Just agreed to teach FIAR type classes for PreK, K and 1st at co-op...help.

[5LittleMonkeys]

I've briefly read about FIAR and love the idea of it but have never actually used it. I have adapted the ideas for ds5...for example, we read If You Give a Moose of Muffin, talked about the sequence of events in the book, looked at pictures of real moose and what areas they live in, made a sock puppet, baked muffins, made small paper muffins to use as counters for some math games, and drew some pictures of moose.

 

I'm thinking that I could do something similar for these classes...there's a PreK class (3 to young 5's) and a K-1st class (older 5's to 6). I'd like to just do one storybook for both classes but adjust the activities for the different age groups and just do one book per co-op day (so 12 total). Each class is only an hour so we would only be able to do one or two short activities per story.

 

So, what do you all think? Do-able? Anyone happen to already do something similar in a co-op setting? Also, any resources out there I could use that are free?

[kolamum]

People use FIAR in a co-op setting all the time, does your library have the manuals?

 

You could check out HSS for free unit studies that follow a FIAR type feeling. They are NOT the FIAR units, all though you will find free notebooks/lapbooks to go with the FIAR books as well as some of the other unit studies there. :D

 

You can check the studies via age so that might be useful in your situation. :)

[Caribbean Queen]

This site has ideas.

http://www.homeschoolshare.com/level1.php

 

You need to plan a lot more activities. It will take 2 minutes to read the book and they only will want to do crafts for so long. They may want to do the craft for less than 10 minutes. It doesn't take 10 minutes to mix muffin batter, either. You must always, always, always have something for them to do. If the room has toys, or you can bring plenty, play time is a good activity.

 

Little children like songs with actions. They like games in which no one is "out' and no one loses. If you want to use winning and losing games with the 3-5 y/o class let me know so I can talk you out of it.

 

Here are some hits:

 

London Bridge

Duck Duck Goose (hands in their laps, not resting on the floor behind them where they may be stepped on)

Follow the Leader (Everyone will want a turn to be the leader. Do it sitting down in a circle if they are rowdy.)

Simon Says (but no "out")

Hokey Pokey

Guess What Animal I am Acting Like

Edited December 20, 2011 by Caribbean Queen

[woolybear]

Have you been to the Five in a Row message boards? They might be helpful over there.

 

www.fiveinarow.com/forum

[Stellalarella]

Finding a used copy of FIAR vol. 1 or BFIAR would be a good investment. The "new" copies they sell of FIAR are really just a new picture cover.

 

I've done FIAR for over 2 years now with my little kids, and I would find it hard to fill an hour's time with a group of children unless you were making use of some invented worksheets, having a "maptime," building a folder, or having activity stations. Most of the time, we do our FIAR stories and activities in about 20 minutes.

 

You can get a large foldable laminated map from Sonlight that works great for FIAR purposes. One side is the whole world and the other side is the US. You can write on it with a Vis-A-Vis marker. My kids loved that. After we would mark our location on the flat map, we would often try to find it on our globe. Doing that activity with a group would take about 10 minutes, I would guess.

 

We sure have loved FIAR. The real magic of FIAR for us, though, was reading the book every day for 4-5 days in a row. I think it would be OK to do FIAR as a unit study in a coop, but it does lose the wonder and depth when children bond with a story over a period of days. When my kids see a FIAR book on our shelf, they will pull it out and say, "I love, love that book...."

 

Best of luck to you

[5LittleMonkeys]

Thank you for the suggestions and the links!

 

I know exactly what you mean, Caribbean Queen, about not setting someone up as the winner. I know just in my own household that never ends well.:tongue_smilie:

 

I found out the classes are 48 minutes so I guess I've got my work cut out for me in trying to fill up that time with things that will keep these ages focused. Off to search those links!

[Jay3fer]

You need to plan a lot more activities. It will take 2 minutes to read the book and they only will want to do crafts for so long. They may want to do the craft for less than 10 minutes. It doesn't take 10 minutes to mix muffin batter, either. You must always, always, always have something for them to do. If the room has toys, or you can bring plenty, play time is a good activity.

 

Hmm... I think, respectfully, I disagree.

In 17 years of parenting, have done lots of programs reading to kids, doing related crafts, baking with kids, etc. I'm planning one on Friday, actually.

 

Start with the book. I take LOTS of time to read the book - not to bore the kids, but to involve them in it. Talk about what's in it ahead of time: "Who's seen a butterfly?" "Do you know anybody from Mexico? What language do people speak there?" Whatever the book is about. Then read it carefully... again, not boringly, but carefully. Choose books with beautiful language and channel them for the kids. (I know, sounds totally new-age, which is not me at all :lol:)

 

Then, each activity should be well-planned, but take more than 2 minutes to execute. If parents are present (as in most co-ops here), they are responsible for keeping their kids engaged and helping them with difficult parts of the activity. A craft or activity that takes 2 minutes either hasn't been planned right or is too easy for the kids' level.

 

As for muffins ... I could easily fill an hour baking muffins with kids (and have!). We have had whole parties centred around making pizzas; afternoons making cheesecakes... whatever food the kids are into. And lots and lots and LOTS of bread.

 

We talk about ingredients, we talk about the tastes of different things. We talk about what each thing does. I show them which are wet ingredients, dry ingredients. I let them read "On" and "Off" from the buttons on the food processor, take turns cracking eggs, measuring ingredients, or whatever it takes to get them to hold up whatever they've made proudly at the session and proclaim, "I made it myself!"

