Spring Centers

Is it just me or is this the longest winter ever?!  We have had 13(?) snow days and a bunch of delays as well.  To say that I am "over it" is an understatement!

So, even though there is still snow on the ground, I am ready to pull out the Spring centers for preschool next week.

I love this "Springtime" circle time song.   It's a great introduction to Spring because it describes the season for my preschoolers in just a few catchy lines.

One of our main literacy goals in preschool is developing "Concept of Word."  This watershed event in the life of a young reader occurs when they begin to understand that a word is a group of letters with a space before and after.  We practice lots of songs and poems on the pocket chart to develop Concept of Word.  They love to use a pointer to take turns "reading" the song as the rest of the class sings.  I always add some type of picture clues to help them keep track of the lines of the song.

I love all these colorful spring learning centers!  At this math center, the students identify the repeating pattern and extend it by finding the picture that comes next.

At another math center, they are working on counting to 10 and identifying numbers.  Each flower has dots on the stem and a number word on the petals.  The students count the dots, read the word, and then find the bumblebee that has the corresponding number.

At the literacy center, students can practice matching upper and lower case letters by assembling these umbrella puzzles.  I have a set of the entire alphabet-- 26 puzzles.  That's a lot for a young learner!  To make it easier, I matted the puzzles in sets of 4 onto different colored paper.  So the 4 puzzles pictured here (A, B, C and D) are all blue on the back.  The next set (E, F, G, and H) are all pink on the back.  By separating them into smaller groups, the center is much more manageable!

We are also working on beginning sounds.  At this center, the students say the name of the picture on the cloud and then find the sun that matches the initial consonant.

All of these centers, 5 great circle time lessons, and much more (including writing practice, a patterning take-home page, and an original emergent reader called "It's Spring") are included in this Spring: Centers and Circle Time Unit for Preschoolers.

Are you as ready for spring as I am?

Have fun playing and learning with your children today.