"So whatever happened to Zahavah?", you may wonder. No, wait. Did that introduction trigger the even more troubling question of "Who is Zahavah?" because then, I really owe you a deep explanation. :) You see, when I first started blogging, I thought I'd devote Sorting Sprinkles to both my preschooler and toddler. And I did. For a while anyway. Like until Halloween or something. And then I simply couldn't keep up brainstorming two great curriculum at the same time. I had to let one go and in my head, it had to be Zahavah's. I felt like Adrian's was "more important" because he was a preschooler and since he was not attending school per say (he attends 4 mornings a week in German so in my head...it didn't count), he should be "attending" with me whereas Zahavah "could wait". I still did and do activities and games with her of course but they're not planned like Adrian's. As such, I haven't blogged about these at all but no worries...she's having a good time, hosting play dates, "working out at the gym" and learning here and there with what I have time to put together for her.
Hmm. "Letter of the week" actually seemed like more work than a mini-unit to me. Just the letter "D" makes me think of "dog"and "dinosaur", and those are two HUGE topics. No, couldn't possibly do that. The "sorter" in me just couldn't combine it all. Then, "book of the week" triggered some excitement in me...but then I remembered all my visitors who wouldn't be able to follow along anymore and also,... would a book be enough to prepare an entire week of trays? Not so sure. In the end, it looks like I'll be doing mini-units for Zahavah as well. I am now looking at possible themes for the upcoming school year. I think I may include a few book-based units but I'll try my best to choose books that were published in several languages...
Ok. Done thinking. Here's what I've come up with so far. Of course, these themes are all subject to change. I took in consideration Zahavah's current interests and these can always change (although, she is a pretty constant girl I must say). I also tried to pick themes that are universal; themes that she would encounter if she were, for example, to go to a nursery school that used thematics. I also tried to choose subjects that will make it easy to incorporate Montessori elements of course. Now, enough said, here is what you've all been waiting for...my mini-unit themes for 2013-2014! :)
On the Farm
Falling for Fall (Autumn)
Fashion Week (Clothing)
To Market, To Market (At Grocery Store)
Going Places (Transportation)
Forest Friends (In the Woods)
Zahavah, Little Mama
Thanksgiving
Pretty Ballerinas
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You Hear? (Eric Carle book)
Cuddly Teddy (teddy bears)
Teatime and Sweets and My Favorite
Valentine's Day
Teletubbies
Mardi Gras
St. Patrick's Day
The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Eric Carle Book)
Sports Camp
Up in the Sky
By the Pond
Life's a Zoo
At the Fair
Don't Bug Me ! (insects)
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| Zahavah Thinking of the Upcoming School Year |
Of course that's about to change. Little Miss Z will be turning two and a half this summer and will be ready to enter the proper world of Montessori Learning and as such you'll see a lot more of her comes fall and the beginning of the new school year. I've been debating for quite a while now as to how to proceed with her. I do so love working with "mini-unit" aka themes (I bet you couldn't tell!:) ) but when I investigated what other folks did with their toddlers, I found out a lot went with "letter of the week" and "book of the week" units instead.
Hmm. "Letter of the week" actually seemed like more work than a mini-unit to me. Just the letter "D" makes me think of "dog"and "dinosaur", and those are two HUGE topics. No, couldn't possibly do that. The "sorter" in me just couldn't combine it all. Then, "book of the week" triggered some excitement in me...but then I remembered all my visitors who wouldn't be able to follow along anymore and also,... would a book be enough to prepare an entire week of trays? Not so sure. In the end, it looks like I'll be doing mini-units for Zahavah as well. I am now looking at possible themes for the upcoming school year. I think I may include a few book-based units but I'll try my best to choose books that were published in several languages...
