Dino Day with the Co-op

**Old Post that I thought I published, but didn't**

Today was my day for co-op (my kids and two others - age 2.5 and 3), which I always enjoy because it's more fun to do some activities with a group of kids. For example, the kids played paleontologist in the sand/water table, digging for the previously made fossils and bones that I cleaned and bleached from a recent chicken and our Thanksgiving turkey. I think this was more fun for the group because they could talk about what they were finding and the pretend play was richer.

To set up the dig site, I dragged our sand/water table from the back yard to our kitchen. I did this to facilitate my adding (and later retrieving) the bones easier and because it was a little cold for outdoor water play. Each child got a shovel and a paintbrush to excavate for the dinosaur bones. I was careful not to include any bones that had sharp edges or that were too small (my 10 month old was playing in the sand table too). The bones themselves were cleaned off after I made chicken broth and turkey broth from the previously roasted carcasses. After rinsing and rubbing all the meat remnants off, I put the bones in a bowl full of bleach for 30 minutes or so and then rinsed before laying them out to dry on rags. I normally don't like using bleach as a disinfectant because I favor natural disinfectants made from thymol, but since these were real animal bones, I wanted to make sure that they were relatively free from bacteria before introducing them into the children's environment.

We talked about how fossilized bones and fossils themselves are very fragile, so paleontologists us special tools that move dust and dirt away from the findings, but are gentle to the piece itself, like paint brushes. The children really enjoyed this activity and went around calling themselves paleontologists discovering dinosaurs.

We also baked and decorated Gingerbread stegosauruses and t-rexes, made pteranodon hats from newspaper (Ross, 1997), and played with the dinosaurs, amongst other toys. It was a very successful co-op day. Admitedly, these activities (with the exception of the dig) are not heavy on the content, but as today was (I believe) a relatively new foray into dinosaur knowledge for the other kids, I think it sparked the interest and gave them a few basics to start with.

Dino art and fossils

Today, we made some dino art, which was guided, yet flexible. My son has tended to shy away from completely open-ended projects and so, I try to get him interested by giving him a starting point. This time, I drew an outline of a T-Rex and wrote T-REX on the paper. RJ recognized all the letters (even the X, which he sometimes mistakes for K) and painted his T-Rex. What I found most exciting was that he really engaged in the activity, starting with painting the dinosaur's bones, then adding "skin" and an eye. I have observed that he tended to shy away from creating things. He has typically wanted an adult to draw something for him. I found this frustrating, because I have always focused on the process, rather than the product, and continually encouraged his creative work. However, his cognition has always been ahead of his motor development, so it's possible that he was frustrated by his inability to create the images that he wanted to. It appears that for him, having the realistic outline today was enough to get him engaged in the activity without sacrificing the open ended creation too much. He even painted a second dinosaur (brachiosaurus), without an outline and I was impressed that it actually resembled brachiosaurus with its long neck. Perhaps, his fine motor development has allowed him the control to feel like he's making what he wants to, which made the process more enjoyable for him.

We also talked about fossils today as we used the dinosaurs to make prints in clay. RJ loved this activity and when we were done with the self-hardening stone clay, he asked to bring out his play-doh to continue. Tomorrow, his fossils will be hardened and on Thursday, when his co-op buddies come over, we will excavate them from the sandbox with paintbrushes like paleontologists.

A note on Sesame Street...

This morning while I was nursing the baby, my dear three-year-old figured out how to turn on the TV in the other room. This is problematic because a.) he has not figured out the TiVO yet and who knows what might be on the TV when he turns it on (although that TV is set to record mostly PBS kids shows, it would probably still be on that channel and appropriate for viewing) and b.) he's a couch potato wanna-be (we limit his viewing, but it's never enough for him), but this morning, it sort of worked out because there was a clip on Sesame Street about Dinosaurs.  Here are the points the clip in Elmo's World made as a little girl narrated a trip to the American Museum of Natural History:

• Dinosaurs are not alive anymore
• We can learn about them at museums like the American Museum of Natural History.
• Paleontologists dig up the fossils and bones and put together skeletons to see how big dinosaurs are
• Barosaurus has the longest neck in North America
• Triceratops has three big horns and a big collar
• Dinosaur eggs are small, even though dinosaurs get really big
• Tyrannosaurus rex has tiny arms and big legs and sharp teeth to eat meat with
• Stegosaurus has plates on its back
• Apatosaurus is humongeous and made of 350 dinosaur bones

Then, Elmo spoke with a dinosaur muppet, who told him the following info:

• Dinosaurs lived 150 million years ago 
• During that time the dinosaurs saw asteroids, watched the sun rise and set, comets, trees with leaves, lakes, and both small and big dinosaurs
• Elmo asked this Dinosaur muppet if he had birds in his neighborhood (you know, like Sesame Street has Big Bird) to which the Dinosaur replied that they had a pterasaur that flew in the sky (not a bird).  Then they did the ridiculous part where Dorothy (Elmo's fish) imagines Elmo morphed into a fuzzy red pterosaur while the dinosaur continues to tell Elmo that Dinosaurs lived alongside frogs, turtles, mice, and crocodiles.
• He went on to tell Elmo that some dinosaurs ate leaves all day long while others ate meat, including other dinosaurs.  

