Tuesday, June 5, 2012

SOL What about summer?

I'm a little crazed this week...but I wanted to post something on Two Writing Teachers' Slice of Life, just to keep up my writing habit!

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Our school year is winding down.  I am in the midst of my fourth round of family conferences.  I am finding that these are truly delightful - an opportunity to have a very affirming, positive conversation with families about their child's growth this past school year.  So much growth happens over the course of a preschool year!

With each family, I am sharing my "top five things" to do with one's preschooler over the summer, to ensure they are ready for Pre-K:

  1. Go to the library!  Make it a weekly ritual.  Look for books we've read this school year, look for new books, and read, read, read.
  2. Create a special corner in your home for your preschooler, where he/she can work on things and leave it and then return to it.  I'm particularly partial to building things with recyclables and keeping a notebook/journal.  But, ideally, there's a little place that your little one can call one's own, to learn to create independently and to revisit these creations, to refine, edit, modify what they've done.  
  3. Ask your child the open-ended question: How does your story begin? and record the response.  Keep these precious stories for your child to read (and perhaps encourage your child to draw a picture to accompany these).  
  4. Let them dig in the dirt.  Yes.  Simply dig, play, explore, hunt for bugs, turn over rocks, enjoy.
  5. Begin a family tradition of "family game night" - these little ones love whole body games like "Hot/Cold" or "Guess What is Different" and simple board games. 
Summer, with its new, irregular schedule, provides such an opportunity to try new things, to create new rituals and traditions in one's family.

What ideas do you have for preschoolers in summer?  I'd love to know!




5 comments:

  1. I love this list. It sounds do-able and not to overwhelming to parents, so smart.

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  2. Your suggestions are always awesome! I love that you wrote "Let them dig in the dirt." So important!

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  3. These sound great, Maureen. I'll send them on to my daughter, but also keep them in mind for my granddaughter's visits too. I would add nature walks, but it's close to your 'dig in the dirt' part. I often have taken my grandson in the past to all kinds of places in our neighborhood, & if it's a special place in someone's yard, often the people there will let us come close & look. Thanks for posting for the summer!

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  4. I usually recommend books from the library for kids and for parents
    I also suggest making collections by giving the child a box to gather things and then describing each item to develop vocabulary and nurture observational skills.

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  5. I love taking favorite songs like 5 little Monkeys or Itsy Bitsy Spider and creating new characters - 5 Hungry Sharks or the Rumbly Grumbly Grizzly Bear....

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