Geometry for Preschoolers

Ok..I have a blog for my preschoolers, but I just CAN'T keep it up, so I'll post here occasionally for my parents...BESIDES, this is for my age kids too. :)

I LOVE teaching preschool but most days it is completely exhausting and many times I finish up a class wondering if the kids are actually learning what I teach and if they are "getting it". Today was one of those really "great" days and if you have ever taught you will know what I mean by that.

We are learning about the letter K for kites and today was Kitchen Time...one of the kiddo's favorite things. We were originally supposed to make kites out of crackers but silly Ms. Adrienne fed the crackers to her own kids last week and forgot to buy more. So with all of my quick thinking I decided that we would make cheesy kites. Yeah...it was "cheesy"...but it worked. The kids had to spread bread on the butter which really challenged their fine motor skills and problem solving skills- they had to figure out how to get that butter to stay on the butter knife and to the bread! I then had them cut the bread from corner to corner, which started the whole geometry discussion about shapes and corners. I then had each child manipulate their two pieces of bread until it "looked" like a kite...this is where it really got fun. Each of the kids kept trying to put the bread back together like a piece of bread. They really ended up having to think really hard to figure out how to move it into different positions.

This reminded me of using Tangrams...something that I think I'm going to break out for the kid today since yesterday was so successful. If you don't know what Tangrams are then google it and then use it with your kids, they are SO fun and such good skill builders. After they positioned their bread, and some did better making it look like a kite then others, I gave them cheese to put on the bread. We then toasted it and they got to eat their own creations. I really was amazed at how much of the geometry they picked up...and it wasn't even on the agenda today! We finished up the day playing with our Geo boards...another favorite of the class. After class I did a little research of my own with geometry and preschoolers. I KNOW that it is important for preschoolers, but I wanted to share with everybody, WHY it's important...so here is a little bit of info. from Scholastics website.

"Young children "do" math spontaneously in their lives and in their play. We've all seen preschoolers exploring shapes and patterns, drawing and creating geometric designs, taking joy in recognizing and naming specific shapes they see. This is geometry — an area of mathematics that is one of the most natural and fun for young children.
Preschoolers' intuitive knowledge of geometry frequently exceeds their numerical skills. By building on strengths and interests that are already present, you can foster enthusiasm for math and provide a logical context to develop number ideas."

That is only a little part of the article so check it out...it's pretty informative. Anyway...that was my really GREAT preschool class, which made me happy that I teach. I just love seeing the kiddos faces when things click and they "get it."...which happened with ALL of them yesterday!