This is all appropriate information, however, it was rattled off so quickly that I wonder how much of it really sank in. If I need to rewind twice just to type notes (not type verbatim) and I'm a decent typist, it's too fast for a 3 year old (Sesame Street's targeted age). While the quick pacing of Sesame Street's clips has been studied (Anderson, Levin & Pugzles Lorch, 1977), it is not implicated as a factor contributing to hyperactivity and/or poor attention spans in preschoolers in the short term. However, in 2004, Christakis found that each hour of television watched (on average) between the ages of one and three years old increased the probability (by 10%) of a reported attention problem by age 7. Sesame Street has actually slowed down and went from the non-sequitur educational clip show that it was when I was growing up to its more narrative format now. This change was to shift the target age down from 4 to 3, since younger kids were now watching tv. But even "slowed down" in Elmos's World (which was CREATED for toddlers), this seemed really fast. While Sesame Street has documented school readiness outcomes (largely the three R's, e.g., Wright et al., 2001), I think they fall short on creating organized thematic knowledge in science. It is perhaps a first exposure to an area, but not interactive nor well-organized in terms of its presentation. It is entirely passive. Watching this really made me miss Mister Rogers. His show left time for children's responses and he presented the theme of the day in an organized fashion, where knowledge was built up slowly for the children to digest.

The plus side, is that my son now wants to go to a Natural History Museum to learn more!

Saturday Observations and Thoughts

While playing with my son, we touched on a few concepts, but I largely followed his lead and noticed som interesting trends.
Here's what happened:  T-rex and the T-rex baby (who is just popping out of its shell) kept chasing brachiosaurus and triceratops (both of whom I was responsible for) away from the trees and watering hole.  The T-rexes caught them and ate them no matter how well they hid. Then, they got covered in mud (a blanket) and turned to skeletons.  Then my son insisted that even though they were dead, they needed to play again.  Repeat ad nauseum.

What is interesting to me is that despite his t-rexes eating the herbivores, my son actually stated, while my herbivores were running away, that he wanted them all to be nice to each other. However, my dinos still died in an attack directly following that statement.  I was happy that he was playing fairly realistically despite his spoken desire for them getting along, but a piece of me was sad that he didn't break from dinosaur theory to make them play nice.

This brings up a constant struggle that I have about violence exposure.  I have VERY little tolerance for violence, and I have banned all weapons in our house.  I realized when talking about carnivores that nature is not a very kind place and that by learning about predators and prey that I was actually opening up a whole new world of potentially violent play. I do think that learning about what happens in nature (or in this case, what scientists believe dinosaur behavior to be like) is important, but we're cautiously approaching HOW to play out these scenarios appropriately so that no people get hurt.

I welcome comments about what you might have done with children to keep them playing realistically, yet kindly with others.

And we're back...for now...with Dinosaurs

My son recently used a gift certificate from his birthday to buy a set of dinosaurs and we were delighted that his selection actually printed the names of the dinosaurs on their bottoms.  This led to me starting a very loose theme on dinosaurs.  With my younger son becoming mobile and very curious about everything, AND refusing to take a morning nap in his crib, it has been increasingly difficult to actually conduct any messy or involved projects with my preschooler without interruption.  (Don't get me started on the great finger painting incident which required a whole wardrobe change and a blue/green Technicolor mouth).  Even reading a whole book is difficult, which is frustrating for both of us.  I know this phase will pass soon, when mobility is less of a novelty, and when the little one is ready for a little more than eating art mediums and chewing on the Brachiosaurus' tail.  In the meantime, we try to play with the dinosaurs a lot (while my 10 month old is "pretending" to be a carnivore "eating" the herbivores) while I embed facts about them.  We also read books when we can (even if by the page as we did with "An Alphabet of Dinosaurs"), and try to utilize some weekend time to have one-on-one big kid projects.  Also, we have started allowing a little TV time on a regular basis, so PBS's "Dinosaur Train" is appropriate and fits the theme.  Although now I have to explain that Dinosaurs do not really travel by train, nor do Tyrannosaurus Rex babies EVER end up in a Pteranodon nest and make friends with them.

