Preschool/Pre K plans

[sewingmama]

Just wondering if anyone has plans for their 3/4 year olds. My baby turns 4 in two weeks but misses the age cut-off here for PreK. He is already blending and knows some sight words so I plan to do some school with him now.

I plan to use

Easy peasy homeschool Getting Ready 1. ( he knows all this stuff already but he loves the videos so we use it)

Reading a-z.com. (All my kids have used this and done great with it)

MEP Reception

MBTP 4/5 level.

I don't plan on doing any writing...he can barely hold a crayon so we will just be working on fine motor skills for the year.

We don't do all of these every day...we pick and choose depending on what he feels like doing. Really it's all just there for the days he asks for school...about every other day.

Anyone else have any plans for their littlest students?

[Rosie_0801]

Might a magnetic erase board encourage your little fella? My little guy can't be persuaded to do anything else even vaguely kinder-ish, but he does that.

[sewingmama]

He uses it sometimes. I need to get another one as ours is currently covered with AAS tiles which I don't want to keep removing between lessons. He loved our HWOT magnetic board...till he broke it :glare:

 

He still uses the fist grip and he is just not into writing or colouring. He'll sometimes colour if the other two do but then he grabs a crayon in his fist, scribbles for two seconds max and says "Look mum I drew a rollercoaster" :lol:  (Nothing wrong with his creative thinking skills.)   

 

I have the most success getting him to use a tripod grip by breaking a crayon in half but he'll only use it for a few seconds and then tell me "Mum this is such hard work" and then run off to play with his cars :driving:

 

He wants to be a fireman when he grows up so I guess designing "rollercoasters" for his PreK years probably won't keep him from his ambitions....he is already quite competent at holding a hose   :lol:

[Walking-Iris]

I would work on that handwriting as a priority. If he continues to seem tired and unable to hold it in a tripod grip and still scribbles at age 4, I would also want to look into an OT evaluation.

 

Also you can look into Montessori Practical Life activities to help with the fine motor skills. http://lifemoresimply.blogspot.ca/2012/09/free-montessori-3-6-materials.html

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwuLwaTeaOI

 

I've sang this song to my younger kiddos and it really did help with their grip. I gently correct a bad grip every time. You may also try a rubber band around the pencil.  https://www.google.com/search?q=rubber+band+for+pencil+grip&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=mz_pUebpL8KMrgH_k4CgDA&ved=0CGwQsAQ&biw=1024&bih=649

 

I bring this up because my oldest had a very hard time with his pencil grip and other fine motor skills (he's on the spectrum), and all of these tricks and OT therapy helped. 

 

Correcting that when they are young is going to make school time when they are older and expected to write more a lot easier. 

 

I know you said you don't plan on writing, but IMHO delaying it at that age when a child already shows signs of struggling can only make it harder when he does need to do more written output. 

 

 

[strange_girl]

I haven't had much experience with either Easy Peasy or Moving Beyond, but I know a lot of people like them, so I'll let them answer about those...:)

 

We're a workbook loving family, lol. In pre-k, we start workbooks. We also start learning to read somewhere between 4-5. And I do a lot of reading to them from a lot of different styles and genres. And that's about it.

 

The fine motor skills are important. When he starts actual K and 1st grade, he's going to need to know how to write his numbers and letters and do it at least somewhat legibly. That's what I would be working on! :)

 

(Thus my love of workbooks, I guess...we do a variety of things and by the time they're 5 or so they can write pretty decently.)

[Uff Da!]

I will have to look at strange_girl's links. I am considering focusing on fine motor, creative activities (playdough, Legos and so forth) and music for fall preschool. 

[Jackie]

At a pace chosen and constantly readjusted by my DD:

 

- Kumon fine motor skill workbooks

- BOB books

- Reading Eggs? We did the trial, she seemed to enjoy, then told me flat out not to subscribe. A week later, she changed her mind and wanted signed up. Still deciding if it is money well spent.

- Critical Thinking Company workbooks

- RightStart A

- Moving Beyond the Page 5-7. We'll only do 1-2 concepts, but a lot of days we'd do all the above and she'd be asking for more, so this is to be her "more". With adjustments made due to lack of fine motor skills for writing and drawing.

- still looking for a good science experiments book

[Heidi]

Pre-school for dd2, ds3, dd5:

 

Mondays:  Letter of the week craft, read poetry/mother goose

Tuesdays: Cooking activity, read Children's Bible stories

Wednesdays: Park day

Thursdays: Paper/paint craft, read fairy tales

Fridays: Physical games, read picture books

 

dd5 has her own Kindergarten as well: Spell to Write and Read, cursive handwriting, Essential Math B, beginning reading with Bob Books and McGuffey Readers.

 

 

[sewingmama]

I would work on that handwriting as a priority. If he continues to seem tired and unable to hold it in a tripod grip and still scribbles at age 4, I would also want to look into an OT evaluation.

