Snakes

The theme for Experience Preschool in March was pond life.  We spent a day learning about snakes.  

Every monthly box from Experience Preschool has a new theme poster.  Using the look and find glasses has always been a favorite activity.  Ronan used the magnifying glasses to find the objects pictured, which is a good way for him to learn new vocabulary and descriptive words.  

One of my favorite parts about preschool curriculum are the books.  I love children's books, so getting 2 new books every month is a huge plus.  This months book was The Turtle, the Beaver, and the Pond.  

Ronan really likes looking at books and being read to.  

After I read him the book and he looked at it for awhile, I gave him the magnetic story telling set to use.  Every box from Experience Preschool comes with a heavy duty magnetic set that goes to the book of the month.  These are great for retelling the story and also creating new stories.  

Elli showed Ronan how to put beads onto a pipe cleaner.  He used beads and a cut up straw to make his own snake.  This is great fine motor practice.  Preschoolers love arts and crafts, and these are an essential part of all good preschool curriculum.

You can't learn about snakes and not make play dough snakes.  Ronan rolled the play dough and I helped him form it into some of the letters we're working on this month.  

Veterinarians

We are still finishing up January's baby animal theme with Experience Preschool.  This week we started off by learning about veterinarians.  This was always a favorite topic with my girls, and Ronan also really enjoyed it.

Ronan practiced bandaging big foots arm.  We were also supposed to work on bandaging the letter R, but Ronan is just starting to learn the alphabet and he isn't ready to work on letter recognition yet.  I still show him the letters and talk about them, but if he doesn't show an interest we move on.  A good preschool curriculum is adaptable for kids of varying ages, like Experience Preschool.  

Ronan used a stencil to paint paw prints.  I gave him a brush and sponge, he tried both, but preferred the brush.  

Ronan's favorite activity of the day from Experience Preschool was taking care of the rubber animals that came in the monthly box.  Also included was a syringe, and Ronan loved filling it up with water and squirting it out on the animals.  He loved this so much that when he was done (not by his choice, it was time to eat) I moved it all in to the bathtub so that he can use them in there now when he gets baths.  

Animal Babies

Children learn best through play, which is one of the reasons I love the Experience Preschool curriculum.  They make learning fun with engaging games and hands on activities.  I have been fortunate enough to use it with all 3 of my kids, and all 3 of them love "school time."  My girls are older now, but they still like to do the crafts and help their brother out with the activities that are too hard for him right now.  

Ronan doesn't know English well enough to be able to answer which animal he would like to hug the most; but we were still able to use the conversation cards to name the animals and talk about them.  He is picking up new words all the time, so these are good activities to increase his vocabulary.  Both the girls wanted to hug the kitten.  

We read the monthly book that is included in Experience Preschool, The Lion and the Beetle.  

Every monthly box also comes with a durable puzzle related to the book of the month.  These puzzles are too hard for Ronan right now, but luckily he has big sisters who can step in and help when needed.  

We looked at a picture of gorillas and Ronan got to use a comb to paint ovals to look like their fur.  He loves to paint, but did not like using the comb.  He wanted to switch to a paint brush and use more colors, so that's what we did.  The art projects are child directed, which leads to more creativity.  Art projects have always been one of my kids favorite parts of preschool curriculum, and Experience Preschool has a new craft project every day.  

Every month with Experience Preschool focuses on 3 different letters.  This month they are C, S and R.  Ronan is just learning the alphabet and doesn't recognize letters yet so we simplify things quite a bit.  He started by covering letters with the manipulatives from this months box.  Then he rolled the pocket cube and we talked about the different objects, and I had him repeat the names to me.  We're still finishing up January's monthly box because Ronan was really sick for a while and is just getting his energy back.  

Waiting For Babies

This month with Experience Preschool (formerly Mother Goose Time) we're learning about baby animals, which is always a fun topic.  Week one focused on waiting for babies.

As always we started the new theme with a name tag.  Learning to recognize and write their name is a skill all preschoolers should learn.  

Ronan worked on counting by rolling a dice and then rolling the same number of "piglets" out of play-dough and putting them on the mama pig mat.  He loves using play-dough, and working with it helps build muscles for fine motor skills.  The preschool curriculum from Experience Early Learning includes math games that make counting and other math skills fun.  

Experience Preschool includes the materials needed for the daily crafts.  Ronan made a cat mask, but refused to wear it.  Elli liked it so much that she used his as a pattern and made her own.  

We also spent a day learning about animals that hatch from eggs.  Ronan used a white crayon to decorate an egg shape, and then painted over it with water colors.  When you paint over the crayon the white lines show through.  

The shape of the month for Experience Preschool is the oval.  Ronan traced around rubber bands to make oval shapes.  Each month the preschool curriculum focuses on a different shape and color.  

Ronan collected eggs and then opened them to find hidden shapes, which are one of this months manipulatives.