The assessment materials for this theme are available here.  I do hope that someday I will get some long stretches of uninterrupted time to transcribe and code all the assessments, but at least for now, I have them recorded.  

Theme Hiatus

Nothing is more regular in my life than being behind on something (usually something for me).  Whether it is being behind on the housework, posting blog entries about my kids' development, or not getting a project done around the house (hello $5 hot pink bookshelf that I haven't painted yet!), being a stay at home mom of a 3 year old and a 7 month old means that everything seems to take a back burner to whatever the immediate concern is.  Some of my faithful readers have mentioned that reading my activity plans exhaust them  (the thought of what I'm doing, not the ACTUAL reading of the blog.  err..I hope!).  It is exhausting, but it's only happening because I have put the curriculum above a lot of other things in our lives, which is one reason why I can't seem to find time to write more on this blog. However, in the grand scheme of things, actually planning and doing the activities is the point of this whole thing.  Documentation would be fabulous (and I will eventually get there - I have the videos and pictures, it's the processing that takes time.), but actually doing these things with him is the key.  With that said, we're taking a couple week hiatus since the next few weeks are a little busy and I'd like to catch up. 

Why are they busy? 

Well, for one, I have a first job interview this week, so if all goes well, I might have additional interviews and if those go well, I might not be a stay at home momma much longer.  This makes me sad, but I do need to go back to work eventually, and a couple of potentially awesome positions opened up now, so I didn't want to miss the opportunities at the risk of not being able to find a job when I need to go back.  If either of these positions works out, we might get to move closer to where my husband works, which will help our work/life balance.  

Also, we're trying to organize our closets full of random, unorganized stuff, which will help immensely if we have to move, and will make room for the boxes that came home from my office in June AND we have family coming to town at the end of the month (and the office boxes have been scattered all over the guest room!).  I really didn't want to have to stop and start a formal theme multiple times, because that can hinder learning and is frustrating for everyone.  However, this does not mean that I will stop spending quality time doing activities with RJ - only that nap times will be used for going through closets rather than planning specific activities and preparing them!  During this time, we're doing some more informal thematic curriculum that isn't as far removed from our everyday routine - focusing on Healthy Living.  We'll cook together (which we have to do anyway), and exercise together (perhaps spending more time at the park now that the heat has subsided a little). We'll still work on letters and do art, just more basic stuff than I had planned for the last theme.  Some of the things we touch on might lead to a more formal theme after things settle down a little bit. During this hiatus, I want to document my son's pre and post assessments from the Transportation theme and post some documents describing my philosophy of early childhood education.  Hopefully these posts will tide you all over until we get going again.

Transition Tuesday: Ending the Transportation Theme

This week we will be easing out of Transportation - I don't have any major plans, but do want to do some webbing with RJ to go over what we've learned.  Interestingly, he's already asked, "What are we learning about next?".  Over the weekend, I hope to conduct the first post-theme assessment.  Then I want to take a short hiatus to regroup for the next theme, which will be a healthy living theme.  We do a good amount of this anyway with our weekly CSA crate and talking about what new foods the baby is eating, as well as getting exercise at the playground, but I want to delve a little deeper.  This will also work out great to kick start some daily yoga into our routine, which we can even get the baby involved in. 

Terrific Tuesday

Today we remembered that we had an aircraft carrier with a bunch of supersonic aircraft, which is an excellent connection between aircraft and boats.  My husband built it with his father when he was in elementary school.  This turned out to be a great find, since RJ played with it ALL DAY and we used it to explain what the bow, stern, port, and starboard were.

Mindful Monday: Week 6 Lesson Plans

I think this will be the last planned week of our Transportation Theme.  I'm really happy with how it has been going, but I think this is the last of the material I'd like to cover.

Monday: Park by the Train Tracks/Airport, S is for Space Shuttle Alphabet page,
Tuesday (Clean Master Bath, Diapers): Boats: ships pick up the booster rockets and fuel take from the shuttle out in the ocean
"Boats" (Robbins, 1989; book),R is for Rocket Alphabet book page,  Banana Boat Song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jpg-KIKD5gU), Banana Canoes, "Float around in Canoes" (Song, http://stepbystepcc.com/boat.html), Boat Lacing

Float Around In Canoes - sung to "Ring Around the Rosey"

Float around in canoes,
(move in circle clockwise)
We are wearing no shoes.
(continue moving clockwise)
Upstream.
(move counter clockwise)
Downstream.
(move clockwise)
We all splish SPLASH!
(Drop hands and fall to ground)

Wednesday (Baby Co-op): Shape Sailboats, "Have you ever seen a sailboat?" (Song; http://stepbystepcc.com/boat.html), B is for Boat Alphabet book page, "A History of Water Travel" (Book; Rossi, 2004)

Have You Ever Seen A Sailboat? - sung to "Did You Ever See A Lassie?"

