Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Toddler Class/Preschool

I prefer being really flexible for anything I do with my toddlers so I don't follow a specific program and we are constantly changing and adjusting. I'm sure that anything I've posted in the past we finished or stopped doing a looong time ago.
But O, my almost 3 year old, wants her own "class" and it is really helpful to devote 20-30 minutes to my two little girls before starting school work with my older kids.
We start by reading books together. They will usually pick a few that they are currently interested in, and I pick a few as well. The ones I pick we usually read for 2-4 weeks at a time, and have more of a learning aspect to them. Sometimes we read the books and sometimes we look at the pictures.
Books I've picked for November:
A book from My First Bob Books Pre-Reader Collection which includes the Alphabet set and Pre-Reading set -- I don't read these to teach my girls to read, but because they are simple and have a lot of familiar pictures for them to identify. They also like them because my older kids have used the other collections as they were learning to read, so my girls think they are using "big kid" stuff. And there are stickers.
First Rhymes: A Day of Rhymes with a Different Twist by Lucy Coats -- Author has re-written favorite nursery rhymes: "Humpty Dumpty stood on his head, Humpty Dumpty fell out of bed . . . "
Go, Dog. Go! by P.D. Eastman -- has colors, opposites, and lots of DOGS, my girls' favorite animal.
Before Five in a Row books -- The Five in a Row books are wonderful, but I prefer to just use the book lists for wonderful picture book ideas. Jesse Bear is very well-loved and O is always asking for it!!
After we've read for a little while we play games. Right now they like laying the memory cards face up and making matches. In the past we've done puzzles, played with babies or other toys, and sometimes we also do activities like Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes or Ring around the Rosies. We also sometimes sing songs together - they are really getting into a song we are learning in anticipation of Christmas called Christmas Bells.
After about 30 minutes I let them pick some toys from the closet that are just for school time -- we have a house set, barn set, Noah's ark set, space ship set, blocks, puzzles, and quiet books. They also will join in when we are doing something they can participate in such as coloring, nature walks, listening to stories, etc.

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