Sunday, August 18, 2013

Tot School Plan: Update!

I spent some time thinking through our original TS plan (see the original post and plan here) and made some adjustments now that we are a month or so into the whole concept. Since I launched this blog, I have had (much to my surprise) a lot of viewings on this original planning post and general interest in the organizational approach that I took. I decided that I would dive a little deeper into that in hopes it may help someone else who decides to start this amazing Tot School venture. So here it is...

I didn't think we would need to spend a whole week on each number 1-10 because we already use numbers each day, one way or another with counting, in books etc. I also decided I wanted to incorporate some shapes and body parts soon. I assumed he knew his body parts but thought he would have a great time playing and reviewing. As for shapes, he started drawing circles lately and seems really interested in shapes so I want to encourage and support that natural interest. Basically, I figured we would be talking about numbers and shapes in our everyday life, and throughout tot school so why not spend a week setting the stage (beyond what he already knows). I figured one week with numbers 1-5, another with numbers 6-10, a week of shapes and a week of body parts would be a nice assortment. I had set myself a goal of 1 year  of pre-preschool so to speak; 52 weeks of TS with my sweet little toddler. So, with this change I had some free weeks to fill. I added some holidays into the mix that I thought would be a really fun thing to learn about, for the whole family.  I have decided to go ahead and include the detailed schedule here. This could change again and again, who knows. However, to my busy mommy brain this just makes sense for now... it allows us to expose him to lots of concepts through child led play and exploration.

So what does it look like...

WEEK #
Week Start
Week End
Curriculum
Topic
Sub Topics
1
7/13/2013
7/19/2013
Colors
Brown
Bear
2
7/20/2013
7/26/2013
Colors
Red
Bird
3
7/27/2013
8/2/2013
Colors
Yellow
Duck
4
8/3/2013
8/9/2013
Colors
Blue
Horse
5
8/10/2013
8/16/2013
Colors
Green
Frog
6
8/17/2013
8/23/2013
Colors
Purple
Cat
7
8/24/2013
8/30/2013
Colors
White
Dog
8
8/31/2013
9/6/2013
Colors
Black
Sheep
9
9/7/2013
9/13/2013
Colors
Orange
Goldfish
10
9/14/2013
9/20/2013
Colors
Pink
Pig
11
9/21/2013
9/27/2013
Colors
Grey
Elephant
12
9/28/2013
10/4/2013
Body
Body Parts
Head to Toe
13
10/5/2013
10/11/2013
Numbers
1, 2, 3, 4, 5
See Notes
14
10/12/2013
10/18/2013
Birthday!
Birthday Party!
Balloons, Cake, Etc.
15
10/19/2013
10/25/2013
Numbers
6, 7, 8, 9, 10
See Notes
16
10/26/2013
11/1/2013
Holiday
Halloween
See Notes
17
11/2/2013
11/8/2013
Shapes
Circle, Square, Rectangle, Triangle, Diamond, Heart, Star
18
11/9/2013
11/15/2013
Letters
A
Apple: Fruit
19
11/16/2013
11/22/2013
Letters
B
Ball: Sports
20
11/23/2013
11/29/2013
Holiday
Thanksgiving
See Notes
21
11/30/2013
12/6/2013
Letters
C
Carrot: Vegetables
22
12/7/2013
12/13/2013
Letters
D
Dragonfly: Bugs
23
12/14/2013
12/20/2013
Letters
E
Eat: Meals
24
12/21/2013
12/27/2013
Holiday
Christmas
See Notes
25
12/28/2013
1/3/2014
Holiday
New Years
See Notes
26
1/4/2014
1/10/2014
Letters
F
Fire: Safety
27
1/11/2014
1/17/2014
Letters
G
Globe: World
28
1/18/2014
1/24/2014
Letters
H
Happy: Emotion
29
1/25/2014
1/31/2014
Letters
I
Ice: Cold Weather Fun
30
2/1/2014
2/7/2014
Letters
J
Jellyfish: Ocean
31
2/8/2014
2/14/2014
Holiday
Valentine’s Day
See Notes
32
2/15/2014
2/21/2014
Holiday
President’s Day
See Notes
33
2/22/2014
2/28/2014
Letters
K
Key: Locks/Latches/Knobs
34
3/1/2014
3/7/2014
Letters
L
Liter: Green Living
35
3/8/2014
3/14/2014
Letters
M
Money: Money
36
3/15/2014
3/21/2014
Holiday
St. Patrick’s Day
See Notes
37
3/22/2014
3/28/2014
Letters
N
Nurse: Professions
38
3/29/2014
4/4/2014
Letters
O
Open: Opposites
39
4/5/2014
4/11/2014
Letters
P
Pole: Fishing
40
4/12/2014
4/18/2014
Letters
Q
Quack: Farm
41
4/19/2014
4/25/2014
Holiday
Easter
See Notes
42
4/26/2014
5/2/2014
Letters
R
Run: Movement
43
5/3/2014
5/9/2014
Holiday
Cinco de Mayo
See Notes
44
5/10/2014
5/16/2014
Letters
S
Sorry: Manners
45
5/17/2014
5/23/2014
Letters
T
Tent: Camping
46
5/24/2014
5/30/2014
Letters
U
Uncle: Family
47
5/31/2014
6/6/2014
Letters
V
Vehicle: Transportation
48
6/7/2014
6/13/2014
Letters
W
Wood: Nature
49
6/14/2014
6/20/2014
Letters
X
Xylophone: Music
50
6/21/2014
6/27/2014
Letters
Y
Yesterday: Time
51
6/28/2014
7/4/2014
Holiday
4th of July
See Notes
52
7/5/2014
7/11/2014
Letters
Z
Zipper: Clothing


























































I took an amazing organization plan from Carisa's 1+1+1=1 blog (click here for her posting).  I changed the concept a bit to fit our needs but it is essentially the same: we will cover a letter, a word that begins with that letter and a general theme that the word fits in.  So A, Apple: Fruit. Thank you to Carisa for this weekly letter plan!

Each week's actual activities, whether it be a letter, a holiday, shapes etc, is something I plan as the week approaches... or on the fly if that is the time I have to plan.  However, having this outline gives me some guidance as to what fun things we can explore together.   The idea that a year will go by and we will have had some sort of fun and learned about, in some way shape or form, all of these things is awesome... maybe I can be the kind of mom I always wanted to be and work full time (Or so I need to keep telling myself :))

For those of you who aren't familiar with this Tot School thing, this is not a time where we make Mr. Little Man sit down and learn something. This is the complete opposite actually!  With this schedule, my husband and I introduce our Little Man to real world concepts through play, on his schedule and based on his development stage and interest level at the moment. The schedule is just for themes and organization... its not indicative of the time we actually spend together.. that is free and just plain fun! The schedule helps me stay organized... this mommy brain is pretty full these days.

Oh, and thanks for reading! I am blown away by how many viewings are happening each day!  I was writing this to have a memoir for our family... but if some other parents can get inspired and get some ideas too, all the more reason to stay up late and type :)

Linking to:
http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.net/2013/08/tot-school-gathering-place-week-32/

6 comments:

  1. This is a great schedule, I love how you stress that you will encourage play through your themes! I have found, for our tot school, that we have taken at least two weeks per letter/theme -- but it's nice to adapt as we go :)

    Amy
    http://wildflowerramblings.com

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    1. This is great insight, I'm glad you shared that! I definitely paln to be flexible as something may really catch our eyes and more time may be more fun... then other thigns may take more time to develop. I figure... take it week by week and see how it goes!

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  2. I haven't actually thought of themes for my daughters tot school and this has encouraged me to look into a few! We'll be doing Carisa's Animal ABC but I think we may also look at themes for holidays/events/change of season etc :-) x

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    1. I felt like the begining of Tot School for us, it may be nice to be organized and have themes... I'm sure by the end of this list above, we will be themed-out, haha. For me, though, it just works to have a general concept in the back of my mind so I have direction when setting up some fun for our week. Goodluck, I look forward to checking out your site as you get started on the ABCs!

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  3. Oh this is great!! If I ever need ideas I'll just come find your list :). Actually, I have found the weekly theme planning to be so helpful in the long run. It keeps me from trying to fit everything in because I know we will be catching some of it again in the future :).

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Lisa, I hope it will give you soem new ideas! I also have some other ones I am so excited ot do that I am keeping a list... for future weeks and possibly for a week that doesnt pan out and we just need to change it up a bit :) I worry too, btw, that if I didnt have a schedule for me, I would end up cramming too much in too quickly... this allows us ot spend ample time on all kids of fun things which is proving to be a great fit thus far... MLM is loving it!

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