News – Albany Preschool Cooperative

Tinkers, thinkers, inventors, scientists? STEM for preschoolers

“Early STEM skills lay the foundation for later success in school…to support children’s learning, we have to make sure that STEM starts early.”

-National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)

When it comes to education these days, there’s a lot of talk about STEM. From school programs to camp activities, TV shows, toys and books, STEM is everywhere. What’s the deal?

STEM is an educational approach which combines learning across the key areas of science, technology, engineering and math with practical applications. Evidence has shown that early immersion in STEM sets children up for social, academic and career success. For young children, STEM can be a fun way to encourage curiosity, creativity, motor skills, and problem-solving skills. For school-age children, STEM helps them see how the math and science they learn in school is applicable to real-life problems and essential to technologies they use every day.

“Young children are naturally curious. They wonder what things are called, how they work, and why things happen. The foundations of science learning lie in inquiry and exploration—these are the tools of active learning. Fostering young children’s sense of curiosity about the natural world around them can promote a lifelong interest in it.”

– Boston Children’s Museum STEM Sprouts (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math teaching guide)

Did I mention that STEM is fun? Kids naturally love to learn how things work, and they ask cool questions about things that adults take for granted. They love putting stuff together, or even better, taking stuff apart. They love to tinker. If you think about it, isn’t tinkering a great way to play and to learn?

“Kids are natural tinkerers. They experiment, explore, test, and play…When children are encouraged to solve problems on their own, they learn a great deal through the questions and hands-on experiments that lead to a solution.”

-Rachelle Doorley, Tinkerlab: A hands-on guide for little inventors

STEM*	Definition	Activities for preschoolers include
Science	A way of thinking. Observing, asking questions, wondering how things work, and making predictions; experimenting and testing, sharing discoveries, adding to knowledge base.	Exploring water, rocks, sand and soil, playing with balls, investigating weather, plants, animals and bugs,
Technology	A way of doing using tools, being inventive, identifying problems, and making things work.	Computers, simple machines like gears and wheels and pulleys, taking apart a watch to see how it works
Engineering	A way of doing by designing and creating, solving problems, and building things that work.	Planning, designing and building with blocks, Legos, sand, Magna-Tiles, cardboard houses or mazes, tracks, marble runs
Math	A way of measuring, including sequencing (1,2,3,4…), patterning (1,2,1,2,1…), and exploring shapes, volume and size.	Counting, matching shapes, making patterns, measuring or comparing sizes

*adapted from Boston Children’s Museum STEM teaching guide

Learning how to learn

Curiosity—Asking questions—Exploring solutions—Learning!

Part of the learning process for any child involves problem-solving. The fact is that some ideas and solutions just don’t work. Learning to embrace failure as part of the process is a critical skill that a child needs to have for school, and frankly, for life. The experience of problem-solving, or Process, is more important than the result, or Product.

A process-based curriculum leads to self-directed, open-ended learning. Over time, exposure to a material, tool or experience helps a child develop skills, which builds competency and leads to confidence. Kids learn that repetition is good, that slow is good, that “boring” can be good. Gratification, even when (especially when!) delayed, lasts.

Much of the STEM process involves working with others to answer questions, learning to contribute to a group, learning that a problem may have more than one solution. All of these are all invaluable skills for a lifetime of learning.

Improving the balance

“Our society has a lot of common misperceptions about STEM. We often see it as hard, solitary, and more ‘for boys’ than ‘for girls.’ Children pick up on these beliefs at an early age, often based on subtle cues from the adults around them. By elementary school, girls are less interested in STEM than boys.”

-Dr. Allison Master, University of Washington

Positive STEM experiences in school can give children an idea of the options available to them in life. This is particularly critical for girls and minorities who are underrepresented in the fields of science and technology. Making early improvements such as immersing preschoolers in STEM education is one important step in the right direction. Children who develop scientific and technological literacy become adults who can make informed decisions on critical issues like energy, healthcare, and the environment. In other words, STEM education is essential for no less than shaping tomorrow’s workforce and informing its citizens. The good news is that equipping our children well for the future, in the STEM sense, means fun activities, explorations and tinkering for now.

