This was originally posted last year, but I wanted to repost since it was so popular. (And possibly because I'm being exceptionally lazy...)
As a former teacher, I started circle time at home with my kids. I
bought a complete pack that would include everything I would need for
the next few years. Yes, I could have made it cheaper and cuter, but
this was so much easier and with two toddlers at home, I didn't want to.
When we started circle time it was only 2-3 minutes long. We kept
increasing it so that by the time they were 3 years old, they could sit
and focus for around 12 minutes. I should state that when I say sit and
focus it includes many different activities and songs, not just being
still and listening.
We
started when the kids were 21 months old with just the calendar. At
first we didn't even pay attention to the numbers. We started with a
simple AB pattern using colors. Once the kids could continue the pattern
independently, we did start counting the numbers on the calendar as
well. Following the patten and counting the numbers while pointing at
them
also teaches an important pre-reading skill... left to right and top to
bottom. Knowing this is how we follow text is crucial to reading when
the time is right. Eventually we moved onto other patterns and focusing
on the day of the week.
I taught them a song about the
Days of the Week - pointing at each word as we sang it. We would figure
out what day it was and then add that to the strips you see above the
calendar. Pointing at the current day, moving back one for yesterday,
and forward one (from today) for tomorrow to help them visualize the
time. By using the phrases "Yesterday was..." "Today is..." and
"Tomorrow will be..." will seem repetitive, but it's a great way to
teach proper grammar.
Once this was all going well, we
added a song about the Months. I held up the words and pointed as we
sang each one. This is beginning word recognition.
At
the same time we started the calendar, I introduced these two concepts
as well. The weather one is fairly self explanatory - we look outside
and move the arrow to what the weather is that day. I also taught my
kids the Water Cycle Song. It's a great way to introduce evaporation,
condensation, and precipitation all of which are directly related to the
weather.
We also talk about the seasons. Rather than
introducing them all at once, we started with the current season
(Summer) and talked about what happens. I introduced each season as we
came upon it so it took a full year before they knew all 4 seasons. They
can even tell you 3-4 things that happen in each season as a way to
help remember it. "Summer is hot, hot, hot and we wear sunscreen." "In
Autumn the leaves change colors and fall off the trees." "In Winter we
wear coats and it might snow." "In Spring trees grow leaves and flowers
bloom." There are more, but you get the idea. This, of course, depends
on where you live. If we lived in Canada, I would be able to promise
snow in the Winter.
We
didn't add graphing for a full year after starting the other things. I
would love to say this was a good idea, but honestly I put it off too
long. I should have introduced graphing much earlier. We graph the
weather over the course of the month, the number of books by specific
authors on the bookshelf, and above is a graph of what vehicles drive by
our street. This is a great way to introduce collecting data, graphing,
more/less/equal, and interpreting information.
We
also keep track of the number of days in school. Of course, this
actually is just a count of how many times we have done circle time.
While this obviously teaches counting, it later helps teach other
things. We added a discussion on place value, carrying in addition, and
counting up from a number other than 1. It's much more difficult for a
child to start counting at 12, 23, or 64. We also decided that once we
got to 250 we should start over again. That's more than enough days in a
"school year."
When
the kids were 33 months old, they became fascinated with money. They
knew that Daddy goes to work to make money and that things cost money.
Yet, it isn't very often they actually saw money. We tend to pay for
things with our card and between auto bill pay and online shopping, it
was all very abstract. We learned a song (notice the theme) about each
of the coins and this was the same time we introduced family
contributions (jobs they do because they are part of the family) and
chores (jobs they can do to make money). I will get into that in another
post.
