So I started a preschool co-op with a few friends so that we can challenge our older kids and have some time to run errands or play with our younger kids. Our first week was this past Monday and I was in charge of doing it. The unit for this month is water and I was supposed to cover water in the weather. I also was supposed to spotlight the letter M and the number 3.
It looks like there is a learning curve for me when it comes to teaching 4 kids all 2-3 years of age. I spent way too much time having them sit and listen to me at "circle time". I thought I had enough variety and fun things to keep their attention, but sadly I did not.
The following are things that they enjoyed:
Picking a song to sing out of the jar (I asked the ones who were sitting quietly).
Listening to the story of 3 little pigs while I put the houses and characters up on a felt board. (I found a cute sight where you print off the characters onto cardstock and then glue felt on the back. You can check it out here.)
Coming up one by one to trace the letter M with their finger.
Talking about weather and dressing Walter the Weather Bear. (I tried to make a bear and clothing out of felt. I used glue when making the clothing, but I think I will redo it and use markers and or sew the clothing to make it look a little nicer.)
Sprinkling water on their heads from a watering can and telling them that the cloud was getting heavy with water and so it was raining.
Throwing paper scrunched into balls around because I said it was raining meatballs (they couldn't really focus when I tried to start reading 'Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs' so that ended up being really random.)
Making Mud out of flour and water and squishing it all over the kitchen table.
Eating mud cups.(chocolate pudding, oreo cumbs, and gummy worms)
I have been suprised at some of the things Tanner picked up. I think it helped that I also checked out books from the library that talked about weather and the water cycle. So that might have helped him learn more too. Also I had printed out the date in large letters and used masking tape to stick them on the wall. Today he was pointing to each piece of paper and asking what it said. Now if I ask him what the month is he points to the paper that says January and he will say "January". You could also talk about Noah and the Ark and I found a site with fun weather experiments (see the side column) but they seem like they are for older kids.
Unrelated to weather; if you see him ask him who the president is. It is pretty cute the way he pronounces Barack Obama.
It looks like there is a learning curve for me when it comes to teaching 4 kids all 2-3 years of age. I spent way too much time having them sit and listen to me at "circle time". I thought I had enough variety and fun things to keep their attention, but sadly I did not.
The following are things that they enjoyed:
Picking a song to sing out of the jar (I asked the ones who were sitting quietly).
Listening to the story of 3 little pigs while I put the houses and characters up on a felt board. (I found a cute sight where you print off the characters onto cardstock and then glue felt on the back. You can check it out here.)
Coming up one by one to trace the letter M with their finger.
Talking about weather and dressing Walter the Weather Bear. (I tried to make a bear and clothing out of felt. I used glue when making the clothing, but I think I will redo it and use markers and or sew the clothing to make it look a little nicer.)
Sprinkling water on their heads from a watering can and telling them that the cloud was getting heavy with water and so it was raining.
Throwing paper scrunched into balls around because I said it was raining meatballs (they couldn't really focus when I tried to start reading 'Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs' so that ended up being really random.)
Making Mud out of flour and water and squishing it all over the kitchen table.
Eating mud cups.(chocolate pudding, oreo cumbs, and gummy worms)
I have been suprised at some of the things Tanner picked up. I think it helped that I also checked out books from the library that talked about weather and the water cycle. So that might have helped him learn more too. Also I had printed out the date in large letters and used masking tape to stick them on the wall. Today he was pointing to each piece of paper and asking what it said. Now if I ask him what the month is he points to the paper that says January and he will say "January". You could also talk about Noah and the Ark and I found a site with fun weather experiments (see the side column) but they seem like they are for older kids.
Unrelated to weather; if you see him ask him who the president is. It is pretty cute the way he pronounces Barack Obama.
1 comment:
I love these ideas--thank you! Sometimes just getting the ideas is the hardest part. I also love that first school website link that you have. I print coloring pages from there all the time! I wish we lived closer so we could join your co-op!
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