References

Berger, C. (2017, Feb 23). Creating an engineering design process for the preschool classroom. Retrieved from http://blog.eie.org/creating-an-engineering-design-process-for-the-preschool-classroom

Boston Children’s Museum STEM sprouts (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math teaching guide) (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.bostonchildrensmuseum.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/STEMGuide.pdf

Doorley, Rachelle. Tinkerlab: A hands-on guide for little inventors. 2014: Roost Books.

Master, A. (2017, March 31). Make STEM social to motivate preschoolers. Retrieved from https://www.naeyc.org/resources/blog/make-stem-social

Ruzzi, B.L., and Eckhoff, A (2017 March). STEM resources and materials for engaging learning experiences. Retrieved from https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/yc/mar2017/stem-materials-experiences

Why engineering for children? (n.d.) Retrieved from https://eie.org/overview/engineering-children

More resources and activity ideas for parents

https://www.naeyc.org/our-work/families/support-science-learning

http://preschoolpowolpackets.blogspot.com/2017/01/engineering-for-preschoolers-stem.html

https://raisinglifelonglearners.com/engineering-preschoolers/

05.26.17 | Leave a Comment

Building fine motor skills? For APS kids, it’s all about having fun!

What exactly are fine motor skills? As opposed to gross motor skills, which involve large muscles and movements like rolling over, sitting up, or running, fine motor skills use small muscle groups to do precise actions like using a pen, zipping up a jacket, or threading a necklace. While many important gross motor skills are learned during infancy and toddlerhood, fine motor skills hit a particularly steep learning curve during the ages of 3 to 5. Just think about about all the things a preschool-age child is learning to do: use Velcro on shoes, pour milk into a cup, scribble and write. Each of these involves very specific fine motor skills. Why does fine motor development peak during the preschool years? Physically, preschoolers are developing strength, coordination, dexterity and visual skills. Cognitively, they’re more able to sit still, focus on a task, wait, and problem-solve. Preschool is a critical time for the development of fine motor skills, which are essential for daily functioning, social development, and self-esteem; basically, for growing up.

“When combined with increasing hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills also open new doors to exploration, learning, and creative expression. In fact, research shows that emphasis on purely intellectual activities—memorization of letters and numbers, for instance—is far less useful at this stage than pursuits that encourage fine motor abilities and hand-eye coordination. These skills—rather than counting or reciting the alphabet—lay the foundation for academic learning in later years.”

-Child Magazine

At Albany Preschool, our teachers are very intentional about encouraging fine motor development by incorporating fun, developmentally appropriate activities into play. Basically, our kids are working hard on their skills, but all they know is that they’re having fun and learning to do new things:

Music/movement: clapping hands, using instruments, singing counting songs with fingers

Cooking and eating: setting the table, preparing food (mixing, sorting, shaking), pouring water into cups

Gardening: sorting and planting seeds, spraying plants, harvesting flowers and vegetables

Games: building towers and racetracks, working with Legos, completing puzzles, picking up small objects with tweezers

Art: making collages, drawing and painting, cutting with scissors, hole-punching, sticking objects into playdough, threading beads/cheerios/pasta, sorting small loose objects, learning to write

Self-care: getting dressed (using buttons and zippers, putting on shoes), using the toilet, washing hands

Let’s focus for a minute on a very important fine motor skill: writing. It’s kind of a big deal in preschool. At the APS art table, sometimes I watch in awe as a three-and-a-half year old deftly scrawls her name on her artwork. My own child, the same age, is just mastering her first initial (with a little creative interpretation). Many children still ask for help writing their names; others sign with a flourish.

Learning to write is quite a challenging hurdle in development. Writing requires a level of muscle strength, dexterity and focus, and can be very frustrating if a child is not ready. Many preschoolers can write their names, at least in part, but the development of proper pencil grasp, much less the ability to form letters, can be just be emerging in a younger child. Presenting such a child with tracing worksheets and asking him to write on lines before he even has a pencil grasp creates an exercise in frustration and futility.

