Lesson Planning for Weeks 5 and 6

In the past few weeks, I've realized two things:
1) There are a lot of things that interrupted our scheduled "class" activities.
2) I keep pushing activities into the following week.

With a new baby, errands, impromptu play dates and visits, our preschool schedule needs to be more fluid.  In order to accommodate this, I've decided to let my normal one-week plan morph into a two-week plan (which, it really has been all along thanks to all of the interruptions.).

Sooooooooo . . . for the next two weeks, the final weeks of October, we will be learning about the Letter P, the Number 4, and PUMPKINS!!!!

I found a ton of great resources for all that the Little Lady will be doing.  I want to give credit where it is due, so here is my list of resources.

Music
Jitterbug.tv (Sesame Street Video "1,2,3,4")
Hubbard's Cubbard (from "October for 2's")

Art Projects
1+1+1=One
Hubbard's Cubbard (from "October for 2's")

Math Activities
Hubbard's Cubbard (from "October for 2's")

Letter Recognition Activities
Hubbard's Cubbard (from "3's Curriculum")

Self-Portrait Template
First School Templates - girl

Lesson Planning for Week Four

In an effort to become a bit more "scheduled" as a family (with  by two little ones, I need more structure now just to get things done!), we're getting back into Tot School.  The Little Lady will also benefit from a more structured day; right now, she is getting bored and having some issues as a result.  A few intentional activities and learning play-time will go along way in helping her stay focused on tasks/play (as opposed to those lovely "Terrible Two" Tantrums).

We're starting a new letter this week; actually, we started last week with a few activities involving Leaves.  That's right, our new letter is "L."  The Grouchy Ladybug will be our primary book for this letter, and the Little Lady will be doing a lot with Ladybugs as she learns about "L", learns about the color Black, and works on her counting and matching skills.  Currently, Ladybugs are my Little Lady's FAVORITE bugs, which is why I chose them as our main "L-word" focus.

In addition, I am starting a new component to our week: Bible Verse Memory.  Thanks to Carissa at 1+1+1=1, I purchased a CD called "Songs for Saplings."  I absolutely love it!  For each letter of the alphabet, a Bible verse has been selected and given a melody.  The Little Lady loves music and picks up new songs very quickly.  These Bible verse songs should be a GREAT way for her to learn verses/messages from the Bible.

This week's song/Verse if from 1 Samuel 16:7.

I found a ton of great resources this week for our L/Ladybug theme.  When I post pictures at the end of the week, I will include the links for all of the printables/activities I chose to use.

Here is a copy of our plan for the week:

Week 3 Plans

We took a break last week from structured activities. The nesting bug hit BIG time and I spent the week cleaning, washing clothes, and finishing the baby's room.

Below is what I had planned for last week; we'll be completing these activities this week. Although, I do already know of a slight change in the schedule --- our library's toddler "Story Time" starts this Tuesday morning. I'll be pushing around the activities slated for that morning to accommodate that.

Since the new baby could come any day, we're working on the letter "B" for our next two week cycle. Ellie received a new book last week, Biscuit and the Baby. We'll be reading it and Brown Bear, Brown Bear over the next two weeks as we explore the Letter B.

(click picture for full size viewing)

Planning for Week 2

Our first week went well, except for the fact the Little Lady and I were sick toward the end. Not feeling well and being crabby (and, yes, I'm talking about BOTH of us here) didn't leave much energy for the final few planned activities.

Because of this, and because we will have guests staying with us this week, I decided to continue the themes from Week One into Week Two. While I don't expect the Little Lady to completely master each theme at the end of her school week, I do want her to have a good grasp of them. Last week introduced several different concepts and I feel that one more week would go a long way toward her really understanding these new ideas.

(In fact, I may take two weeks from here on out to ensure her grasp of the concepts to be covered.)

So, this week, we will still be talking about Squares and the Letter E. I am also introducing the color Blue and the concept of counting to 3. Last week, in following the Brightly Beaming curriculum, she was supposed to learn "1." Honestly, this was a bit redundant for her and I should have anticipated that. She can count out things by "1" and "2;" the next step needs to be "3."

To help with the Letter E, we'll be talking a lot about Elephants. Using an animal whose name begins with our "Letter of the Week," makes so much more sense to me that just assigning a random animal (like last week's cow).

Here's our plan for Week Two (click to enlarge):


It's not as jam-packed as last week's plan was --- with the Little Lady's two aunties visiting, I needed to make sure there was plenty of time for her to "play" with them!

Week One Plans

After some rather hurried research, I decided to try a modified version of the Brightly Beaming lessons for two year olds. My primary changes are substituting the letter "E" for "A" and adding a Bible story, as well as implementing learning activities other than the ones the BB curriculum suggested.

I decided not teach the Little Lady her letters alphabetically. My purpose with teaching letters is for her to be able to recognize letters -- I think the best way for this to be achieved is to start with letters that she has shown an interest in. I'll be using the letters of her name, her baby brother's name, our names, etc., to begin letter introduction. My husband and I had already started working with her on her name, resulting in our Little Lady being able to recognize (most of the time) the letter "E." This week, I'll be trying to reinforce "E" with her.

As far as the Bible story goes, my husband and I have been wanting to find a good way to introduce the Little Lady to Old and New Testament stories, as well as reinforce the stories she is learning in Sunday School. We are going to follow the method some of our good friends shared with us; we'll be focusing on one story each week, reading that story every night before bed. During "Tot School," I will use art projects and songs to help her remember the story.

Here is an example of what I'm planning for this week (click on the images for full-size viewing):





I did NOT include any "times" with this lesson plan. I intend to keep "Tot School" very fluid and playful. I don't want my Little Lady to feel as though this is a chore. There is a lot of story time, song time, game time, art time, and play time because those are things she likes. I am not planning on really using work-sheets or drilling flashcards. The Little Lady likes to be active; she doesn't respond well to static instruction.

We'll see how this week goes; I will continue to research other at-home preschooling mamas for ideas. If you have idea or website suggestions, PLEASE let me know!

Brainstorming

Even though I'm eager to jump in with both feet and introduce the Little Lady to "school," I've realized I need to put a little more time into researching and planning for the skills and knowledge I want my daughter to acquire.

I did come across one site, Brightly Beaming Resources, that offers a complete curriculum -- mapped out week by week. There are a lot of things I really like about this particular site, one of which is the fact that their various curriculum is sorted by AGE! I haven't come across many sites that do this -- most toddler and preschool activities/lessons are simply lumped together in a hodge-podge list. That may work for some, but it doesn't for me. I do not have time to go through each activity to find ones that will work for a 25 month old.

On the other hand, I'm not sure about accepting a premade curriculum. I guess its the independent, obstinate side of my brain, but I'd like to have a little more of a hand in developing the weekly lessons for the Little Lady. Of course, I understand that I can take or leave activities, lessons, or modify the suggested ones. I just need to take the time to do it!