We're drawing from the Tools of the Mind early childhood education curriculum (which focuses on self-regulation), as well as the teacher training materials from Jumpstart, a program that hires college students to work with preschoolers. Today, we planned out our daily schedule - plenty of free play outdoors, high-quality centers time including math, science and art stations, music and movement, and timely snacks and rest time. We discussed things like an open-door policy to encourage parents to visit any time, incorporating conversation about colors, shapes, numbers, and letters into our daily routine, and weekly themes that we'll introduce and then integrate into our days as the session progresses.
Anna encouraged us all to think about ways we can help children read to learn rather than learn to read - that is, creating a culture of reading that requires children to seek information via books. My mom, coincidentally, later brought up the idea of having children dictate their own stories so that they will be able to "read" them back to an audience. Our kids will have the power to solve problems and create their own play - we won't write their names for them, make models of art projects, give instructions for activities, or provide toys that inhibit creativity.
We'll each spend the next few weeks planning for our themed activities for the program, and we'll be coming back together the week before we begin for the final stage of planning. Stay tuned!
