Crofton Nursery School – Uncategorized

5 Little Pumpkins

October 20, 2017 By CNS No CommentsPosted in Uncategorized

The students have been learning the poem “Five Little Pumpkins” for the Halloween celebration here at CNS and in the art room they were able to do a special project to go along with it. The pumpkin page was so much fun that the kids didn’t even realize how much they were learning.

Each child had to sort their pumpkins by size, littlest to biggest. Once they completed that they had to match the coordinating number to the pumpkin.

For an added challenge they had to match the word version of each number to the coordinating pumpkin. They had no idea they were working on math and sight words as well as making a cool project.

Lastly, each student was able to use their creativity to make faces for each of their pumpkins. It really gave the project a personal touch!

Fall Festivities

October 10, 2017 By CNS No CommentsPosted in Uncategorized

Even though the weather has been all of the place this Fall, here at CNS we are enjoying all the fun Fall has to offer. What kid doesn’t love a messy Halloween inspired experiment?! When it’s washable paint, even the parents love it! The students created their very own jack-o-laterns but first they had to make the correct color to paint with. We had a blast mixing our yellow and red paint to create the perfect pumpkin orange. It was fun to see the kids putting on their thinking caps and problem solving to see which color they needed to add more of to make the paint the perfect pumpkin orange. Each jack-o-latern was unique and fun just like the child who made them.

“Me Box” – Getting to Know New Friends

October 1, 2017 By CNS No CommentsPosted in Uncategorized

Here at CNS we want everyone to feel right at home and feel comfortable to be themselves. One of my favorite projects here at CNS helps to get the ball rolling to help the students get to know each other and their teachers right away. In the 4’s classes its called the “Me Box” and in the 3’s classes it is called “Me Bags”. The teachers start things off by bringing in special and unique items that help the class learn all about who they are and all the things that are important to them. Mrs. Scott-Kem (our 4’s teacher) always blows the kids away when they learn that she is a boxer and a rower and especially when she shows them her big strong muscles! It’s a great way to remind the kids that teachers have lives outside of school just like they do. As a parent it also helps us to learn more about the teachers on a personal level since we work so closely with them throughout the year.

Each students gets their own turn to decorate and fill their “Me Box” and present it to the class. Not only is this a wonderful ice-breaker for classmates but it is a really great way to bond with your child at home while filling their box to help show their class what makes them so incredibly unique and awesome!

Each student gets to present their “Me Box” to the class and talk about the things they brought in. Not only does this help the class learn about what makes them, them but it also helps to build their confidence to ask questions and to share in front of the class.

Silly Slime

April 2, 2017 By CNS No CommentsPosted in Uncategorized

It doesn’t get much cooler than slime! It’s ooey, it’s gooey, its sticky and slimy, it’s just plain FUN! Our 3’s and 4’s classes made their very own slime and the giggles and laughs filled the school. We discussed how it’s very important to follow directions when doing a science experiment, just like it’s important to follow the recipe when cooking. In order for an experiment to be successful we need to be careful with our measurements and follow the instructions very carefully so that we add the correct amount of each ingredient. It was messy and fun adding each ingredient and working them together to make something completely new. The kids learned that by manipulating the sticky wet glue mixture with their hands, they could create the perfect slime. The kids loved stretching their slime or squishing it and best of all they loved how it bounced when they made it into a ball.

Pom Pom Pick Up

March 30, 2017 By CNS No CommentsPosted in Uncategorized

Our 4’s classes have been having a blast with our Pom Pom pick up game. This game is a fun way to reinforce their number recognition and help strengthen their fine motor skills. The kids had small kid tweezers/pinchers that they would use to pick pom poms up with and fill each cup with the same number of pom pom as the number written on their cup. The kids loved making a Pom Pom mess when we dumped all the pom poms on the rug and they had just as much fun filling their cups! Math really can be fun 🙂

Spring Is In The Air

March 29, 2017 By CNS No CommentsPosted in Uncategorized

Mother Nature seems to be confused about what season we are in but we are all very ready for Spring! We have been having fun getting ready for Spring and enjoying the fun March has to offer. We created our very own rainbows with fruit loops. The kids had so much fun with this messy and colorful activity. The kids sorted the fruit loops into the colors they needed and created beautiful rainbows the classroom smelt absolutely delicious for 2 days after this project and it was definitely worth it!

