Mike The Monkey & World Geography

Geography We've started a 2 year journey around the world. We made a little monkey out of felt as well as some clothing cut outs. I also made a cut out of different types of transportation (a car, bike, plane, boat).


Each month Mike the Monkey goes to a new location. First it's a continent. My youngest - who just turned 4, has to find whattype of transportation carried Mike from his last location to the new one around the globe. Then he needs to find out the climate of his new location and select the appropriate clothing.

Utilizing http://www.enchantedlearning.com/ we find worksheets and continent coloring books like
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/books/africancountries/instructions.shtmlg.com
To learn more about the location.

The next month. Mike travels to a country on that continent. We look on-line to find what type of animals live there and the climate. Then My youngest colors pages of those animals. My oldest learns more about the country - it's people, food, etc.

Another Great unit on Geography - http://www.trumbull.k12.oh.us/teachers/resources/Themes/geography.html

The above came from my Preschool Plans *found on my other webpade KickbuttHomeEducation

Older & Younger Learning Together -

--- I ended up changing this plan slightly - as I'm somewhat lazy and want the kids to learn together as much as possible..lol...so my youngest would spin the globe and select the continent/country. He would then 'pack' the luggage and 'book' the transportation. Then the two of them together would research and put together a lapbook on the country in the form of a brochure. My oldest - DJ - would find out information on the population, the language, the money, and government. My youngest - Xman - would find out about the animals, clothing, traditions and tourist sites  - they would put them together in a lapbook to tempt my husband when he got home from work. It would take anywhere from a week to a month for each country depending. Sometimes we'd find out about religious practices, sometimes historical events.
 
Our Lapbook/Brochure answers these questions:

• How long would it take to get there? And how would we do it?
• What is the climate like?
• Why do people travel to this area?
• What would we do if we were there?
• What type of money do they use, what is the difference between American money and their money?
• What language do they speak? (we would usually make a pocket for small index cards with translations of easy phrases).
• What do the people there look like?
• If I were raised there what would my life be like?
• What bodies of water are near by?
• What countries are near by?
• What major landmarks are found in this country?
• How long has this country been there, what is it's basic history?
• What is the traditional attire of the people like? (we would usually try to make costumes and take a pic of us in them)
• How do their beliefs differ from my own?
• What famous people/inventions/war/etc. came from there?

get creative. This is a very fun way to learn about the world!

Teaching Pre- & Preschool Kids

I was asked today about curriculum standards for those teaching the very young....those 2, 3, and 4 y/o's. There's not much out there on where exactly your child should be developmentally...oh there's much in the way of recognizing if there is a problem, but not much in the way of planning educational play and what your child would be learning if in an institution like a preschool. See, the one who had asked had found a website that was unbelievable in what they asked these youngsters to know (at http://www.geocities.com/heartland/forest/2468/skillslistage3.html#1). This list is not only unatainable for 99% of children, but I think it's irresponsible to give 2 y/o's such manipulatives as buttons and noodles and not expect them to put them in their mouths, making them choking hazards!! See the Core Knowledge Curriculums are like that - one or two grades above most accapted levels..
So I put together what I believe is appropriate for these age groups. Keeping in mind that all children are different...some may advance faster in one area but lag a little behind in another. There's no reason to stress if your child doesn't fit into a mold, as long as they are trying and progressing at a steady pace.

Age 2

Language Development:

• can use 2-3 word sentences
• recognizes the people in their life and can say their names (mom, dad, bro/sister, grandma/pa, etc) anyone they see weekly or more often.
• attempts to sing along for the alphabet song, but will probably stumble over the l,m,n,o,p, portion (blending it together)
• may be able to recognize some of the upper case letters.
  

Writing Development (fine motor skills):

• Can hold a fat pencil or crayon in a fist like hand position
  scribbles in unrecognizable pics but it's fun (and builds up to better motor skills)

Math/Number Sense:

• can begin to count to 5, using finger or other manipulatives
• can begin correlating (putting similar objects together...like all the red cars).
• Might be able to recognize a circle, square and triangle.

Science:

• can recognize several animal pics (I'd say about 10)
• Can associate some animal sounds with pictures of the recognized animal (cow sayes moo, etc) - about 1/2 (so if they recognize 10 animals they can also remember the sounds of 5-6)
• Learning about personal hygiene (but still needs supervision) for potty training then washing their hands, even brushing their teeth. They can remember the steps and attemt to teach a stuffed animal those remembered steps.
• Can identify 1 or 2 articles of clothing (socks, shoes, shirt, etc) and begin to attempt to dress themselves.

Social Studies:

• Begins to recognize characteristics of the sexes (generally associating all women with mom and men with dad so if dad has a gotee then all men will have facial hair, if mom has long hair then all people with long hair are girls, etc)
• When asked their age they can hold up the appropriate number of fingers.
• Begins to follow directions (put the toys in the toy box, those instructions with only 1 step)
• When asked they can say their first name (although at this age they will probably be shy of saying it to strangers).

