Tot School: Letter I and Numbers

I am so far behind posting this that it's almost my turn to teach tot school again! This was over a month ago, but better late than never, right?

This time I taught Letter I and Numbers. I learned a lot about our kiddos last time and how they learn and felt like this lesson went a lot more smoothly. I also tried a few new things that we loved, and a few that we didn't. Here's our lesson plan - I hope it can help you!

Singing Time

• No More Monkeys Jumping on The Bed - what kid doesn't love this song? It was also a fun activity for getting the wiggles out. I would have them hold up their fingers for each number and shout the number and they got really excited about it.

Story Time

• Ten Apples Up on Top - This was their favorite book! I think it helped that we read it during snack time, but we ended up reading it a couple times. It's a short, easy counting book. And I made flannel characters and felt apples and they got to act out the story. 

Download the felt pattern here

• Chicka Chicka 123 - It was a cute book and they enjoyed chanting along! I think we could have done just the chanting part again if there would have been time. If you like Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, this is a great companion to add to your library.
• Very Hungry Caterpillar - Another fun counting book. We read through this one and then did Do-A-Dot marker caterpillars. I did a separate post about Do-A-Dots back here because the kiddos loved them so very much. They are awesome!

Download the Do-A-Dot cards here

Letter I Activities/Crafts

• Flannel board words that start with I - who knew it was so hard to come up with words that start with I? I used ice cream, iguana, igloo, island, insect, indian, and iron man. I got my images from Clipart Panda but I'm not sure they are truly "copyright free" so I'm not going to share my collection. I suggest using that site though because it's easy to search for what you're looking for, just to use for your own personal use.
• Decorating Ice Cream cones - I learned last time that the kiddos really like glue! We also learned that we put the dots and let them put stuff ON the dots instead of just giving them the bottle. I cut cones, scoops, cherries, and "sprinkles" out of colored construction paper and they got to glue together their ice cream cones. This one was really popular.

Download ice cream patterns here

Number Activities/Crafts

• Flannel board counting scoops of ice cream - This was a fun and easy one! We just put a cone out and then they could stack scoops and we counted how many. 

Because laying down and sticking out your tongue makes it easier.

• Apples On Top playdoh mats - They were supposed to roll playdoh into little "apples" and stack them on the characters heads. This one didn't work very well. They all just kind of played with the playdoh. Maybe for older kiddos? Also, laminate these cards. I didn't (ran out of time) and it made them not-so-reusable.

  

  Download Apples on Top playdoh mats

• Pom Poms counting bowls - This one was also not a success. It was just paper bowls with a number and that many black dots. They were supposed to put that many poms into each bowl. Instead they just kind of poured poms from bowl to bowl. Maybe an activity for older kids.
  

Next up, Letter O and Opposites! Stay tuned.

Tot School: Letter C and Patterns

Happy Monday, Mamas!

A few weeks ago I had the great pleasure of teaching our tot school coop for the first time. It was exhausting and, at times, frustrating, but it was also so fun. I love those sweet, curious little minds. It was definitely a learning experience for me as well as I figure out what works and doesn't work in a "classroom" setting. We talked about the letter C and patterns and here's our basic outline (and resource links).

Singing Time

• Old McDonald - I brought in different little plastic farm animals (cow, sheep, horse, cat, pig). The kids each got to hold one and when we got to their animal they would hold it up in the air and make the noise. They all love the song, but adding the animals made it extra fun and helped involve even the ones who weren't interested in participating.
• Who Stole the Cookies - We used the felt picture I had of a cookie and we sang the song and passed it from one child to another. They didn't know the words, but they all wanted a turn to have the cookie.
• Who stole the cookies from the cookie jar?
  Who, me? Yes, you!
  Couldn't be! Then who?
  {Child's name} stole the cookies from the cookie jar.
  Who, me? Yes, you!
  Couldn't be! Then who? {pass the cookie}

Story Time

• Clara Caterpillar - This whole book uses words that start with the letter C. It's a cute story and Emma really likes it, but it didn't work in this setting. It was too long and they lost interested. So we read the beginning and the last couple pages. Hopefully they still heard all the "C" sounds!