Have you ever seen a sailboat,
A sailboat, a sailboat?
Have you ever seen a sailboat
Waving its sail?

Wave this way and that way,
Wave that way and this way.
Have you ever seen a sailboat
Waving its sail?

Thursday (Big Kid Co-op Day):  Make Clay boat/ship

Friday: Sink or float experiment, Paint clay boat (once dry), Anchor Daisy Chain (http://www.first-school.ws/activities/alpha/a/impactaposter.htm) with numbers on Chain, Deviled Egg Boats

Weekend: Swim Lessons; Boat Rental or Ferry Ride

Mindful Monday : Week 5 Lesson Plans

Aircraft are still in full force. This week we're going to focus on helicopters and space shuttles.

Monday: Helicopter pretend play, Helicopter books, helicopter song

Tuesday (Cleaning): Lego Helicopter, Helicopter Lacing, Helicopter Matching page, tearing paper for paper mache,

Wednesday (Laundry): Clay Helicopter, Help make a space shuttle out of a box and paper mache, decorate inside "controls", design rockets for balloon rockets

Thursday (Co-op Day) Pretend play with the space shuttle, toilet paper roll shuttles, Balloon rockets, freeze dried ice cream (astronaut food), dehydrating fruit (also a cutting exercise), Clay Shuttles.

Friday: Baby's Dr. Appt., Morning Errands, Talk about how astronauts have to stay healthy , R is for Rocket Alphabet Page, S is for Shuttle Alphabet Page

Also, I found that my big lesson planning chart was really cumbersome, took more time without payoff, and not necessarily helpful for what I am trying to do, so I've reverted to this simpler plan in the text of my blog entry.  Instead of reviewing each activity, I'll blog about the really notable ones (good and bad).

Fun Activity Friday: A review of the Petaluma Speedway Fieldtrip

A few weeks ago, when we were learning about cars, specifically race cars, we took our son to the Petaluma Speedway to see a real dirt track oval and experience a race.  Given how much he loves the Pixar movie, "Cars", we figured it would be a big hit AND it fit well with the theme.

One lesson that really hit home was that race cars are extremely LOUD.  We were fortunate that we bought some ear plugs on the way there because the initial reaction to the noise was rather tearful.  No amount of preparation for the noise level really prepared him for the roar of the engines.  The earplugs worked great though.  While at the racetrack, we also learned what the different color flags mean to the drivers, and that cars that look similar in style race together.  We also touched a piece of the track that had sprayed up.  I was a little disappointed that the pits were not visible from the stands, because that would've been a great way to see how the cars get gassed and how their tires are changed with tools.

What I really enjoyed watching was how the experience was played out in the car on the way home (before he fell asleep that is).   While we are not going to be regulars at the track (I'm not really into watching cars go around in circles), this was a fairly inexpensive family activity that also promoted and solidified his learning.  I wish I had done a little more research ahead of time so that I could have shared even more of what was going on, but at the age of three, I think the lessons he did learn were developmentally appropriate, and he might have been lost with more detail.

Mindful Monday: Week 4 Lesson Plans

The transportation theme is still going strong and engagement in the materials and activities is still high. We've had a busy couple of weeks with playdates and errands, so we're still talking about aircraft. I also realized that we haven't been doing a lot of letter and number recognition activities, so I'm trying to add more, starting with the A is for Airplane page that we did last week. Here's the plan for the week.

Monday - Errands and Cleaning Day. Airport/travel pretend play since we'll be finishing up the Laundry.
Tuesday - Playdate! I'm sure that Transportation vehicles will be out in full force.
Wednesday - Cardboard Lacing Airplane construction, H is for Helicopter Letter Page. Library Day - pick out more books about airplanes, helicopters, space shuttles, and boats. Build Helicopter out of legos.
Thursday - Co-op Day, maybe airplane and helicopter (and letter) sculptures after nap
Friday - Pool play date! Grocery shopping.
Weekend - Arrange Airplane Visit (?)

Timing Tuesday: A Routine Revision

As our baby recently started eating solids, I needed to amend our routine a little.  We have been generally following this sequence of events to keep us organized.

