Introduction - How We Teach

This is our second year doing our preschool co-op. Last year we started with colors, then focused on a letter a week, going through the alphabet in ABC order. After that, we did numbers, and ended the year learning about our 5 senses and an All About Me week. It worked great for the 3-4 year olds.

This year our goal is to get them more kindergarten-ready and now that they are familiar with all the letters, we can put more focus on the sounds and blending the sounds together to begin reading. We still love the idea of making learning fun and try to include lots of songs, books, crafts, games, etc.

Another idea we think important is field trips and have decided to go on one every week (we did this last year as well). It gets the kids out in the world, thinking, seeing, and learning things in a way you can not get any other way.

We meet every Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Wednesday is field trip day and we do a new letter every Monday and Friday. There are four mothers and we rotate teaching every week. After two weeks (4 letters), we have a review week where they can begin blending. The Wednesday of Review Week is a Fun Day where we do activities that go along with any holidays in that month. Basically, it allows us to teach 2 lessons every month and everyone has an opportunity for Review Week. All parents go on the field trips.

For each letter we have an action that lets them remember the sound. Example- A is "Aaaaa!" and you throw your hands up in the air. When they see that letter, that is what they think of to help them remember sounds. We have decided to teach the letters in an order that will allow them to begin forming words early on. Our order is the following-
M T A S D I F R Th L O N P E H V Sh U B K C G J W Ch X Z Qu Wh Y

We have a morning routine that we each do at the beginning of every day. It includes -
Roll Call- the kids get to take their name or picture and stick it to the board
Pledge of Allegiance- one child invites everyone to stand and place their hand over heart
Calendar - We sing the Months of the year song* and a child gets to pick the month to put on calendar
- We sing the Days of the Week song and a child gets to pick the Day to put on calendar
- We sing a Today/Yesterday/Tomorrow song* to review
- And a child gets to write or choose the number for the date.
Weather Chart - they get to decide and move the arrows to what the weather is like
Sing ABCs

After we sing the ABCs we highlight the letter we will be learning and introduce the sound/action. We also want them to practice writing the letters and give them a 'trace/write the letter' worksheet.

This is what we do at the beginning of every lesson before it is up to whoever's week it is to plan activities that go along with that sound or words that begin with that letter.

We each use our own calendar, and if you check back next week I'll try to get some pictures of our charts/calendars we use to give you ideas on what you can do! Also I'll try to get the kids singing the days of the week song. It is so simple and the kids learned it really quickly!

*Months song (sung to Here We Are Together name song)
These are the months, the months of the year
There's January, February, March, and April
Oh these are the months, the months of the year.
There's May, and June, July, and August
Oh these are the months, the months of the year.
September, October, November, December
Oh these are the months, the months of the year.

*Today/Yesterday song (sung to Frere Jacques)
Today is ______
Today is ______
All day long, All day long
Yesterday was ________
Tomorrow is _________
Oh what fun, Oh what fun