Snapshot: Table Activities

We come to school and do fun table activities, which range from puzzles to Montessori work trays.  Different table work is put out on different days.

Other than the obvious academic content learned from these activities, we are developing our fine motor skills, which in the future will help us print (the most difficult task to learn in kindergarten, according to kindergarten teachers). 

Puzzles help us with developing our visual-spatial reasoning skills, amongst other things.

Alphabet and number puzzles give us a sensory experience as we feel the curves and shapes of the letters in the alphabet; this too will help with printing in the future.

Montessori work trays help improve our eye-hand coordination, which we will need for playing instruments like the violin and piano, sports, etc. They help with finger dexterity and fine motor development.

Being able to sit on a chair at a table and focus on tasks for short periods of time will help gently transition us to a structured school setting.

Taking turns with the table activities is important for our social development.

As we sit with our friends and explore these hands-on materials together, we feel a sense of group and community.

Enrichment: Big Red Fire Engine

We’re having a

Fire Engine Enrichment Activity

Friday, September 3rd 5:00PM – 6:00PM

Brrrnnnggg! Clack-clack-clack! Please join us at 3475 Notre Dame Drive for an in-house field trip. A big red fire engine and two to three Santa Clara Fire Department firefighters will be present to coordinate a fire safety event. Firefighters will supervise fun tot exploration of the fire truck. Siblings are welcome to join in on the excitement.

Please keep the curb area in front of 3475 Notre Dame clear so that the fire engine can be parked there. The Fire Department asks that parents accompany children under 2.5 years old - if you are unable to attend, please inform a staff member. Please bear in mind that if there is an emergency, firefighters must leave immediately and respond to it.

To enroll, please complete the form and put it in the mailbox by Wednesday, September 1^st . There is no fee for this event. Sign-up is first-come first-serve.

Bilingualism: The Costs and the Benefits, but Mostly the Benefits

Fresh off the press (just published yesterday), this New York Times article discusses the desire for many New York City families to expose their children to foreign languages early on. The costs and benefits, but mostly benefits are highlighted.

It connects nicely to our multicultural and multilingual program where our little students are exposed to Mandarin, Spanish, and Hindi throughout the day. Children are exposed to different languages during structured language classes throughout the week (see calendar; Hindi class in the works).

We learn classic Spanish nursery songs, rhymes, and finger plays during Spanish class (see above). All this new vocabulary we learn is reinforced throughout the day.

Our staff, using their understanding and observations of the children (that are under their care almost every single day, not just during a language class twice a week), is given time to develop the curriculum for and lead these language classes. Exposure to foreign languages is not a separate extra-curricular activity. By maintaining a diverse staff, multilingualism is built into our curriculum and part of what is already offered.

Further, and perhaps most importantly, having staff members teach language allows for informal reinforcement and exposure over the course of the whole day rather than during isolated language times with a language teacher.


Interesting tidbits:

At the same time, bilingual children do better at complex tasks like isolating information presented in confusing ways. In one test researchers frequently use, words like “red” and “green” flash across a screen, but the words actually appear in purple and yellow. Bilingual children are faster at identifying what color the word is written in, a fact researchers attribute to a more developed prefrontal cortex (the part of the brain responsible for executive decision-making, like which language to use with certain people).

In recent years, a number of neuroscientists and psychologists have tried to untangle the impact of bilingualism on brain development. “It doesn’t make kids smarter,” said Ellen Bialystok, a professor of psychology...

Bilingualism carries a cost, and the cost is rapid access to words,” Ms. Bialystok said. In other words, children have to work harder to access the right word in the right language, which can slow them down — by milliseconds, but slower nonetheless.


“Once you are trilingual,” she said, “your brain can break down new languages that make it so much easier to learn your fourth, fifth and sixth languages.”

In fact, research shows that learning a second language makes it easier to learn additional languages.

Bilingual Music class

On Tuesday, a music teacher from a local music school, Joyful Melodies, held a demo bilingual (Mandarin) music class for children birth to 5 years. We felt this was an interesting concept--to expose children to music and a foreign language at the same time. Since Mandarin exposure is offered to all children, we felt this would be good reinforcement.

Bilingual (Mandarin) music class

We are currently in the process of surveying different music programs to offer as an optional extra-curricular activity for the children, in addition to the daily music/movement time. We'd like to see which program and teacher will be most engaging to our children.

Here is one article sent by our Parent-Teacher Advisory Committee (PTAC) chairperson on the benefits of music in the early childhood classroom:
http://coalitionformusiced.ca/pdf/avocacy_articles/early_childhood_music.pdf
There are many articles like it.

Pretend Play: Airplanes

Any solid early childhood education program should have a strong dramatic play component. Dramatic play (or pretend play), when scaffolded by engaging teachers, results in more creative, imaginative, and self-regulated children. If you haven't already, please take a time to read this New York Times article about the importance of dramatic play in self-regulation, which is a better predictor of academic achievement than IQ tests.

The airplane outside is often used as a vehicle for adventures to far-away places. Children take turns pretending to be the pilot while the other children act as passengers. Teachers ask children where they will fly to today: "Africa" "India" "My home" "McDonald's!" Sometimes there is turbulence and the see-saw airplane shakes back and forth (to the delight of squealing children). Sometimes rides are pretty smooth while teachers lead songs on the airplane.

Take opportunities at home to extend your child's dramatic play and help them fly as far as their imaginations can take them.