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Ok. Done thinking. Here's what I've come up with so far. Of course, these themes are all subject to change. I took in consideration Zahavah's current interests and these can always change (although, she is a pretty constant girl I must say). I also tried to pick themes that are universal; themes that she would encounter if she were, for example, to go to a nursery school that used thematics. I also tried to choose subjects that will make it easy to incorporate Montessori elements of course. Now, enough said, here is what you've all been waiting for...my mini-unit themes for 2013-2014! :)
2013-2014 "Tot School" Mini-Unit Themes
September
It's All About Me ! (body parts & emotions)On the Farm
Falling for Fall (Autumn)
Fashion Week (Clothing)
October
To Market, To Market (At Grocery Store)
Princess Zahavah of New York (princesses & royalty)
Favorite Pets
Halloween
Halloween
November
Going Places (Transportation)Forest Friends (In the Woods)
Zahavah, Little Mama
Thanksgiving
December
My friend Maisy Mouse (Lucy Cousin character)
It's a Birthday Party !
Christmas
Christmas
January
A cold winterPretty Ballerinas
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You Hear? (Eric Carle book)
Cuddly Teddy (teddy bears)
Teatime and Sweets and My Favorite
February
The circus is in TownValentine's Day
Teletubbies
Mardi Gras
March
Lollies, Gummies and other CandiesSt. Patrick's Day
The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Eric Carle Book)
Sports Camp
April
Up in the Sky
Spring is in the Air
Easter
Easter
In the Garden
May
By the PondLife's a Zoo
At the Fair
Don't Bug Me ! (insects)
June
Summer Fun
At the Beach
No plans announced yet in terms of summer enrichment! :) So what do you think? Any input? I know you may be surprised by some themes (Teletubbies? Really?) but my choices were made with MY toddler in mind. Besides, themes can always change as mentioned before. Some may also be completely "deleted" as penciled in guests confirm their visit and require the postponement/elimination of some topics. Sick days may (or rather will probably) be necessary as well but for now, I'm pretty happy with what I've come up with...
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Your comments make my day !
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Today, I'm happily linking up to
Montessori Monday, The Kids Co-Op, Show-and-Share Saturday, Link & Learn, TGIF, Share it Saturday, Mom's Library, The Sunday Showcase, Sun Scholars's For the Kids Friday, Stress-Free Sunday, Tender Moments with Toddlers & Preschoolers, Tuesday Tots, Preschool Corner &5K, Look What We Did, Money Saving Monday, Monday Kid Corner, Kids in the Kitchen, and We Made That.
If you would like me to link up with you, please don't hesitate to ask, it might take me a week or two, but I generally do!
Hi there,
ReplyDeleteI am following you from Money Saving Mondays. This reminded me so much of my long range plans - I taught grade 1, 4 and 5.
Planning is important - changing is even more important. Be ready to move as you are led by your children.
Blessings,
Janis www.janiscox.com
Thank you Janis! I most surely will have to change some of my plans during the school year. I am a planner and not very good at being spontaneous but my children have taught me to adapt quickly ever since they were born. Thankfully, my years of teaching and working as a substitute teacher prepared me a bit as well! :)
ReplyDeleteI love your blog! These plans look great (looking forward to all of your awesome posts!!) Thanks for sharing with us at Share It Saturday!
ReplyDeleteColleen at www.sugaraunts.com
Thanks! It hopefully will all work out according to the plan (although I've learned to be flexible!). Will try to link up every week and show you how it's going!
DeleteYou are so impressive! Thanks for linking up at the Virtual Fair. I will be featuring this post on Carrots Are Orange FB page! Best! ~ Marnie
ReplyDeleteThank you Marnie! I'm hoping to follow the Montessori method a bit closer with Zahavah so we'll see how these themes incorporate into it! :) Thanks for the feature on FB. Sorting Sprinkles just got its account a few weeks ago! :)
DeleteI have a little boy who is one and a half, so I am really looking forward to seeing how these units go! Thanks for posting your ideas - I will be going down this same planning road next summer. :)
ReplyDeleteHopefully it will work out as planned but then again, if it doesn't, it doesn't. Zahavah is nearing 2.5 years old now so her attention span is much longer and she actually likes "working". Sometimes she doesn't though and that's ok. I follow her lead and we change things up; go outside, have a snack, a storytime, etc.