 

Also you can look into Montessori Practical Life activities to help with the fine motor skills. http://lifemoresimply.blogspot.ca/2012/09/free-montessori-3-6-materials.html

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=FwuLwaTeaOI

 

I've sang this song to my younger kiddos and it really did help with their grip. I gently correct a bad grip every time. You may also try a rubber band around the pencil. https://www.google.com/search?

q=rubber+band+for+pencil+grip&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=mz_pUebpL8KMrgH_k4CgDA&ved=0CGwQsAQ&biw=1024&bih=649

 

I bring this up because my oldest had a very hard time with his pencil grip and other fine motor skills (he's on the spectrum), and all of these tricks and OT therapy helped.

 

 

 

Correcting that when they are young is going to make school time when they are older and expected to write more a lot easier.

 

I know you said you don't plan on writing, but IMHO delaying it at that age when a child already

shows signs of struggling can only make it harder when he does need to do more written output.

 

He is not quite 4 yet but yes...thinking about it my other 2 kids could write their names and some letters by this age...even my DD who is a leftie and started out mirror writing lol. I never thought to have him evaluated ...he has never liked colouring (neither did my other two) so I just thought it was lack of practice and interest .

 

He is definitely not on any spectrum...no troubles with anything else. In general his fine motor skills seem ok ...yesterday he spent a long time threading macaroni and tiny beads on a string with no trouble. However he can't dress himself or even take his pants down or up to go to the toilet ( he is potty trained). I just assumed it was because he was my baby and was lazy about it because I'm willing to do it for him??

 

His 4 yo vaccinations are coming due ...I'll ask for a preschool readiness assessment for him. I got one for my DD and I remember they tested those things and she ended up with a referral for SPD . Didn't bother getting one for my older DS... He was super advanced in everything lol.

 

I am planning to work on his FM....but just not planning any formal writing program. I used ETC Getting ready for the other two but DS2 would only be able to do it orally.

[Walking-Iris]

I would consider it (the eval) just because you had one child already with signs of SPD. If you want to do the ETC orally, then maybe the preschool Handwriting With Tears could help? Those would cover capital letters, and then maybe go back to those ETC books again and practice the lower case? I would do it gently, 1-2 pages a morning. 

 

Those Practical Life suggestions are going to be a big help for fine motor, which is pre-writing experiences. 

 

Also the HWT wooden letters and sandpaper letters can be a big help. 

 

I never answered your original question however about preschool plans. :) My youngest just turned 3 so...young preschool. 

 

I basically plan on doing Montessori activities with her. There's so many albums available for purchase and free online etc. That's my main goal with her as well as reading aloud and letting her follow along best she can with the boys art/nature study/science etc. She has the SSRW activity sheets, which don't require any writing, to practice letter sounds and she plays around with the HWT wooden letters. That's about it. She's 3! 

[Tawlas]

I have a PreK boy that always wants to "do school" like his big brother, although I'm not convinced he's ready. We're gonna start what's in my siggy and make adjustments from there. I also have a variety of cheap workbooks and printouts that he can either do properly semi-independently or just scribble on them to feel included.

[rellybob]

Preschool dd, age 3. Lots of reading aloud, block building, letter tracing, art class at the local art museum, cooking, science projects, zoo season pass. We count everything! I put together a theme for each month, broken into 1-2 week mini subjects. We keep it fun and play centered. I use a variety of early childhood curriculum books and blogs for inspiration. I also plan on using Webbing into Literacy's rhyming activities.

[WistfulRidge]

DS1 turned 4 in June and this is what we are using for preschool.

 

[Maela]

DS is going to be four in two months. He likes doing his "schoolwork."

 

I had a few workbooks from various places, some scholastic prek/k ebooks, and MEP reception printed out that I never used with dd. so I put them all together in spiral bound workbooks for him. There's enough there for two years. He's excited to have a workbook just like his big sister. He's also doing Get Set for the Code B book.

 

He knows the upper and lowercase letters and their sounds and can read CVC words, so we're going to start doing OPGTR for five minutes daily. He keeps telling me how he wants to be able to read like dd.

 

He writes his name, but the letters aren't formed properly; so we're going to work on handwriting. There are handwriting pages in his workbook.

 

We'll also be reading through What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know with Dd.

 

This sounds like a lot, but I'm not going to make him do any of it except the five minutes a day of phonics. Everything else is done only if he wants.

[Teneo]

I have a 4 year old. We're doing level 5 of Flowering Baby. Also playing with math concepts using Making Math Meaningful K (so far we've played with Legos, paper clips, string, and toy cars for math), occasionally doing some Callirobics, and using Teach Your Child To Read With Children's Books. While I'm preparing supper he has art time using activities from Mary Ann Kohl's books. Oh, for penmanship we're working on grip right now.

[carriede]

My DS turned 4 in June. We're doing Phonics Pathways, Singapore Math Essentials K, and continuing Rod and Staff's About Three series. We'll start a manuscript handwriting book later.

