Patriotic Cupcakes/Muffins
Feeling Patriotic? Let’s make patriotic cupcakes or muffins for a Fourth of July celebration!
Here’s how.
Purchase a white cake mix or muffin mix. Follow the directions for making cupcakes/muffins on the box. Let the children add the ingredients as directed and stir the mix.
After sufficiently mixing, divide the batter into three bowls. Now it is time to add color! Add red food coloring to one bowl, mix well. Add blue food coloring to a second bowl. Mix well. Please leave the third bowl uncolored.
Use one color to fill 1/3 of your individual muffin cup. Here we used red first.
Use the second color to fill the next 1/3 of the individual muffin. Here we used the uncolored batter.
Scoop the last color to fill the muffin cup. We scooped blue last.
Bake according to the directions on the box. Here is the final baked muffin! Enjoy
Welcome New and Returning Families!
Welcome New and Returning Families!
We are so excited for the new school year and cannot wait to get started! This year will be filled with exciting adventures, fun projects and educational activities. These will be designed to help prepare the children for life’s endeavors, understand dynamics and engage in small and large groups, and become familiar with concepts they will further develop throughout elementary schooling and beyond.
We are welcoming so many new families, and are also mixed with bittersweet emotions as we send off our graduating students to continue their academic journeys in kindergarten.
Please join us for the end of summer playground playdate and Art Show on Friday, August 28th from 4:00-5:00 PM.
FGNS Kids
Please label everything your child brings into school. Each child brings hundreds of personal items into the school throughout the year and it is not possible to keep track of what belongs to who. Things fall out of cubbies, children take things off and throw them on the floor, give them away to another child or put them in the wrong cubby. In order to avoid confusion, we respectfully ask that you label absolutely every personal item that your child brings or wears into school. This may include but is not limited to sippy cups, thermoses, water bottles, lunch boxes, containers, jackets, hats, mittens, boots, slippers, comfort items, blankets ect. Anything special, valuable or irreplaceable should not come into the school. If your child comes home with something that does not belong to them, please return it in a timely manner. We thank you for your understanding and cooperation.
Welcome New Teachers!
We want to extend a warm welcome to our new staff who will be officially beginning their journey teaching at Friendship Garden Nursery School full time for the 2015-2016 School Year. They are all thrilled to be part of our team and excited to further enrich the children’s lives with excitement and intrigue. Their objectives in the next few weeks will be to learn all about the children and their families, and continue to offer the structure, social, emotional and academic education the children need to thrive.
We appreciate your understanding and patience as everyone continues training for the last few weeks of summer. We recognize the importance of consistency in caregivers and are committed to maintaining a high standard of excellence in the quality of early education experiences offered here at FGNS. The new teachers were carefully selected, are in the process of undergoing comprehensive training and each has offered their assurance they are reliable caregivers and focused educators.
Meet Our Staff
Alexis Turner is our new Lead Teacher, stationed in the Toddler Room. Alexis has over 20 years experience teaching in preschool and toddler classrooms. She is also the mother to 3 wonderful daughters, Ashton, Emily and Ava. We are thrilled to have Alexis on our team as we know she will bring a whole new level of excitement for our amazing group of toddlers. 
Olivia Fluker will be the full time Teacher for our Pre-Kindergarten classroom. Olivia is developing a comprehensive curriculum plan to prepare the children for kindergarten and beyond. She is working hard to create a full schedule of fun and engaging activities and projects. She will be working in collaboration with Megan and myself to implement these plans effectively throughout the year.
Megan Foster will be the full time Teacher Assistant in the Pre-Kindergarten classroom. Megan is so happy to pursue her career as a preschool teacher. She will be working more closely with the young preschoolers to allow them more flexibility in academic based projects and increased support in social emotional development and potty training.
Resolutions and Change
The year is half over, if you’re like many people, you start off every year with good intentions for keeping your New Year’s resolution. Now is the time for a mid-year check in. How are you doing? Here is a list to help you get or stay on track.
Renew Your Commitment – Review the reasons you made your resolution(s) in the first place. Are they still relevant to your life?
Be Realistic –Is your goal something you can realistically accomplish in the amount of time you set.
