time
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What is a Year? Units of Time for Preschool
It’s not a new year if I don’t take a minute to share this incredible resource! Celebrating the New Year is so confusing for preschoolers, because they don’t understand what a year actually is, or why we need a new one. I created this units of time set to help work through this and give children visuals to support otherwise abstract concepts of time. My What is a Year set includes vocabulary cards, a ring book, and dice game. All of these resources support each other and incorporate the repetition of vocabulary and images that children really learn from. These activities give preschoolers something tangible that they can interact with…
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It’s a New Year! But what does that actually mean?
The New Year can be such an exciting time – it’s easy to get caught up in the idea of a fresh start and making plans. For preschoolers though, it can be really confusing. They don’t have a great understanding of such an abstract concept – what is a year, and why are we starting a new one? Teaching units of time with visuals that make them a little more concrete can be so helpful! I put together this set a few years ago for my preschoolers and I got to use it over break with my daughter too. I’m a visual learner, so being able to see what things…
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What is a New Year?
This whole idea of a new year can be pretty confusing to a preschooler. Nothing feels majorly different – they went to bed one night (probably later than usual) and when they woke up in the morning they were told it was a new year. That can be pretty confusing when you don’t really understand what a year is to begin with. Helping young children understand what a year is has a lot to do with making sure that they understand the calendar, and even smaller unites of time. These are incredibly abstract concepts, and with the exception of smaller units of time (seconds and minutes) they can’t really be…
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Explaining units of time to a preschooler
When we think about time as far as preschool standards are considered, we generally want to make sure that children can sequence daily events (i.e. breakfast comes first, then lunch, then dinner) and understand their own personal histories (“I’m four years old, but my birthday is tomorrow and then I’ll be five”). Because preschoolers don’t have a grat understanding of specific time concepts, explaining the idea of a new year can be really difficult. In the past I just kind of blew over it, not wanting to confuse them, but it felt wrong not to use a common holiday as a teachable moment, so last year I created this What…
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Developmentally appropriate ways to teach time
Teaching time is complicated and confusing – how can a number mean one thing when a long hand is on it, but something entirely different when a short hand is pointing to it? It just doesn’t make sense, especially not to preschoolers who don’t really understand symbolic thinking. That doesn’t mean that you can’t use the clock in your classroom. I am always an advocate for exposing children to concepts so that they feel comfortable with them when it comes time to learn more. Here are some developmentally appropriate ways to use the clock in your preschool classroom; Arrange your daily schedule as if it were on a clock –…
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Back to school, back to a routine!
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Preschool Social Studies Activities
It’s been a couple of weeks since we finished our round up of activities that meet social emotional standards, and since we are heading into the holiday season, now is the perfect time to explore some ideas that meet social studies standards. Remember, the Standards that I use every day, and am most comfortable with are Ohio’s Early Learning Development Standards – you can review them here, however I’ve found that even if your State’s standards differ, many of these activities can still be aligned similarly. I’ve rounded up some great ideas today!Domain: Social StudiesStrand: SelfTopic: Historical Thinking and Skills This standard is less about history lessons, and more about understanding…