[BarbecueMom]

DS3 (4 in October) is doing the Explode the Code primers and learning to not scatter the math manipulatives across the entire school room carpet every single day. We're having better luck with ETC.

[Kristiana]

With DS 3 (4 in January) we'll use Letteroftheweek.com as a basic outline and add in some Before Five in a Row books.  He loves to paint, so I'm sure we'll see lots of that.  And that's pretty much it.  Oh, and he'll go to Kindermusik classes once a week.

 

Sometimes I feel like he gets shortchanged while I'm stressing over teaching my older boys to write (among other things) so mainly this year my goal is to be consistent at spending pre-k time with him every day. . . at least until a new baby comes in February then all bets are off!

 

 

[Mommy_of_4]

DD is 4 1/2 and doing BJU math K, AAR Pre1 and Dnealian K for handwriting.  She will be 5 in Oct. but I am still calling her prek this year.

[Mommee & Baba]

My son is NOT a workbook kid. I wish I would've tested the waters before purchasing all of Getting Ready for Explode the Code. Thankfully I'm expecting baby #4 and will try those out with the newcomer when he/she comes of age.

 

I'm using Reading Eggs and Math Seeds right now. My ds4 LOVES Math Seeds and is excelling well!! He however is stuck with Reading Eggs. LOTS of guessing and when it came to the map quiz, he failed. So he has to redo all the lessons he missed the answers in, something he has no interest in. I was going to pay for Reading Eggs but I think I'll just let him use both until our subscription runs out this September and focus on MEP Reception & have him do Easy Peasy's Getting Ready 1 for his letter focus and just enjoy crafting, coloring, painting, drawing..ect. He will also be doing the PreK book from Handwriting without Tears. I tried using the Elemental Science Preschool edition with him last year and he just wasn't ready. I'll have a go at it again this year!

[mama2em29]

For my four year-old, I have the below for as we can get to it

 

Phonics Pathways for reading, along with Bob books 

Explode the Code, tracing/letter forming activities (many from Letter of the Week curriculums, or from games we own), sandpaper letters, and a salt tray

Saxon Math K 

Letter of the Week curriculum to pull bits and pieces from 

 

We have a variety of building toys, beading toys, connecting/linking toys for those fine motor skills, too, as well as sensory bins/play dough for building hand and wrist strength. 

 

I'm looking for an introduction to nature study guide. We have a little nature area in the house to display found objects along with a pill bug colony...just trying to be conscientious about how to keep a purposeful focus on nature, too. 

 

For exposure to literature, I try to throw in at least one poem, one Bible story, and one fairytale alongside bedtime readings, too. 

 

That's what we have going. I look forward to gleaning more ideas from others on here! 

[abba12]

Being australian, our school year begins after our summer, i.e. late jan/early feb. Dd turns 3 feb 1st, so i am doing preschool/prek, whatever you like to call it, starting in jan. You can see our plans in my signature. My husband and I both loved workbooks as kids, and my dd has liked the tracing sheets ive pulled out on sick days, so Im feeling hopeful.

[boscopup]

My 4 year old mostly tags along with my 6 year old and also has a couple things he does on his own (he's very independent and has crazy good fine motor skills). I recently started doing Spalding with them, and I combine the two younger ones. I have to tell the 4 year old not to answer out loud before the 6 year old gets to think about a word. :tongue_smilie: We do this at the white board. He also does Phonics Pathways when he wants to (though that's mostly independently because he sticks to the "easy" parts that he already knows :lol:) and Singapore Essential K math, which has also been independent so far (he's about to finish book A... book B won't be as independent). And of course he listens in on read-alouds as he wants to (some are over his head, and he just wanders off to play).

 

I must say, Spalding's handwriting instructions are excellent. You can use them in a salt tray to begin with, until the child is ready for actual writing.

[lea_lpz]

Well ds joins my dd for about an hour and a half of her school time as our core curriculum, mfw 1st, for Bible, Science, History, hands on math, circle time, Art, Music, read alouds, crafts, hands on math, etc. Then he does about a half hour one on one with me m-th.

 

We do:

1-2 Rod and Staff pages

1 activity from the mfw preschool package using index cards

An HWOT activity

[Guest Jenny_K]

My little boy is 4 and will be in PreK this year, We're doing AAR Level 1 (we did AAR Pre-Reading last year.); Horizons K; finishing up ETC A, B and C and starting book 1; using some Kumon books to work on fine motor skills; and science once a week with The Big Book of Play and Find Out Science.

 

This might sound like a lot, but he is completely ready for each of these things. I think he was bored with what we were doing for a while.

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

DS is 3.5yo and will turn 4yo in January.  We'll be using the 2yo level from Hubbard's Cupboard website, mostly just the reading list, possibly a few activities as interest and time allow, play doh, and sensory bins.  We're just starting the second August theme and having lots of fun.  We'll also do some cutting, tracing, lacing, etc. activities, as well as working on learning letters and numbers.