Prepping for Preschool!
I can't help myself. Preschool activities call to me and even though I'm 31 weeks pregnant, I thought I could still manage to squeeze in a few small group preschool classes before the baby arrives. Two of my best friends in Oregon sent their darling girls to join me and my two boys (ages 4 & 3). We have a sun room on our main floor that I added a few things to make it feel a little more "preschool-y". Here's a list of where I printed/bought them and a few pictures:
- Printable Letter Train (Kid Sparkz) - I printed and laminated these cards and they just happened to fit perfectly below our shelves.
- Colored Circles - We use these every day for circle time. Each student has their own color. I love the idea of writing their names on tape and putting the tape on the circle. A great name recognition activity every day that doesn't take up any extra time.
- Weather Board (Classroom Freebies) and Daily Schedule (Lovely Commotion) - I thought this was so darling. We haven't used it as much as I thought we would, but it still looks cute on the wall. Next time, I want to buy a calendar that has dates. We will count the numbers in order until we get to the date of the actual day. This would be a great number recognition and counting activity that really doesn't take much extra time in the day.
- Ikea Bookshelf - I love this for toy organization. I switch out the toys depending on the theme we're learning about.
- Play Kitchen Set - We love our play kitchen. I switch out the kitchen items every so often randomly or if the kitchen item goes along with a theme.
- Train Table - This has been so wonderful. We use it and change it up for every theme. You can see a few of the ideas below. We've done trains and animals, building blocks and people, magnates and farm tractors/people and so many other things. My boys love being in the pictures.
Once I got the sun room mostly ready (there are endless options of things to do!), I thought about the best schedule for our small preschool class. I knew we had two hours (9:30 AM - 11:30 AM) and I knew I wanted to have teacher directed time as well as free play time for the kids to explore as they pleased. I came up with this schedule and it with a few tweaks, it has gone really well so far:
- Arrival Activity - 10 minutes. These ten minutes give students enough time to arrive if they're running late before officially starting our day. We do simple activities like coloring, puzzles, file folders, play dough, etc. The last minute or two, I have the students help me clean up. We do this at my kitchen table.
- Circle Time - 20 minutes. During circle time we sing a short good morning song and go over our Letter Friends. Every once in a while we go over our Shape Friends and sing a short song as well. We read a book that relates to our theme and we do a short group activity that also goes along with our theme. We do this in my sun room.
- Art - 20 minutes. Our art projects are also based on our theme and teach important skills, like learning how to use glue and scissors. Some are focused on shapes. Some are teacher led (the students do REALLY well with these) and others are student led. Art is always a really fun part of the day. As soon as the student is finished, they are invited to do free play. Some students sit at the art table a long time and others finish quickly and move on to toys. I like the flexibility this brings. We do this at my kitchen table.
- Free Play - 45 minutes. During free play, students are able to play outside or in the sun room with all sorts of different toys. I also set up a sensory table the students can play with during this time. I switch it up every class depending on the theme, but you could also keep it the same for the entire week. While students do free play, I pull one aside at a time and we work on math and a short letter activity. One of my friends always stays and watches the other students.
- Clean Up - 10 minutes. I think teaching students to clean up is such an important part of play.
- Whole Group - 15 minutes. This time is VERY flexible. We will either sing songs or do some sort of movement activity and if there's time we will read book(s) until the parents arrive.
I love this schedule and after a couple of classes the kids understand what's coming next and do really well with transitioning. Stay tuned for detailed lesson plans and how I teach letters, shapes and numbers!
