Jump to content

Menu

Who else is using Wee Folk Art's program this year?


birchbark
 Share

Recommended Posts

I discovered this program a year and a half ago and have waited till now to use it with my K-er. We are in our third week and loving it. The seasonal focus, the fun, easy activities and field trip ideas are great! The very flexible structure makes it so doable. Our library has had all of the books so far.

 

I switched around some of the units so we could catch the apples and leaves and so forth at the right times here. This week we are doing the apple unit and today the two littles did the apple prints. Tomorrow we are heading to the orchards and Fri we'll be making the apple bread! My DS loves quoting "Little Boy Blue" every day.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We are! We are supposed to be finishing up the Tractor week, but dd broke her arm last week and and I couldn't get the books from the library in time, so it didn't happen. However, I am planning on getting this next week's done! It is the Little Red Hen one.

 

We're not doing the letters or poems, but we are doing the books, craft, and field trips. I wanted something I could add to reading and math to make our day more "preschooly" and this was a good solution.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We're using WFA this this year--adding the suggested programs for phonics and math for my 5 y/o (ETC and Right Start--it was actually coincidental--I had decided on ETC and RS before deciding on WFA) and the 2 y/o is tagging along and participating in the art projects. We are enjoying it--DS5 likes the harvest/farm theme and it keeps his interest well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We are, but since my little guy is (IMO) too young for anything formal, we're using it mostly as a reading list and for occasional activity ideas. I originally worked out a pretty optimistic schedule for what we would be doing, but as it turns out, we basically read the books and then use the weekly themes to find more books about similar topics. Like others, we mixed the weeks up a bit. We currently have a couple of beans sprouting in a bag taped to the window, and are reading about leaves and tractors.

 

Some fun farm-related books we've discovered through this:

 

Tremendous Tractors (Amazing Machines) by Tony Mitton (I couldn't find the original recommendation for the second tractor book. This one has been a big hit with one out of one preschoolers surveyed.)

On the Farm by David Elliott (farm-themed poetry)

A Handful of Dirt by Raymond Bial

Farming by Gail Gibbons (I did a week to start just about farming, to give my urban child a sense of what we were going to read about in the coming weeks)

One Bean by Anne Rockwell

From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons

Jack's Garden by Henry Cole (love!)

 

Overall, I'm really enjoying the very gentle structure following WFA even as loosely as we do is giving to our weeks! I think it's just right for very little kids. I would definitely consider doing it again next year and adding phonics/math.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had downloaded the curriculum guides but wrote if off for this year, because we are overseas and don't have easy access to the books. But upon looking at it again, I think I'm going to try to do as much as I can of it, even if it is mostly just the activities and not the primary reading texts. What an awesome, free resource they have provided us with. The activities look awesome!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

we are overseas and don't have easy access to the books.

 

I don't know if this helps, but what I did was write down the theme for each week listed in the guide and then look for books based on that theme. There were a couple of recommended books I had already read and didn't care for, and a few others I couldn't find. If you reduce it to the general theme for each week, it's really easy to find replacement books (or additional books). I don't think the books themselves matter so very much - although the listed books are generally very high-quality, which is probably something to strive to match.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We are doing it for the second time along with RS A, HWOT and Phonics Pathways. I was trying to do FIAR with my oldest but it was a bit much for her. Someone posted a thread about WFA over the weekend and it got me thinking it might be a better fit for my dd. We started it again this past week and had such a blast this week making the salt dough veggies. My dd LOVED Tops and Bottoms and has asked to read it every day this week.

 

Btw - we have a great cooperative game that goes really well with the fall segment. It's called Harvest Time (sorry, I can't get the link to work) and it's at Amazon. Both my dd's can play and I even enjoy it, which is always a nice bonus. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We are, but since my little guy is (IMO) too young for anything formal, we're using it mostly as a reading list and for occasional activity ideas. I originally worked out a pretty optimistic schedule for what we would be doing, but as it turns out, we basically read the books and then use the weekly themes to find more books about similar topics. Like others, we mixed the weeks up a bit. We currently have a couple of beans sprouting in a bag taped to the window, and are reading about leaves and tractors.

 

Some fun farm-related books we've discovered through this:

 

Tremendous Tractors (Amazing Machines) by Tony Mitton (I couldn't find the original recommendation for the second tractor book. This one has been a big hit with one out of one preschoolers surveyed.)

On the Farm by David Elliott (farm-themed poetry)

A Handful of Dirt by Raymond Bial

Farming by Gail Gibbons (I did a week to start just about farming, to give my urban child a sense of what we were going to read about in the coming weeks)

One Bean by Anne Rockwell

From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons

Jack's Garden by Henry Cole (love!)

 

Overall, I'm really enjoying the very gentle structure following WFA even as loosely as we do is giving to our weeks! I think it's just right for very little kids. I would definitely consider doing it again next year and adding phonics/math.

 

Thanks for the recommended book titles. We've read the last two on your list, but I'm definitely going to check out the others.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maybe we should start a social group. :)

 

There is a pre-k social group where I posted about us starting WFA; not that there has been any action in there.

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/group.php?groupid=35

 

It's not WeeFolk specific but I think it'd be a great place to chat along about it as well since I think a lot of people then have overlapping questions about other items going with WFA and different PreK plans as well.

 

Hope it's not considered out of line suggesting it, I'm still new here. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...