MNKL: A Year of Fun

Last September I put K in Preschool for 3 year olds. I thought that she could learn a lot more there then I could teach her. It also gave us some time away from each other in which she could become more independent and self assured. At first she had a hard time mingling with the other kids. Luckily there were only three other kids in her class so it didn't take too long for her to acclimate. However, in the beginning she only played by herself and didn't participate in the group activities. They learned new songs and hand movements to go with them, but K just stood there and watched the others. In some of the pictures she is standing off away from the group. I think it was just a little overwhelming for her at first. But by the time we came back from Christmas break, she was much more outgoing.

At school they participated in lots of fun things: crafts, field trips, scripture lessons, playing on the play ground, having story time, playing with toys, and snack time. They also learned their letters, numbers, shapes and colors. K already knew her alphabet, but not all the letters by sight. She also knew most of her shapes and all of her colors. But learning them again in a classroom helped to solidify them in her mind. By the end of the year she not only new all her capital letters and numbers by sight, she could also right her name without being told the letters. She can even write most words if you spell them out for her.

K enjoyed preschool immensely. By the end of the year she had six other kids in her class and she liked playing with all of them. She was also much more outgoing and self assured. She is sad that the school year is almost over, but excited that she will be able to go again in the fall. Here are some pictures taken by the school of their activities through the year.

On their first field trip they went to the pumpkin patch.

Every day someone gets to be the helper. They lead everyone out to the playground and back in again. They also get to ring a bell when it is time to clean up the toys.

Here is K playing with shaving cream. I remember doing that when I was a kid. I loved the smell of the shaving cream and the way it squished between my little fingers.

Here are the kids in their Halloween costumes. They got to have a little party and then go trick-or-treating around the school.

Afterwards they got to eat some yummy treats for snack time.

For Thanksgiving they had a Pilgrim feast.

For Christmas they made crowns in honor of Christ's birth. They also made these cute Rudolph masks.

The school has a little squirrel platform where the kids put out peanuts.

Here is their Valentines Day party. All the kids brought Valentines to share and they got some from their teachers too. K made her all by herself.

Zany Zoo came to the preschool and the kids got to pet lots of different types of animals. K especially liked the turtle.

As long as it wasn't raining, the kids got to play on the playground everyday. K loved running around and pretending to be a lion. On rainy days they played in the basement.

The kids learned about the transformation of butterflies from caterpillars. They got to have some caterpillars in the classroom which they fed everyday. Then they saw them make their crysillis and finally transform into butterflies. They got to set them free once they all emerged. K absolutely loved this experience. I hope to take her to Canada's butterfly farm in the near future. I am sure she would absolutely love it!