I recently received a comment on a post (my only comment) asking how I chose my books for the month and if I incorporated activities to go along with the books. So I wanted to take a moment to explain how I prepare my material.
First, I base the basic theme of the month based on the previous monthly calendars from the girls previous school. I like knowing that they are staying on track with what they would have been doing if we hadn't pulled them out.
These previous calendars list 1-4 books that they use for the month broken down by age groups. I try and purchase what I can find off Amazon. Then I search through our personal stash of books to see what else fits into the monthly theme.
For example, for the month of June we are using The Nose Book
because it will work with our sense of smell when we get to that week. This is just a little board book we already owned.
As far as activities to go along with the books... yes, I search for material that goes along with what we are reading. I don't find crafts for every book but I do for at least 2 or 3 of the books on our list. Repetition and reinforcement is what gets children to learn!
When we first started setting up the preschool I had Reese pick out some books that she had read in class and so we bought The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and The Big Hungry Bear
I had no plans for this book when I first got it but Reese LOVES it! It just so happens I planned strawberries into the June calendar and voila! This book made our reading list for the month! I found numerous activities to go along with this book. There is a fun scented strawberry craft here, a magnet page here, cut & paste here, math activities here, & literacy activities here.
To go along with our reading of the Little Mouse, Red Ripe Strawberry & Big Hungry Bear the girls love acting out the song 'Goin' on a Bear Hunt' from the CD Kids In Action
To here samples of the songs on this CD click here
*I actually bought this cd because this song was part of Reese's ballet recital and we loved it so much! The girls also love doing the beanie bag dance on it :)
It may be hard to see what material from my lesson coordinates to a book unless you sit down and go through my material. Maybe color coordinating activities to books would help others see it easier.
However, that is more work for me and I am lacking on the blog comments. I am not sure I will continue posting all this material for others since I am not getting much response to my blog posts. I don't mind posting my actual calendars because I am already making those for myself. But sitting down and posting links to everything I have planned takes time and I would like to know it is appreciated before continuing. I posted June and will post July because friends showed interest on my Facebook but my material isn't even getting pinned on Pinterest.
So please...if you want to see material past the month of July, leave me a comment on my blog! Show some love :)
Stay tuned for July ... coming up soon!
5 comments:
I would love copies of some of some of your worksheets and such! Obviously I could never get everything done you do but I know as Abigail turns two some of this will be more applicable. I love the laminating and dry erase (stealing that for my own class btw).
Thank you so much for taking the time to comment! I makes my heart smile knowing I'm helping people :)
Wow! Such a great post. I so like it!The babies are really cute. Thanks for sharing and keep posting.
Thanks for sharing! Please keep posting I recently stumbled upon your blog and have found it so helpful as I am planning on preschool at home for my 3.5 year old.
Wonderful! Glad you found my blog!!
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