Instead, focus on building muscle strength and dexterity by doing fun activities daily. Squeezing, cutting, and handling small objects are all winners. APS always has a play dough table with freshly homemade play dough in enticing colors and a rotating array of interesting tools and molds. The “literacy” table is stocked with paper, markers, colorful tape and lots of scissors. Enjoying and mastering skills that seem unrelated to writing may be the best way to prepare for the task of writing.

So put away those writing worksheets. Let’s sit down with some friends and a pile of paper, markers and scissors, and we can color and cut our way to a masterpiece. When you’re ready, maybe you’ll want to write your own name on it.

For more on this subject:

Vanessa Levin, Pre-K Pages. How to Teach Handwriting Skills in Preschool.

Karen Cox, PreKinders. Fine Motor Ideas.

Anna Ransom, The Imagination Tree. 40 Fine Motor Skills Activities.

National Association for the Education of Young Children. Help your Child Build Fine Motor Skills.

04.22.17 | Leave a Comment

It’s Almost Time for Summer Camp!

Would your kid squeal at the idea of digging up dinosaur fossils? How about winning a ribbon for cupcake decorating at a County Fair? Mine can’t wait to build a rocket ship and blast into space to visit her favorite planet.

Camp is a fantastic way for preschool kids to stay active and engaged during the long summer months. Albany Preschool offers a week-by-week summer camp program June 26 to August 18 (Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 1 PM), which is open to non-Albany Preschool children as well. Each week-long program is centered on a fun theme to encourage exploration and interest.

For children who plan to attend APS in the fall, summer camp provides an important opportunity to ease into preschool. The lower-key setting allows them to gain a sense of ownership in the new school environment before the formal school year starts, so they feel at home. And it’s just so much fun!

Here’s what to expect at APS Summer Camp:

Fun and Play: Tie-dye, cook, read books, play games

Music: Sing and play instruments

Outdoor Activities: Water and sand play, swing and bike, pitch tents

Arts and Imagination: Build forts, design rides and rockets, act out fairy tales, dress up, draw and paint

Cooking: Prep treats, and (everyone’s favorite) make ice cream every Friday!

Here’s a sneak peek at the 8 weeks of APS Summer Camp we’re offering this year. Which themes spark your child’s interest?

Week 1: Splish, Splash, Water Fun

Week 2: Albany Preschool’s County Fair

Week 3: Let’s Go Camping

Week 4: Princesses, Pirates and Fairy Tales

Week 5: Music, Instruments and Talent

Week 6: Exploring Science: Dinosaurs and Volcanoes

Week 7: Aliens and Astronauts

Week 8: Cooking: Math and Science in the Kitchen

Registration is now open until May 1. Please see our Summer Camp information page for weekly camp theme descriptions, tuition and applications.

04.08.17 | Leave a Comment

Memorial Park Spring Fair, Saturday April 15, 2017, 10 am-2 pm

Albany Preschool’s Spring Fair is just around the corner!

Come meet the Easter Bunny and join us for all sorts of fun family activities: egg hunt, cardboard maze, face painting, stuffie toss, balloon animals, games and crafts, and our signature bake sale featuring sweet and savory treats homemade by APS families. We’ll also be selling pizza cold drinks, and coffee.

Tickets (50 cents each) are available to purchase on site. Most activities cost 2-3 tickets.

See you there!

03.06.17 | Leave a Comment

Three Ways Albany Preschool Introduces Children to Languages and Cultures

Let’s Sing “Welcome!”

It’s circle time at Albany Preschool! Children scamper to their places, settle in and sing the “Welcome Song” to each other. Then they sing it again, in Spanish…and in Hebrew, in three dialects of Chinese, Urdu, Japanese, and Polish…every single day.

Our morning and afternoon programs sing in different languages based on the staff and families in those programs. We plan to add Korean and Kyrgyz soon.

We Are All Citizens In a Multicultural World

At Albany Preschool, we’re proud of the rich cultural diversity of our students and staff. Many of our families are multiethnic or multilingual; several have recently arrived from other countries. We learn alongside and from each other, reaching across and celebrating our differences. We get to know people of many different backgrounds, religions, languages and customs.

