Tot School Tuesday

I have been doing "Tot School" with Ri since last October. Some weeks are super successful, aka I set aside time and plan ahead to make our activities meaningful. Other weeks, we are lucky to do much of anything. Sometimes we skip a week or two all together. But, my main goal is to supplement Mother's Day Out and prepare her for kindergarten, since I will not be sending her to public pre-k (that's the plan so far!). She just turned three on August 22nd, so we're going slow and just working on letters/sounds and other basic skills.

I keep it very basic and really only allow 15-45 minutes, 2 or 3 times a week. It has gotten very tricky figuring out the best time to have school. Ideally, it is when both of her brothers are down for naps. But, lately, we've gone back to taking a little bit of a nap. So, when I can, I do it before she goes down for her "quiet time", while the boys are napping. Ri loves having this time with just the two of us.

Each week we have a new letter. We just go through the alphabet. I try to find a book that goes with that letter, do starfall.com, have a craft, a snack, etc. to go with that letter. We do one number, color, shape, etc. each month. This usually correlates with her MDO, so that she's getting it both places. I do my own thing in the summer.

A few weeks ago I found this teacher plan book at Target. I like it because I can quickly plan a few things for the week and just give it a quick glance when it's time for "school". It was in the dollar section, which makes it extra great!!

I keep a decorative box of folders, construction paper, practice skill workbooks and stickers on top of the fridge. I also keep a caddy (silverware caddy) with crayons, stamps, playdough, flashcards, etc. on top of the fridge. It makes it easy to just grab supplies and have "school" on the kitchen counter.

We have an easy week this week, as we are starting Mother's Day Out on Thursday and will have to work that back into our routine.

This week's Tot School plan (see sidebar for this week's objectives)

Books: The Button Box; Brown Bear, Brown Bear
Starfall.com: Letter B
Play: Balloons and Balls; Barn; teddy bear sorting
Work: Letter B coloring page
Craft: Button "sewing"

Last week's Tot School plan (Letter A):'


Starfall.com: Letter A
Playdough-stamp with the letter A
Crafts: Fingerprint apple tree; Apple handprint; Paper plate apple
Snacks: apple juice, apple sauce, Apple Jacks, Ants on a log (graham cracker stick with peanut butter and chocolate chips)
Work: Letter A coloring page
Books: Various apple books; I Can't, Said the Ant


For great resources for your own Tot School (this is just our mini version), go to this site.