Owen's first day of "school".
What is Biloxi's Excel by 5?
I am so glad you asked! I can't say enough about this WONDERFUL program! Owen and I try to attend Excel by 5 once a week.
Excel By 5 is a community-based certification designed to improve a child's overall well-being by age five. The first-of-its-kind in the United States, this program emphasizes the important roles communities play in educating their children during their most formative years--birth to five.
The vision of Excel By 5 is to support families with children ages 0-5 by encouraging community-based collaborations to draw upon research-based best practices to use and enhance existing resources to optimize the care and education of young children by preparing them to enter school happy, healthy and with the skills they need to succeed.
The above information came from Excel by 5's website. Check that out here
Excel by 5 in Biloxi is divided into different rooms. They have a block room for all ages. It has every kind of block you ever dreamed of to build different structures. They have an art room. The art room contains many different art mediums from feathers, to poster board, paints...you name it...it is in there! There is also play doh for little hands to squish. They provide a highchair for babies, so that mommies can tend to their young artists. I love that Excel by 5 encourages parent involvement in every aspect of learning! I usually give Abe something to squish or some paint, while I help Owen make a masterpiece. They have rooms with educational toys divided by age group. We spend our time in the "Family Room". Half of the room has toys for ages 0-1 and the other half has toys for ages 2-5. There is also a room for ages 0-2 only, and 3-5 only. I love this, because it keeps little kids from getting hurt. One day I will have to take the boys individually so that we can explore the other two rooms. Owen's favorite toy in the family room is the cash register. We usually play "grocery store" together. Abe's favorite toy is the crawling mat with big mirror. He loves admiring his cute little handsome self. The last room is the Toy Lending Library. They have a library set up with educational toys and games. My favorite toy we have checked out is the "Vocabulary Box". It is a little box with questions to ask your preschooler to expand vocabulary. The answers Owen came up with were quite entertaining.
We love Excel by 5 and being a part of the Teaching Tots program.
This year the Teaching Tots program teaches the 3 year old core guidelines set by the state. We go twice a month every other month and have class. The kids have school for an hour, and sit still the whole time. Pretty impressive....Mrs. Lisa is good! We are sent home with materials to teach our young preschoolers. The ladies take turn watching Abe, so that Owen gets the time he needs with me. I love that the program encourages parent involvement. I truly believe children learn the most by watching the people they love the most! Owen has a late birthday, so we won't put him in Kindergarten until 2017. (so glad I have 3 more years with my baby) This program has us ahead of the ball game!
Here are some pictures of the fun things we have done!
Humpty Dumpty...
Sat on a wall...
Humpty Dumpty
had a great fall!
All the King's Horses
and all the King's Men...
couldn't put Humpty together again!
Working on learning his name and family members' names.
Owen is drawing a face on his egg for a science experiment.
Then he placed the egg in a cup of vinegar.
We had to wait an entire day for this experiment to work. Owen wrote his hypothesis in his journal.
Owen predicted the egg would crack. This is a picture of his egg with the face he drew on it and the lines are cracks.
The next day, the shell had disappeared, and the egg could bounce!
We have been practicing name writing like crazy! He has come so far since tracing this!
Rolling eggs and measuring the distance...
Owen's coloring page...
Working on his name some more...
This picture looks silly. I took the boys on a wagon ride and we looked for numbers in our neighborhood. Owen wanted to take a picture of the numbers. So here are Owen's photography skills!
Owen wrote his name with no example. He did this on his own at the library. I told him I was so proud of how well he drew his letters. He said "Mommy, I am an impwessive guy!" (impressive)
This is just a taste of what all we have done. I am bad at documenting. One thing we really focus on in Teaching Tots is that words mean things. We have labels all over our house, labeling different items.We have worked really hard on learning nursing rhymes and learning that the rhymes are broken up into different words.
Every class, we receive a new book donated by the IP Casino. Owen has learned how to point out the front cover, back cover, and title page of the book. He has learned the terms author and illustrator. We are working on learning about the setting, main character etc.
We work on numbers 1-5 and shapes. Owen has known these for a long time so he breezes through that part. We worked on sequencing last week, and I think that was a bit more challenging for him.
We have worked on opposites, listening skills, classroom rules, and several other things. I wish I could remember them all.
The most important thing is Owen is learning, having fun, and benefiting so much from this program! I am grateful for Excel by 5, and I am so thankful for Ms. Susan, Ms. Sue, and Ms. Lisa. These ladies run the program so well!
Stay tuned for more learning adventures....
I hope to document this journey a little better as we progress. ;)
