TRACE THIS

It takes a lot of coordination to write a word. The brain has to identify the letters in a word, string them together, cause the hand to hold a writing instrument, move the hand in the shape of the letters and adjust the amount of pressure so that the letter is formed on the paper...a huge task for a little person. 

Tracing is the perfect practice for writing. It supports the writer by showing exactly where the line needs to go. There are many resources on line to print tracing pages. And tracing exercises are a great way to occupy your antsy toddler in all kinds of situations.

At Fremont Kid's Academy, our students learn to trace: lines, shapes, letters, their name, mazes, pictures and anything they can get their hands on! They love it, and we love that they are practicing their writing skills.
-Dana Wilson

Fremont Kid's Academy has so many beautiful faces...here's a small sample of all the sweet hearts in our class. Happy Valentine's Day 2014 to all of our families.

-Dana Wilson

It's easy to foster a love of reading if you are regularly reading to children. At Fremont Kid's Academy we read books of all kinds, the children read to us, and they read to each other as well. Here they decided to all sit down and read to themselves...amazing!
-Dana Wilson

Letter recognition is just another fun game at Fremont Kid's Academy when the children are sharing our alphabet maze. They are also learning to work together, color recognition, and fine motor skills by using the magnet to drag and drop the letter tiles into their respective spots on the alphabet. Such an easy and fun game with so much to offer.
-Dana Wilson

While the children are waiting for their breakfast at Fremont Kid's Academy they play highchair hot potato with a toy car. They listen to music and pass the toy. This helps them to practice patience, gross motor skills, sharing, and predicting when the music will stop. No one loses and everyone has a great time.

-Dana Wilson

Sorting is huge milestone for kindergarten readiness. At Fremont Kid's Academy we practice sorting every day but we realize that we are preparing our students for more than just kindergarten. 

Sorting is the basis for: 
Reading- being able to sort and group letters into words
Art - understanding shapes, colors, and patterns
Science - categorizing organisms, and physical concepts
Sociology - recognizing patterns of behavior
Cooking - grouping ingredients
Math - finding like characteristics and grouping items
Life in General - sorting helps with all types of daily activities including getting dressed, brushing teeth, cleaning house, fixing cars, sports, etc... 

Sorting is an integral part of being a member of our human society and it can be just plain fun too.
-Dana Wilson

Everyday presents an opportunity to let the environment be our teacher. 

Today we didn't let the dreary weather stop us, but used it as inspiration to learn the letter U. We got out our Umbrellas and went for an Umbrella walk in the rain. The children sang "U says uh, like uh uh Umbrella."
-Dana Wilson
Check out our phonic shapes to learn more about how Fremont Kid's Academy introduces the letters based on the way they sound.
Phonic Shapes Chart

Learning about patterns is expected in kindergarten and is tons of fun in preschool. Children at Fremont Kid's Academy explore the art of lacing beads while instinctively creating patterns and sequences. 

All of this fun is helping their brains to build the step stools to reading. When children's brains learn to recognize patterns they are recognizing the precursors to letters in a word. When they begin to see patterns in letters, all of the sudden they are reading. They think it's just a game but they are learning everyday!

"Science is amazing!" Says Albert while watching an egg sink in fresh water, and float in salt water. This trick is easy to do at home...just put an egg in fresh water and see what happens. Then remove the egg, add a handful of salt, stir, and put the egg back in the water...the egg floats! That's amazing.

-Dana Wilson

Gross motor skills are a very important part of a growing toddler's reportoire of things to acquire befor entering kindergarten. Hopping and jumping are things that have to be learned and practiced before they are perfected...and oh what fun it is.

Having a paper bag race (toddler version of potato sack race) encourages toddlers to use there tiny legs to hop along. To make the event safe we cut out the bottom of the bags and they still hopped to the finish line. Everyone was a winner today.

-Dana Wilson

Playing with cornstarch and water was the activity of the day and the kids loved to explore the goey substance. 

This is a great activity to do at home as well. Just mix a little bit of water into a 1/2 cup of cornstarch until the mixture begins to resemble a liquid, then enjoy the weird properties of this recipe.

Story Time happens often for the children in our preschool program. They all love to be read to and enjoy acting out the stories and even reading to each other. This important time fosters a love of reading and helps the children to identify letters, numbers, colors and focus their attention. It's fun for us too!
-Dana Wilson

Orange Day at Fremont Kid's Academy was a peach! We had a great time playing in the sun and writing out a color chart showing primary and secondary colors. 

Congratulations to Leo and Lachlan for standing out at Patterson Elementary School. We are very proud of all of our students at Fremont Kid's Academy and we love to share it when they are recognized in the larger world. 

Leo was recognized today in the first grade at Patterson for having perfect attendance. Well done and keep up the great work Leo. 

Lachlan was given an award for having a "Passion for Learning and Achieving Accomplishments and for Being a Great Team Leader." 

Congratulations to both of our outstanding school aged students.
-Dana Wilson 

GREEN day at Fremont Kid's Academy means more than just the color of plants and money. With children in our care every day, it is important to us to keep our activities as healthy and eco-friendly as possible. 