6:00 Wake/Nurse Baby
6:30 Exercise / Shower /Get Dressed
7:30 Kids Wake Up Time, Get Dressed/Suncreened
8:00 Breakfast & Pump, Calendar time, Feed cats, water plants
8:30 Feed Baby Breakfast/ Free Play
9:00 Playground/Outside time
9:30/10 Nurse Baby/Reading Time
10 Baby Nap/ Theme Activity Time
10:30 - Snack Time
11 Continued Theme Activities/Play with Baby/Maybe do some chores
12:00 Nurse Baby
12:30 Lunch Time
1:15 Story Time/Nap
1:30 Nurse Baby to sleep
2:00 Put Baby down for Nap
3:30/4 Nurse Baby/ Snack Time
4:30 Backyard Time (water play)/Free Play (if too hot) or Errands
5:00/5:30 Dinner Prep/ Playdough/Sensory Play
5:30/6 Nurse Baby
6:00/6:30 Dinner
7:00/7:15 Clean up time
7:30 Bath Time
8:00 Story Time
8:30 Bed Time/Nurse Baby
9:00 Put Baby to Bed
9:30 Parent Time
10:30 Parent Bed Time








I also made a few changes to my rotation, since we started a baby co-op and a big kid co-op and get a CSA crate, which changed my grocery shopping day.  I also made sure to add in a day where my free time is spent writing up the lesson plans, as you might have noticed from my last two "Mindful Monday" Posts.  We've tried to keep the major chores out of the weekend, but when we don't finish something vital, we do use the weekend to catch up.

Mondays - Lesson Planning for the Week
Tuesdays - Diaper Laundry, Week 1: Kids Bathroom, Week 2: First Floor Bathroom, Week 3: Master Bathroom, Week 4: Laundry
Wednesdays - Week 2: Laundry, Week 4: Projects, Week 1 & 3: Baby Co-op
Thursdays - Week 1: First Floor Dusting & Floors, Week 2: Co-op Host Day, Week 3: Second Floor Dusting & Floors, Week 4: Co-op Field Trip, CSA Pickup & Process, Meal Planning
Fridays - Meal Planning cont., Grocery Shopping
Saturdays - Week 3: Hamster Cage
Sundays - Lawn & Cat Litter

Mindful Monday: Week 4 Lesson Plans

Our Transportation Theme is transitioning between Trains and Airplanes.  We left all three railway sets open and added the airport to our microcosm, building on how all the transportation systems mesh. 

Here is a look at the general plan for the week.

Monday: Park by the Airport (and RR tracks) to see Airplanes flying over, Draw a transportation picture, How long is a diesel engine?, Plan City Play (with trains, roads, and airport)

Tuesday: Read Planes, Gliders, Helicopters and other Flying Machines (Terry Jennings), Balloon Experiment, The Airplane has Great Big Wings Song, Plan City Play (with Airport), Airplane Concentration

Wednesday: Paper Airplanes, Read Going on an Airplane, Sing I'm a little airplane, A is for Airplane (first page of Letter Book), Packing a Suitcase Activity (with Laundry Day), Airport Dramatic Play

Thursday: Co-op Day - no planned curriculum

Friday: Pilot on the Airplane Song, Oak Meadow Park (They have a full sized airplane for kids to climb around on), Other songs in the car, Banana Airplane Snack

Sunday: (Tentative) Go see a friend's airplane, Styrofoam or Paper Towel Roll Airplanes.

Want more detail?  Click here.

Worthy Wednesday: Momma's Favorite Toys for the Theme

Given my son's long-standing obsession with all forms of transportation, we have no shortage of cars, trains, and airplanes and the like.  That is one of the things that makes this theme an easy one to start with as we have the materials needed for pretend play.  We even have a Power Wheels Lightning McQueen. One set of toys keeps coming back to my lesson plans (and is pulled off the shelf by the three year old on a regular basis), because it is great for independent play related to the theme.  We are fortunate to have collected a large portion of the Plan City Road and Rail system.  I do wish that we had a few more road pieces, but between the Airport, Gas Station, Fire Station, and Eco Town (with segues, bicycles, an electric car charging station, electric train station, and Eco House), as well as a bunch of trains, trucks, cars, airplanes, and construction vehicles.  I love this toy company because it's made from eco-friendly rubberwood with vegetable based dyes and the toys are simple without a lot of bells and whistles to distract. I would love to have the set in a daycare setting too, as it does hold up. My son loves this toy company because he has the versatility to make his own world out of the components.

Note: It doesn't always look so arranged.  I set it up when our son was napping when he first got the mat and the eco-town for Christmas.

