Back to School

I wanted our first week back to preschool to be mostly review, just so Parker felt confident in what he already knew and was excited about what he might learn.  I chose to go with an Apple Theme, because that's the best unit ever.  What's not to love about apples?  Here's what we did.

Day 1

We started by having a little pep-talk about how preschool was starting and that I was really excited. We were going to have a lot of fun, I expected him to be a good listener and always try his best. Then we sang one of his favorite songs from last year, "I'm In The Lord's Army."

Then we went through the letter flashcards.  I intended to review these a few times over the summer.  Never once did it happen.  I remember wondering why it was so hard for parents to review things with their kids over the summer, and now I'm one of them.  I understand!! haha.  Lucky for me, he remembered all of them, so we didn't have to spend any extra time going back and re-learning them.  We reviewed the verses from last year, too.  (He didn't remember all of those, but we'll keep reviewing). Then he matched up the lowercase magnets to the uppercase letters.

   We reviewed number flashcards 1-10.  

I started three different patterns with the cubes and he finished them.

Then we read

We were supposed to go to the Apple Orchard, but it was cold and rainy, so we postponed it.

First day in the books.  Not too shabby.  

Day 2

We started with "Walk, Walk, Walk," and "5 Little Ducks."  

Then he put his name in order on the board,

and read over the letters.

We started learning the sounds for letters A-F.  When I was teaching Kindergarten, we would have the students say the picture and then say the sound of the letter.  I'm doing it that way with Parker, too.  He caught on really quickly!  Just as I suspected.  When you don't have to think about what the actual letter is, the sounds come rather easily.

Then we read

I made the different parts of the apple out of felt, and he put them all together to look like an apple. 

We learned the three main parts of an apple -  Peel, Flesh, and Core.  

I gave him two dice to roll.  He counted the dots and put that many seeds in the apple core.

 I just love this picture for some reason.  I feel so blessed to be able to do this with him!

 After he did this five or six times, we read,

I cannot say enough great things about this book!  It describes the parts of the apple and the parts of God in such a simple, yet tangible and real way.  I totally love it =)  I told my parents about the book...they said we had the same one growing up.  How funny!

We cut open an apple and he examined the three parts with his magnifying glass.
He thought that was the coolest thing ever!

We finished by reading

Tomorrow we finally go to the apple orchard!!

Day 3

We went to the orchard between days two and three of preschool.  

We had a great time playing,

 

picking as many colors of apples as we could,

 and eating doughnuts and drinking cider.  

The next day, we reviewed letter sounds and verses and we read through this apples poem.

Then we picked out the rhyming words, and I read it while he filled in the last word of each line.
We sang it to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle."

Next, we did a fine-motor, finger-strenghthening exercise to get him ready to hold a pencil correctly.  I set up the cork board like so...

He grabbed a large push-pin and punched around the lines of the apple.  He seemed to enjoy doing it, and he stayed on the line really well.  He completed the apple and we moved on.

Next, we got out our bowl of apples from the orchard and starting sorting them into categories - 

Small, Medium, Large, followed by
1 color, 2 colors, and 3 colors.

He used his magnifying glass to decide see all of the colors more accurately.

Parker chose an apple and tried to color one like it using various shades of greens and reds.
It was a pretty fun process to watch.

We read one of our favorite apple books from last year...

Then we tasted a bunch of different kinds of apples, and made apple cider waffles.  Mmmm!

That was a great start to our school year!  I'm excited to start digging into the "meat" next week!

Round #2, Ready, GO!

When I began planning the first year of Parker Prep, I had a few ideas in mind that ended up evolving into a pretty structured preschool that Parker and I both grew to love.  It was a great year.  However, that leaves me with the "problem" of re-creating that again this year.  In June and July, I was fully enjoying summer and everything that goes along with it.  Then August came and I started to wonder what in the world I was going to do this year.  I've decided to let go of the fear that I won't be able to make it as great as last year, and just roll with it.  I'm excited about the curriculum that I've come up with, and the first few weeks have gone pretty well!  I'm thankful that I am home and even able to have this option, so Round #2 of Parker Prep, here we go!

A few of the big things that I hope to accomplish are....

