Preschool Days

Today was the first day of our preschool program.  Some friends from church and I all knew that we wanted to start doing some preschool activities at home with our kids this year. They range in age from 2-3 (with birthdays for all of them from November-February so they are closer to 3-4).  They are bright kids who have already been doing some preschool stuff at home or are involved in Sunday School, Community Bible Study, or Children's Church.  They are familiar with routines and being in a structured learning environment at least 1 day a week.  We came to the conclusion that since we were going to do the same things at home and had the same goals we should start our own little preschool co-op.  We will take turns teaching the kids at our homes once a week then doing supplemental stuff with them at home to reinforce what they are learning.  We want to teach a letter a week, a number, a Bible story, teach calendar and weather activities, and of course do some fun and messy craft projects too.  I had the first day. I was beyond excited to break out all of my kindergarten materials from my former life.  I have so much stuff in my garage and every time Mr.G nags me about getting rid of it I can convince him that it's good stuff that will come in handy someday. Well, today was that day.  We worked on Aa, the #1, and The Creation Story.  We used finger paints and Bingo dotters.  We sang and danced.  We used glue, pencils, and crayons. We read a story about an apple tree and had apples for a snack.  We practiced reading our names. We had a busy morning filled with fun and learning.  It was a great day and I am happy with how it went.  They were eager students and so independent.  I am excited about the weeks to come and all the learning that will be taking place.  Ian was excited to share what he learned today with Mr.G.  He was singing this little tune before bed time: "apple, apple, /a/ /a/ /a/".  It just melts my heart.

Time to make apple trees

Let's learn how Aa is formed by using Bingo dotters

Snack time

Learning to write #1