Preschool

  • Susan Cossette
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Fun and Learning: It’s in the Bag!
Fun and Learning: It’s in the Bag! 2560 1707 Susan Cossette

“Welcome to today’s class!  Is everyone ready to get started?”  Head Teacher Eka Nagoya is ready to start a Parent-Child class at Way to Grow’s Preschool Pals center in North Minneapolis, and his enthusiasm is contagious.

In addition to its home visiting program that served nearly 1,500 children and 761 families last year, Way to Grow has two NAEYC-accredited center-based preschools, where 50 students are enrolled.

“Our parent-child preschool classes are a really unique model,” explained Ashley Saupp, Way to Grow’s Manager of Education. “In addition to attending preschool four days a week, all of the children enrolled in our preschools also receive home visits from our Family Educators.  Once a month, we bring the parents into the classroom to participate in learning activities with their children, alongside our teachers and Family Educators.  This holistic approach helps the parents understand how and what the children are learning in school— and to take that learning back home.”

Today’s class focuses on early literacy skills.

Mr. Eka passes an activity bag to each family.  Parents and children will be playing brief 5-minute games that focus on such skills as letter identification, letter sounds, rhyming, and alliteration.  Each activity bag contains items that could be found in any home—an empty egg carton, a spoon, a stone, or a small toy car, just to name a few.

“Turn the egg carton over and write the first letter of every item in your activity bag on the underside of the egg carton,” Eka explains.  “Have your child pick and item, name it, and identify the letter of the alphabet it begins with.  Now, have your child find the letter on the bottom of the egg carton.  OK, Moms and Dads, I want to see you play!”

The next game focuses on rhyming sounds.

“Find the picture card with the blue border,” says Eka. He points at a picture of the moon on the card.  “Can anyone tell me what in your bag rhymes with this?”

“Spoon!”  A little girl shouts from the back of the room, proudly waving a spoon from her bag in the air.

These are the kinds of games parents can play with their children at home using common household objects—or, when the weather gets warmer, outdoors in the park or playground.  Families who don’t have the financial resources for high-priced educational toys can still create fun games to play with their children that boost their literacy skills.

“The kids really don’t care what they are playing with,” says Ashley. “What really matters is that it’s fun, and engaging, and that their parents are interacting with them.”

 

  • Ivy Marsnik
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Different, but the Same
Different, but the Same 2100 1575 Ivy Marsnik

While February may be Black History Month, Way to Grow’s early learners in our Preschool Pals and P.A.L.S. (Parent-Child Activities Lead to School-Readiness) preschools celebrate diversity all year long as part of their day-to-day curriculum.

At the start of the school year, we talk about ourselves as being “different, but the same.” We may have different skin colors, we may come from diverse backgrounds, we may eat different foods, but we are all friends—and we are all here to learn! We play together, we help each other, and we treat each other nicely. We talk about the places that our parents or grandparents are from by placing our pictures on the world map. The students may not yet fully understand the states and countries or the significance of the map, but they learn about differences—and diversity.

Throughout the school year, we discuss the beautiful traditions of all our classmates: African Americans, Hmong, Somali, Native American, and Latino. From the books we read, the songs we sing, and the foods we learn about, our classroom is a rich tapestry of culture and customs. Every day, we learn new things from each other’s differences.

Recently, during our “Baby Project,” students brought in their baby pictures and shared them during show and tell. They proudly showed off their pictures, which demonstrated the diverse cultural backgrounds of Way to Grow’s children.

All these differences make our classroom rich and full of knowledge that we may not otherwise have gained!

Check out more photos from our preschool class:

  • Ivy Marsnik
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Seeking Preschool Literacy Tutors
Seeking Preschool Literacy Tutors 500 334 Ivy Marsnik

If you are passionate about education and early childhood education, join us at Way to Grow! You can make a difference in the lives of young children by becoming a Minnesota Reading Corps Preschool Literacy Tutor. Tutors will work with our students in small groups and one-on-one using specific interventions developed by educational experts to develop early literacy skills. Previous experience working with children is not a requirement – Minnesota Reading Corps and Way to Grow will provide all the training you will need in addition to ongoing coaching support throughout your 11-month term of service.

Way to Grow has three part-time Reading Corps positions open for the 2017-2018 school year including one at our South Minneapolis preschool at Urban Ventures and two at our North Minneapolis preschool at Center for Families. The two positions in North Minneapolis could be combined to make one full-time position for the right candidate.

A Day in the Life

View the Job Description and Apply

Preschool Literacy Tutor – Way to Grow Preschool P.A.L.S. (South)
Preschool Literacy Tutor – Way to Grow Preschool Pals (North)

Contact:

Craig Allen
Way to Grow Education Coordinator
Minnesota Reading Corps Internal Coach
Cell: 612-267-6283
callen@mplswaytogrow.org

  • Ivy Marsnik
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South Preschool Earns Full Accreditation and Highest Possible Rating
South Preschool Earns Full Accreditation and Highest Possible Rating 2560 1707 Ivy Marsnik

Congratulations are in order! Way to Grow Preschool P.A.L.S., located in South Minneapolis, was recently awarded both NAEYC Accreditation by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, and a Four-Star Parent Aware rating! Joining our already nationally accredited and highly-rated Preschool Pals classroom in North Minneapolis, our South education team developed a classroom portfolio to provide supporting program evidence based on high-quality early learning standards connecting practice, policy, and research.