 

I'm not saying it isn't a tough job keeping kids busy and learning, but if you're planning a program around a book, toys and twaddle activities (like colouring pages) don't necessarily have to come into it.

 

ETA: All of which said, you should always have one EXTRA activity up your sleeve... not that you'll need it, but sometimes, you do. :-)

[Amie]

Thank you for the suggestions and the links!

 

I know exactly what you mean, Caribbean Queen, about not setting someone up as the winner. I know just in my own household that never ends well.:tongue_smilie:

 

I found out the classes are 48 minutes so I guess I've got my work cut out for me in trying to fill up that time with things that will keep these ages focused. Off to search those links!

 

Keep in mind that (usually) the more children you have in a group the longer it can take to do things together. So while you may be able to get certain things done in 20 minutes with your own two or three children, it will likely take a bit longer with a larger group of them. Still, the idea of having an extra time-filler up your sleeve sounds great. And I agree that the little ones love songs! Try breaking up the class with various things to give the kids a chance to "get the wiggles out" (like take a break in between activities to stand up and sing a song with motions).

[Caribbean Queen]

Hmm... I think, respectfully, I disagree.

 

If parents are present (as in most co-ops here), they are responsible for keeping their kids engaged and helping them with difficult parts of the activity.

 

ETA: All of which said, you should always have one EXTRA activity up your sleeve... not that you'll need it, but sometimes, you do. :-)

 

Perhaps this is why we disagree. I am used to working in day care with many children and few adults. If I were to take an hour to make muffins the children would lose interest and run around. A 1:1 adult, child ratio would make a difference. The parents could redirect their children back to the activity.

 

Even if the parents were there, I personally, would still do a lot of varied activities, and I would keep a pleasantly brisk pace. My kids, then 4 and 5 y/o, were in a class that did playing with toys, prayer, saying a pledge, songs, storytime and a crafts, like sponge painting, all in less than an hour! The children were never bored, yet it did not feel rushed. My kids loved it.

 

Here are some action songs the children would like

 

The Wheels on the Bus

Head Shoulders Knees and Toes

The Itsy Bitsy Spider

Where is Thumbkin (This is calming. The more "worldly" kids may not know what to think of the middle finger being up)

If You're Happy and You Know It

Edited December 23, 2011 by Caribbean Queen

[Jay3fer]

Ahh... I see where you are coming from. I had kids in daycare for 5 years. I have seen what goes on, in that one and many others.

 

I don't know about where you were working, but the prevailing mood in daycares I've seen is one of colourful, noisy chaos, with arbitrary timeslots for each activity and kids shuffled along without an opportunity for "deep" lessons in anything. As a fellow CM-influenced homeschooler, I believe that may be conducive to keeping kids busy, but it doesn't help them learn.

 

However, as you say, the ratio makes a difference. I would hope for a PreK class, at least, that a parent will stay with the child. Even things the children can do are overwhelming to coordinate at that age, because they need so much help. When I do programs here, kids never stay without a parent before around 5 years old.

 

I don't think I'd join a co-op that demanded I entertain kids... I would want to have an active part in their education, but assume the kids would also be motivated to educate themselves.

 

This is all very useful and practical to hash out, because 4 other mamas and I are working out a very small homeschooling co-op at the moment. Tomorrow morning is my turn... better go and sleep! ;-)

[Caribbean Queen]

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Edited December 23, 2011 by Caribbean Queen
didn't mean to post twice

[Caribbean Queen]

I don't know about where you were working, but the prevailing mood in daycares I've seen is one of colourful, noisy chaos, with arbitrary timeslots for each activity and kids shuffled along without an opportunity for "deep" lessons in anything. As a fellow CM-influenced homeschooler, I believe that may be conducive to keeping kids busy, but it doesn't help them learn.

 

You may appreciate this quote from CM

 

"It is refreshing to turn to that school of German educational thought which has produced the two great apostles, Pestalozzi and Froebel. What we may call the enthusiasm of childhood, joyous teaching, loving and lovable teachers and happy school hours for the little people, are among the general gains from this source. To look a gift horse in the mouth is unworthy, and it would seem pure captiousness to detect any source of weakness in a system of psychology to which our indebtedness is so great. But no stream can rise higher than its source, and it is questionable whether the conception of children as cherished plants in a cultured garden has not in it an element of weakness. Are the children too carefully tended? Is Nature too sedulously assisted? Is the environment too perfectly tempered? Is it conceivable that the rough-and-tumble of a nursery should lend itself more to the dignity and self-dependence of the person and to the evolution of individual character, than that delightful place, a child-garden?"

[Outdoorsy Type]

I did this last semester for an hour and forty-five minutes class time. I got most of my go along books from the library, and activities from googling. If you want more ideas I can PM you some of my lesson plans/links. Each week I did something like this:

 

Roll

FIAR book selection - Warm As Wool

Map activity - Find Ohio on the Map

Craft to go along - Clothespin Sheep craft

Game - Version of Fruit Basket Upset - this was a favorite game and easy to adapt

Book 2 - Wild And Wooly a book about a domesticated sheep and a Bighorn Sheep, and how different their lives are.

Book 3 - Science Book about Different kinds of sheep

2nd activity - this time I ran out of ideas and had a coloring sheet with Bighorn Sheet that I found on the internet. Not so inspired. :tongue_smilie:

 

If I had time before I left I would do another game.

 

For your amount of time you should be able to do:

 

FIAR book & Mapwork

Activity/Craft

Science Book