Set Small Goals – Break your goal down into realistic small parts, be specific about what you want to accomplish, set milestones.
Talk About your Goal – Don’t keep it a secret. Involve your friends, your family and your pet. They can be a support. Find someone who is working on the same thing and do it together. Meet at the gym, share healthy recipes or join a book club. You’ll motivate each other and a little friendly competition may be just what you need to stay on track.
Expect Setbacks – Accept the fact that you are not going to be perfect every day and don’t beat yourself up for a minor setback. Recognize your success, reward yourself appropriately and, if you do fall down, get right back to it the next day.
What, you ask does any of this have to do with young children? The answer is twofold. One, I made a commitment to enhance my teaching skills, to learn something new and to bring it into my practice. It was time to review my progress. Two, these same skills apply to working with the young child!! I follow each of these steps in my classroom with teamwork and intention towards a common goal! It is a joyous, workable, pleasurable learning environment. Isn’t that what we are all striving for?
Dramatic Play Prop Boxes
Circus Prop Box
The importance of dramatic play was outlined in another of my blog posts, this blog overviews some fun, inexpensive open ended dramatic play ideas for your early learning center or home. When children dress up or play in the Dramatic Play Area, they try on various roles which help them process and understand the world. Young children are developing social skills and the ability to play with others, while using their imagination and being creative.
Dramatic play is not just a “housekeeping” kitchen center but we’ll start there.
Housekeeping, it is familiar to most children and therefore a great starting point for dramatic play. All that is needed are items you have in your home or center already. Old phones, pots/pans, bowls, spoons, kitchen towels and some open ended materials such as blocks, river stones or fabric pieces that can be used imaginatively. Open ended materials (materials that have no specific intended use) add richness to dramatic play.
Here are A FEW other ideas for dramatic play centers/areas or prop boxes.
Restaurant/pizza parlor- discarded pizza boxes, play money, order pad, phones, aprons, cash register, stove, play pizza cutter, cardboard circles (pizzas) with felt on one side, felt toppings – green peppers, mushrooms,
Grocery Store-play food, empty food containers/boxes, paper bags, cash register, play money, sale flyers, grocery cart/basket, aprons, purses/wallets, coupons, paper and pencil for lists
Ice cream shop – ice cream scoops, paper cones, empty ice cream tubs, play money/cash register, apron and hat, order pads/pencils, wipe-off board menu, empty whipped cream spray cans
Flower Shop-Plastic flowers, water can, tools, seed packets, smock, plastic pots, cash register, money, tools, phone, garden hat, ribbon, pen and paper
More Themes:
Farm/zoo/jungle safari/pet shop/vet office
Camping/fishing
Lemonade Stand
Archeological dig
Doctor Office/Eye Doctor/Dentist/Office
Construction site
Airplane/train/boat
Use your imagination and add inexpensive hands on materials for discovery. Remember to add open ended materials to stimulate the imagination. Boxes, tubes, plastic containers, pieces of fabric, paper, writing instruments and tape can be anything the child wishes to create.
I’d love to hear your additions!
Sand and Water Table
This is the final blog in the series which takes a look around the preschool classroom.
The sand and water table/sensory table or bin in the preschool classroom is a must. Yes, I will agree that the area can be very chaotic so let’s remember the benefits as they outweigh the “mess”.
First, consider the physical layout of your space, the sensory table should not be placed on a rug or near a heating vent; a dust pan; a broom and a trash receptacle should be close by and easily reached by the children. Young children can and should be responsible for keeping their area clean and safe.
The sensory table helps to develop the social skills of working together, sharing space and supplies and planning for play. The educator will often need to help in the sharing the media and the materials that are in the table. Do to the limited space of the table it is an area that is easily teacher supervised and supported.
Physical development of the young child is supported in the sensory table as eye-hand coordination is needed for scooping and dumping and the fine motor skills of pouring and sifting can be honed as well.
Vocabulary building is another fun result of exploring different sensory materials. Remember to enrich the young child’s descriptive language vocabulary skills whenever possible. Language skills in the sensory table include; planning, questioning and telling stories.
