OUR MONTHLY ROUTINES
CALENDAR MATH
In order to facilitate students' understanding of concepts related to time such as days, months, years, and seasons, and to enable them to use these concepts in their daily lives, calendar math activities are of great importance in preschool. Calendar applications are implemented in the school every morning under the guidance of the teacher.
WHAT DAY OF SCHOOL IS IT?
This activity is carried out every day to develop rhythmic counting behavior in students and to support their learning of the concept of yesterday-today-tomorrow in relation to time. The activity continues from the first day of school until the last day. A long strip of paper is prepared and placed in a visible place in the classroom where students can easily see it. Each morning, there is a discussion about which day of school it is, and the number of the day is written on the strip. During this activity, celebrations can be held with students when it's the 50th or 100th day.
COUNTING TIME
Counting Time encompasses counting different objects with different numbers and features in each session. Counting Time is an activity full of surprises for children. Since children do not know what will be counted and how many will be counted each day, they remain curious.
The objectives of this activity are:
- Increasing students' interest in counting and numbers,
- Developing counting skills,
- Recognizing and distinguishing objects,
- Acquiring knowledge about mathematical concepts,
- Fulfilling personal responsibilities,
- Developing sensitivity to the environment,
- Fostering an early awareness and positive understanding of mathematics.
Different Applications of Counting Time:
1. Counting different counting materials brought by teachers to the classroom,
2. Allowing students to choose and bring their own counting materials to school for counting,
3. Supporting counting time at home.
At HOME; Regarding Counting Time, you can:
- Ask what is being counted,
- Ask how many there are,
- Inquire about the most interesting thing about the counted object,
- See if they want to collect something for counting time,
- Ask if they want to draw a picture of the counted object.
SHOW AND TELL ACTIVITY
Show and Tell involves children showing objects they bring from home and making a presentation about them in front of their peers. This is facilitated using a "show and tell" bag.
The objectives of this activity are:
1. Strengthening children's ability to speak and present in front of a group,
2. Encouraging self-confidence,
3. Introducing new and different objects, thereby expanding knowledge and experience areas,
4. Developing listening and observation skills,
5. Focusing on details,
6. Instilling the ability to ask questions and provide appropriate answers,
7. Involving families in children's learning experiences at preschool,
8. Fostering a sense of responsibility and ensuring that children fulfill their responsibilities.
In practice; Before presenting the object, students ask the presenting student questions and try to guess the object. After the presentation, the object is displayed in a designated area.
Family Involvement: When the Show and Tell bag (labeled "show and tell") is sent home, your child needs to bring something they choose from home to school by the specified time. You can surely find many interesting things that can capture your child's attention. It could be a toy, a household item, or something from outside the house that seems interesting to you and your child. You can prepare at home regarding your child's Show and Tell choice. However, we expect you not to turn this into a serious rehearsal that would make your child anxious. This is an activity where fun can be had while exploring new things. You can participate in our activity by asking your child what they did on Show and Tell day, the name and characteristics of what they saw, who brought it, etc. You can also play the same game at home.
BOOK DAY
Children bring a book of their choice from home on the designated day. The books brought are examined in the classroom that day. One or two books are read in turn each week. Children share the books they brought with their peers. It would also be supportive for the program to read a storybook related to the topic during the discussion hour.
WHERE DID THE FLOWER OF A THOUSAND FLOWERS BLOOM TODAY?
In this activity, we can encourage our children to research historical and cultural places specific to our city and country. The places where your kite has been could be places they have visited before or places they have never seen but are curious about. In places they have visited, they can present photos taken there, items they have acquired, local foods, clothing, or memories they have from that region. Alternatively, they can research and acquire information about the places they are curious about and present as much as they can in the presentation. Moreover, children can also imagine going to places. They can embark on a journey to a cloud, inside a machine, creating a story about the journey the kite made. The goals of this activity are:
- Stimulating interest and curiosity about our country and world geography,
- Helping children to get to know historical and cultural places of our country, city, and other countries,
- Contributing to the development of research skills,
- Acquiring information about different lives and people in different cultures,
- Supporting the sense of responsibility.
DAILY JOURNALING
Journaling aims to make children aware of journaling, to help them notice their developmental progress through their drawings, and to help them evaluate how their day went. At the end of each day, at a designated time determined by the teacher, they draw a picture on one page of their notebook. They draw a picture describing how their day went, what they enjoyed the most from their activities, what they experienced that day, and what they enjoyed doing. Once they finish their drawings, the teacher goes to each child, writes the date of the day next to their drawing, and asks questions like "What did you enjoy doing the most today?" and writes down their responses below the drawings. This way, by the end of the school year, children will have a journal composed of pictures where they expressed their feelings. This helps children evaluate themselves.
RESEARCHING AND LEARNING: The Researching and Learning activity aims to enable children to research, share, and present their findings and experiences, and to experience and internalize the highest level of thinking, which is evaluation. In this modular addition to the curriculum, each week, children are given the name of an object or creature that they are thought not to know. For example, "sümen" (a traditional Turkish game). At the beginning of the week, they are asked to draw a picture of this object based on their guesses without knowing what it is. Throughout the week, they research the object and on the last day of the week, they present to their peers what they have learned. At the beginning of the week, they are asked to draw the object based on their guesses without knowing what it is. After researching and learning about the object, they are asked to draw it again next to their initial drawing.
These routines and activities aim to provide a holistic learning experience for children, fostering their curiosity, confidence, and engagement in various subjects while also involving families in the learning process.