Earning full NAEYC Accreditation reflects the high quality programming provided in Way to Grow’s center-based preschool classrooms when assessed on areas including student and family relationships, early learning curriculum, teaching methods, school-readiness assessments, health, community relations, physical environment, and leadership. Both the NAEYC Accreditation and a Four-Star Parent Aware rating reflect that Way to Grow is committed to implementing best practices and quality care in the areas of early development and school readiness for Minnesota children and their families as they prepare for kindergarten and beyond.

  • Ivy Marsnik
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At-Home Learning Activities for Toddlers
At-Home Learning Activities for Toddlers 2560 1707 Ivy Marsnik

The world is one giant playground for toddlers, but it is also one enormous classroom! Toddlers love to learn new things and master new concepts, making it the perfect time for creating a solid foundation for future skills like reading and counting. One of the best things you as a parent can do is to continue to build upon your child’s interest in learning by engaging in lots of fun, everyday activities.

Learning Letters

Children generally begin to recognize the letters in their name around age two making the letters in their name a natural starting point. Display your child’s name nearly everywhere imaginable at home: on the bathroom step stool, in magnets on the fridge, on their bedroom door, in foam letters on the shower walls. Seeing their name displayed and pointed out to them will build recognition over time.

From there, you can also point out and say each letter in his or her name aloud, one-by-one. Once your child has their own name mastered, move on to learning the letters in words like mom or dad, and eventually to the other letters of the alphabet.

Learning Numbers

Numbers are easier incorporate in everyday activities than you may think. You can count buttons on a shirt as you get dressed, orange slices at snack time, or the number of bananas in a bunch the next time you grocery shop. Most toddlers will be able to recite numbers one through ten before they are truly able to count, so having them repeat those numbers aloud, recognize them on flashcards or in a book, or elsewhere may be a good place to start.

Once your child recognizes numbers and is able to count up to ten, you may be ready to move on to critical math skills such as grouping, sorting, and identifying more than/less than concepts. A good activity to try is sorting stuffed animals or other toys by type or color. After your child places all the bears in one pile, cats in another, and elephants in a third, you can then ask questions like, “Which pile has the most stuffed animals?” and “Which has the least?”. A good way to give a hint and to encourage an estimate is to ask which pile is the biggest pile and which is the smallest. From there, test your hypothesis by counting all the animals in each pile.

Learning Shapes

Shapes can be learned by relating them to everyday objects. Next time you have pancakes for breakfast, talk about the shape of a circle. On your next walk, look for things that resemble a circle, such as the wheels of the stroller or on passing cars. You may also cut foods into those shapes by, for instance, taking a square slice of cheese and cutting it into a circle. Be sure to take photos of all the objects in a particular shape you found throughout the day to review before bed. Being able to relate shapes to real-life examples will help in not only solidifying the lesson, but also in shaping critical thinking skills.

Learning Colors

A good way to start learning colors is to designate a color of the day. If the color of the day is green, maybe we wear green socks, eat lots of green beans and green grapes, drink green milk (with the help of food coloring) or out of a green cup, practice pointing out all the green toys we have or other green things we see, read a story about green alligators, and end the day with green fizzy bath tablets.
As you begin incorporating colors into your day, it will become a bit of a habit to point colors out throughout the day by asking your child questions like, “Would you like to wear a purple shirt, or a yellow one today?”, “Would you like more of the red apple or orange sweet potatoes?”, or “Can you find the matching blue sock?”

Once basic colors are mastered, you will be able to move on to hues. Talk about all the variations of blue from sky blue to midnight blue – so dark it’s almost black! Practice sorting items in various hues, or arranging items from lightest blue to darkest, and naming something else they can think of that matches that particular hue. For older children, experimenting with color mixing can be a lot of fun and easily done at home with paint or by using ice cubes and food coloring.

By incorporating learning activities in everyday life, you will see your child’s enthusiasm for learning continue to grow. The best part is, in doing so, you are preparing them for school and setting them on a path towards a successful future.

  • Ivy Marsnik
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Community in the Classroom
Community in the Classroom 2560 1707 Ivy Marsnik

The goal of our programming is simple: to help every child succeed in school and life by providing a high-quality educational experience for the entire family.

At Way to Grow, feeling welcomed and supported doesn’t stop with our family educators who build deep and trusted relationships with families through home visits. We also work to provide space for positive human interactions, forming a community of Way to Grow families.

In addition to our hallmark home visits and fun family events, we also strengthen families through our parent-child classes. In recent years, our successful parent-child classes have invited parents into the classroom to learn alongside their children at our south preschool.

