Utopia Preschool

Our classroom has been buzzing with the opening of our coffee shop in the Dramatic Play Area! This game started with just one child's idea and quickly expanded into a collaborative effort with most of the children in our class. The children bring in different experiences from their lives and this can be shown in their play. You can hear some of the children yelling order numbers to the chef/barista, asking customers if they'd like their drinks "hot or iced?" and customers asking for a side of "cheese danish" with their order. It's fascinating to observe their interactions with one another and their perceptions of the world around them.  Learning through play is vital in children's early lives. It is a hands on experience that allows them to develop language, communicate, and make understanding of themselves and people. They are also learning specific skills like counting and number awareness (how many drinks do you want?), writing and drawing (creati...

Group Time is an important part of our day where the children gather together for a song, book, or group activity. As part of our regular routine, it encourages the children to work on several skills like staying in one spot, active listening, taking turns, raising their hand to speak. These are skills that prepares them for kindergarten and their entire academic career.  During Group Time, we go over the days of the week, any important announcements of the day, learn concepts like letters, shapes, and numbers, and highlight the children's work! All of this must be finished within 10-15 minutes, the ideal time for preschool age children before getting too wiggly.  Teacher Linette goes over the Days of the Week during Morning Group. We all meet together at 8:45 before splitting up into our two groups for the day Teacher Andrea leads Outside Group Time with the Butterfly Group   Jordan chooses a cushion to sit on during Group. This supports the children's ability to stay in...

It's a new school year at Utopia Preschool! The children of the Butterfly and Dragonfly groups are learning a new routine, new faces and teachers.  Every morning we sing a welcome song together called "Rise and Shine." It sets the tone for the day and reminds us that we glad to be together. We also introduced our daily schedule and class expectations. As many of the students are here for the first time, we expect this to take some repetition and time for the children to learn. We want them to feel that school is a safe and fun place for them to be. Our returning children have been so helpful and confident, as they know what to expect from last year. Many of them have been supporting our new friends on what to do at school, like reminding them of the rules and where to put things when we clean up! It makes us proud to see how much they've grown over the summer.  It can be daunting to start something unfamiliar, but the children have been adapting so quickly. Thank you ...