you want to do.  

BUT MOST STOP CRYING WITHIN THE FIRST MINUTE OF YOUR DEPARTURE!

Sorry I just had to remind you of that last thing one more time.  

The second miracle that happens is that they stop crying all together when they come to school.  Do you know why?  Let me tell you, it is because they have learned that they can trust you to come back and get them.  

They have been taught that you will not disappear on them without them knowing AND that after you do leave you will most definitely come back and get them again.  

Trust is easily gained, but not so easily repaired and preschoolers are pretty smart.  Please help your preschool teacher and start saying goodbye the best way possible today.

Eventually you will get to know the other preschool parents and as you do you will learn that all preschoolers have their off days, days when they cry for no reason or behave in ways you have never seen before.  

You and your fellow parents will commiserate over these silly things and they will no loner be embarrassing they will be a memory to look back on, a badge that says that you are doing the parenting thing the best way you can and it will all be okay.  

I say this will all the tenderness I can, but really I think it is sometimes harder on the parents to leave their child then for the child to have their parents leave.  

I have seen children cry only when Mom drops them off, but wave goodbye with enthusiasm when Dad or Grandma does, all in the same week.  They pick up on your feelings so put on a brave face, kiss their sweet little cheeks and wave goodbye.  It will be all turn out just fine.  

Punxsutawney Phil

GROUNDHOG'S DAY IS COMING!!

Since Groundhog's day is just days away, this week we are focusing on that cute little Woodchuck.  We start by reading a story about good ole Punxsutawney Phil, explaining about the tradition, what a shadow is and why we really want him to NOT see his shadow.  

To start the activity for today you need two colors of construction paper.  A 9x12 piece of Black and then a Groundhog cutout on Brown (really could be any color). After you get the Groundhog cutout you need to stick it on the center of the black paper.  

We have tried many ways to make this happen, the best way seems to be spraying it down on the back (the Groundhog) with spray glue, giving it a minute or two and then pressing it down onto the black paper.  It will then be repositionable which is what you need.  

That is all you need to do for prep work.  Next is what you need for your activity.  White Paint, little containers (to put the paint in) and some kind of sponge to paint with.  

We use clothespins and small cut up pieces of sponges, they work great and give you a really nice texture to your projects and it is a perfect fine motor skill.  

After you have the kids write their names on the back of their black papers (with white crayon) you give them their container of paint, their painting utensil, and off they go.  Instruct them to sponge (hop) their painting tool all around the edges of the Groundhog where the black and brown paper meet.  

When they are done it will look like this.

Or this.

Or some like this.

We collect them and set them aside to dry, usually it doesn't take very long as not very much paint is used to complete this project.  

The teacher then removes the brown Groundhog, it should just peel off.  When it is removed this is what you get.

And just like that you have a Groundhog with a shadow! 

Happy almost Groundhog's Day!!

Marshmallows with Cocoa!

Some fun with a lot of YUM!!

Today was all about our Imagination and boy did we have fun with it.  The kids made a cup of Hot Cocoa all by themselves and afterwards they got to have a real cup of Hot Cocoa and add some yummy real Marshmallows to it.  

I do want to say that this is probably the easiest activity we have ever done and I liked it.  It gave the kids some extra free time today and once in a while that is a great thing to have happen.

Here is the cast of Character that you will need.   

See super easy, you need one clear cup.  We went with a big 16 oz one, because we wanted them to have more to put in the cup. 

Then you need shredded brown paper, the craft store carries this.  

And last, but not least white pom pom's.   

Give the kiddos their supplies and watch their imagination go.  It is really simple they just add the shredded paper (Hot Cocoa) and then their white Pom Pom's (Marshmallows) and they are done.  They can dump it out and do it all again as many times as they want.  It was really fun to watch them pretend to drink their Hot Cocoa.

I just love that this little guy put all his Marshmallows on the bottom.  

So there you go a cup of Hot Cocoa guaranteed not to burn any tongues.

We topped our day by serving a real cup of Hot (warm) Cocoa with Marshmallows that they got to enjoy during snack time.   

What is the Purpose of Preschool?

Everything you need to know you learned in Preschool!!

What you might not know is that everything we do at preschool we do for a reason,  from our morning papers to free time. 

Sunshine Preschool is open Monday's, Wednesday's and Friday's For just two and half short hours.  Since that is all we do and all the time we have there is a ton to get done in those short hours.

Let me explain, there is a lot to learn when you are a preschooler, most of it is stuff you do every day and you have no idea how or where you learned it.  Take for example this simple request.  

"Ok everyone Line up"

Seems easy right?  Not so fast, most preschoolers have never even stood in a line, they have no idea what it is, why it exists or what they should do when they get in that line.  

Or how about this one.

"Please raise your hand if you have a question."

Why would they do that?  How do you do that? And if I did do it how long do I leave my hand in the air before I just start talking?  

