T is for Tow Truck!

Carl came to Patchwork Preschool Provo to teach us about Tow Trucks!

Farm Town Fun!

The Provo branch is now in session!  

We have been studying all about farms!

We had a snortin' good time learning about pigs! 

Oink Oink!

And we even got to pet some real chickens!

E-I-E-I-O!

Grand Opening/Open House - Provo Preschool Branch!

Come join us on Saturday, August 14th, between 9AM - Noon, to see the new preschool, have a treat, and learn more about us and our wonderful curriculum!  All are welcome to attend, and bring a friend!

Registered students may also pick up their school bag & school packet, and have their picture taken for the classroom.

See you there!

Summertime Blues

Are your kids already claiming to be bored with their free time?  Don't let them resort to TV or Video games when they can't think of anything else to do!  Instead, let's combat those blues and keep educational activities in their daily routine!  Here is Patchwork Preschool's list of fun activities to do with your kids this summer:

• List 10 things you want to do this summer
• Draw a picture of something you want to do this summer. Show it to your parents and tell them why you would like to do it.
• Start a list to keep track of every book you read this summer
• Dictate a story about a turtle to your parents.
• Take a walk with your family and look for things that are less than 1 inch tall.
• Make a list of vegetables.
• Do something nice for your mother.
• Do something nice for your father.
• Take a walk around the block.  How many red objects can you find?
• Find some music.  Make up a dance to the music and teach a friend.
• Start a stamp collection. Cut the stamp off any envelope that will be thrown away.  Look for different ones every day.
• Act out a story using a puppet.
• Cut letters out of a newspaper and spell your family’s names.
• Circle all the words on the front page of the newspaper that begin with “a”.
• Take a walk with your family.  Look for things that move.  Talk about the way they move.
• Look for things that have circles.  Next time, try triangles, or squares.
• Write a letter to your teacher.  Thank him or her for helping you this year.
• Be an architect today and build yourself a secret hideaway.
• Make a list of BIG things.
• Finger-paint with chocolate pudding.
• Draw a picture of the main character of the book you’re reading.
• Take a walk and look for animal tracks.  Compare them to the size of your own feet.  Try to identify them.
• Make an original flag and fly it on Flag Day (June 14^th).
• On June 14^th, count the flags you see flying today.
• Summer solstice – June 21^st – What time does the sunset tonight?
• Find out on what day of the week you were born.  That’s your lucky day!
• Draw a picture of your favorite animal.  Give it a name.
• Stand in the sunlight and see how small you can make your shadow.
• Decorate your bicycle for the 4^th of July
• Read a book by Beatrix Potter
• Read from the tales of Pinocchio
• The Liberty Bell cracked on July 8, 1835.  Draw a picture of the bell.
• Ask your parents to help you make a family tree.
• Develop a new flavor of ice cream
• Look at yourself in the mirror.  Draw what you see.

Do you have any good ideas of your own?  Write a comment and add them to our list!

Like these ideas?  Stay tuned for more!

Contributed by Christine Clark - Chino HIlls, CA

Becoming A Statistic

Recently, Kids Count and the Annie E. Casey Foundation released their national findings in regards to reading proficiency among 4th graders.  Unfortunately, in the state of Utah, 69% of fourth graders do not read at grade level!  I found this statistic absolutely appalling!  How is it that children can reach fourth grade without sufficient reading skills?  


Reading abilities are absolutely critical in a child's education: they build the foundation for the rest of their academic success. Abel Ortiz with the Annie E. Casey Foundation states that "Up until third grade, children are learning to read. After third grade they read to learn, so if they don't have that basic skill it impacts them for the rest of their life."

So what is the first suggestion this study gives in order to remedy this terrible problem?  Improve early childhood education!  Which is exactly why, at Patchwork Preschool, we understand how important it is to incorporate a reading program into our daily curriculum - even as early as the 3 year old year.  

You may not be able to have a direct hand in what your child learns in the public classroom, but you can give them the gift of an early start in reading.  So don't become part of a negative statistic: read to your child at least 15 minutes a day or more!  And in addition, enroll your child in a great preschool where reading is a consistent and significant part of the program.   Afterall, reading skills and confidence in reading are too vital to ignore - why not help your child achieve that at an early age?


Read the full article on KSL.com here.


Contributed by Rebecca Nielsen - Provo, UT

Good books from A-Z!