Many basic concepts related to science and math can be investigated in a sand/water/sensory table. Water/sand wheel, water pump, sink/float, gravity, manipulation, and trial and error are several scientific concepts explored during sensory play. Measuring and volume, amount, number, quantity and size are mathematical concepts that can be investigated.
There are many items to place in a sensory table, let your imagination go! Here is a list to get you started:
Flour
Rice
Beans
Colored pasta
Cooked spaghetti
Corn Meal
Oatmeal
If you are opposed to using food items in the sensory table here is a list of non food item:
Bird Seed
Easter grass
Corn
Sand
Water
Shaving cream
Cotton balls
Bottle caps
Ice
Smooth stones
Ribbons and Bows
Soil
Fabric scraps
At home: Safety should always come first when using water or small sensory items. The bathtub and the kitchen sink are logical locations for sensory explorations however a small basin on the floor, with a towel on a plastic trash bag to catch spills will work as well. Supply your child with props such as sponges, basters, colanders, strainers, pitchers, tongs, and so on. Baths are a great place for sensory investigation. There is so much to explore and learn with very little equipment, and clean up is simple.
Teaching and Learning Math in Pre-School
I participated in a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) training at the Cape Cod Children’s Museum capecodchildrensmuseum.org. This series of blogs focused on one aspect of STEM at a time, this is the last blog of the STEM series.
How do children learn and use arithmetic in pre-school?
Math is a way of measuring.
First what is math for the pre-school aged child? Hands on is simply the best way for a young child to learn math. Try to use real concrete objects when working through math problems. In the math center activities should be fun yet challenging. For example, as a child is sorting buttons, ask him/her to count them. Next ask how many buttons would be in each pile if you added one or subtracted two etc. You can say, “I wonder how many red buttons there would be if I subtracted two from this pile”. Let the child manipulate the materials to find the answer.
Bigger, smaller, half and zero are just a few mathematical concepts you could introduce while sorting buttons (or socks!) Children need opportunity to think about their solutions rather than knowing if the answer is “right”. Some open ended discovery will be necessary as they learn the concepts. There is no need to correct your child, rather pose some further questions for the child. For instance, if there is a pink button in the red pile you might ask, “I wonder if this button is the same color as this button”. Allow your child original reasoning and to develop problem solving reasoning skills. Your young child might have a logical answer as to why the button is in the pile. Perhaps it has just two holes and “matches” the two holed red buttons. There are many different attributes to sort by. Give your child the chance to explain and/or correct.
Let’s continue to look at math around the nursery school classroom.
In the dramatic play center you might see a child setting the table, counting and then placing one plate and one cup in front of each chair. Watch as the preschooler negotiates for materials based on how many are available in the area. A child might be informally measuring to see if an outfit will fit them or if it will fit a doll.
Math in the writing center could be making number books, it could also be numbering the pages of a story your child has written. Children may be drawing and naming shapes.
There is opportunity for math is every story you pick up to read. There are numbered pages. First, middle and last are mathematical concepts. Sequential retelling of a story has mathematical roots. Look for shapes (geometry) in the art work on the pages. Remember to incorporate new mathematical vocabulary and ideas as you speak.
Continue to explore and discover math at home. Play board games and build puzzles. Supply empty and clean, egg cartons, small boxes and/or ice cube trays and materials for sorting. Some materials you could use include bottle top/lids, colored paper clips or my personal favorite, a “party mix” of snack foods, “eat your math”! Young children enjoy inventing their own games. Supply them with paper, crayons, and dice, along with some objects to use as player pieces. A ruler, a tape measure, and other items can be used for measuring size and distance.
Math is all around us.
Teaching Technology and Engineering in Pre-School
This is the second blog of the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) series by Robin Jones.
How do we teach technology in nursery school?
Technology is a way of doing.
When we hear the word technology most of us think of computers and the information highway. While it is the case that children are using tablets and computers in preschools, what else is technology? Let’s start with what it should NOT be. Technology is not meant to replace experiences but to expand the range of tools with which the young child can seek information. Technology is using tools to get a job done. Technology is being inventive, identifying problems and making things work. Technology is thinking and problem solving giving equal opportunities to boys and girls.
Technology in language arts might include a listening center with books and tapes/CD’s, a player and headphones. There are many games that encourage letter recognition, pre-reading and pre-writing skills.
