Transitioning from the Advanced Toddler Classroom to the Three Year Old Classroom

Erin Lyon - Director of Education

It's time for the exciting transition from the Advanced Toddler classroom to becoming a  preschooler!  Since the greatest changes in your child's daily routines took place when they were younger, the changes ahead are not as difficult or as different and the process should be smooth and fun for your child.

Here are a few differences you may notice in your child's new Three year old Classroom:

Physical environment

Now that they are in an older classroom you will notice that the toys and educational supplies as well as some of the furniture have changed.  You will also notice that the individual supplies are more advanced to continue the development of your child both physically and cognitively. 

Curriculum

In the 3's more time can be spent on structured learning than could be done in the Advanced Toddlers.  Now that they are growing older the amount of time they can concentrate on certain activities is increasing.  As this increases so does the length of time the teachers are able to do circle time activities as well as small group learning.   Paying special attention to the whole child including their social skills and interactions during play, foundations for future learning and achievement will be developed in the three year old classroom. With extra encouragement from their teachers, children will be able to take risks in their learning with continued teacher support.

Ratio

The State of Illinois mandates a 10:1 ratio of children to teachers for all three year old classrooms.  With our three year old classroom of 15 children, we will always be maintaining a better ratio than the state requires.  The structure and routine in the three year old classroom ensures that each child has lots of one-on-one time, but also time to interact with other children and their environment, developing their growing social and cognitive skills.

Potty Training

It is important that the children in our three year old classroom be finished with the potty training by the time they make their transition to the Three Year old classroom.  Having all children potty trained will only help to increase the amount of time that the teachers can focus on teaching activities instead of time spent with basic care.

Developmental Checklist for Three Year Olds

Sarah Stiltner - Assistant Director of Education

When your child turns three, he/she will have the opportunity to move into the exciting world of pre-school at Little Green Tree House. Pre-school gives the opportunity for an extensive amount of growth within your child. The activities and lesson plans that are taught in the pre-school classroom stimulate the child's mind in a way that is developmentally appropriate.  Your child's teacher will be looking at his/her Zone of Proximal Development (the difference between what a learner can do with help and without help) and then will scaffold them to succeed in content areas (an instructional technique whereby the teacher models the desired learning strategy or task, then gradually shifts responsibility to the students). Also, around the age of three, children are going through a phallic stage, which means they are finding more interest in their sex.  They are also identifying more with children of their own sexes.  It is also not uncommon to notice a stronger attraction to adults when a child reaches three. 

To help you better understand some of the educational aspects of three year olds and pre-school, please review the developmental checklist below:

Language:

·         Names plural form to refer to objects more than one

·      Speaks in 4 to 6 word sentence

·      Uses Present Progress verb (He is jumping)

·      Uses Correctly: I You Me He She

·      Understands sentences and Questions as indicated by a relevant response

·      Understands prepositions: In, Over, On, Top, In Front of, Above, Out, Under, Off, Bottom, In back of, Below.

Labeling:

·         Names concrete objects in environment ( 7 out of 10)

·      Recognizes and names articles of Clothing he/she wears

·      Recognizes and names Pieces of Furniture

Learning About self:

·      Understands functions of major body parts

·      Tells own sex, age and full name

Visual Discrimination and Memory:

·      Places objects on their outlines

·      Recalls three objects that are visually presented

·      Identifies what's missing from a picture

Listening and Auditory Memory:

·      Listens to short stories

·      Follows two-step directions

·      Repeats simple sentences

·      Repeats a sequence of three numbers(8-4-6)

Math:

·      Can match shapes

·      Points to appropriate shape on command

·      Can rote count

·      Can classify objects into two different categories

·      Understands: full/empty/tall/short/long

Gross Motor:

·      Can catch a large ball

·      Can hop on one foot

·      Can jump up and down

·      Can walk a straight line

·      Rides a tricycle

Fine motor:

• Screws and unscrews
• Holds crayons with fingers rather than fist
• Copies horizontal and vertical lines
• Copies circles

To view the complete developmental checklist which Erin Lyon,  Director of Education, created for Little Green Tree House, please ask your child's LGTH teacher.

Eco-Friendly Choices

Elizabeth Geldhof - Director of Business Operations

FitSugar website

We have been told it is okay to buy conventional fruits and vegetables that have a thick skin in order to save a little bit of money rather than organic. Well, I came across this article   06/27/2008 - 1:00PM by FitSugar and thought I would share it with you. It does make sense. It will also take a little cents out of your wallet. But, we know little one's love bananas! Below is just food for thought.

Deciding whether to buy organic or conventional bananas is a toughie. Organic ones are more expensive (usually at least 30 cents more per pound), and I've noticed that they seem to bruise more easily - anyone else notice that, too? The major difference between the two [is] that conventional bananas are grown with synthetic fertilizers, insecticides, and herbicides to protect the crops from mold, bugs, and disease. On the other side, organic farmers use natural fertilizers such as manure and seaweed, insect predators and barriers to prevent pests, and they weed by hand or mulch in order to prevent weeds.

You may be thinking that all those chemicals used to grow conventional bananas are no big deal because you peel the fruit. But the chemicals are not just on the outside of the banana - they leach into the soil that is used to grow the produce. So even if you peel your banana, it doesn't prevent you from ingesting small amounts of those chemicals. You may feel better knowing mostexperts agree that the amount you ingest poses little threat to your health. If you're concerned about the nutritional value of your food, there are ongoing studies exploring the connection between pesticides and nutrients in foods; so far it looks like organic is healthier. Organic produce is also better for the planet since chemical pesticides make their way into the soil and run off into water sources.  

With the sky-rocketing prices of food, buying organic may not be feasible all the time. Bananas, along with avocados, mangos, papayas, and pineapples have been found to have the lowest pesticide residue. However, apples, cherries, grapes, nectarines, peaches, pears, raspberries, strawberries have very high pesticide residues so you might want to splurge on organic.   www.fitsugar.com