Week 2 Gratitude

This week we talked about gratitude. We talked about being thankful to our Heavenly Father for his blessings.  I started by reading the book Thankful Together by Holly Davis.  This book talks about blessings in our day and how we should pray in gratitude for each of them.

After reading about gratitude, we put together some simple gratitude books. We took a walk outside and collected things we are grateful for (leaves, mint, grass, even a rock).  And then we taped them inside our books.  Two days later we did art with stickers, choosing pictures of things for which we are grateful.

What really brought the lesson home for my daughter was singing "I Am Glad For Many Things", song #151 in the Children's Songbook.  After we learned the song she seemed to really understand that we should say Thank You for our blessings.

A couple follow-up activities: at bedtime we list three things we're grateful for.  Putting up a large sheet of paper and making a collage of things we're grateful for.

Later we focused on math, and did number matching for 10 to 15.

Week 1 Emotions

I want my daughter to have an aptitude for emotions.  So what can I teach her about emotions that would allow her to identify how she is feeling and some appropriate responses.  Here are things I asked myself:
1. What emotions should I identify?
2. What causes these emotions?
3. What are good ways to express our emotions?

I decided to identify sad, embarrassed, happy, mad/angry, scared, surprised, and bored (I hear that she's bored way too often).

I cut out some circles and drew on faces, I'm no artist.  However, this was simple and effective.  I cut out some extra circles for my toddler to play with while I was teaching.

First, we identified the emotions on the faces.  Second, I gave examples of what might cause us to feel each of the emotions.  Last, we talked about appropriate behavior.  When we are mad it's not okay to hurt others.  When we are bored we should be patient.  When we are scared we can ask for help.  When we are sad it is okay to cry. Then we read My Many Colored Days, by Dr. Seuss.  I really wanted to read The Way I Feel, by Jana Cain (great book!), but the library didn't have it in.

My princess is really into stories right now.  So to wrap up the lesson I told a story about a trip to the park.  All along the way things happened that caused an emotion and I let her choose which emotion it would cause.

• We were riding our bikes to the park. How did that make you feel? Happy
• But we had to wait for our neighbors to catch up to us. How did that make you feel? Bored
• While we were riding, you fell off your bike and scratched your knee. How did that make you feel? Sad
• When we got to the park your friend Isaac was there.  How did that make you feel? Surprised 

Afterwards we made a bar graph for the numbers 1-10.  I needed to step away in the middle and she got a little bored, hence 10 was never finished.

This is the special space we put together for school.  She already loves school.

UPDATE: Here's a link to a story about a Turkey that learns to deal with his temper -- The Turkey with the Terrible Temper.

Preschool

This summer I realized my oldest starts kindergarten next year, What?!  Time to get on the preschool train, pronto.  I considered the options: paying for school, co-op preschool, home preschool.  Putting together a co-op was quickly the top of my list, but with time and transportation constraints, not to mention finding other moms looking for a co-op, it didn't work out.  In the end we are starting our own home preschool.

First things first, I put together a teaching schedule.  I looked through the curriculum standards for kindergarten and first grade and put together a basic outline of things my princess needed to learn for success moving forward. Our school started the first week of October, so you may need to realign the topics -- if you want Christmas to fall on the week of Christmas. My princess is already familiar with the numbers 1-10, I want her to learn to count higher.  This schedule is geared towards her in that respect, you can modify the schedule to fit the needs of your student.

Preschool Outline
Week #	Letter		Number	Topics	Shapes
Week 1	Jj	1-10		Emotions		Heart
Week 2	Cc	11		Gratitude		Triangle
Week 3	Ww	12		Autumn		Square
Week 4	Hh	13		My Body		Diamond
Week 5	Dd	14		Where I Live - Town		Circle
Week 6	Aa	15		Where I Live - State/USA		Oval
Week 7	Ss	16		Opposites		Rectangle
Week 8	Ee	17		Manners		Octagon
Week 9	Ff	18		Winter		Hexagon
Week 10	Nn	19		5 Senses		Cube
Week 11	Bb	20		5 Senses continued		Sphere
Week 12	Gg	20s		Jesus, Christmas
Week 13	Tt	30s		Sharing
Week 14	Kk	40s		Instruments
Week 15	Mm	50s		Animals - Farm
Week 16	Ii	60s		Animals - Jungle		Repeat Shapes
Week 17	Xx, Zz	70s		Rainbows
Week 18	Qq	80s		Color Mixing
Week 19	Uu	90s		Valentines
Week 20	Rr	100		Families
Week 21	Oo	Review		Spring
Week 22	Vv	Discuss # Patterns		Gardening
Week 23	Pp			Flowers
Week 24	Yy			Helping Others
Week 25	Ll			Kindergarten

To help facilitate learning I put together a simple learning poster. Things I wanted to focus on included shape, color, number, sight reading words (here's a list), letters, main topic, and then maybe simple rhyming.  So I glued some colored paper onto a posterboard and laminated it (helps it last longer). Here's what I ended up with:

 Simple, yet effective!

Another idea, which I'm unable to implement, is making a daily schedule.  A daily schedule allows for expectation and routine, both of which help children flourish.

Let the teaching begin.