Utopia Preschool

We celebrated Spring by having an egg hunt in our yard! The children worked together to gather eggs and place them in buckets. They all had plenty to bring home at the end of the day! We hope everyone has a lovely Easter and Spring Break. 

This week, we took small groups of children on a neighborhood walk around Utopia. We visited three locations: the St. Thomas More Church, Alma Via Elder Care, and the footbridge along Brotherhood Way. This activity asks the children to think about their route, and what they observe in our local neighborhood. It also asks them to think about important places, landmarks, directions, and signs. We talked about ways to be safe when walking together (hold hands with your buddy, look left and right before crossing the street, and stay together), and we speculated about these different buildings were for. Many of the children already had experiences with these places, sharing their thoughts about previous times they had seen the church or bridge before. Some of them were also able to recall which direction they drove home when leaving school. After we returned from our walk, we asked the children to draw and write about where they went. Some of them drew specific things they remembered (the ...

We celebrated an early St. Patrick's Day this week by reading stories about a sneaky leprechaun, decorating shamrocks, and having a special green snack at lunch time!

The children have been working hard on their recycled material houses for a few weeks now. This ongoing project started with the children's interest in using recycled materials, and their natural interest in each others' homes. We asked families to send us photos of their homes, while helping their children answer a set of questions about where they live. This exploration helps the children plan out an idea from beginning to end, starting with an observation, drawing what they see, labelling their work with words, then creating the real thing out of boxes!  It is amazing to see what the children know about their neighborhoods, cities and homes. Some children are aware of their street name and address, others know that they live in a specific city or state. They all are experts of their experiences and notice so much! This project has also helped with fine motor skills as they must draw with detail, cut, tape and glue their homes together. It also helps them understand measureme...

This week we invited the children to bring their stuffies to school! We had a show and tell where the children took turns introducing their stuffies to their friends. The children had an opportunity to ask questions to each other, and compare and contrast each others stuffed toys! We also played a guessing game where each child had to match their stuffie to their friend. Stuffie Week will continue next week.