How much math do your preschoolers do? You might be surprised. Math deals with patterns and relationships - which means, that, many experiences not normally considered math actually develop the kinds of thinking skills which underlie math. It takes a long while to understand numbers, so at Preschool we use numbers often - taking four crackers at snack, counting marbles to settle disputes over who has more. figuring out how many paint brushes are needed to put one in each paint cup. But math goes much further than this.
When we cook, we need to measure the ingredients. When we play with play dough, we make squares, circles and triangles with cookie cutters. We play board games and have to figure out how many dots are on the dice and then move the markers. We arrange small animals by size, color, kind as we play with them, and then sort them from the blocks when we clean up, Ordering time and events on a calendar, talking about "before" and "after" and "three days until" deals with order and pattern - math skills agam. Pouring water from one container to another, learning to estimate the volume each will hold, making sand castles and decorating them with alternating stones and flowers; remembering who is up next in the rotation for batting the ball - all math skills.
Children have been joyfully rediscovering games interrupted by winter. Once again we can dig in the sand, play frisbee, and swing from the structures (no mittens that slip!). But as the children play, we notice how much they have grown since last we did these things. Games that needed an adult referee can now be conducted by the children alone. Children are beginning to throw balls for others to bat. The games on the structure include more children and are much more complex: where children used to play "steering the boat," they now steer, sight land, rescue people fallen overboard, sail after treasure, sight dolphins - and listen to each others' ideas as the game evolves! Everything seems to leap forward in the spring!
Thank you to James Roman for donating toothbrushes for all the children - and to Ruth and Clayton Craft for arranging this. Families are always glad to have tooth brushing eneouraged, and knowing that all your peers, and teachers, also brush their teeth can help.
For questions about enrolling your child in the summer or fall, or visiting the program, call Margaret Kelleher, the Director, at 628-3248. Preschool accepts children who are at least 2 years and nine months old, and not yet in kindergarten., for morning Preschool programs or full days.
Nancy Leue......