Living Together, Working Together

We’re not the only diverse school around, of course. Our location is part of the equation; the Bay Area is a place of many colors and cultures, and people come from all over the world to study or work at UC Berkeley. This is to our advantage. Multiculturalism cannot be taught directly. It cannot be trivialized into a separate unit (“let’s have Multicultural Week!”) Rather, it’s living and working together in community every day, and learning to share with each other.

The co-op structure of our school means that families are involved and known. People are, after all, what make APS. Teachers, parents and students each bring something special to the table. A wise person once said, “There’s a tour guide in all of us!”–that is, deep down, most people enjoy guiding others through something they know well. Sharing something dear and personal helps a student feel accepted and appreciated. That feeling of belonging is so important; some call it a prerequisite to growth, and therefore to learning.

Whether it’s a child newly arrived from Taiwan teaching the class to sing in Mandarin, a Polish grandmother teaching the children how to make plaki in the school kitchen, or a mother from Japan showing our teachers and parent participators how to make sushi for future snacks, the culture of our families provides the scaffold for our learning.

Long noodles and tangerines for snack. May we all have a long and lucky life!

Posted by Albany Preschool on Saturday, February 11, 2017

More tasty foods we serve at snack time: pupusas, homemade tortillas, rice triangles, seaweed rice bowls, kim bap (stuffed seaweed rice rolls), long noodles, fried rice, mochi, kugel, and latkes.

On that delicious note, let’s keep delighting in our differences. Let’s show our children how to treat each other with kindness, respect, and appreciation while their minds are open and their hearts soft. Let’s look one other in the eye, sing in our many languages, and hold hands out to each other in welcome.

01.27.17 | 1 Comment

Rain, rain DON’T go away: why we love to play in the rain!

in Just-
spring when the world is mud-
luscious…
when the world is puddle-wonderful…

e.e. cummings

The abundant rain this season has been welcome to our drought-thirsty state. But for parents of preschoolers, wet weather can create difficulties: how in the world are we supposed to keep our children entertained indoors for days on end? We come up with lists of “rainy-day activities,” bring out stashed toys and books and videos, and grit our teeth until it’s perfect outside again.

As parents, we protect our children instinctively from hunger, injury, and exposure; that’s basically our job description. But guess what? A bit of rain is just fine! Rain itself can’t make you sick. It can certainly make you wet and muddy. While adults might be uncomfortable getting messy, for children playing in the rain is pure joy. Everything is different and magical when it rains, and getting dirty is just part of the fun. Outdoor play, especially in the rain, helps children build all kinds of useful skills:

PHYSICAL
Agility
Balance
Coordination
Sharper perceptions in all five senses

PSYCHOLOGICAL
Confidence
Resilience
Ability to assess risks
Creativity
Endurance

At Albany Preschool, we use the rain to our advantage. We run, sing, dig, jump, and really PLAY in the rain. We love digging trenches, making mud pies and structures in the rain, and splashing around in all that awesome water. All that’s needed is boots, enthusiasm and a cozy change of clothes afterward. Now that’s one truly excellent rainy-day activity.

01.18.17 | Leave a Comment

New Year’s News! Open House and Applications for Fall

It’s that time! Is your child ready for preschool? Join us for an open house on Saturday, January 21, 2017, from 10 am to noon at 850 Masonic Ave in Albany. Come see what we’re all about, meet teachers and families, and enjoy our special guest: Tracy The Animal Guy and his Fur, Scales and Tails show.

We have immediate openings in the Afternoon Program for the remainder of the 2016-2017 school year. If you’re interested in scheduling a tour, please contact info@albanypreschool.org.

We’re also now accepting applications for the 2017-2018 school year! Turn in your application by February 1 for priority consideration.

04.12.15 | Leave a Comment

Albany Preschool Puts on More than 20 Years of Fantastic Spring Fairs!