Mindful Monday: Week 3 Lesson Plans

This week is all about Trains.  This was a nice smooth transition from cars and trucks and buses thanks to our day trip to San Francisco yesterday, which included a ride on both buses and trains.  I plan on keeping the train sets out (He has three - the Plan Toys Road and Rail (wooden), a Fisher-Price Geo-Trax set, and a legos track for a lego Thomas train) the whole week.  Here's our general plan:


Monday: Follow up on our Transportation Fun in San Francisco, playing tourist on the way to the park, read a great detailed book about different kinds of trains, learn a song about drivers of different forms of transportation, and play with various train sets.


Tuesday: Picnic lunch and a working small scale steam engine.


Wednesday: Shapes train and Train Books.


Thursday: Co-op day and grocery shopping day - no curriculum


Friday: Measuring vehicle sizes, making train whistles, and painting signs that allow trains and cars to interact.

For more detailed lesson plans for the whole theme so far, click on this link.

Resources

As I embark on this journey, I am certainly not without resources.  Teachers are creative individuals, but many of the activities I plan are not completely of my own independent design.  Some are, but others are variations of things I've seen other teachers do in the classroom, or from books or the internet. 

I want to share some of the tangible resources that I've found helpful.

I have enjoyed the book "Teaching Young Children Using Themes", which is edited by Marjorie J. Kostelnik.  The book has some fantastic activities with ideas for simplifying and/or extending them, depending on the child(ren) you're working with.  I cited Kostelnik whenever I used one of the activity ideas or concept definitions in my lesson plans.  It is a practical resource that can be appreciated by an academic like myself, as well as accessible for the general population.  I recommended (and lent out) this book to the teacher interns that I worked with in the preschool as well.



Also, for a reference of what kinds of skills children typically have at each age, I love "Developmental Profiles  Pre-birth through Twelve" by Allen & Marotz (2009).  I used this as one of the textbooks in my Developmental Assessment Class.  I use it as a guide and have lent it out to new moms as well. 

The First Week of Curriculum

I planned out my first two weeks and this week, we embarked on the exciting journey of learning.  For a start, I think it went well.  RJ was interested in our one-on-one activities and Logan cooperated by napping long enough for me to have that morning one-on-one time with RJ.  I generally plan for about 4 lessons per week so that we can have a day off (to go to the pool or have a playdate or to just have a bad day).  This week, we also hosted our co-op on Thursday, so I got to try out the lesson plans with some children younger than RJ (His playmates are 2 and 2.5).

Here is the link to my lesson plans, which I will keep adding to as I go along. 

What you will see in the lesson plans are columns labeled Lesson, Concepts, Activity, Domain(s), Goal(s), Prep, and Evaluation.  The Lessons column is basically just a number, because I want to leave my plan flexible.  I just follow the numbers rather than assigning days.  The concepts column is for listing the general concepts or content knowledge that I want RJ to learn from the activities and from us talking about the activities.  The activity column is for describing what we will do.  As most of preschool learning occurs through actively engaging with materials, plan activities where RJ can manipulate or create objects.  The final product isn't important, but the process by which we come to it is.  The domain column is where I indicate what area of development the activity helps to progress or nurture.  Typical Domains are pretty basic - Physical (either fine motor or gross motor), Cognitive (which has many sub-domains, such as literacy, pre-math, etc.), and Socio-emotional.  I usually also indicate the specific area that I'm working on after the domain.  For example when we made license plates, one thing listed under the Domain column was Cognitive - Letter and Number Recognition.  The goals column is my bottom line.  I write what I'm trying to accomplish by doing the activity.   Sometimes, it might just be exposure to something or even just for fun, but the point is that planned activities should be goal directed.  The prep column is a practical column, where I write what I need to do BEFORE starting the activity.  An activity doesn't usually work well if the person guiding the activity is busy setting up stuff while the child(ren) are running amok.  And finally, I write down my thoughts after the activity/lesson, so I can see what to change for similar activities in the future. 

I know we're a bit out of order because I didn't post about RJ's initial assessment of content knowledge yet, but I wanted to post the start of the unit lesson plans when I had them done.  The assessment requires me to upload the video off our camera, which is more complicated than it should be.

The First Theme

There is something I find intuitive about thematic curriculum.  I love how all subject areas can be integrated into one interesting theme that also promotes deep knowledge in a particular domain or content area. 

I will write about the history and theory behind thematic curriculum soon, but I want to dive right in sans backround with a pilot theme to get my feet wet and return to what started my interest in children's learning in the first place - TEACHING preschoolers.  Lucky for me, I have a child who just turned three.  So my first task was  to pick the theme to start with.