This past September, we were excited to expand these classes to our north side preschool. The activities are a great way to increase parent engagement, bridge the home-to-school connection, and provide parents with activities they can do at home to further support their child’s development. Not only do children do better in school when their parents are more actively involved, but parents develop a deeper understanding of early childhood education and the importance of being a teacher and advocate for their child.

Parent-child classes serve as not only a wonderful learning opportunity for parents and children, but also build a greater sense of community among our families. “A natural support system develops among parents of varying backgrounds throughout the year,” Ashley Saupp, lead teacher at Preschool P.A.L.S. says. “We see them carpooling, giving one another a hand in the classroom, tending to one another’s children, sharing resources, and providing one another with helpful advice.”

Belonging to an inclusive community inspires parents to be more engaged in their child’s education and supports them as they navigate the K-12 school system.

  • Ivy Marsnik
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Preschool Reading Book Wish List
Preschool Reading Book Wish List 150 150 Ivy Marsnik

Way to Grow Preschool teachers compiled this list of preschool reading books essential to any little one’s library. You will recognize many of these preschool reading books as early childhood favorites. Unfortunately, we know many of the children in our program lack access to these books and many like them. We also know that a pathway to success begins by ensuring every young person has access to books from the moment they are born. In response to this need, insurance professionals attending the 2016 SITE conference will be collecting these titles to benefit Way to Grow families. These books will supplement our home visiting curriculum and to help encourage parents to read to their preschoolers daily by fostering an early love for reading.

  1. Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman
  2. Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson
  3. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See by Eric Carle
  4. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr.
  5. Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel
  6. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
  7. Henry and Mudge by Cynthia Rylant
  8. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff
  9. Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey
  10. The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney
  11. Swimmy by Leo Lionni
  12. The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
  13. Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes
  14. The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
  15. It’s Mine by Leo Lionni
  16. Leo the Late Bloomer by Robert Kraus

Print this list of preschool reading books!

  • Ivy Marsnik
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Now Recruiting Minnesota Reading Corps Literacy Tutors
Now Recruiting Minnesota Reading Corps Literacy Tutors 150 150 Ivy Marsnik

Would you love to help children grow their reading skills, succeed in school and get extra support? If your answer is yes, you can be trained to serve as a tutor with Minnesota Reading Corps at Way to Grow. Whether you want to explore an educational career, reenter the workforce, or give back to your community, you can succeed as a tutor. Last year, Minnesota Reading Corps provided direct services to over 30,000 children in more than 700 schools across the state.

As a Literacy Tutor, you’ll use strategies that help students believe in themselves and succeed. Positions available include preschool tutors at Way to Grow Preschool Pals and P.A.L.S. Offered four days per week, Preschool Pals is our NAEYC accredited and MN Parent Aware 4-star rated center-based preschool program designed to complement home visits for Way to Grow families. Preschool P.A.L.S. invites the parent into the preschool classroom for parent-child learning time. Both locations offer part time options, and tutors typically serve most of their hours during the regular school day.

In addition to extensive training, tutors will receive on-site support from specially trained school mentors. Tutors come from many backgrounds and include recent high school and college grads, career changers, stay-at-home parents, and retirees. Tutors may earn a living allowance, educational award, federal student loan forbearance, and other benefits, and have the chance to make a real difference in the life of a child.

To apply or learn more about the research based programs, position qualifications, and benefits, visit MinnesotaReadingCorps.org. Questions? Contact recruitment@servemnaction.org or 866-859-2825.

Invest in Us

Invest in Us 150 150 Ivy Marsnik
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Building a Strong Community
Building a Strong Community 150 150 Ivy Marsnik

This month, our Preschool Pals focused on building a strong community.  Each area of the classroom was transformed to represent a place in the community.  The snack area served as a restaurant, the manipulative center was a construction site,  the science center became a hospital, the group area was the city hall, and the writing center was the local post office.  As students visited different pillars in their community, they participated in a variety of activities enhancing our curriculum.  “We did two cooking activities the kids really enjoyed,” Lead Teacher, Mr. Eka tells us. “After the children practiced identifying the different fruits and vegetables at our grocery store, we read The Ugly Vegetables and made a vegetable stew. Following suit, after reading The Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza, we made personal pizzas.”  I’m sure you can guess which recipe was the classroom favorite!

20141212_150332The preschoolers also took part in a science experiment, dissecting eggs!  Going along with Humpty Dumpty, some of the preschool friends suggested gluing the eggs back together. “For art this week, in addition to our letter of the week, we made community signs such as stop signs and traffic lights that we posted around the room. We also drew fire fighters in action, extinguishing realistic fire paintings.” 20141217_142838

Each student played in the sensory table which was filled with packing peanuts. After searching for community helpers, the children played a matching game, pairing them with where they work. At our writing center, children traced words for our community helpers and completed a tricky maze connecting their community workers with their vehicles. Wrapping up this week’s activity, the class made posters of what they want to be when they grow up.  To Mr. Eka’s delight, “teacher” was the most popular career choice!

 

 

 

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