Last week we did our first week of Tot School and overall it was a success!! I loved having those couple hours a day to do nothing but play with "Miss Priss". Her cousin, "Sour Patch Kid" (first he's sour, then he's sweet) also joined us for most of the time.
As I mentioned earlier, we do Tot School Monday-Wednesday. The we go on a Field Trip on Friday. This is our very laid back schedule:
9:00- Circle Time: We go over what we're going to be learning, our monthly memory verse, and usually read a story
9:15- Table Time: usually involves a craft, sensory activity (play-doh, sensory bin), puzzles, etc.
10:00- Snack
10:15- Music
10:30-11:00- Floor Time: Blocks, pop beads, dramatic play (kitchen, dolls, farm, etc.)
Tot School basically works around weekly themes. I decided to set a monthly theme where we focus on one thing each week but reinforce the other skills throughout the month. For example, our theme this month is Apples. This month has five weeks we will be learning about: red, circle, number 1, body parts, and apples.
I've decided to not really focus much on letters other than just saying our ABCs. I think we have plenty of time for that later. I'm more interested in "Miss Priss" learning her shapes, colors, nursery rhymes, etc. this year! Our monthly Bible memory verse this month is Gensis 1:1 and we're also going to be learning about creation. Each morning during circle time we sing our memory verse to the tune of "Are You Sleeping":
Genesis 1:1 - In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
Tune: Are You SleepingIn the beginning, (2x)
God created (2x)
The heavens and the earth (2x)
Genesis 1:1 (2x)
This came from the ABC Jesus Loves Me Curriculum.
Our focus this week was on red. Here are some hi-lights from our week!
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| Miss Priss coloring her Red Crayon |
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| During Circle Time reading a story on Creation |
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| Making our red, apple-scented play-doh! They LOVED this!!! We got our recipe from here but halved it! |
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| Painting Elmo Red |
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| One of our floor activities - dress up with red clothes, jewelry, hats, shoes, etc. |
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| Enjoying one of our snacks - Watermelon!! |
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| Our Friday Field Trip was to Noccalula Falls to ride the red train! |
We're already off schedule this week with Labor Day and we were a little lazy today with the rain still going on but looking forward to doing circles tomorrow!
Oh, my goodness, your daughter is so cute! How old is she? My son is almost 3 and he just started coloring. I do simple things with him through Brightly Beaming Resources. I'm not very structured even though I want to be because I have a 4 month old as well. Keep it up, they learn so much!
ReplyDeleteThank you! She's 22 months old. I haven't heard of Brightly Beaming Resources but I'll have to check it out! Thanks for all your comments :)
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! You have great tot school ideas. Where do you get them?
ReplyDeletePS. Here's my Brightly Beaming Resources posts: http://milknhoneylearnandgrow.blogspot.com/search/label/Brightly%20Beaming%20Resources.
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize Brightly Beaming Resources was the "Letter of the Week" curriculum. Loved your blog! Hope to check it out further later!
ReplyDeleteMost of the ideas I use are a combination of things I've done in the past (I've taught 2, 3, and 4 year old daycare/preschool and 1st grade) and whatever I come can up with using things we already have at home! My main thing is to use what I already have so that I don't have to buy alot of supplies! If I use an idea from a specific site or blog I've linked it. Next week for our apple theme I'm hoping to do our first lapbook and use some songs from the apple unit at http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/totschool.htmlI'm also using some things from the these sites:
from www.childcareland.com and http://lightningbuglit.com/2011/09/a-is-for-apple/
Hi Anna- That sounds great. Thanks for the links. I get so overwhelmed with all the ideas, I just try to pick a few that work for me. Isn't it fun to teach our own kids? I was a Kindergarten teacher for 12 years.
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