So how should one choose a theme?  My particular philosophy dictates that we should turn to the children to determine what the theme should be.  In a classroom, one would look to where the children gravitate - what center or what kinds of stories they like and what interests they have and choose a broad theme that all children can benefit from and will find something of interest within.  Some teachers choose the themes based on their interests, which is also a viable method since comfort with the content area is important, and teacher enthusiasm is high, BUT since my philosophy is child centered, again, we start with the child's interest.  In the classroom, this type of child-led approach comes from the Reggio Emilia Approach, which among other things, focuses on the interest of the children.  Keeping the theme structured,  so that it makes logical sense to the children and so that new knowledge can build on prior knowledge, and yet flexible to follow the interests and needs of the children is a delicate balance, yet crucial to maintain for content knowledge growth.  As I develop the curriculum, I think that I will take an activity plan approach, mapping out the activities that will allow exploration into the various content areas and completing a chart to make sure that over the course of the unit, I am balancing out activities in all the developmental and pre-academic domains. 

My advantage (and the advantage of any SAHP seeking to enrich his/her child's knowledge) is that I know my own child's interests really well and don't have to balance out his needs with anyone else. While I would've loved to delve into an ecological or recycling or plants theme, this just isn't (sadly) where RJ's primary interests lie.  He prefers things that give off the very exhaust that his eco-friendly mommy despises...race cars and old rusty tow trucks.  Yes, he has an absolute fixation on the Disney/Pixar movie, Cars.  So, Transportation is logical first theme.  I also like this theme for preschoolers in general because it has the potential for a variety of spin-offs into other themes.  For example, if RJ were really interested in the composition of roads, we could spin-off into a mini theme on construction vehicles; or an interest in spacecraft could launch a theme about Outer Space.  Even an interest in boats could launch an Ocean Theme. 

The next step...planning the concepts I will cover in the theme.

Week 1 Schedule Thoughts

How did the first week of the schedule go?

What Worked

• Mommy's exercise time - I got on the treadmill for about 20-25 minutes on M, W, & F, as scheduled, even when Lance took the train and wasn't around on Friday. This is a bit precarious because it depends on Logan staying asleep and RJ behaving and neither one getting up in the middle of my workout.  It did work this week though, and at least on Mondays, I will have Lance to help because he drives in to work rather than taking the train.
• Getting ready for the day - I left enough time to get everyone dressed, sun screened, and fed.
• Calendar time - RJ really seems to enjoy knowing what day it is and what we'll be doing. We also started creating a picture daily schedule so that he will have a pictorial as well as mental representation of what happens when. Hopefully, we'll finish it up this week so we can start using it.
• Feeding cats and watering plants - the only thing I might change is we should water the outside potted plants in the afternoon after nap when we can stay outside for a while. RJ doesn't like going out for 2 minutes and having to come back in.
• Mommy-RJ time (which will be mommy-directed curriculum time) - Logan has cooperated and either slept or played on his own in the bouncer during this time, so I can focus on RJ. On Friday we even got Logan in on the action by having him put his hand print on some artwork (which involved a bath for Logan directly following).
• Lunch time - good time, left enough time to make and eat
• Dinner time - generally works, although Logan sometimes gets fussy. I don't think there's a way to predict that or to change it - we need to cook and eat dinner and I don't want to spend the kids' nap time cooking EVERY day (although for more involved meals I do have that planned).

What to Improve

• Logan's afternoon nap - we need to have some consistency. He refused to sleep on Wed, Thurs, and Friday. It could be a fluke, but I need to work on establishing a more regular schedule for him, so that I can have some time each day completely kid free.
• RJ's afternoon nap - he tends to go to sleep a good hour after I put him down and I don't want to wake him up at his scheduled time because he gets cranky. This delays EVERYTHING in the late afternoon/evening. I think that if we can get him to bed earlier, he'll wake earlier and thus take an earlier nap. So we need to get out of the rut.
• Clean Up Time - I need to get RJ doing this earlier so that it doesn't run into bath time. I think once we don't have as much free play, and as much clutter from our general house mess (that I need to get cleaned up and organized), this will fall into place.
• Bath Time - I think I'm about as efficient as I can be here, with both kiddos in the bath at the same time, but it always seems to take longer than I'd like and I really want RJ in bed earlier than 8:30/9. Perhaps with Lance taking the train more often, this will change because I will have help. Or maybe it will make it worse because RJ gets really excited to see daddy and starts to act up. We'll see.