In the dramatic play center, when children are playing grocery store they might “scan” items to get “prices”, this shows a knowledge of how to use tools. Old phones, calculators, click counters and keyboards allow children to understand the function of these tools as well.
In the area of social development technology is talking, doing, cooperating, and helping. It might be trying out a computer game with a friend, sharing and playing cooperatively. There are many types of timers that can be used to encourage child turn taking.
Engineering is a way of doing.
Engineering is solving problems, using a variety of materials, designing and creating, building and testing until things work. The engineering process is circular: define, plan, build, test, share and begin again. Preschoolers are natural engineers because of their innate curiosity and love of hands on activities. Young children can see the game of building and testing again and again. The most prominent example I can think of is in the block area. Preschoolers will build and rebuild until they are met with success. This is usually accomplished with great joy and laughter as they solve the problems of falling blocks. Explore and use simple machines such as ramps, gears, pulleys and levers throughout the block play experience to add to the creativity.
In the art area invent and construct simple objects or structures using common tools and materials. Talk about what does and does not work. Ask why certain materials are used for the purposes that they are used. For example, why is a chair made out of plastic and not paper?
In the area of science engineering can be the study of how animals use parts of their bodies to accomplish various tasks.
While cooking discuss the function of common machines, such as a cheese grater, food mill, mixer and/or blender. Ask how they work and explain how these tools make the job of preparing food easier.
The proper use and safety of all tools is a part of the preschool engineering curriculum.
During story time look for examples of engineering when the story time characters are faced with a problem that they try to solve. The Three Little Pigs is a great example. Many titles in Curious George series of stories can be used to talk about the engineering process. Can you think of any other titles? Please share.
Technology and Engineering are just “fancy” words to describe what children do naturally on a daily basis. Let’s get busy.
Benefits to Sharing time in the Kitchen with Children
A quick word about cooking with your nursery school aged child!
Young children love to prepare and cook foods. This week we will look at some of the benefits of cooking with your child and I will share with you a recipe for a snack we like to make at Thanksgiving time.
But, first the benefits of sharing time in the kitchen.
Physical Development: Small motor skills such as slicing, chopping, dicing and whisking help to develop pincher control which is needed for writing. Large motor muscles are developed in rolling, mixing and pouring. Another added benefit is developing good eye hand coordination.
Early mathematical skills: You will be counting and measuring. Volume, fractions, numbers, size, and shape are all skills that can be developed while cooking with your nursery school aged child. Practicing mathematical vocabulary and concepts such as less than, equal to, and as much as are easily accomplished while in the kitchen. Children learn sequencing and time in making a dish.
Science Skills: While you are cooking you will explore the concepts of temperature (hot-cold), liquid to solid and solid to liquid, cause and effect, and making predictions. You will be using your senses of touch, taste, smell and sight.
Social Development: In this area your child will learn working together cooperatively and sharing space. He/she will be gaining self confidence while using kitchen tools appropriately. Your child will learn and then practice kitchen rules for safety. Self control and patience are additional areas of learning in the kitchen.
Language development: Your young child will be developing important pre-literacy skills. Building vocabulary is natural. Don’t you just love it when a young child whips out a “big” word? Don’t be afraid to use words like sauté and julienne. You will be modeling functional reading when pointing out that words make up the ingredient list, and instructions that make up a recipe. Your child will be listening to follow directions, and recognize sequential events.
Social Science: There are many children’s books that depict other cultures and their foods! Learn how to make something from a culture other than your own. Ethnic foods are just one area where you can practice diversity and acceptance.
Have fun in the kitchen!
Thanksgiving turkey chocolate dipped pretzel
Sugar Cookie Recipe
1 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
¼ teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon of salt
1 ½ teaspoon vanilla
2 1/3 cups all purpose flour
Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until very fluffy and well blended. Add and beat in the egg baking powder, salt and vanilla until evenly mixed. Stir in flour until well blended and smooth.
