Full disclosure: Experience Preschool provides curriculum for my program in exchange for sharing our honest reviews and experiences. There are many ideas out there for preschool lesson plans and activities. So many preschool curriculum choices. Social media is full of inspiring posts and I think most of us have hundreds (if not more) pins on each "board" on Pinterest. It is tempting to want to do them all and yet, our head begins to spin as we try to execute our plans. Let me show you something that will be a total game-changer for you whether you are a homeschool parent, teach in a school building or home program, or teach virtually. Our preschool curriculum of choice at St. Mary Preschool is Experience Preschool from Mother Goose Time. As an early childhood educator, I want to create learning experiences that are rich with language and hands-on activities and provide a deep knowledge base. That is hard to do if we are all over the place in one month, with different, unrelated topics introduced daily. Since the middle of March, I have been meeting with my preschool students online and hosting a virtual Circle Time. I divide the materials from our preschool curriculum kit into packets for each child along with activity sheets and info for their parents. They pick up the materials from a box outside of our school. Then, during our Circle Time session, we will have an interactive discussion about one of the daily/weekly topics, dance to the theme music (included in our kit), review the core concepts of the month and show off recent art projects. I remind the children to use their journal, write their names and use the "I Can Read" books I sent home. Check out everything that comes in one monthly kit here. Side note, I donned a crown while we sang and danced to "Queen Ant," from Dancing with Bugs and Crawly Things CD. My awesome husband created a virtual background for me, which is the lake that our school sits on. We can see the water from the playground and cafeteria. Every month, our preschool curriculum is divided into daily bags, with beautiful topic posters, the majority of the materials needed and learning materials such as games, a journal, or I Can Read book. I have a rolling cart labeled with numbers 1-20 and simply place the bags in each drawer. At the end of the school day, my assistant prepares the art table and I set up STREAM stations for the next day. Complete game-changer for me. I love the fact that I don't have to worry if I am hitting key skills each month and in the correct order. Experience Preschool plans the entire scope and sequence for me. We record observations in our Child Folio app, which allows me to connect state standards to each entry. Parents are able to view their child's private "page and comment in real time. We are also able to track their learning progress and print out reports for parent-teacher conferences. Science is woven into each lesson, the children have opportunities to engineer their own props or toys, express themselves freely through open-ended art projects, listen to stories about the topic, play games that reinforce core concepts, solve big problems through STREAM stations and sing and dance to music that relates to the theme. Remember that "deep learning" I mentioned earlier? That's what I'm talking about!
So if you are tired of spending hours creating lesson plans, buying materials, preparing for the week and dragging that ginormous teacher bag home, you have to check out Experience Preschool. You will be glad to get your weekend back.
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AuthorSheila Anderson has over 25 years experience in the Early Childhood Field and still loves going to "school" everyday. Archives
January 2022
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