What Interfered

• This week, I had to go into work (one last time) on Tuesday for a Thesis Defense and we spent the rest of the day at Krishawn's house hanging out with Krishawn and Erika and Ethan. So we couldn't follow the schedule on Tuesday
• On Wednesday, Logan and Lance woke up with Pink Eye, and so we lost our normal morning playground time and Mommy-RJ time to Doctor and Pharmacy visits. This is par for the course with children.

The next step: Try another couple of weeks.

Also, from this, I made the decision that I will plan 4 days of curriculum, so that if we have a messed up day, we can easily adjust. If we have two messed up days, we can have some of our curriculum on a weekend day instead. If we have more than three messed up days,  I think skipping a week of curriculum would do us good!

Schedule Step I: Getting Organized

Since we will no longer have my income and I won't be working outside the home all day, we have canceled the cleaning service (last cleaning was two weeks ago, so I'm starting with a nice dirty house!) and the lawn service and now I have to figure out how to manage all the household chores in addition to taking care of the children.  That's the one part about this role that I don't like.  I love having a clean house, but I hate being the one to have to clean it and I have no clue how to find the time to clean while taking care of two young children who are too young to do any real help.  For example, RJ wanted to help me vacuum the oriental rug full of cat hair, which doubled the amount of time it took.

Before I can even get into my "Preschool At Home" project, I need to set a schedule for getting things done around the house and set aside time for those preschool activities.  In writing my first draft, I realized that Logan is really the wild card because he still nurses every 2 hours during the day.  Sometimes I can get a 3 hour stretch, but usually over a nap.  I'm hoping that this will change once we start baby food when he's 6 months.  I'm also hoping that RJ will eat better once we're feeding Logan too - since now he dawdles through any meal.

However, this is my first draft schedule, which gives me some time one on one time with both boys and hopefully allows time for the chores so that we don't have to do them over the weekend anymore.  While this looks rigid, I realize that a good schedule needs to be flexible, I just need something to keep me on track, especially in the beginning.  Things will change.  This week, my goal is to see how the daily flow of activities works.  Next week, we'll make any changes to the schedule that we need to.  I plan on starting my "preschool" curriculum the week after RJ's 3rd birthday (6/19).  Most preschool studies examine children from 3-5, so I wanted to stay consistent with the age.  Also, realistically, I won't have any curriculum planned until then anyway!

First Draft:
Summer Daily Schedule

6:00 Wake/Feed Logan/Bring RJ's Breakfast upstairs
6:30 Exercise / Planning time
7:00 Shower, get dressed
8:00 Calendar time, Feed cats, water plants
8:30 Feed Logan/RJ Free Choice Time
9:00 Playground (or extended Free Choice + Mommy/Logan time if too hot)
9:30 Logan Nap/ Snack/ RJ-Mommy Play (implement theme activities)
10:30/11 Feed Logan, Read Theme Books/Talk time
11/11:30 Child Directed Theme Activities/Logan Self-Play/Minor Chores/Prepare Lunch
12:00 Lunch Time
12:30/1 Feed Logan
1:30 Nap Time/ Mommy Free Time
3:30 Feed Logan/ Snack Time / Chore Time/ Free Play/Errands
4:30 Backyard Time (water play) or Errands
5:00/5:30 Dinner Prep/ Playdough/Sensory Play
5:30/6 Feed Logan
6:00/6:30 Dinner
7:00/7:15 Clean up time
7:30 Bath Time
8:00 RJ Bed Time
8:30 Feed Logan
9:00 Put Logan to Bed
9:30 Parent Time
10:30 Parent Bed Time


Also, I set up a 4 week rotation of chores.
Mondays - Meal Planning & Groceries
Tuesdays - Week 1 & 3: Dusting; Week 2 & 4: Clean Bathrooms
Wednesdays - Week 1 & 3: Library Visits
Thursdays - Diaper Laundry, Week 2 & 4: Clothing Laundry
Fridays - Cat Litter, Vacuuming, Sweeping Week 4: Steam Floors
Any Day in Week 2 & 4: Mow Lawn/Weeds/Pruning

Also, I hope to get play dates worked in too, so some chores and curriculum might be skipped or moved to a weekend.

My New Adventure

Welcome to my new adventure.  As I write this, I am in transition from my life as a tenure track Professor of Psychology and Child Development and Director of the campus Child Development Center to being a Stay At Home Mom.  One of the many things that I want to do with this time period in my life is to examine ways to make thematic curriculum work at home.  This is my research area, so it will keep me somewhat active mentally, as well as being what I hope will be a great resource for other parents and small group educators.  This blog is my documentation of both the process and the product of my efforts.  My assessment of RJ's learning will be my case study.