And this one keeps us busy.

"Make sure to shut the door of the bathroom when you have to go."

Um why would they want to do that? Mommy always tells me to leave it open, and if they shut it they cannot see what is going on out in the classroom.  

And those are just the social things and a very few of them that you learn in preschool.  

Educationally is just as important did you know that you developed your fine motor skills when you were little?  Making your fingers obey you is really hard and is mostly due to developing those finger muscles.  So we spend a lot of time on fine motor skills, coloring, sorting, gluing and cutting. We talk to them constantly about making their fingers obey them and this is when the mental to physical connection is made.  The fact that they could control those fingers and have them do something that they are asking them to do is amazing. 

We don't think about it, but if our fingers didn't obey us on a daily basis how much would we get done?

They also have the things you normally thing of to learn at preschool.  recognizing their letters and numbers, learning about shapes and colors and why, when you mix yellow and red you can get orange.  We work on positional words, like over, under, around, or first, second and last.  They learn AB patterns a beginning math concept and even delve into some beginning addition.  Things like sequencing, how to tell what came first is important for writing and telling stories lots of problem solving gets done with sequencing, bet you didn't realize you learned your problem solving ability in Preschool?  

 These are just a few of the many things that preschool teaches kids and mostly they have no idea they learned them.  Until you read this I bet you thought you always knew how to stand in a line and that you should close the door when you go to the bathroom.  Really everything we do is to teach something, ask us sometime and we would love to tell you all about it.  

M is for Marshmallows

Today at school we made a Marshmallow Wreath, this is the first time we have ever made this particular project and I definitely have some things I would change for next time. (see notes below)  One thing to remember about the crafts or activities we do at our preschool is that these are things that the kids can actually do by themselves.  We do the prep work and then the kids do the project.  I will walk you through the prep, and then through the step by step instructions to make it.  

What you will need, Blue construction paper or tag board, Mini Marshmallows, little picture of a Snowman, blue flare, (we used little blue gems and blue shapes), YES! glue or another sticky glue.

For Prep, you need to cut your Blue paper into a circle shape, we used a bucket turned upside down and traced around it, then you need to trace another smaller circle in the middle of that.  You are trying to achieve a wreath shape.  

Then you need to figure out how you will hang it when you are done.  We decided to hole punch it, put a reinforcement circle on the back and then threaded a white ribbon through it.  

Cut out your Snowman, put a bunch of Marshmallows in a container and also put a small amount of blue flare in a another container. You will need a container of each for each child.  

We used YES glue because it is super sticky and thick and while it worked I do have some notes for you to make it work better.   I put a "blob" of glue in a disposable container with a big wood stick for spreading for each child doing the activity.    

Because we knew they were gonna get sticky we started with the coloring of the Snowman, I gave them some ideas on how to color it and then off they went to give our Snowman some life.  I wrote names on the back of each Snowman so I could figure out which one went with each wreath when we were done.  These were collected when they were done coloring so they could be Hot Glued on later.

Then they fun really started, we had the kids spread the YES glue on a quarter part of their blue wreath, and then they could start adding flare and Marshlallows.  

Some of them just plop and mush them on and some are so meticulous about it, I always love to see their different personalities come out doing a craft. 

And some are just having a lot of fun with it.

We would frequently pick them up and figure out what was not sticking so that they knew where to add more glue.  And when they were done I went back over them using Hot Glue to glue the Snowman on the front of the wreath.  The finished product was very cute, we did not send these home today as they did need extra time to dry.  We will send them home with the kids on Friday.  

Notes: It turns out that Marshmallows are covered in Corn Starch so if the glue was not thick and  pretty wet the glue absorb the Corn Starch and they would not stick.  I am on the look out for a better glue for this project.  Also although the Construction paper we used worked I think next time we will use Tag board or glue the wreaths onto cut out paper plates to give it more strength.  

I want you to meet someone, this is Kim.  Kim works with me at the Preschool and is what makes Sunshine Preschool go round.  She prepares our lesson plans and keeps us moving.  We work our lesson plans on a two year rotating basis and each year review what we are doing to make sure that it is still current with what the Kindergarten teachers in our area want preschoolers to know when they get to Kindergarten.  

Kim might be posting on here too and she really is the brains behind it all so I can't wait for you to get to know her.

Tomorrow is our first day back to school after the MLK holiday, our letter for this week is the letter M and with that we have a theme of Marshmallows.  Wait until you see what fun we are doing with those tasty little things.  

Welcome to Preschool in a Blog. My name is Tracy and I own a Preschool (not one in a blog) I thought it would be fun to showcase what we do at Preschool  and how you can do it too.  Not everyone can afford to send their child to Preschool so hopefully this will be a place you can go to and recreate a preschool at home with your very own little preschooler.  

If you want to visit our Preschool Website you may do so and see what we are all about.  You can find us here.  Sunshine Preschool