The Governess Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 I am starting K with dd5 in August. Dd3 is actually not 3 for another month, so she will be newly 3 when we start our year. She'll be in a morning preschool two mornings a week for 2.5 hours per day. I want to work with her at home the other three mornings for around 30 minutes a day, and will need some independent activities for her as well, for when dd5 and I are doing math, phonics, etc. I'm having a hard time putting a plan together, because dd5 was in such a different place when she was this age. She learned to read when she was barely 3, and I never actually taught her her letter sounds, alphabet, colors, etc. Dd3 still has problems identifying colors accurately, and only recognizes a few letters. So I want to gently help her with these over the next year, but am realizing that I am less experienced in this area than I thought I was. ;) Here is a list of resources I already have at home and am planning to use: kumon let's cut paper/let's paste books HWOT preschool workbook starfall.com I will be purchasing these soon: Leapfrog letter factory dvds smartwrite software for tracing letters, etc. We also have lacing cards and many other fine motor activities, playdoh, tons of art supplies, etc. that she can use, but if she's doing anything too fun while dd5 is doing her math that's not going to go over too well. :D So these will mostly be used during independent playtime. She will also be sitting in on read-alouds with dd5 (we are using TOG) and my goal is spend at least 20 minutes a day reading to her one-on-one. So, any other resources for this age that you loved and thought were developmentally appropriate? Thanks!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrissiK Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 I didn't do a ton of stuff with my kids when they were that age, but we did a lot of unit studies. Lots of holiday/seasonal stuff. You can pretty much make it through the year just on the monthly holidays and seasons. I found a lot of free craft ideas and printables from DLTK's websites that were great for that age. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 Why does a barely 3yo need so much structure? I say let the child have free play with color pages, various markers, crayons, scissors, paste... Don't feel like this child must keep up with their older sibs milestones. Let them be 3, and experience the creativity, discovery and newness that this age offers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emmy Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 My youngest son will be 3 at the end of July and is in a similar place. He knows most of his colors but occasionally gets red/green mixed up. He can count sometimes - sometimes not LOL. He recognizes a few letters but no sounds (which I wouldn't expect). I really have no preschool plans for him for this year other than reading to him lots, free art time with crayons or markers or do-a-dots or paints, and lots of creative play (lincoln logs, duplos, play food and kitchen, sandbox and matchbox cars, etc. I will probably get out the leapfrog dvds for him when he's 4 if he still doesn't know his alphabet. No criticism, just wanted to share my thoughts since I have one close in age and ability to yours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Governess Posted June 24, 2009 Author Share Posted June 24, 2009 Why does a barely 3yo need so much structure? I say let the child have free play with color pages, various markers, crayons, scissors, paste... Don't feel like this child must keep up with their older sibs milestones. Let them be 3, and experience the creativity, discovery and newness that this age offers. I definitely am not expecting her to keep up with dd5, they are *very* different children. And she does get free play time daily with her crayons, markers, paint, stamps, etc. and loves it. But she's at the point now where she is showing interest in identifying letters and numbers, counting, etc., so I thought it would be fun to do some things with her. :001_smile: Dd5 is a much more demanding personality than dd3, so I think that actually scheduling 30 min a day to spend as my special time with dd3 is important. What we do during that time doesn't have to all be academic, I was thinking that 10 minutes would be academic (numbers, letters, etc.) and the rest working on fine motor skills, puzzles, games, etc. that are fun for her, three times a week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Governess Posted June 24, 2009 Author Share Posted June 24, 2009 I didn't do a ton of stuff with my kids when they were that age, but we did a lot of unit studies. Lots of holiday/seasonal stuff. You can pretty much make it through the year just on the monthly holidays and seasons. I found a lot of free craft ideas and printables from DLTK's websites that were great for that age. Thanks for the suggestion! I will google those websites. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa in the UP of MI Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 My son will be 3.5yo in the fall when I start K with my dd. Mostly he'll just tag along with dd, but I'll also be doing activities from Montessori Read and Write. I used this book with my dd and it was a big hit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Governess Posted June 24, 2009 Author Share Posted June 24, 2009 My youngest son will be 3 at the end of July and is in a similar place. He knows most of his colors but occasionally gets red/green mixed up. He can count sometimes - sometimes not LOL. He recognizes a few letters but no sounds (which I wouldn't expect). I really have no preschool plans for him for this year other than reading to him lots, free art time with crayons or markers or do-a-dots or paints, and lots of creative play (lincoln logs, duplos, play food and kitchen, sandbox and matchbox cars, etc. I will probably get out the leapfrog dvds for him when he's 4 if he still doesn't know his alphabet. No criticism, just wanted to share my thoughts since I have one close in age and ability to yours. Thank you! It does sound like they are at the same place developmentally. It's good to hear another mom's perspective. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mama2girls Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 We had fun with Before Five in a Row this year, I would take the story and build a theme for the week. My daughter loved the weeks we did "Going on a Bear Hunt" and "The Big Green Pocketbook" especially. HTH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamato4girls Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 Heart of Dakota Little Hands to Heaven Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiff in TX Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 We had fun with Before Five in a Row this year, I would take the story and build a theme for the week. My daughter loved the weeks we did "Going on a Bear Hunt" and "The Big Green Pocketbook" especially. HTH. My DD2 is the same age as your DD... she will be 3 in 5 days. I have already started planning stuff from Before Five in a Row (BFIAR) and it looks to be a lot of fun. I might do more... possibly LHTH or WP (Ready to learn). Right now we do Kumon workbooks and read a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Governess Posted June 25, 2009 Author Share Posted June 25, 2009 My son will be 3.5yo in the fall when I start K with my dd. Mostly he'll just tag along with dd, but I'll also be doing activities from Montessori Read and Write. I used this book with my dd and it was a big hit. Thanks for this suggestion! I think I'm going to look into this book, as well as OPGTR and Slow and Steady for some activity ideas. :001_smile: We had fun with Before Five in a Row this year, I would take the story and build a theme for the week. My daughter loved the weeks we did "Going on a Bear Hunt" and "The Big Green Pocketbook" especially. HTH. Heart of Dakota Little Hands to Heaven These look great! I don't think I want to add a whole curriculum though, since dd3 will be sitting in on history and science read-alouds with dd5 and will be doing a lot of the projects with her. I just don't have time to do any more planning! Ugh. I am SO done with planning for this coming year. :D teach her songs like "I'm a little tea pot", "Head, shoulders, knees and toes" or "5 speckled frogs". Roll a ball back and forth on the ground. Count or say the ABC's as you pass it. Put colored paper on the floor and take turns telling the other person what color to jump on. Get rice in bulk and then let her play with a bunch of it in a big rubber-made bin. do puzzles together Teach her the first letter of her name and see how many places you can find it. Choose a "color of the day" and see how many things in the house you can find of that color. This Fall I will be doing LHTH with 3 yo dd because I want to give her that specific one on one time. She love doing "preschool" with me. The things I listed above are what we have been doing but I am running out of ideas, which is why I got LHTH. These are all great ideas! I'm copying them into a word document for future reference. :D Has anyone used the Rod and Staff preschool workbooks? The descriptions sound promising. I'm thinking between those workbooks, the resources I already have, and some fun activities/manipulatives/games like those Cadam suggested I'll have all the bases covered. I would love to hear from anyone who has actually used the R&S workbooks, though!! Thank you all soooo much for your input, I think I'm close to having this figured out!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.