Looking for some books to read with your kids?  Check out these books loved by Patchwork Preschool students:

A – Arnie the Doughnut                                                                                                      

B - Bear Wants More  

C - Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

D - Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late

E – Elmer

F - Fidgety Fish

G - Go Away Big Green Monster

H - How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food

I - It's The Bear!

J - The Jungle Baseball Game

K - The Kiss That Missed

L - Llama llama Red Pajama

M - Muncha Muncha Muncha!

N - The Nose Book

O – I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean

P - The Polar Express

Q - The Quiet Book

R - Room on the Broom

S - Spookley the Square Pumpkin

T - Tickle the Duck!

U - The Umbrella  

V - The Very Hungry Caterpillar

W - The Wheels on the Race Car

X - Do Like a Duck Does (This title doesn't start with X, but what title does?  It's about a fox, which ends with X!)

Y - In my new Yellow Shirt

Z - If I ran the Zoo


Contributed by Laura Serratos - Boerne, TX

Don't Forget Your Mom This Sunday!

This Mother's Day, don't forget to treat your mom like a Queen!  Make sure you remember to give her a nice thoughtful card and an extra special hand-made gift that let's her know how special she is!  Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mothers out there!

Contributed by Rebecca Nielsen - Provo, UT

Book Spotlight: Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!

At Patchwork Preschool, we know that every kid loves a chance to be in charge and feel grown-up.  That's why children relate so well to "Pigeon" and his child-like tactics used in persuading the reader to let him drive the bus!  With simple, yet expressive illustrations, comical situations, and a very strong-willed pigeon, you'll be asked to read this one over and over as your child feels empowered by the ability to be in command and the authority to finally say "NO!"  Patchwork Preschool gives this book 5 stars - Do you like it too?

Contributed by Rebecca Nielsen - Provo, UT

St. Patrick's Day Fun!

Holidays are a great excuse to do some extra fun activities with your kids! Since St. Patrick's day is quickly approaching, here is a link to a great website with some wonderful ideas you can do with your children in the next few days!

St. Patrick's Day Fun!

Patchwork Preschool hopes your Irish luck kicks in and you find a pot of gold or catch a leprechaun this year!

Contributed by Rebecca Nielsen - Provo, UT

Why We Must Read To And With Our Children

At Patchwork Preschool, we are huge advocates of reading. We read stories every day in our classes, and children's books are an integral and key part of our curriculum. But we especially like to encourage reading at home. In the book What To Read and When, author, founder and director of LitLife, Pam Allyn, gives the top-ten reasons why we should read aloud to our children. While all her reasons are wonderful, here are three of our favorites:

There are so, so many reasons to read aloud to your child! The obvious one is that it is really fun and a way to build intimacy with your child. But there are other more subtle reasons why reading to and with your child is as important as giving them nutritious meals each day. Reading aloud will help your child to:

1. Develop Shared Values

The best children's books convey a strong sense of what the author feels about the world and about our responsibility to it, in a way that appears almost invisible. Literature is a moral compass for goodness in the most sweeping sense: it includes looking at human frailties in the face and finding the courage to deal with them. It is much easier to talk with your child about some of these issues in the context of a powerful story, through a character who comes to life on the page. Friendship, kindness, generosity, patience, understanding, and bravery all can be discussed with a smile through the eyes of a frog (Frog and Toad) or through the eyes of a badger (Bedtime for Frances). Through different lenses we learn, we revel, we grow...

2. Build Comprehension

We can "practice" strategic reading when we read aloud together. Great readers ask questions as they read. Great readers make predictions. Great readers visualize scenes and they read. They use what they already know to construct new understandings. By stopping to think together, by managing hard parts of understanding together, you are modeling the joyful work your children learn long after they can read independently...

4. Learn the Power of a Story

All of humanity loves a story. We tell each other our sorrows, our joys through stories. We tell history through stories. The news itself is simply a composition of people's stories. we reach out across time and space and culture to one another through the telling of story. After the hurricane in New Orleans, or the fall of the World Trade Towers in New York City, or the tsunami in Southeast Asia, people across the world came together to help because they heard the individual stories of others. Every compelling story has a few key elements: characters moving through a plot structured by conflict, a turning point, and a resolution. Through books, our children begin to feel the power of many stories, and also begin to reach for the power of telling their own tales. Their stories matter too.

So what are you waiting for? Go get a great children's book, and read it to your child!

Contributed by Rebecca Nielsen - Provo, UT

Is My Child Ready For Kindergarten?