1 - Learning Letter Sounds
     Last year we really focused on recognizing upper and lowercase letters. This year it's time to learn the sounds, which only leads to...

2 - Learning to Read!
     I'm so excited for this...obviously.  I'm a little worried that by the time he gets to Kindergarten, he's going to be way ahead of the game in reading.  We'll cross that bridge when it comes.  There are plenty of other things he'll learn for the first time when he gets to Kindergarten.  I think he's ready, and I'm not going to be the one to hold him back!  We will be using Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons, along with Jolly Phonics, Bob Books, some Usborne Easy Readers, and lots of phonemic awareness activities.

3 - Learning to Hold a Pencil Correctly
     Key word correctly.  Having a kid write before they can even hold a pencil doesn't make much sense.

4 - Writing His Name Properly
     Again, I want him to learn how to correctly form the letters in his name, and the whole alphabet.  None of this all-caps, formed any-which-way business.  It's cute, but it's a hard habit to break.

5 - Learning the 7 Days of Creation
     I chose "Creation" as the overall theme because, well, it covers everything!  The first two weeks will be spent going through and memorizing the seven days, and then the rest of the year will be
units inspired by each day of creation.

6 - Adding to His Bible Verse Repertoire
    Instead of doing one verse every week, we will do sections of an actual passage each week.  Like, Psalm 23, for example.

7 - Fostering Independent Working
     A lot of the activities we did last year, we did together.  I would get him started, he would go on his own for a bit, then he would need help.  We would work through things together.  This year, I
would like to get him started on a task and have him work on it himself until it's finished.  We will be doing a handful of the same activities as last year, so those one for sure he can do on his own.

8 - Continue to Learn How to Think!
     I don't have an exact strategy to this right now, but I think all of the objectives listed above will encourage "thinking" rather than memorizing and regurgitating.

9 - Developing Age-Appropriate Math Skills
    Beginner problem solving, patterns, counting, ordering, etc.

I'm sure I will come up with more as the time goes on.  Come along for the ride!  I will try to do my best, but when I know people are reading and following along, it gives me a little motivation when I'm running out of ideas!

Preschool Made Easy - Downloadable Lesson Plans!

Here are the WHOLE YEAR'S lesson plans.  Download and add your own personal twist.  Enjoy!

Supplies and Printables Checklist

Some of my friends are tackling Parker Prep for their kids this year.  I'm so flattered!  Anyone can do it.  It just takes a bit of preparation, organization, patience, and structure. I HIGHLY recommend trying to do "Preschool" at the same time on the same three days so your child is mentally prepared each day to do their best in their first school experience!  Structure is a good thing =)

Here are a list of the supplies I used and links to where I got them.  A lot of this stuff I just happened to have, or my mom and mother-in-law had, so if you have similar supplies, just use those!  When buying supplies from Hobby Lobby, make sure to use their 40% off coupons (found at
hobbylobby.com each week)!  I would usually go with my husband and we would each do a transaction so we could get the two most expensive items at 40% off.  Happy Preschooling!

Supplies
Write/Type Verse Cards for each letter. Find the verses on the blog posts or print them out here.
Circle Magnets
Letter Flashcards - Whatever you choose, make sure they have upper and lower case letters on them.
Number Flashcards
Shapes Flashcards
Construction Paper
Assortment of Buttons
Washable Paint
Dot stickers
Puff Balls
Clothes Pins
Pipe Cleaners
Beads
Pattern Blocks
Magnetic Letters - These are what I have, but you can use any kind.
Lacing Cards - I found mine that the Target Dollar Spot.  It doesn't really matter what theme they are.
Magnet Wand
Sensory Bin - Something big enough that both hands can fit in, but their whole body can't =)
Popsicle Sticks 
Water Beads
Glue Sticks
Kid Scissors
Food Coloring
Paint Gradient Samples - Free at Home Depot or anywhere that sells paint
Scrapbook Paper - Whatever you have laying around
Eye Dropper - Probably in your medicine cabinet
Toothpicks
Toilet Paper Rolls
Paper Towel Rolls
Plastic Eggs
Egg Cartons
Candy Hearts
Heart Stickers - Buy for cheap in February
Tiny Milk Cartons - Ask a local school
Q-Tips
Playdoh - Make your own if you want!
Velcro
Various Seeds
Shaving Cream
Corn Starch
Coffee Filters
Small Cereal Box
Long Rubberbands
Balloon
Yarn
Various Noodles
Various Jars
Mega Blocks/Legos - Use whatever you have

