It becomes more and more evident that I'm a total nerd. At one point, I thought I was just a food nerd, but I know now that it spans far beyond that! Last night, I spent the majority of the evening planning the various activities for our preschool debut. It is now all recorded in my new lesson plan book that I picked up for $1 at Target along with a sheet of star stickers (darn Dollar Spot gets me every time). Here are the highlights.
Theme: All About Me
Objectives: Know full name, parents' names, address, phone number and birthday
Time period: 1 week instruction, continue reviewing and master within 1 month
Activities: All About Me book, graph depicting the number of letters in first names, name rubbing, fingerprint examination, friend blocks, etc.
This weekend, I'm going to go through our craft/school supply closet and see if I can come up with 6 plastic folders that have the 3 prong clips inside. I've decided that each week we will try and make a book for the kids to "read." By using plastic, I can reuse the folder for each book. I know we have a couple, but I might end up needing to buy 3-4 more depending on what I find. So far, my spending is way down from what it would usually be, but the whole goal is to spend as little as possible. It's a work in progress right?
Friday, July 29, 2011
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Getting Ready!
Welcome to Preschool on the Cheap! I'm excited to start this blog and share my wonderful kiddos and their progress with all of you.
I have operated an in-home childcare facility for 7 years now, and many of the kids I have now have been here for 2-3 years. Most big center daycares have a big "switching over" day (usually shortly after the oldest kids head off to Kindergarten) when all of the kids are upgraded to different classrooms. There is a period of "newness" about a new teacher, a new room and new expectations.
One of the challenges with in-home daycare is that the kids are all together in the same space for years. It's more difficult to set up that aire of newness when it's the same people, same space and all that. To combat that, we've completely taken the summer off. There's been very limited circle time, quite a bit of free play and as much outside time as the weather allows (we're on day 20 of above 90 degree temps with heat indices over 100). This lack of structure lends itself to more discipline issues, but we've managed to do pretty well. But, the time has come to get "back to the grind." I'm very excited.
To build up the excitement, we've been doing a Countdown to Preschool paper chain, tearing a link off each day. Also the kids will now bring a backpack each day to put their important papers and "homework" in. So far, everyone is on board and ready to start come Monday.
Here are the books we've been reading to prepare for the big first day. We're being sure to substitute the word "school" for "PRESCHOOL!"
Timothy Goes to School by RosemaryWells
I have operated an in-home childcare facility for 7 years now, and many of the kids I have now have been here for 2-3 years. Most big center daycares have a big "switching over" day (usually shortly after the oldest kids head off to Kindergarten) when all of the kids are upgraded to different classrooms. There is a period of "newness" about a new teacher, a new room and new expectations.
One of the challenges with in-home daycare is that the kids are all together in the same space for years. It's more difficult to set up that aire of newness when it's the same people, same space and all that. To combat that, we've completely taken the summer off. There's been very limited circle time, quite a bit of free play and as much outside time as the weather allows (we're on day 20 of above 90 degree temps with heat indices over 100). This lack of structure lends itself to more discipline issues, but we've managed to do pretty well. But, the time has come to get "back to the grind." I'm very excited.
To build up the excitement, we've been doing a Countdown to Preschool paper chain, tearing a link off each day. Also the kids will now bring a backpack each day to put their important papers and "homework" in. So far, everyone is on board and ready to start come Monday.
Here are the books we've been reading to prepare for the big first day. We're being sure to substitute the word "school" for "PRESCHOOL!"
Tucker's Best School Day by Susan Winget
Timothy Goes to School by RosemaryWells
Pooh's First Day of School by Kathleen W. Zoehfeld
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