Or buy a mix and follow the instructions
Confectioners Frosting Recipe
4 cups confectioner’s sugar (icing or powdered sugar), sifted
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4tablespoons milk or light cream
Assorted food colors (if desired)
Or buy a can and open
Other ingredients
Pretzel rods
8 oz bag of chocolate chips or microwavable dipping chocolate
White frosting
Food coloring
Supplies
Mixing bowls and mixing spoons
Measuring cups and measuring spoons
Double boiler
Baking sheet
Skewers
First make your sugar cookie
Divide the dough into smaller balls for coloring. I used 4 colors so I made 4 small balls.
Add food coloring and mix each ball separately.
Blend all your smaller colored balls gently. Be careful not to over mix.
Flour a flat surface. Gently roll out your dough, again be careful not to over mix. Use a leaf shaped cookie cutter to cut the cookies. A circle would work as well.
Use a double boiler to melt you chocolate chips. Add a little tablespoon of butter, margarine or oil if the chocolate seems too thick for dipping.
Set up for the next step. Lie your cookies out on a cookie sheet. I used bamboo shish k bob skewers to make the pretzel level with the cookie for a solid chocolate bond. You don’t want your cookie to fall off!
Now dip the pretzel rod into the melted chocolate, stick it to the cookie and let harden.
Mix up white frosting. With food color make one third
of the frosting yellow and one third of it red.
Leave the remaining one third white.
Now you are ready to pipe on two eyes, a beak and a wattle. If you do not have a pastry bag, snip a hole in the corner of a plastic sandwich bag. Let dry and enjoy!
Improving behavior
A sigh of relief: Routines
Let the wild rumpus end! I can hear a collective sigh of relief from parents of pre-schoolers. It is time to go back to school, back to “normalcy”, and maybe even time to grab a moments peace when the little ones go to pre-school.
We’ve all had fun and stayed up too late but now it is time to get back on track. Time to get back into the school year rhythm after routines have been broken, limits stretched and boundaries redefined. You are ready for a break!
Children need routines, boundaries and limits to feel safe at home and at pre-school. Children have almost no control over their lives and routine offers stability and comfort. Routines ensure for children that their basic needs will be met. The added benefit is that pre-schoolers are learning good behavior and good habits.
At pre-school we have established routines that basically do not change. Our flexibility lies in that the pre-schooler cannot tell time so the order of things is what becomes important. You can create that same type of order at home.. First we do this and then we do something else.
Here are a few suggestions for either creating routines at home or transitioning back to routine if you have lost it during the summer/holiday break.
Waking up should be around the same time everyday.
The routine of washing up and brushing your teeth establishes good hygiene.
Pre-schoolers love to get themselves dressed, make sure that you have seasonally appropriate clothing in their drawers and let them choose their outfits. Anything goes as long as it is seasonally appropriate.
Remember to have regularly scheduled meal and snack times, children need reassurance they will eat.
Have bedtime ritual and routines, if this has been upended during the summer/holiday break, try to ease back into your regular, earlier time a few days in advance of going back to school. This way everyone is refreshed and ready to go.
Have a special place for items that are going back to school so that they are easily located during the hectic morning pace.
Once you establish and/or stick to a routine, you should notice an improvement in behavior.
Enjoy the last few days of summer break.
See you back at pre-school.
Giving up the Binky/Pacifier
Giving up the Binky/Pacifier!
Is your child still attached to his/her pacifier and you have long
since decided it must be time for him/her to give it up? Is this the
right time? How do you do it? Families ask the question at nursery
school often. Here is a clever solution, if you are ready!
Make an arrangement with the mom of a new baby: a friend, a relative,
a play group mom, a mom with an infant in tow at nursery school. Have
your child gather all the binkies or pacifiers that you have, you know the ones!
They are everywhere, in your purse, in the car, in the cabinet and
under the furniture. Your little one knows where they are as well,
since he/she has them hidden!
After your gathering period, let your child decide how to wrap, bag or
box these prized possessions. Make a big deal out of packaging them up
nicely to give to the new baby! On the given day, let your child hand
over the package. This gives the child power in the situation and
leaves the responsibility for giving them up in the child’s hands. If
your first attempt fails because there was one pacifier or binky left behind
that your child finds. Repeat the process! Cross your fingers that
binkies or pacifiers are a distant memory as you face new parenting challenges.
Remember that your child’s nursery school educator is a wealth of
information and resources he/she is willing to share.