Printables
Re-telling Story Printables
Cat in the Hat Matching
Firetruck Number Puzzle
Oviporous vs. Mammals Sorting
Roll-The-Dice Nativity
Olympic Matching Game
Tulip Clip
Pattern Block Mats
The Mitten
Where the Wild Things Are Shapes and Numbers
Spring Scavenger Hunt

Because I REALLY want you to succeed, these lesson plans have all of my ideas, all the book names, and it will help you prepare things a little easier and in advance.  Download them HERE!

Now He Knows His ABC's

Now Parker knows his ABC's.  Hmm...if that were my only objective in this whole thing I'd say it was an epic flop, considering he pretty much knew them before we even started.  A lot of times throughout the year, people would ask Parker what sound a certain letter made, and he didn't really know.  Then I'm sure they were wondering what in the world I was even teaching him if I was teaching the ABC's without discussing their sounds.  So here's my explanation.

As a Kindergarten teacher, I saw a lot of students coming in with bad habits and lack of true understanding.  It was my goal in this first year of "school" with Parker to provide a solid foundation in phonics and math, and start fostering a love for learning.  Also, Parker is still 2 YEARS away from Kindergarten.  He was three throughout most of it, but because his birthday is in September, he will be almost a whole year older than some of the kids in his grade.  We had the time to start super basic and we will work up from there.

Parker Prep

1 - To recognize all the the upper AND lower-case letters.  
     When I was testing incoming Kindergarten students, most of them knew the uppercase letters, but weren't very familiar with lowercase.  Considering MOST of the letters they will read and write will be lowercase, I think it's pretty important to learn them right along with the uppercase.  Not to mention, it is nearly impossible to teach someone to read when they have to first remember what the letter even is.  There is no point in teaching the sound of the letters before they can identify ALL of them without any hesitation.

2 - To recognize his name and recite how it's spelled.  
     So much of school nowadays is giving the students a little bit of guidance and then telling them to do their best at spelling.  Then you have to go back and correct all of their mistakes.  Why not have students learn it the correct way the first time, instead of continually trying to break inadequate habits?  (I could go on and on...I'll have to write a separate post about that in particular.  There is a time and a place for it, but not before some beginning phonics rules).  I didn't even teach Parker how to write his name by himself.  He can recognize it when I write it, put the letters in the correct order, spell it out loud and find the letters in his name, but his little fingers can't hold a pencil correctly yet, so why push it?  Which brings me to my next point.

3 -  To develop age-appropriate fine-motor skills.
    95% of my Kindergarten students were coming in to school holding their pencil incorrectly and writing their name in all capital letters.  Do you know how hard it is to break children of those habits?       For a majority, it took almost the entire school year for them to feel comfortable holding a pencil correctly and writing their name neatly.  Parker's little hands need to learn how to manipulate things such as scissors, clips, magnets, markers, puzzles, paintbrushes, beads, puff balls, etc. before they can learn the fine art of holding a skinny pencil.  Next year we will really focus on holding a pencil and writing correctly.

4 - To count to 50 without help.
      Once a child catches on to the pattern of numbers, it's pretty easy for them to count all the way to 100.  They just have to remember which group of 10 is next.  Parker can go to 50 without help and then needs help remembering 70, 80 and 90.

5 -  To recognize, identify and order numbers 0-15.
       Just like it's important to know the upper and lowercase letters, I feel it's very important for children to easily recognize and identify 0-10 before trying to do any addition and subtraction.  Hopefully we can avoid going "back to the basics" when we really get in to the meat of the subjects.

6 - To identify and finish simple patterns.
      Patterns are everywhere.  Once kids can identify and complete AB, ABB, and ABC patterns, they'll start noticing patterns in other aspects of life like their daily schedule, the stripes on their t-shirts, stop lights, rainbows, counting, etc etc.

