Pet Study

We are studying pets! Why investigate pets? Pets are beloved parts of many families and classrooms. Young children love to watch their animal friends and imitate the animals’ movements, sounds, and expressions. Children will gather data, meet interesting people, explore a variety of materials used to care for pets, and create their own shelter or pet store. A study of pets also offers a meaningful way for children to use literacy, mathematics, the arts, and technology to investigate and represent their understanding of important concepts related to physical development, science, and social studies. 

PreK would like for you to meet our pet turtle, Sparkles. We voted on the name as a class, and had Sparkles, Sam, Rocket, and John to choose from. I took this opportunity to teach the children about tallying. I explained that tallying is a way to count. We discussed how tally marks look, and how to add up the totals for each name and then compare them. Children used number concepts and operations while doing this activity. Children’s understanding of counting, number symbols, and number operations are fundamental to their success with more complex mathematics. 

We have focused on the letter L and the number one this week. We talked about Leon the Lion, and the children came up with the words love, library, like and lion to add to our word wall. We learned what the number one looks like, what it’s name is, how to tally, and count it with counting sticks. We also learned that the number before it is zero and the number after it is two. 

The children worked on fine-motor strength and coordination by lacing. Hand and finger strength and control enable children to perform a variety of self-care tasks, such as eating, toileting, dressing, toothbrushing, and nose blowing. These skills give children the experience of doing things on their own and build confidence. PreK also took a walk over the campus picking up litter!

We made lemonade to enjoy at snack time. We gathered all of our ingredients and read the recipe chart together. Each child was given an opportunity to measure, pour, and mix ingredients. While the children enjoyed drinking the lemonade, we talked about where lemon trees grow and what’s inside a lemon, and that lemons are fruits. While doing this activity the children are listening to and understanding increasingly complex language. Children must be able to comprehend what they hear. Receptive language includes listening to, recognizing, and understanding the communication of others. To comprehend language, children must focus their attention and listen with a purpose.