Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Tot School week's review: May 11th-15th

Tot School


It has taken me too long to get a week's review posted. I was moving my blog from wordpress and irritated with the details that weren't falling into place. I was also writing out the Geography curriculum/approach I want to use with my PreK daughter. But, I think mainly because I have been spending time thinking about my philosophy and approach that I am using with this little group of children that I have in my care currently. I know what I want to do but I keep changing my mind about how to say it or how much to share. I don't even know exactly why. I think I'm just a bit moody. So, anyway. I'm just going to sum it up quickly and leave it there.

1. Given my training, experiences, and the situation in which I find myself with the mixed ages of children and my physical limitations, I have decided to spend the next 12 weeks doing a Creative Curriculum for preschoolers approach. I have a "classroom" and many of the materials and I feel the the developmental approach is the one that is best for me right now. (The back end of this statement is that I have been trying some Montessori, but even with my great training I just don't think it is working the way I want it to work and I just don't feel right watering it down much. I might revisit this when my stubborn 2y5m son is about 3 months older, though.)

2. I have set some goals and objectives for my 4y9m daughter and I'll discuss that on my PreKin post.


Okay. On to our week in review! I intended to post their chosen activities and then the guided activities that I prepared and completed with them. But, I guess I didn't do much of the guided activities last week! Oh, well.

CLASSROOM CHOICE ACTIVITIES:





Blocks for building and dumping.






Latches board.





Reading/relaxing corner.





Sensory tub.





Dramatic Play





Pattern blocks and boards.




Collage wheel from the art shelves. (Also lots of coloring, cutting, gluing and taping that takes place daily but I didn't picture here.)



Farm animals fridge toy on a cookie sheet tray.





And here is an activity that was a flop. I tried giving my 2 kids a sheet of bubble wrap on a tray but it was too difficult for them to pop. I might experiment with different sized bubbles.





More block play w/cardboard blocks.



Linking cubes are great for fine motor experiences.



Nice that I caught this. Rolling the crayon between his palms.





Puzzles. We have been working on number order.



Stamping (first with fingers and then stamps).



Sorting bears by color.





Working on puzzles/ABCs.




FIELDTRIP to the pet store, but my camera batteries went dead after only a couple pictures and this was the only decent one. Bleh!


PreKin activities posted here if that age interests you.

Or return to 1+1=1 blog here.


1 comment:

  1. Loved the post as always. I agree that it is hard to find an approach to teach such a group of kids as the age/development can be so vast. I have 2 2yr olds, 3 early 3's, 2 late 3's, & 3 4's, also a 11month old... my partner and I have a hard time keeping them all engaged. I also have 2 low-verbal kids... putting them in the mix has proven challenging, but you will make it work. If you ever want to talk or questions... gormanm2004@yahoo.com is my email... jot it down and I would love to chat.
    Also, the bubble wrap.. I found putting finger paint, any paint, pudding, etc... and letting them smear... they LOVE it. It is an activity they all love. We also make prints with it if they want to at the end.
    I love the picture with the crayon rolling... how great that you got it... I could just see all those connections going on in his brain. GREAT JOB!!!

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