7 - To develop beginning comprehension skills.
     My reading and listening comprehension was pretty horrible before college. I would totally space out while reading or being read to.  I could answer general questions about the characters and plot, but I couldn't really relate to the character or predict what might happen next, and I definitely did not enjoy reading.  What changed everything was when my college professor told me to picture the story in my mind.  Why hadn't I done that before?  Ever since then, reading is a totally different experience.  I am engulfed in the story, I even find myself wanting to pray for certain characters if I'm in the middle of a novel!  All that being said, I want Parker to develop this skill before he is 18 years old.  The easiest way to do this is by reading familiar stories with similar patterns and having him act-out or re-tell the story.  The Three Little Pigs, The Three Bears, and The Three Billy Goats Gruff are a great place to start.  After you read one or two, he could start to predict what would happen in the next one.  Also, each of these stories has endless interpretations that you can read and compare/contrast.  The best part is, it's so much fun!!

8 - To begin hiding God's Word in his heart.
     When Jesus was being tempted in the desert for 40 days, he was constantly reciting scripture to battle and ultimately overcome temptation.  As Parker grows and is faced with temptation, I want these verses to be engrained in his heart so he can resist the devil in the name of the Lord!  (Gives me goosebumps just thinking about it). 

9 - To begin fostering the lost art of "thinking."
     I'm not interested in teaching Parker a ton of information and having him regurgitate it back to me.  I want him to relate new information with his prior knowledge and gain an understanding of how things work together.  I also want him to question and process the incoming information instead of just taking it at in as truth.  That obviously happens more as he gets older, but for now I just want to nurture his imagination.

This is so fun for me to write about!  God has laid a lot on my heart lately, and I'm waiting for his clear guidance as to what to do for schooling once Parker is school-age.  

Z is for Zuchini

We made it!  We really made it!  Some weeks were better than others, but we made it all the way to Z!  I'm not surprised, but I'm kind of relieved.  It actually helped to be blogging it all as we went because when my creative juices were low, we were busy, and time was limited, I had to keep on trucking so I could post it on the blog =)  Whatever works, right?

Here's what we did for Letter Z.

Day 1

My brother invited us to the local zoo!  Good timing.   

Later that day, I asked Parker count to 100 by himself.  He did really well!  The only thing I had to help him with was which set of 10 was next.  So for example, when he got to 49, he said 60 instead of 50.  I'd say he's doing alright ;)  

We reviewed letters and number cards, and then I showed him letter Z and its verse,

"Never be lacking in zeal." - Romans 12:11

Parker is a fan of Romans, as am I.  As soon as I said it, he remembered that Letter A's verse and Letter N's verse were from Romans, too.  Smarty.  

For our Intro to Letter Z Activity, I had him circle all of the letter Z's he could find.

After he found them all, he counted how many he had, (6) and I started to make a graph.  Then I asked him to choose another letter.  He chose W, and circled all of those with a different color.  He counted them up (2) and I charted those on the graph.  Then I asked him which letter he found more of, and he answered Z!  Finally, I showed him how to figure out how many more Z's there were than W's.  I did this activity as part of my morning message all the time when I taught Kindergarten.  Graphing letters is so much fun!  Here's a picture of everything when we were finished.

Then he gave the Zz's some zebra stripes.

We practiced zipping zippers. 

And we read

We made zucchini bread with supper that night.  Awesome paleo recipe, btw!

Day 2

Today wasn't so much about Z as it was about alphabet review.

Matching upper and lowercase letters.

Then he chose two alphabet books for us to read.

 I had this worksheet I saved from when I was teaching.  It has all the letters and then you have to find the little pictures that start with each letter and glue them on.  The word is on the picture, so Parker just looked at the first letter and matched them up.  Daddy helped with the gluing =)

We read a few more alphabet books and did an alphabet train puzzle.

Here are some of the books we read.

These ones were my favorite.

That was about it!  It was kind of anti-climactic, but I gave Parker a small sentimental speech about how I'm so happy we were able to do preschool together and I'm really proud of all the things he learned this year =)

Swimming lessons start tomorrow.  We finished just in time.  

Now I have to figure out what to do next year!!

Thanks for reading and happy teaching!