DeleteI love doing themes too, I made the same kind of list last year (http://findingtheteachablemoments.blogspot.com/2012/08/2012-2013-curriculum.html)
ReplyDeleteWe ended up spending more than a week on many of our themes, so half of them never made it into our school year. Needless to say, I'm planning less for next year!
You have such a well thought out list. Look forward to seeing what you come up with (I have a daughter the same age). Now following you on Facebook. :)
I will most definitely check out your list. I'm frankly not sure what to expect this year. Last year, I planned 2 weeks for each theme and it worked out well for my toddler (she was 1.5 when we started). This year, I've reduced it to one per theme. It works for my preschooler but I know Z is younger and may want more time on certain activities. We'll see how it goes. I'd rather have more themes than be short. :)
Deletethanks so much for linking up to #kidsinthekitchen
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome. I'll try to dig "kitchen" stuff next time! :)
DeleteI saw this post recommended at Life's All About Little Adventures. I've gotta say I love your idea about fashion week and can't wait to see all of your activities. My daughters would go nuts over that. I'd just have to think of a way to get the boys excited about it. Lol.
ReplyDeleteLOL Boys and fashion! :) I"m sure some of the activities will pass but others might be hard to sell. "Z" loves fashion already and it'll be easy to incorporate Montessori principles into such a theme. Hopefully all will go well. We're set to start at the beginning of September.
DeleteI love mini-units too. I think it's a great way to organize learning for toddlers. I do letter of the week with my preschooler, but my toddler has been just been getting themes and he loves it. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm sure they both enjoy the "organization". My kids like themes a lot but for my tot, I wondered if she'd really grab the "theme" concept as much as her big brother. In the end, whether she realizes fully that we're working on a theme for a week or not, I personally appreciate having a theme to work with rather than just trays. It helps my organized brain! LOL Thanks for visiting!
DeleteLooks like you have a fun year planned! You are so organized!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks sharing and linking up to TGIF! I hope you come link up later today,
Beth =)
Thanks Beth! I try to organize myself as early as possible usually because I know during the school year, I always fall behind! :) Trying to make each year better! :) Hope you'll have another great year as well!
DeleteLook forward to following your blog. My DD will also be 2.5 years old going into fall and I am always looking ideas for things to do with her. You look like you have everything well planned.
ReplyDeleteI most certainly try to plan everything out as well as possible but once in place, I sometimes have to let things go! :) Toddlers are a bit unpredictable and Zahavah has taught me to be flexible in my schedules and plans... I hope you'll find lots of inspiration here for your little one!
DeleteYour list looks great! A little mixture of everything, LOVE it!
ReplyDeleteThanks! Just trying to hit the classics as well as themes I know she will love and a few to "enlarge" her horizons as well. Hopefully we'll get to try them all... :)
DeleteI am new to sorting sprinkles and love it! Can I ask how much time each day do you devote to teaching your toddler these mini units? My 2 1/2 yr old is very smart and energetic, and I tried to do a weekly routine I found online where she was to learn subjects a,b,c,d (for example) and she learned them all in like an hour rather than a day, or even a week. I am having a difficult time keeping her pace (I also have a 4 month old)
ReplyDeleteThank you for visiting. I'm glad you like what you've found. I have actually written a post showing how much time I spend on "academics" with Zahavah each day. On average, it's about 2 hours so for each mini-units, I'd say we spend 14 hours total. Toddlers learn very well with repetition so don't be afraid to have your daughter do the same work more than once. It does not always have to be new. Mine will repeat her work several times a week and I'll also introduce variations of it during the week if I see the tray hasn't been touched much. For toddlers, it's also important to let them play outside, especially if they are high energy children. I also find that children that "assimilate" quickly don't necessarily "retain" so although they've learned, they won't remember so practice is important. If she's learned her ABCs for example, she may like alphabet books, alphabet songs and games...Toddlerhood is also a time for playing: don't be afraid to let her have some free-time to play and develop her imagination and creativity. :)
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