Article from Chino Unified School District:

Kindergarten! For most of us, that glorious first year of school was a time for playing with blocks, finger-painting and singing along with the teacher. However, times have changed. Since the late 1950’s, when the success of Russia’s Sputnik spawned a national determination to be educationally competitive, an acceleration of academics has gradually reached down to the kindergarten level. Accordingly, the issue of a child’s readiness for an academic kindergarten experience becomes crucial. It’s clearly apparent that when children enter school before they are ready, their chances of failure increases. In fact, many are classified as learning “disabled” when they are simply not mentally and physically ready for certain tasks.

Children who are bright but physically unable to perform the necessary kindergarten tasks grow frustrated. Nancy Wilson, Director of Learning at The Reading Game (a well-recognized reading development program), says “passive resistance, ‘playing the clown,’ and psychosomatic disease” are some of the outcomes of the frustrated child. Louise Ames, from the Gessil Institute of Child Development, believes that “behavior age” (the age at which a child is behaving) would be a much better guideline for kindergarten readiness.

As a result of the work of Louise Ames and others, professionals are more and more advising parents to start children in kindergarten at a later developmental and chronological age. Here are ten considerations for starting kindergarten later:

1. An extra year when needed helps foster enjoyment rather than drudgery in school.

2. Studies show that less bright, but older, kids show more with their ability.

3. Work that requires close attention before a child’s eyes are ready can result in nearsightedness.

4. Older children receive more above-average grades, score higher on standardized achievement tests and show more leadership.

5. A younger child’s academic problems can sometimes last throughout their school career.

6. When learning is stressful, it never reaches the memory bank.

7. Studies show that 4 and 5 year olds need time to play – it will help them cope better later on.

8. Parents who have held back their child or repeated kindergarten were generally pleased with the results.

9. Pressures for academic success take away from other interests.

10. If you are going to err, it’s certainly safer to hold a child back rather than pushing him or her ahead.

There is no doubt that it is a difficult decision as to whether you should send your child ahead or not. Here are some of the questions specialist Mary Hummell lists in her book, “Ready for Kindergarten?” If you can answer “yes” to most of these questions, you child is probably not ready for kindergarten.

· Does your child have a birthday in November, October, or September?

· Does the child have a birthday in August, July, June or May?

· Does the child have immature speech?

· Does the child have difficulty staying still for very long?

· Does the child forget rules?

· Does the child have difficulty with directions?

· Does the child have difficulty with left and right?

· Was your child slow with teething?

Some parents feel the only way they can truly know if their child is ready for kindergarten is to go on a trial basis. This can work out if it is handled in a positive way. However, the down side is that if the child must repeat kindergarten, his feeling of failure may inhibit the production of positive results.

One difficulty parents have in analyzing readiness is comparing kindergarten programs. They vary greatly. A child could very well be ready for one kindergarten but not another. A parent must ask himself whether his child can fit in with kids 9 months to 12 months older.

Some parents ask, “what have we created by keeping everyone back?” Others are too proud or embarrassed to retain a child. They ask, “how can my child flunk kindergarten?” Or, “how can he or she not be ready?” They are concerned that relatives and friends may not understand. Nancy Wilson of The Reading Game says we should think of it as a ‘continuation’ not retention. Giving the child an extra year does not mean your child is not intelligent. He may be very bright, but each child matures at his own developmental pace. Contrary to the belief that a child will catch up if sent ahead, studies show that children in fact do not “catch up.”

Parents are often worried that the child will be physically bigger than others in the classroom, or whether other children will make fun of their child if he is retained. Nancy Wilson says that these factors should not be used in basing a parent’s decision on readiness. If grade placement is handled in a positive way and an understanding established before the child starts kindergarten, the child’s perspective should not be a problem.

How do you know if your child is ready?

· Have your child take a readiness test.

· Conference with the preschool teacher.

· Assist in the classroom and make your own observations.

· Compare how the child does in relationship to the child’s peers.

· Check out the requirements of the school that the child will attend.

As much as 50% of school failure could be prevented if children were placed in the proper grade on the basis of behavior age. By delaying the child’s entry into school, you can make a winner out of him, even if he’s only average or a little below average. Remember, if you have made a decision to send your child to kindergarten at a later time in his development, stick to your decision. It is the future of your child – not the future of friends and relatives that is at issue.

Your child is going to be in school for a very long time. So let’s make these years enjoyable. And remember, most of all, that it is not how your children start but it is how they finish that counts!

Contributed by Christine Clark - Chino Hills, CA