Preschool Friends Learning About Composting
This Spring, we have introduced the children to the concept of composting. This marks a big step towards becoming a Green School. This will allow us to improve the soil in our garden very naturally while making a positive impact on the environment by producing less trash in our little preschool / childcare center in Long Beach. By incorporating composting into our curriculum, the children are learning so many new concepts and learning how to distinguish the different food groups such as fruit, vegetable, grain, meat, dairy, and which types of foods will decompose all while learning how to make a positive impact on the planet. The best part is that they love rotating the composter daily, which is also an important part of the process!!
Green Thumb Toddlers
The children in our Toddler program (the Pixie class) enjoyed planting different vegetable seeds, letting them sprout and then transferring them to our school’s garden. Even children as young as 18 months can learn to have a green thumb!
Firefighters and a Dentist Visit Edgewater Preschool
As part of our community helper month, we welcomed Edgewater parents who are both firefighters for the LA Fire Dept. The children loved seeing both a male and female firefighter! The children also had a visit from Dr.Stella’s Dental office and learned about all ways they can take care of their teeth.
Dentist Info: Dr. Stella’s Children’s Dentistry, 2700 Bellflower Blvd. Suite 217, Long Beach, CA 90815 (562) 627-8800. http://www.drstellakids.com/
Long Beach, CA Preschool Valentines
The children enjoyed handing out Valentine cards to their friends and making sugar cookies to enjoy for afternoon snack. They also loved turning the playhouse into a post office so they could pretend to “mail” out and ”deliver” valentines!
Cardiologist Visit to Edgewater Preschool in Long Beach
As part of our community helper month, we invited a cardiologist to come and talk to the children about how he helps people. The children learned that there are different kinds of doctors who specialize in different areas of medicine. They learned that a cardiologist is a doctor who specializes with the heart. The children learned about the functions of the heart, the size of their heart and how the left and right side of the heart have different functions, and they also got a chance to use real stethoscopes to listen to each other’s heart! They also increased their knowledge of vocabulary words such as pulse, vein, oxygen, stethoscope, and organ!
Pictures also on our Facebook page
Preschool Teacher In-Service Day
Last week the staff from Children’s Village Preschool (Orange, CA) and Edgewater Preschool (Long Beach, CA) joined together for a staff in-service day. The day was filled with both team building activities and lots of helpful workshops put on by the Directors and Administrators. The main focus of the in-service was to help the teachers continue creating an environment that is aligned with the school’s hands-on, child-centered philosophy. The first workshop for the day involved cooking, sensory, and woodworking activities, all of which can help children develop pre-math skills ( measurement, counting, and classifying), skill related to scientific methods (observing and identifying colors, textures, smell and taste), all while developing creativity, fine motor skills, and hand-eye coordination. The teachers were very excited to take back some of these ideas and do them with the children in their classrooms. The next workshops included topics such as positive guidance techniques, parent communication and documenting children’s progress through portfolios. The final workshop helped teachers to examine the infinite possibilities that can arise from dramatic play. There are so many ways to help foster children’s imagination, self-regulation, vocabulary, and pre-writing skills with the children guiding their own learning. Each of the workshops gave teachers the opportunity to collaborate with other teachers, be active in group discussions, and share ideas with one another. The staff also enjoyed mealtime together and used this time to get to know each other better and build deeper relationships with one another. We are very fortunate to have such a great group.
Centennial Farms Preschool Field Trip
The Edgewater Preschool children made a bus trip from Long Beach and had the opportunity to visit a 4-acre working farm. They saw livestock and farm animals like pigs, peacocks, llamas, donkeys, cattle, goats, horses, rabbits, sheep, and learned about the life cycle of a chicken and even got to pet baby chicks! They were also very excited to see 1 day old piglets! They also enjoyed strolling through the agricultural heritage gardens of fruits and vegetables and planted seeds in soil. They also visited the Millennium Barn, which is a functioning educational barn complete with milking parlor and exhibit area.
Book Exchange party with Preschool Friends
The children experienced the joys of giving and receiving during our annual book exchange party! Each child brought in a wrapped book to exchange with their classmates and they each got to take a new book home. The children had a great time making and decorating cookies too!
Edgewater Preschool – Long Beach End of Year Program
Edgewater’s End of Year Program is a time for families of the school to gather and have dinner, watch the children perform some fun songs and shop at the school’ main fund-raiser event. It is a night full of joy and laughter. Huge Thanks to everyone who could make it. Huge thanks to all the staff and children for putting on a great show. See more photos on our Facebook page
Best Preschool Fall Feast in Long Beach
The children really enjoyed the Thanksgiving Feast! Each class participated in preparing a side dish to contribute to the feast and also made decorations for the event. Leading up to the event, the classes talked about all the things that they are thankful for and during the feast everyone enjoyed all the dishes they had prepared including corn on the cob, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, fruit salad and even pumpkin pie!
Edgewater Preschool