• Caps for Sale - This was a fun one for patterns! I used it in conjunction with the felt board and they could practice putting the caps on the peddler and the monkey's heads. We actually made two attempts at reading this one. The first during story time did not go well, so we put it away and came back during snack time and then they all really enjoyed it. It has fun motions for the kids to do (shake finger, shake fists, stomp feet). They all thought it was hilarious. Story Time with Miss Tara has the cutest felt pieces to go with this one. I did not have the time or skill so I just printed out coloring pages onto card stock and glued felt to the back.

Flannel Board
These are gold. I made one following this tutorial. All you need is a cheap-y canvas, some felt/flannel, and a staple gun. I found the canvas and flannel at Michaels, the former on sale and the latter with a 40% coupon. Just stretch it around and staple it on!

Words that Start with C - You can download my images here. The set includes cow, candle, carrot, caterpillar, car, cloud, cat, cookie, crayon, and cup. I printed them on cardstock and glued them to felt.

Basic shapes patterns - I cut out squares, hearts, triangles, and circles, with two colors for each shape. I gave each kid a shape and had them take turns bringing them up to alternate colors and make a pattern.

Activities

• Color the letter C - Coloring is always a win. They all did so great with this. Download the printable from Mr. Printables.
• C is for cloud cotton balls - This was a surprising hit! All I did was cut cheap paper plates in a letter C and they used Elmer's Glue to stick cotton balls to it. At first they would hold out the cotton balls and we would dab glue on it, but eventually we switched to putting glue spots on the plate and they just added the cotton balls. Either way, they really ran with it which was so fun.

• Popsicle stick patterns - I found these foam sticks from Michaels and opted for them instead of popsicle ones because there were more in the package for a cheaper price, and they are soft, to boot! I printed cards from Learny McLearnerton (can we talk about how I love that name, too?) I only used the first page. The kids didn't use them at all, but they loved playing with the sticks. So we just let them do that and hopefully they got an idea about color and patterns?

• Sticker sheet patterns - These pattern cards have spaces for the kids to match stickers underneath. All you need is some cardstock and those round, colored label stickers.

• Cardboard bead threading - This idea comes from The Imagination Tree. It took a decent amount of prep work, collecting empty toilet paper and paper towel tubes and painting them. (Tip: I cut them first and then painted them. Dumb. I should have painted each tube and then cut). I spread them on the table and gave each child two pipe cleaners twisted together, with one tube tied to the end as a stopper. 

What I learned:

• Use snack time to your advantage. It's the only time they are sitting down and being quiet! And they pay attention so well. It's great to bring the flannel board back out and re-visit an earlier lesson or read a story to a captive audience.
• Have several different activities to try. It amazed me how some kids absolutely LOVED one activity and had no interest in another. Em and M totally loved gluing cotton balls, J hated it because it got on his hands. Lu and Linc were so into threading the beads, and L and J were coloring fiends (while M didn't pick up a crayon!).  Having multiple activities means that there will be something for everyone.
• Take a few minutes (no more than five) to sit down and explain each activity to the kids, let them try, and then move on to the next one. After you've done them all, put them all out and let the kids go back to the one that interests them and interact with it in their own way. Some kids really gravitated back to the flannel board, while others kept coloring, gluing, or threading. They were all spread out, but they were all doing something.
• Patterns are probably too advanced a concept for our barely 2-year-olds. It was a great review of colors and maybe a good introduction to patterns, but definitely above their heads. I just keep telling myself it's all about exposure and repetition over time, right?

After one month of tot school, I can truly say that we are loving it. We have gotten to the point where most of the mamas drop their kiddo and go, to run errands, tend to another little one, do homework, workout, etc. It's a great sanity break for us, and the kids are having a blast. The first few weeks there were a few tears, but now they are all excited to come and see each other and they are familiar with the general format (20 min. free play, clean up, 30 minute lesson, snack, 20 minute activity, end with more free play) and they are transitioning well from one thing to another. I love having the rotating teachers and seeing the different methods they try. I'm already excited for my next teaching turn in March! Let me know if you have any suggestions for the Letter I or Counting/Numbers.

Mama Monday: Starting a Tot School Co-op

Today I am so excited to share with you something we just started doing with some of Em's little friends - a Tot School Co-op!

What is "Tot School"? It's the most basic of lessons for little ones just starting to learn. We are talking, too young for pre-school or anything. It's less about providing an education per se, and more about first exposure to certain concepts.

A felt board is a great tool!