The 4’s classes explored the March sensory box searching for hidden coins and other fun treasures. Once they found the hidden coins they used their new money math skills to determine who had the most money based on the coins they found. The sensory box is a fun and exciting way to end a busy day at school.

They work hard for the money $$$

March 27, 2017 By CNS No CommentsPosted in Uncategorized

Who doesn’t love an Ice Cream Sundae Party?!

The kids are working hard to pay for their very own ice cream party here at school. Here at CNS we believe that learning continues at home and that teachers and parents work together to help our children learn and grow the best. Sometimes the lessons start at school and continue at home.

This is the case with our money unit. We learned the value of the different types of money and what we need money for and how we earn money through doing jobs. This is where the lessons continue at home. Our 4’s classes are working very hard to earn their own money at home by doing jobs to help their parents. Some kids are just starting to do jobs to earn money and others are adding extra jobs around the house to earn money to add to our “Save Jar” at school.

The jobs the children complete at home and the monetary value for those jobs are at the discretion of the parents. The kids are learning the importance of working to earn something, in this case money, and they are learning responsibility for themselves.

Every week the kids take turns telling the class the jobs they did to earn money and then they add it to the “Save Jar”. It’s amazing to see how much these kids are helping at home. Not only are they learning the value of a money but they are learning it takes hard work to get enough money to buy the things we need and want. We are continuing to build on our math skills through this project and learning to count up our coins and bills in a variety of ways.

We can’t wait to see how much we have saved by our Ice Cream Sundae Party in April!

Searching for Gold

March 23, 2017 By CNS No CommentsPosted in Uncategorized

St. Patrick’s Day is by far one of the most fun days we have here at CNS! When the kids arrived at school they found green leprechaun foot prints all over the art room and even in the bathroom. This led to a special scavenger hunt to find what else the troublesome leprechauns may have left for them at school. Our classes followed the clues and searched for gold coins on a very magical hunt for answers. We practiced our counting skills by counting our gold coins when we returned to the classroom. We also had a very special rainbow science experiment and finished the day with dancing to Irish music with their friends.

Money Math

March 20, 2017 By CNS No CommentsPosted in Uncategorized

Our 4’s classes have started to learn about money and why it’s a necessary part of our lives. We talked about what we use money for, such as buying food or paying for clothes and toys. We also discussed how we get money through doing jobs and working. We learned that there are different types of money, coins and bills, and what the value of each one is.

In small groups we sorted our money into piles based on their value and decided which one had the most money. Sometimes you need to see something to really understand it. When you see 100 pennies next to a dollar bill, it helps to reinforce that a penny is worth 1 cent. We practiced counting by 5’s when counting the nickels and counting by 10’s when we were counting out dimes. We learned that 100 pennies is the same as a dollar but that a dollar is much easier to carry around because it weighs a lot less than 100 pennies. Can you imagine paying for groceries with pennies? No way! And that sometimes we use a debit card to pay with cash from our bank account without actually carrying our money with us. We also learned that a quarter is worth 25 cents or 1/4 of a dollar. When you have 1/4 of something it is called a quarter of whatever you are measuring, which is how this coin got it’s name.

Money is essential to our lives and although it might seem like a lot for 4 and 5 year olds to comprehend, they picked it up very easily and we’re eager to learn more. Over the next few weeks we will be working with money to help better understand it and reinforce what we have learned.

STEM building fun

March 7, 2017 By CNS No CommentsPosted in Uncategorized

The kids got to participate in some STEM-inspired building activities this week.

stem1

We learned about balance and stability using different sizes of cups and pieces of paper. First the kids built up the towers as high as they could.

stem2

They were very innovative at coming up with different strategies and building solutions!

Later we incorporated little sheets of paper to see how that changed the building process.

And then the best part – knocking it all down!