PREECEVILLE — The Preeceville Nursery School three and four-year-olds have been keeping busy counting down the last few classes of the season with numerous activities throughout the year.
The focus of the nursery school is to provide a safe and fun learning environment for children ages three and four.
“We provide a classroom-like setting to learn some basic school skills and rules. Throughout the year, we work on colour, shape and letter recognition, cutting, gluing, crafting, name recognition and printing it, patterns, rhyming and playing in groups. My goal is that each child will have improved on some of these skills upon entering kindergarten,” said teacher Jessica Arnifinson.
Other fundraisers are a plant sale and scheduled barbecues.
The four and five-year-old class goes to the nursing home once a month for a craft with the seniors. They also do weekly sensory bin changes with a different theme each week/month. The children have enjoyed Christmas activities at a senior home; working on emotions and what a good friend looks/acts like; explored the five senses with different "spooky bins" at Halloween, such as ghost poop (cotton balls), zombie brains (spaghetti); picked up garbage around town for Earth Day; enjoyed gym day once a month at the Royal Canadian Legion hall or if weather permits outside. They did two gym classes outside during winter where they went tobogganing , built snowmen and played in the snow. Science class are held once a month, where they do two or three experiments. In some classes, they blow up volcanoes, they've made butter, they've tested things if they will sink or float.
The older class gets to tour the "big school" once a month from April to June.
The three-year- old class made bird seed blocks to hang outside for the birds. All the children planted flowers for Mother's Day. They plan for fire truck tours, ambulance tours and a field trip to the Good Spirit petting zoo for year-end fun. Three-year-olds work hard on being a good friend, learning to count to 15 and listening ears, but it is very play-based.
The four-year-olds work hard on learning to write their name, count to 25, learn how to use scissors and expand on what being a good friend looks like. They also work hard on learning independence in regards to putting on their own jackets, shoes an backpacks, said Arnifinson.