We are heading into our third week, so we are definitely not experts on this and learning as we go. But I thought I'd do a post now to show how we got started and then a follow-up later to see how things have changed. Hopefully this will come in handy if you're thinking about starting a co-op of your own!

1. Set a defined age range. We wanted to be sure the kids were all about the same stage developmentally. And we also needed a way to keep the group from growing and growing. Setting specific age ranges helped us accomplish this. Our group was born between Sept. 12 and May 13. We spoke with about 10 moms, but ultimately ended up going forward with seven. So far we are really pleased with this number. I think we could maybe add one more, or have one less, but it's a very good size.

2. Decide how often to meet. This can be tricky, based on everyone's different schedules. We got lucky and found a time that works great for everyone. We decided to start meeting just one morning per week, for two hours. We may increase that later, but it's a manageable place to start.

3. Assign everyone dates. Part of the goal of this group is to give some of the mamas a break. Most of them just had their second and could use some quality one-on-one time with the new baby. Keeping that in mind, we decided that each week, two moms will be "assigned" to stay - one teacher, and one assistant. And the others have some free time! That's in theory, anyway. As we get started there have been more than two at every class. The first week had five and the second had three that stayed the whole time (one did homework in another room and I ducked out halfway through to go for a quick run).

There's a few different ways you could do this. I'm assuming for these examples that you have six mamas available, like we do. You could have moms work in teams - one teaches, the other assists, and then they switch. You can space it out a little - you teach one week, off for two, assist the next week, off for two. Ultimately, we decided to put assignments back-to-back to make it easier to remember and to consolidate time off. That means that you teach, then you assist, then you're off for four weeks. And instead of teams, we staggered it to give us the opportunity to work with more people. Since we have six mamas, we decided to plan for the next 18 weeks, giving each mama three lessons to plan. Then we can decide to switch up the schedule, pick a new time, take a summer break, etc.

4. Come up with a basic lesson plan. We don't have a set schedule for each class, but we did decide on what activities would happen for each class. That means we have story time, singing time, snack time, a letter of the day, a lesson, and free play every class. We haven't figured out the perfect balance or order yet, but we're working on it. We have established that we start and end with free play, to give the kiddos something to do during parent drop-off and pick-up time. The rest we're still working on.

Here's the basic planning sheet we used. Feel free to download for your own use!

5. Pick out topics. We had a planning meeting two weeks before the first class. All the mamas got together and brought ideas for topics. We decided on the rotation order, giving preference to the 38-week pregnant mama about to pop. Then we went around the circle and you picked a topic until they were all chosen. Here's what our 18-week schedule looks like.

Our favorite resource for topics ideas was this one.

6. Come with the essentials. After some discussion, we decided that whoever was in charge of teaching that week was in charge of bringing supplies necessary for her lesson (crayons, paper, craft supplies, etc) and the assistant is in charge of the snack. We do have one mama who works full time and can't take a turn in the teaching rotation, so she offered to take one snack assignment from each of the other moms. We also decided that each child would bring some sort of backpack or box with things they might need - diapers, wipes, a change of clothes (if your child has a proclivity for getting into water fountains, like mine does), a comfort object (H. ALWAYS has her bunny), and a sippy cup. One mom was gracious enough to make cute little labels to put on all the stuff. The other essential? Make sure you have an emergency contact list with each mom's phone number and an emergency contact (dad, grandma, uncle, etc). We also noted allergies for snack purposes (H. is allergic to all nuts and dairy).

7. Trial and Error. This is where we are at! We are learning all kinds of things as we go. So far some of the things we've learned:

• Have defined spaces for different activities. We had everything in one room the first week and had some trouble transitioning from free play to lesson time. The following week, we had clean up time and closed the partition to keep the toys out of sight, out of mind. We bring a blanket to sit on for story/singing/lesson time, and we sit at the table for snacks.

• Each activity should be SHORT. Like... two minutes or less. That's about the attention span.
• Having the kids participate and take turns really helps. For example, one teacher had the kids each come get a Letter B picture and tape them to the door. They were all so excited to participate!

• This week as we sat down for snack time, we realized ALL the kids were quiet and still for pretty much the first time in their two-year-old lives. We jumped on the opportunity to re-visit the lesson (shapes) while they were eating. 

It's my turn to teach this week, so wish me luck! I'll see how things go and then post my lesson plan and resource links next week. Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions!