Thank you Veterans... and every Soldier out there who fights everyday for my freedom!! Thank You!!
It's a rainy day here, the kids are off of school and the house is pretty quiet... I'm not used to quiet. My littlest one and I spent the day reading, singing, using toys she doesn't normally use when the house is busy, and having fun making the big boys crazy.
I used this time to swap out a lot of the older trays and more boring unused toys. I set the kitchen up a little different, shooed the dogs away from the wooden Melissa & Doug toys (they love to chew my most expensive toys!!) and actually looked at my November Lesson Plans. I am looking to find some home daycare providers that use lesson plans and have a more structured set-up for their kids. It seems that my days flow so much better when I have it planned out and we are singing, doing circle time and calendar, & moving from center to center. I don't know how people go through the whole day without a plan. Without the excitement of the Good Morning Song, or the Weather Song... that smell of Play doh (homemade or not) on a rainy day... It has to be so boring if you don't structure your day... that interaction with the kids really makes my day.
We will be starting our Thanksgiving Unit next week. I am looking forward to the next two months. So much to do and learn. The Songs alone!!! Anyone with any great, off beat ideas... I'd love to hear them and try them... I only have 5 or so kids so we can do and try just about everything... even though we are in my home... as long as it doesn't require a whole lot of space, I don't care about mess!! I actually Love Mess!!! Mess = Happiness/Fun!! Kids love Mess!! Mess is a whole nother post!! I stray!! Sorry...
Thank you very much! My husband and I are both Desert Storm veterans. He just retired almost a year ago after 25 years of service.
ReplyDeleteMy house was anything but quiet! No school here, daycare was open, and my 13-year-old ended up with 3 stitches in his finger.
Anyways, this is the activity plan that I use: http://bevs-daycare.info.angelfire.com/activity.html. I usually try to post it on my website on the weekend for the following week. This week it's blank because I took a bit of an activity break to catch up.
I've really tried everything as far as structuring the day goes. I finally found this summer that what works best for us is outside play after breakfast, then circle time (about 10-15 minutes), and then free play until lunch. I used to do an art project as a large group activity, but have found that doing this with just a couple kids at a time and letting them choose when they are ready to do this goes so much better. After lunch, we have storytimes, naps, quiet free play, snack, outdoor time, a brief circle time (includes a story, discussion of the day and tomorrow's plan), and we end with turtle totes (special day-ending activities) until parents arrive. When people ask what we do all day, I tell them it's hard to fit in everything we would like to do.
As far as "moving from center to center", I'm not sure if you mean that as a group activity or not. I leave that for free play time when they can choose what centers they want to play in. I like to have enough structure that the kids know what to expect and keep the chaos under control, but enough free play time and freedom to choose the activies they are interested in and the learning they are ready to do.
I know of another provider's website that has some good examples of lesson plans. I can't seem to find it right now, but I'll let you know when I do.