Monday, April 27

Growing up at the beach, farms were something of a mystery to me when we moved here, even though New Jersey is the 'Garden State'.  After being in Carroll County for over twenty years, I can say that I've learned a lot, but still have a long way to go.

Playtime Pastures, Granite (a former preschool family)

I love our unit on farming.  I like that each class gets to experience a different aspect of the agricultural process.  The twos see a family farm (Playtime Pastures, Granite).  The threes see a working dairy farm in New Windsor with over 500 head of cattle.  The fours get to see how the planting process grows the food that we eat every day.

Parents, you know how challenging it can be to get kids to eat enough fruits and vegetables, but did you know that gardening may help?  An expanding body of research shows that when kids help grow fruits and vegetables, they are more likely to eat more produce and try different kinds, too.

The benefits of gardening don't end there. Gardening helps kids engage their curiosity, learn to be resourceful and gain self-confidence. It also is a great way to get the entire family outside for fresh air and physical activity. (from EatRight.org)
For more information: Eat Right Suggestions

Link to Preschool Private Page CLICK HERE

EVERYONE

This is some creative
gardening!

It's nearly time that we can safely plant our gardens.  Ms. Donna always told me never to plant anything outside until Mother's Day.

Sit down with your family and plan a garden.  It may be pots, you may have some land you can use or you may be in between.  Plenty of things can be grown in pots on your porch or patio!

Let your child help in the planning.  Look at seeds and planting instructions online.  Let them help measure and plot.  Mark on a calendar when you will do each step of your project.  Remember, if they participate your child gets so much more out of the process.

If you can't actually plant produce, try herbs in a pot on the windowsill!

2s: The Big Red Barn 

1.  Story Time

Listen to the story Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown with your child:  Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown

2.  My Barn

There are a few options for this activity today, depending if you picked up your packet and if you did, which one you got (there were two different kinds).

You'll need your foam animal stickers from your supplies bag and the red barn cut-out.  If you received the sticker scene page, you'll need that.  If you did not pick these up, you can print the 2s Farm Scene from our website for this activity.

You'll also need some glue and a sheet of paper.

Look at the stickers or pictures with your child.  Have them identify as many of the objects as they can.  As you do, you'll want to expand and make comments such as "Most barns are red.  Who lives in a barn?" or "Sheep make the 'baaa' sound.  They're often white, like this one.  Can you sound like sheep?".

Have your child make a farm scene and then tell you or someone else about it.

3s: The Big Red Barn and Mom & Baby Animals

1.  Story Time

Listen to the story Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown with your child:  Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown

2. Moms and Babies

In the story Big Red Barn, there were many mommy and daddy animals with their babies.


Can you match the mommy animals with the correct baby animal?  Do you know what each kind of animal baby is called?

From our website, print out the Mom and Baby Matchup Game.  Cut out the cards.

First go over each of the pairs with your child and explain what each baby animal is called.  You can do two activities with the cards.  You can have your child simply match the mommy and baby cards or you can play a memory game.  Start with a limited number of pairs and build up to the whole set.

3.  How Many Babies?

I'm sure it feels like this some days...

From our website, print out the How Many Baby Animals sheet.  Look at the sheet with your child, noting that next to each mommy animal there are a group of babies and that each mommy has a numeral written on it.

Have your child identify the numeral on the adult.  Have them show you with their fingers what that number looks like.  If they're unsure of the number, give them a hand.

Have them point to the group of babies and count out the correct number.  They can circle or color the correct number of babies.

Want to expand?  Ask them to count how many babies are left.

4.  You can watch this cute song about animal moms and baby names: The Baby Animals Song

4s: Letter Z and Farms

1.  Letter Z

Letter Z makes the buzzing /zzzz/ sound, like a mosquito.  Listen along as we read the AlphaTales book about the letter Z: AlphaTales - Zack the Lazy Zebra

What are all the Z words you hear in the story?
Do we have any friends who have a Z in their first or last name?  (The answer is yes.  Shout out to Killian whose last name has a Z, but you do not hear it.  Pawelczyk (Pah-vell-check).

2.  Writing practice

Let's practice writing the letter Z.

Z has a little line across (left to right), a big line down and then a little line across again - all without picking up your pencil.

Print out your Letter Z Practice Page from our website and practice writing Zs.

**Don't forget to continue to practice writing your name every day!

3.  Story Time

Watch the reading of All Kinds of Farms by Jeanne Schulte: All Kinds of Farms

4.  Farm Shopping at Home

At the end of the book All Kinds of Farms, the reader asks us 'What did you use today that came from farms?'.

Ask Mom or Dad for a shopping bag and start looking for things in your house that came from a farm.  Once you've gathered ten things, draw a picture that shows your items.

Do you know what kind of farm they came from?