When children practice self-help skills such as feeding and dressing themselves, they practice their large and small motor skills. They are gaining confidence in their abilities to try new things and to build their self-esteem and pride in independence. 

Children have a drive to be independent and do things on their own. This is a healthy part of normal child development. As children grow, they learn to do more and more tasks. Besides using the bathroom and dressing themselves, children can start small chores around the house to build independence and responsibilities. 

Pre-K children can set the table, clear the table, take laundry to the laundry room and even feed the family dog. Be supportive and provide opportunities to allow your child to build their self-esteem and develop their self-help skills. 

10/11-10/15 Nursery rhymes/rhymes

10/18-10/22 numbers

10/25-10/29 Halloween, reality vs. fantasy

11/1-11/5 Around the World

11/8-11/12 theme week

We will be tackling the skill of “Dealing with Teasing” this month. This may be name calling (we have heard “baby!” from several friends these past few weeks), taunting, and even some unkind words like “You can’t play here!” or “I’m taking your toy!” 

We want the children to use their words when irritated, frustrated or want someone to stop being unkind. We are working on using our words, and not just “I don’t like that!” We want the boys and girls to say WHAT they don’t like and then suggest what they want that peer to do. This is an example: one boy knocked down a girl’s building blocks. The girl can say something like, “I don’t like that you knocked over my blocks. Next time, be more careful. Now, can you help me build them back up?” 

These are the steps for the skill:

1. STOP and THINK- discuss the importance of giving yourself time before reacting and the likely consequences of saying something back or acting aggressively. Another thing you can do is talk about why people tease in the first place (get others mad or to get their attention).

2. SAY “PLEASE STOP”- we need to remind others that we do not like the behavior towards us and we want them to stop.

3. WALK AWAY- we teach that this ends the situation with the peer. We can also come to a teacher for extra help.

10/13 National Bring Your Teddy Bear To Work/School Day

10/27 our Halloween celebration

10/31 Halloween

11/4 Cameron’s 5th birthday

11/5 Nicholas’ 5th birthday