Sunday, September 12, 2010

Preschool at My House!

We officially started preschool during daycare last week!  While I enjoy taking a break in planning a curriculum during the summer, I'm always excited to get back into it in the fall.  New supplies, new ideas, and a fresh new school year!

Last year I taught using the Fireflies curriculum from Funshine Express.  In past years I have used Mother Goose Time, Carols Affordable Curriculum, and made my own based on the many early childhood books and websites I have in my arsenal.  Funshine Express and Mother Goose Time are both really great curriculum, but Funshine express is just a bit less expensive - and since I don't charge my daycare parents for preschool... every dollar counts!

My goal is to save a couple years worth of curriculum guides, supplies, and materials so I will be able to stop ordering them but keep on teaching them on a two or three year rotating schedule.  Every month I make copies of the worksheets and parent hand-outs, save all of the supplies and teaching guides, and one day I'll only have to plan the corresponding crafts, and make the typical adjustments based on developmental levels of the children (this is the part that takes the most time anyway)... the rest will be done.  I'll probably be able to do that after this school year!
This is our weather chart.  Every day someone gets to be the weather-watcher and it is their job to report what the weather is that day (or at least at that particular moment).  They then get to choose the correct weather picture and stick it on the chart for that day.

This is our calendar.  Everyday someone else gets to be the Calendar Helper.  We all say the days-of-the-week song, and today's date, and the calendar helper puts the date picture on the calendar.  It is also a pattern, so they get to practice recognizing patterns and predicting the next item every day as well!  The calendar and weather chart are from last years supplies, we'll be getting a new set later this month with October's order!


This week we start focusing on the alphabet with the letter A, but last week we were concentrating on rhyming.  We've been reading lots of poems, books that rhyme, playing concentration with flashcards that have rhyming pictures, rhyming word worksheets, and naming off words that rhyme throughout the day.  The whole point is to help them train their ears to pay attention to the sounds in words, to build phonemic awareness, which is vital in learning how to read. One of the poems we read is pictured above, and they almost have the whole thing memorized now because they like it so much.  To extend the activity we found and circled the words that rhymed with different colored crayons.  For example, we circled the words "go" and "so" with a blue crayon, and "bite" and "right" with a green crayon.  Then we made a craft which gave us the chance to practice tracing numbers 1-5, counting, color recognition, and gluing skills.


This week we are starting the letter A and Ants theme, I'm hoping to tell you about it next Monday!

7 comments:

Mom said...

Very proud of you and the effort you put into the daycare of the children in your charge. You don't spend the day just watching them and keeping them safe and happy, you take the time to engage them in learning experience.

Good job well done...

Prairie Mother said...

Looks like you are all ready! I have a craft coming on my blog tomorrow that you might be able to incorporate. Have fun!

kamariden said...

I like the alphabet cards you have posted on your wall. I like that they have the letters, pictures to match the sounds, and the ASL sign for the letter. Did you make the cards or did you purchase them? If you purchased them, can you tell me where? If you made them, can you tell me how? My 3 year old is working on his letters right now and we're teaching ASL to all our boys so these cards would be a great tool!

Abby @ I Used To Have A Brain said...

kamariden, welcome to the blog! Those cards came with my funshine express curriculum. If you go to the website you might be able to find them to purchase seperately. I like them because the letters are big and clearly printed, and I like the size of the cards.

Anonymous said...

I just start working with kids and I want use the olds mother goose curriculums,because i see the news and don't liked. do you have the full year and can yuo sell to me? my email is karubkrc@yahoo.com

Abby @ I Used To Have A Brain said...

I have very little of my Mother Goose curriculum left, it is WAY too incomplete for anyone to use. I liked Funshine express better but cant sell it since I'm still using it.

Good luck with your kids!

Mandi said...

Great ideas! Where did u get the weather chart that you use? Thanks for sharing!
Mandi

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