There are a few easy ways that you too can help protect your family and the environment. Consider the everyday things you do and try to substitute environmentally friendly products for the mainstream ones that might be on your shelf. Pesticides are sometimes a necessary evil but at Fremont Kid's Academy we have an integrated pest management system that includes

a pesticide made from plant oils such as rosemary, peppermint, thyme, and clove. You can find many different versions of the products at your major hardware stores.

Inside the home we use method. products and we love the philosophy of this company. 

Make easy changes like these and you are well on your way to keeping our world green for those that really count...the next generation.
-Dana Wilson

Let the Sun Shine In. It's YELLOW day at Fremont Kid's Academy and we are shining with scrambled eggs, bananas, corn, and the most fun of all...homemade, natural, play dough colored YELLOW of course.


Here's the recipe for the play dough to enjoy at home.

Ingredients:
1 Cup Flour
1 Cup Water
1/2 Cup Salt
2 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
2 tsp Cream of Tartar powder
Food Coloring of Your Choice - today was YELLOW

Mix all ingredients except flour in sauce pan and bring to simmer over medium heat. Slowly add four and mix continuously until consistency is that of play dough. Cool, knead, and play!

-Dana Wilson

BLUE DAY at Fremont Kid's Academy


From blue berries to blue jeans, today was BLUE day at Fremont Kid's Academy, and even some our our fantastic parents got the BLUE spirit! Yesterday was RED day and today the children mixed RED and BLUE to get PURPLE. They had a ball and learned a little something too. 

Tomorrow is YELLOW day, so stay tuned, it may be bananas!
-Dana Wilson

Today we are celebrating the color RED at Fremont Kid's Academy.

All the children wore red, ate red things like cherry tomatoes, had a "red ball" Easter egg type hunt and practiced finding red things. They played games counting red things and spelling the word red. Tomorrow is blue day.

Children at Fremont Kid's Academy got a chance to see the life cycle of a butterfly. We watched as each caterpillar hung from the top of their enclosure and turned into chrysalis. Then we saw them emerge as painted lady butterflies. 

One warm day we released the butterflies into the garden and the children got to watch them fly away. The butterflies even landed so we could all get a good look at their beautiful wings. 

-Dana Wilson

Children can benefit greatly from supervised exposure to friendly pets while in a child care setting. At Fremont Kid's Academy we help children to interact with our animals and they love feeling responsible for providing great care.

Many children who might be shy around adults or other children come right out of their shell when given a chance to interact with a non-human playmate. 

Our resident schnoodle is even considered hypo-allergenic and loves to have the attention of the children during their short and supervised interactions.
-Dana Wilson

Why do they love boxes so much?  Childcare providers and parents can spend oodles of money buying the latest and greatest educational toys and our children just want to play with the boxes.  I think sometimes we should give them just what they want.   We all have tons of fun building bridges and castles and it's much easier on our bank accounts.  Playing with large boxes helps build gross motor skills, expands imagination, and solidifies spacial awarness. Building together helps the sharing process and fosters cooperation.   It turns out that the box can be educational too! Enjoy.-Dana Wilson

Here's the top five reasons yoga is good for kids (and adults) of all ages.

#5 - Encourages Cooperation: Children practicing yoga get to help each other with poses and positively interact with different age groups.

#4 - Helps Maintain the Peace: Little bodies sometimes get out of control and frustration levels reach a capacity where hitting and temper tantrums come naturally. Yoga is a healthy physical activity that engages them fully.

#3 - Increases Gross Motor Skills - Children learning poses and routines become more aware of their body and gain control over their movements.

#2 - Keeps Growing Bodies Flexible - Stretching is a minimal part of a child's regular daily life....unless they participate in yoga or some other specific stretching program. Having flexibility comes from keeping flexible.

#1 - It's Fun! - KIDS LOVE YOGA! They think it's hilarious to see an adult with their head on the ground and feet in the air. They love to imitate and what's better than playing with the whole body?

- Dana Wilson

Children benefit greatly from a varied environment where many new experiences and items exist to engage all of their senses. Childcare providers have a responsibility to provide new experiences within a set routine. This kind of stimulation can calm an excited child, bring a shy child out of their shell and teach all children self-regulation strategies. Simply playing with bubble wrap is a perfect example of letting children explore something new and exciting that they can control. They love it, and I love that it is a fun learning experience for them that helps contribute to the building blocks of their personality.

-Dana Wilson

One of the most important early childhood development markers is the ability to imagine. A child who shows the ability to pretend is showing off a huge development in brain power and proves that their concept of reality is much larger than the here and now. When pretend play is encouraged, there are no limits to what children can do. 
-Dana Wilson

Some of my favorite memories of childhood are of sitting around the dinner table listening to the stories of my parents and being listened to as well. In a child care setting the same care is given to interacting with the children and allowing them the time to interact with each other. Meals provide a great way to sit down and really pay attention to one another. Even children who are pre-speakers can join in on the conversation and learn from the give and take of the speakers as they discuss their day or what ever topic comes up. At our dinner table many things are discussed from what kind of food is preferred to what imaginary animals were seen in "imagination land" today. It is a wonderful time full of learning and laughter.
-Dana Wilson