This year’s Spring Fair was a huge success! Our families came together to put together another spectacular event for the entire Albany community. There were many happy children and parents, smiling faces painted with beautiful butterflies and super heroes, arms full of new stuffies and prizes won from the many games and amazing egg hunt and lots of people enjoying the wonderful crafts, games and music the Spring Fair offered. The Spring Bunny led everyone in some singing and dancing, earning him lots of smiles and big hugs. The Spring Fairy and her sprites handed out stickers and sprinkled fairy dust around the fair bringing extra joy and magic to the day. The cardboard maze was a huge hit as was the egg hunt! The bake sale was also a favorite stop! We had amazing baked goods such as muffins, scones, tarts, cookies, cupcakes, bagels and fruit cups all donated from our very own families. We also had food from Peter’s Kettle Corn, Jamba Juice, California Pizza Kitchen, Domino’s Pizza and Gioia’s Pizza..

We want thank all the sponsors and organizations that contributed to the Spring Fair. Without such contributions, the Spring Fair would not be so magical.

A huge thank you to:

Peter’s Kettle Corn
Jamba Juice
California Pizza Kitchen
Domino’s Pizza
Gioia’s Pizza
Grocery Outlet, Inc.
Blaisdell’s Business Products
Target
Andronico’s
Safeway
Peralta Middle School

We look forward to seeing everyone again next year at the Albany Preschool Annual Spring Fair!

10.16.14 | Leave a Comment

Albany Preschool Welcomes New Executive Director

Nancy Martling, Executive Director, AM & PM Teacher

Local Coop Expands with the Addition of Nancy Martling –

Oct. 16, 2014, Albany, Calif. – Albany Preschool (APS), a play-based parent cooperative preschool designed to serve as a place where kids play, learn and love school in a nurturing environment, today announced the addition of an executive director, Nancy Martling.

Martling brings 24 years of experience in creating curriculum, teaching, and directing education programs to her new role. She worked at Bright Horizons in Mill Valley leading day-to-day classroom activities and designing and implementing curriculum. Previously, Martling was the Director of Kids Place in Corte Madera, where she worked for 11 years. In this role she was responsible for adapting the school to a Reggio Emilia inspired program, developing summer camp programs, increasing enrichment program offerings, supervising teachers and children, working with families to understand and manage disruptive behaviors, and acting as a liaison between the school and the Unified School District.

She began her career in education with the National Maritime Museum Association in San Francisco, where she worked to enhance and facilitate the education programs to increase the understanding of our nation’s maritime heritage. She then worked with the the Bay Area Discovery Museum where she managed the school and group programs for the hands on educational museum. Martling has a Masters degree in Museum Studies with a focus in elementary outreach and project based education from San Francisco State University.

“I am excited and honored to be joining the community of Albany Preschool,” said Martling. “I love the continuity and longevity of the school, as well as the fact that previous students are now parents and teachers. It is a true testament to the commitment to the families. I am excited to return to a play-based environment. The play-based concept is the ideal way for children to learn and I think the way Albany Preschool is structured is perfect in allowing children to make the choices that are right for them.”

“This decision is a very important one for our school and we are excited to welcome Nancy to our community,” said Carleigh Rochon, vice president of the Board at Albany Preschool. “Her warm and caring demeanor and her extensive experience and knowledge of play-based programs will be a wonderful addition to our school.”

Martling will be responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of Albany Preschool. She will be hands-on with the students, work to enhance the school’s curriculum and general direction of the program while also working closely with parents and prospective families.
About Albany Preschool
Albany Preschool (APS) is a parent run cooperative in the heart of Albany celebrating it’s 77th year “Powered by Play.” While years have passed since the school’s inception in 1937, the cooperative spirit, strong sense of community, and commitment to play remain the same. At APS, children are treated with respect and direct their own play activities in a rich, varied environment. Professional staff and parents work together to create a child-centered program addressing the varied physical, cognitive, social, and emotional needs of the children. As they explore and manipulate their world in a non-judgmental environment, children gain confidence in their growing abilities. Working together, parents and teachers create a nurturing community of life-long learners and friends. APS offers morning and afternoon programs for children 3 years to Kindergarten age. For more information, visit the school’s web site at www.albanypreschool.org.