How to "teach" a preschool program / theme based programs...?

[playfelt]

That is a great blog. Love the ideas. Think I might even include a few links like that in handouts I give to parents so that they can see there are other ways to do things out there with evidence they work besides the "traditional" letter of the week or theme week method.

[Inspired by Reggio]

Shhhh .... I still do Jolly Phonics in my program

However I do not do it as 'intended' by the manufacturer ... I do two letters a MONTH but introduce them in the order of the 'phonics' because that is how frequent those sounds are heard in our lives ... SATPIN and so forth verses ABC .... I do it where I set the environment to reinforce those letters over the course of the month with new foods or new songs or books and I do not do the 'worksheets' that come with the program instead we play other hands on ways to reinforce the literacy and prewriting component around those letters and letter sounds

[sunnydays]

Thanks Reggio! I am a new provider...only in it one year now and I have felt pressure to do themes, etc, but it just never seemed right for the care that I want to provide. You have said it so perfectly! Kids used to just be kids and play all day often without adults around. My fondest memories are of the hours upon hours I spent either alone or with my brother or friends playing on the beach (we lived on the ocean)...we used kelp to make pretend food or to play doctor and perform surgery or to make a slippery slide to slide on etc. I didn't start school until 6 as there was no kindergarten in the rural area I lived in. Once i started, I learned so fast that I did two grades in one year and jumped ahead...I loved learning! THAT is what I want for my kids and hte kids in my care. I could teach them their ABC's etc right now...my 22 month old knows some letters, but is it meaningful to a toddler or preschooler? Do they actually understand what letters are for or are they just reciting them by memory with no meaning attached? I think the latter. I want them to love books...to love learning...to be creative and think for themselves. They will have many years of being forced to sit and learn in school ( I was bored to tears once we moved from our small community and I was no longer allowed to learn at my own pace...I hated school, not because I was not smart, but because it was boring and meaningless most of the time). Oh, and Reggio, I am glad you mentioned about the crafts. I have many a time been dismayed at the crafts presented at playgroups for the "kids" to do. Most of the time the parents or caregivers have to do all or most of the work and then the kids take it home and present it as theirs. I have told parents that I do not want to have MY artwork and crafts hanging on their fridges, so my crafts are always simple and allow for creativity. If I child wants to colour a sun black instead of yellow or orange, who am I to say no? Today we coloured paper eggs with bingo dabbers...they were supposed to dab on the circles provided, but I certainly did not object when they dabbed all over front and back...they were having so much fun and mixing colours etc. I don't care what the finished product looks like...the point is they did it themselves and enjoyed doing it

[Inspired by Reggio]

One of the great things about living in Ontario is the government is currently doing its own big PUSH on the benefits of Play Based Learning with the new full day kindergarten programs ... there are lots of resources to help share with parents!

I got to hear Bill Tucker (Director of Education ) speak at a conference and teachers are even being retrained to not use THEMES that are planned out for the year but rather go with the 'emergent interests' of the group .... so hopefully this will eventually trickle down to parents soon as they see the value of learning coming out of the ELK programs who are using the proper 'new model' of curriculum.... and the better news is that the schools that ran the pilot programs for the 'play based learning' are seeing it bounce UP into grade one and two where teachers have less 'desk time' and more 'centres explorations' where kids can move around the room exploring at their own pace and learning styles and they are getting BETTER results with 'test scores' cause unfortunately we cannot get entirely away from that in the 'education system'!

[playfelt]

I do the letters in order each month as in one per day and then the story I have picked is based on that letter. That is as much as we do with the alphabet for the age group I have. So on P day we might read a book about pigs or pickles or pancakes. And then do activities based on the book.

I do shapes and colours as part of my seasonal time.

Instead of a long circletime I do 3-4 per morning with each lasting about 5-10 minutes with a different topic/subject for each one. That way I cover seasons, themes of interest to the kids, science, and a topic of my choosing to introduce something new.

[angelina]

i thought i am rouge, since i do not follow any themes, but i realized most of you support play base learning - or simply put "let them be kids".

i've read the preschool curriculum, and gather tidbits which is useful in my PLAN. With pre-schoolers, most of the PLAN goes to trash, but thankfully here comes what we CAN.

There is routine in my care, there are learning centers, but the most important of all, I allow flexiblity. I develop active kids, healthy minds principle by pushing more physical activity.
I call my business Active Kids Daycare. My main component is fun + nature exploration. Depends on my group, I am very outing oriented; storytime at library, OEYC playgroups, NCC pathways and some adventures along the abandoned trained tracks.

Basically, numeracy is learned by counting your bean bags for bean bag toss.
Colors are learned through outdoor observation. Green leaves, brown bug, green caterpillar.
Days of the week are learned base on our outing theme:example: wednesdays are going to O-train day, friday associate with pajama day.
letters are learned by finger painting your names.
play dough is messy, home made measured by toddlers.
spring/summer is learned by working in my backyard garden.
they learn to raise their own veggies and harvest them, and taste them.

I have a fitness leader background, so i created a program for them, structured for around 45 minutes a day. simple standing on one foot, imitating animals and integrating to action songs. it is actually funny and comical. we also sing the OEYC songs at home. We love the action songs. You can integrate this in your programming - even without fitness background. Just listen to children songs, give them maraccas and voila, they are dancing.

I have yet to try my ZUMBA for kids, as I just finished my instructor training last week. it looks fun, but i think my 3 year old need more transition from our silly dance, to an actual structured 1 hour.

There are more observation needed and working around ---- what you can with them. i notice that kids remember what you teach them, when they have fun! So, i program around play and fun stuff.

My story time includes opening a big back felt board, and i sit on the couch. I bought the animal collection of felt story from CCPRN. The kids run my story time, and I sit with my coffee. They tell me about the pig that said, OINK. and they found bingo the dog - and they started singing BINGO! and they found ducks who said QUACk, and they stop for a while. They tell me they had fun this morning because we visit the duck pond. As one parent walk in, I ask her to grab a coffee/water from the kitchen and listen to story time.

Most of my story time is base on our outings in the morning block. If we have a day at the airport, I give them the airplane shapes.....and they will tell me about the planes they saw. the small ones, the big ones, the ones that fly..the one with the luggage. You have no idea how fun this story time is and i have been doing this for a long time. My youngest 2 year old, he talks about a garbage truck - regardless if our topic is airplane or library.

I agree with someone above - let them be kids and they will teach you a very valuable lesson in life.

Angie

[Momof4]

I think daily activities are a learning experience. I often have parents ask about programs...even for babies. What about just being a kid!

I love this part of your post. But my themes are lots of fun for us and it keeps me inspired to change up the songs and stories and crafts and to remember that I'm also a teacher, not just a chef and bum changer. I believe in freeplay too but I have a boy who just went to JK and he came to visit on his PD day and was so excited to tell me that his JK teacher is talking about dinosaurs and she was so proud of him for his knowledge that he learned from ME!