I have a question for pre-school teachers.?

Question

I have a question. This is coming from a preschool teacher aspirant. Haha. Anyway can you recommend any strategies in teaching the pre school kids? Like do you know a song, a game, or any other activities that i can use in teaching the kids about shapes, colors, size, length, weight, position, height, etc. :) I hope you answer this guys. Thanks!;)

Answer 1

Go to lakeshore toys  they have a ton of stuff that is very hands on.

Answer 2

Go to your local library and research...a good teacher always does...try searching on google...good luck..

Answer 3

Blues Clues!

Answer 4

you can try little einsteins cd's they have about everything.

Answer 5

I teach a method called 'Learning Through Play'...play isnt just a mes around time but its great to encourage learning in practice...chidlren DO rather than watch and so they take it in a lot more and gain self confidence during it.

For example:

Shapes-jigsaws are great for this as it can lead to naming shapes, recognises where they go (matching hole to piece), rotation, orientation etc.

Or draw shapes on paper (1 per sheet) and laminate...then children through beanbags and have to try to get them in certain shapes-either you can say "can you throw into circle" or let them through and say "which is that?" You can make matching cards to support language difficulties.

Colours-similar to above-or do colouring in where you can talk about 'what colour should his eyes be?" etc. Theres a great board game called Match A Balloon which I use. I encouagres learning about differentiation and naming colours.

Size, length...: Playdough: rolling different length sausages or snakes...which is longest, how can we make it longer etc.

Position/height: Children line up on wall and chalk how tall they are. Then you can talk about who is tallest, shortest etc.

Position: In, on, under-train tracks---make a track which has a tunnel, bridge etc...then you can play alongside child and say can you put it 'under' the bridge, 'on the track' etc. BeeBots are another great ICT method of learning positions and directions.

Answer 6

Mr. Al's Colors And Shapes is a great CD, there is a different song for each color and shape.  I learned the color words in sign and incorporated in the songs.  Lots of dancing finding the colors aound the room etc. The kids loved it! We have used it for 2's 3's and 4yr olds.

Answer 7

go to the education.gov website for your state and look for the kindergarten expectations, etc. also try www.everythingpreschool.com they have wonderful ideas of all themes. games, songs, art. its a wonderful site. good luck.

Answer 8

The first thing to realize is the use of songs and games are great to a certain degree, but it does have one limitation (a big limitation).  As a general concept, our brain is divided up into two sides: the right brain and the left brain.  Generally speaking, one side is responsible for simply storing information and the other side is responsible for processing it.  (That's so vague that it's not really correct, but just to get the idea).  

A song and a game help store information into the brain, but it does not help the person understand it.  There's nothing wrong with helping someone store information, however.  So don't discount them entirely.  They are also good for introducing ideas and reinforcing ideas.  

If I were to say what would help a child learn the things you mentioned, I would point out that everything you said:  colors, size, shapes, length, weight, etc. are all based on our sensorial experiences.

What you want to do with this is isolate those senses.  If you are working with colors, work with things that are exactly the same except for their colors.  If you're working with length, don't have length and height differences in the same material.  Have only a difference of length.

Once the child has a lot of experience handling the materials, then introduce the language.

For several sensorial education ideas, visit the following web site:

http://eiu.edu/~cfsjy/mts/sensor/_link.h...

Many of them have specific materials in mind, but you might get some really good ideas.