Social Development:

• Begin to be able to play independently or with other children without having to have mom or dad (or other caregivers) within eye sight, for about 15 minutes.
• Understands the concept of sharing (even if they don't do it..LOL)
• Begins to understand some safety rules (don't cross the street without an adult, don't touch the hot stove, etc).
• Can focus on a task for about 10 minutes before changing topics.

Age 3
Language Development:

• can use 4-5 word sentences
• recognizes the people in their life and can say their names (mom, dad, bro/sister, grandma/pa, etc) anyone they see weekly or more often.
• can sing common songs independently and get them about 90% correct (like the itsy-bitsy spider, ABC's etc)
• can recognize most upper case letters (may confuse W/V, E/F, O,Q)
• Can look at a picture book and tell you a story to go with the pictures.
• Can guess what comes next in a story.
• Can retell they favorite stories with some success
• Begins to be able to express themselves verbally - if their upset or hurt they can tell you what happened and why they are upset.
• Repeats simple instructions, scentences or stories with some accuracy
• Can identify the letters of their first name, and attempt to trace or write them.

Writing Development (fine motor skills):

• Can trace different lines (zig-zagged, curvy, straight, etc) with some success
• Attempts to copy pictures, shapes, etc.
• scribbles, then can tell you what it was they drew.
• likes to work with different mediums (paint, crayons, markers, etc)

Math/Number Sense:

• can count to 10 with success and to 20 with some mistakes through the teens
• understands somce of the concepts of opposites.directionals (more.less, top/bottom, over/under, etc) with some success
• Can recognize about 1/2 of the primary colors
• Can recognize most of the primary shapes.
• Can match items by similarities (color, size, type, etc) --- can put away the laundry or groceries in the appropriate places.

Science:

• recognizes common farm and zoo animals as well as pets
• can identify animal sounds for those common animals
• can identify animal homes for about 1/2 of the animals they know (bears live in a cave, etc)
• Recognizes parts of the body
• Can perform their own personal hygeine (brushing teeth, going potty) with only needing minimal help.
• Atempts to dress themselves with some success, attempting buttons, snaps, and zippers.
• Recognizes several attributes of the seasons
• Recognizes different types of weather and which clothes would be appropriate for different weather patterns

Social Studies:

• Can understand there are a variety of people on the planet of different races and religions (but can't identify those differences, just acknowledges that they are in fact different).
• Knows their ages and their First & Last name
• Understands some of the different service jobs (policemen, firemen, mailmen, etc) and can give a very general description of that job.
• Can identify some different modes of transportation
• Can point to our country/state/continent on a map & globe
• Can recognize common street signs (stop, walk, etc)

Social Development:

• Can interact with other children comfortably.
• Can identify friends and family by first name
• Can share well with new children
• Understands safety and health rules (don't talk to strangers, look both ways before crossing the street)....
• Can take care of their own belongings - performing simple chores
• Can play or work independently for short periods of time.
• Can focus on a task for about 15-20 minutes
  

Age 4
http://www.worldbook.com/typical-course-of-study  or http://www.worldbook.com/component/k2/item/233-typical-course-of-study-preschool-curriculum-guide

Preschool Nutrition

When teaching a preschooler anything the key is FUN, FUN, FUN! Here are some ideas for teaching Nutrition & Health:

Make a Scrapbook Cookbook - this would be a great gift for Grandma as well. I've found some preschooler friendly recepies at:
http://www.nichd.nih.gov/milk/teachers/upload/mm_smartsnack_cookbook.pdf
http://www.dole5aday.com/html/kids/Kids%20Cookbook.html
http://www.nutritionexplorations.org/educators/lessons/chef-combo/chef-combo.asp?tab=1

What Do You Eat? We made a little booklet and each page had a different animal and we explained what they ate, the last page was What I eat with a picture of my son and a list of the food groups.

Parts of the Whole. One of the best tools of instilling a love of math & science later in life is cooking. You are basically mixing completely different items together to make a yummy whole. This is also great for explaining chemical reactions to older kids. I think having the kids have a hand in preparing meals is also a great way of teaching them about nutrition.

Fun with Yeast. Yeast causes things to expand - like bread to rise. We made homemade Amish Friendship Bread, and when discussing what changes are taking place, I needed a way to explain the fun of yeast, so I did this experiment: Place one package of dry yeast, 1/2 cup of sugar and one cup of warm (not hot) in an empty 2 liter soda bottle. Put a balloon over the top and watch it expand!

Where I come from! mini-book. We made a mini-book explaining where comon foods come from. My son colored a picture of his favorite food then told where that food origionated from.
Check out: http://atozteacherstuff.com/pages/244.shtml
Check out: http://www.first-school.ws/theme/nutrition.htm
Check out: http://www.kinderplans.com/content.cfm?pageid=166