Lesson Planning
A lot of people think that in an environment like mine that is child- led there is no plan and there is definitely no lesson planning. But that is far from the truth. The way I teach is actually even a little more difficult. Because instead of me determining what I think the children might be interested in and making elaborate plans from that, I watch the children. Sometimes that takes me four or five different directions- but in the end it’s worth it. Have you ever had someone try to teach you something that you really weren’t interested in?
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This is what my lesson plans look like. This is very basic. As the children get more engaged our web will get larger.
At the beginning of the year we spend time just getting to know each other and getting our routines down pat. Routines help us to feel safe and that’s important in a new place.
So for the next few weeks we will be learning many things that can help us build the foundation to learning in different ways.
There are so many things that children need to learn at the beginning the school year without pushing academic learning . Example, for you as an adult using glue might be simple use. Children have not learned yet how much pressure you put on a bottle to get just the exact amount of glue out. Might not seem important until you have a river of glue on the floor beneath the table.
Washing hands seems simple enough right? Did you know there’s a specific way that we do that to ensure that we all stay as healthy as we can? First the children wet their hands. Then they add soap. Then they lather for 20 seconds which is the length of the ABC song or the happy birthday song. Next they rinse and dry completely. That may seem unimportant but when a virus starts rearing it’s head through our classroom proper hand washing Will help us stay safe.
Also in the next few weeks we will start introducing conscious discipline – which is the self-regulation tool that I use in my preschool. I’ll teach you as I go along too.
So yes it would be absolutely easier to start doing an apple theme and learn that apples are red and apples can be eaten and that apples grow on trees- but we have other important things to learn.
