Literacy and numeracy, developmental milestone, parenting advice, and more!
Literacy and numeracy, developmental milestone, parenting advice, and more!
Parenting a preschooler can be challenging, and we hope that this newsletter will add to your parenting toolbox by delivering inspiration and expert advice to your inbox each month. Do you have burning parenting questions or a topic that you would like us to cover in a future newsletter? We would love your input! Please contact Nicole Casey at ncasey@fayschool.org with any questions, comments, or feedback.
BOOK CLUB - Mouse Paint
To help prepare your child for the activities below, read Mouse Paint first to introduce them to color mixing and the primary colors. In this story, three white mice discover paint in jars and jump inside them. Once they emerge, they discover what happens to their fur when they dance, hop, and jump in the paint puddles they created.
Click here for a read aloud of the book.
LITERACY AND NUMERACY - Scientific Exploration
For preschoolers, hands-on science activities and investigations help promote the development of problem solving skills, recognition of cause and effect, and organizing and classifying. Luckily, since preschool age children are naturally full of questions, the scientific process comes easily to them, and it just needs to be nurtured. One easy way to nurture scientific thinking in your child is to ask them open-ended questions that encourage them to guess and make predictions. 
Another way to nurture scientific thinking is to set up experiments that help children to observe cause and effect, predict outcomes, and test predictions. One easy experiment that you can do at home is below.
Materials Needed:
Instructions: 
  1. Fill the circles to the left of the equal sign in the print-outs with small amounts of paint. To start, it might work best to use red, blue, and yellow in different combinations. 
  2. In the circles to the right of the equal sign, ask you child to predict which colors will be created from mixing the paint colors they see. They can make their predictions by coloring in the circles using crayons or markers.
  3. After they have made all their predictions, ask your child to use a paint brush to combine the 2-3 paint colors they see in each row. Were their predictions right?
  4. After your child has mixed the primary colors, try adding white to each of them so your child notices how it lightens the color. After trying white with red and blue, they probably will be able to correctly predict the outcome for white with yellow. 
ARTS & CRAFTS - Tissue Paper Stained Glass
Materials Needed:
Instructions:
  1. Using scissors, cut the outline of any shape out of construction paper. You can cut out a circle, square, or even a shape related to a spring holiday like a shamrock or Easter egg. 
  2. Lay a piece of laminating paper down with the sticky side up, and then place the shape on top. Trim the excess laminating paper from the edge of the shape.
  3. Place tissue paper sheets all over the sticky side of the laminating paper inside the shape.
  4. Place a second sheet of laminating paper on top of the tissue paper so everything is sealed inside the shape. Trim the excess laminating paper from the edges again.
  5. Hang your shape in a sunny window. Does it look like real stained glass? What happens to the colors when yellow and blue overlap? 
DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONE - Pitching in to Clean Up 
Are you in the mood to do some spring cleaning but can't even keep up with the daily mess your children create? Try asking them to pitch in with household chores by cleaning up their toys. Lauren Cilley, the Assistant Director of Fay's Early Learning Center, suggests making cleanup time fun by challenging children to pick up as many toys as they can in a minute, or by racing a sibling to see who can finish first. You could also play special music during cleanup time or sing a song together to motivate your child to clean up. However, one important thing to keep in mind is that it is helpful to explain to your child that cleanup time is a group effort to maintain your family's living space. If they start to view cleanup time as their way to pitch in at home, there will far fewer arguments and less of a mess.
FIELD TRIP - Uhlman's Ice Cream
There are sure to be a few warm days in March, so when one pops up, head to Uhlman's Ice Cream in Westborough for your first ice cream cone of the season. They make all of their own ice cream, and their menu has over 60 flavors. Click here to learn more and for their current hours.
PARENTING ADVICE - Worried That the Pandemic Has Left Your Child Unprepared for Kindergarten?

Whether you kept your child at home or sent them to an additional year of preschool, you may be wondering if this strange and disrupted year has left your child less prepared for kindergarten. Katie Knuppel, Head of Fay’s Primary School, understands those concerns, noting that most children missed some schooling and certainly some opportunities for social interaction this year. She also points out that there are many easy ways that you can incorporate kindergarten readiness skills into your daily routine to help prepare your child academically, socially, and emotionally for kindergarten. 
Six Tips to Get Your Child Ready for Kindergarten
Are you searching for an in-person summer camp? Register now for our day camp for ages 3-15.
Registration for FaySummer 2021 is now open and we are excited to announce that our plans include in-person and on-campus programs. You can click here to learn about our health and safety protocols, which reflect our knowledge and expertise after what is now many months of working successfully with students through the pandemic.
Learn More About FaySummer 2021
FAY SCHOOL   48 Main Street   Southborough, MA   01772   508-490-8201   www.fayschool.org
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