What curriculum would lend itself well to group preschool? FIAR??

[cyndyinohio]

I'm considering teaching a preschool class 3 mornings a week for 2 1/2 hours and wondered if FIAR or any other curriculum would lend itself well to that, so I don't have to reinvent the wheel. It does not have to necessarily be open and go, although it can't take more than a couple hours prep time each week to prepare. It would not have to take up the entire 2 1/2 hours of time, as there would likely be snack time and free play and potty breaks in there, too.

 

Any ideas??

 

TIA!

[swellmomma]

FIAR is good. I like doing themed units, with AAR-pre 1 and HWOT tossed in for good measure. So I don't follow FIAR, but for example, farm week, I would have a farm sensory center, farm animals with the blocks, sing songs about farmers (old macdonald, farmer in the dell) or animals, read stories about farmers/farms/animals. Do craft projects along the same lines etc. The next week might be a theme of water, or space, or dinosaurs, or squares or whatever else I came up with. Other option is a prepackaged program like carol's affordable curriculum which has everything you need scheduled, planned and included and mailed to your door each month. Or use the ideas from 1plus1plus1equals1 or letter of the week to plan out your days

[craftyerin]

FIAR could work well for that. I know that there are always threads on the FIAR forum about preschool/K aged co-op classes using it. Maybe check there? I do FIAR with my three (all K-ish level), so it's not far from the same thing, and it works fantastically well for us! We also used AAR pre-level and HWT PK (as suggested above) alongside FIAR year before last. Lovely combination for a 3.5-5yo!

[Donna A.]

I agree! I used FIAR with a group of preschool and K'ish aged children in the church nursery several years ago. (Not during church, but during other activities that were scheduled for the parents.) It was perfect... lots of fun!

[profess]

To those who have used it for this age range (between 3 and 5):

Did you use Before FIAR? Or were the FIAR volumes more appropriate?

[craftyerin]

I started FIAR with my kids when my youngest had *just* turned 4. We've never had trouble choosing books that worked well for kids on the young end of the age range for FIAR. We never had BFIAR, though, so I don't know if that would have been better. There is a lot of variety among the book selections in vol. 1-3, and some of the titles are much more accessible to the little ones than others.

[Lori D.]

For a pre-school class, you might also take a look at Bright Beginnings, which is a pre-school curriculum that includes: Health/Safety/Manners, Art/Music, Snacks, "PE", LA, Math, Bible, Memory Verse, Character Development. The Music section teaches all those great pre-school songs and finger-play/hand movements that go along. The PE has both indoor and outdoor activities, and great ideas for building coordination. There's also a section called "God's World" which are unit types of studies (workers in the community; holidays; animals; science topics; U.S. flag/map/pledge of allegiance; cooking; five senses; etc.).

 

While it is written from a clearly Christian perspective, it would be pretty easy to adapt to secular use if you prefer. See table of contents and sample pages at the author's website. Also available through Rainbow Resource.

[cyndyinohio]

Thanks for the thoughts...I will check out the curriculum suggested. Should I use FIAR or BeforeFIAR with ages 3-5?