Tot School - Sept 26 - Nursery Rhymes

We talked about nursery rhymes today in tot school.  I would love for the kids to start learning them, so I sing them over and over whenever I can.  Today, one of my kiddos told me, "Miss Amanda, you already sang that one." in a very exasperated voice.  Hahaha!  It was quite funny to me.  We started the day with a little crayon drawing and water color resist painting.  Eeks - which reminds me that their art is still hanging on the fence to dry.  I best scamper back there and gather their books before they get ruined.

 We also played with bubbles and the knock over the cans game from back to school night.  We went inside for a little bit today and mostly played with the musical instruments (as loudly as possible it seemed), Duplos, and wooden Pattern Blocks.  Then we headed back outside to enjoy the sunshine. 

Tot School - Sept 19 - Animals

I loved learning about the letter A and talking about animals at Tot School when we met on Sept 19th.  We started with playing outside as we have been doing for many weeks past.  We played with animal hand puppets and animal finger puppets.  After we washed our hands and had our snack we played downstairs for the rest of our time together.

 We're transitioning to spending part of our time inside and part of our time outside so when the weather is crummy the kids aren't surprised by a different play location.  We did animal puzzles, practiced the letter A book and colored it, and played with all sorts of toys!

Tot School Sept 12 - Dentist

Tot School was so much fun today.  We learned the letter T and talked all about the dentist.  We talked about our body parts and that we have teeth in our mouths.  We decided that teeth are white and had a fun craft activity where we painted egg carton teeth white.

 We are also still working on counting to 5 and played our first "Hop Along the Path" game with the big number mats.

Another fun activity we did was playing with colored masking tape and trying to put in on our papers.  

Tot School Feelings

Yesterday I gained possession of a toddler lawn mower that blows bubbles.  After tot school today I joked with a mom that maybe next week I'll have 7 of them - one per kiddo.  They loved that thing, and would you believe that I REALLY want to take it apart and see how its designed?  For real.  All bubble blowers die really fast at my house, they get left out in the rain and are used so excessively that they are sticky and ruin the motor because they are unclean-able.  This lawn mower comes with instructions to clean it out with the hose, so I have high hopes that it will live forever.  I'd bet the kids have the same high hopes. I was a broken record today in regards to sharing the the bubble blowing lawn mower.  "It's so-and-so's turn right now.  I see that you'd like another turn.  Wait just a minute and you can play again.  That's how we share." ...and repeat. 

 We also painted, practiced knocking down the monster cans, and practiced pouring our own water at snack time after all washing up in the sink first.  Everyone washing their hands is a parade of sorts.  They get so excited about it.  If you have a young child I highly suggest the hands-free foam soap dispensers.  They are a life saver and the kids love to use them.  After snack we played in the basement for about 30 minutes before heading outside again.  Since it was so wet from the rain outside there were certain toys and books I wanted to share with the group but not leave on the wet grass all morning.  We played puppets, read stories, explored the numbers 1-5, reviewed the letter M, and found extra toys to play with.

The mini Hungry Hungry Hippos game (bottom left picture) is my favorite picture from today.  Those two were having a blast playing the game together.  We're all in the stage of learning to share and take turns.  That picture is proof that we're headed in a good direction! Have a great week!  I look forward to talking about the Dentist next week!

Tot School Sharing and Manners

What an amazing day of tot school! Today we learned all about manners.  We talked about the letter M making the /m/ sound, we did handprint art, read an M book, and made placemats.

 We talked a lot about sharing and being soft with our hands and bodies.  We played with play dough and Duplos.  We also pulled out the number 1-5 mats and hopped on them the same number of times as the number that was printed on it.

Tot School Tools

We had a delightful first day of the Tot School year.  Our theme today was school tools and it was so fun to introduce a variety of items and start showing kids how to use the tools.  We had blocks and play dough and the water table to get us started.  I now have a class set of play dough scissors and I was able to work with multiple children today in showing them how to hold scissors.  Of course, it's a skill that has to be practiced and practiced - today was just an introduction.  

 One of the fun aspects of tot school is that it is totally individually led.  I set out a variety of activities and kids choose where they want to spend their time.  When an activity is looking like the kids are done with it I put it away and get out something new.

 We also all had help in pouring our water today for snack time.  As we practice more and more the kids will be able to do their own pouring.  It will be a wet experience at first, but we always get better with practice.  I love giving Cheerios for snack time accompanied with a pipe cleaner.  Toddlers have a great time threading the cereal onto their pipe cleaner and it's wonderful small motor skill practice.

 After snack and lots of block building we pulled out the paint. We learned about the dot painters first.  They are great because they have easy to open and close screw caps. Then we moved onto stamps and stamp pads.  I forgot how much training is required to teach kids the correct side of the stamp to push onto the stamp pad and then press onto the paper.  Next came the paint and paint brushes.

We got messy and really enjoyed our time together. We ended the day with story time. I pulled out a variety of board books for the kids to look at and made a class book with each person's picture and name from our class.  When I read our class book out loud kids came running to see themselves in our book. I made a copy for each child and sent it home in their folders to read all week long.  It was a great first day!

Tot School Summer Friends

We have had an amazing summer with our tot school friends.  Today we got to celebrate all the fun parts of being friends.  We started with a giant painting easel made from two 2x4 tables turned on their sides.   

 My youngest (whom we call Arrow) is exactly like her brother.  Man, I'm sure there is a blog post from 6 years ago where he has paint all over his leg as well.

Yep - Here is a picture of Arrow's big brother EMan, just about 5 years ago...

Back to today: We also drew with chalk on the fence and I loved when one of the little boys declared that he wrote his name, so cute and proof that he's ready for the fall where we ramp up our learning of letters and writing/drawing.

We also played with the parachute and a bunch of soft balls.  The kids had a complete blast with this activity!  Thank you for sharing your summer with me!