Need Help

[fnaylor72]

I have recently gone back to work as a DayCare/Early Education teacher. My problem is this: I am now working with younger children (I previously worked with 2 1/2 yr olds and am now working with 18 month olds).
Needless to say the curriculum that I am use to using will be a bit too advanced.
Any help IE: suggested books; activities; ANYTHING will be GREATLY appreciated.
Thank you so much,
Frances

[wig]

I am not allowed to link anything yet apparently (good ol' Harry Wong was zapped on another thread). But there is a site called adaycare dot com that is pretty good. I think you have to pay for it, however.

[mopar]

I would try books with lots of picture, especially books that name animals or colors, etc.
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See? The Very Hungry Caterpillar or other Eric Carle books. Good Night Gorilla, Who Hops?, The Foot Book or other Dr. Suess books, Blue Hat, Green Hat, Opposites, Are you my mother?

For activities: I would spend time drawing, students at this age begin to want to color. I would go for walks with the students to look at nature and colors. Try showing the students pictures and having them name simple objects or everyday items. Puzzles with a few pieces are great-try garage sales in the spring. Allowing simple time to just play with toys. Try hiding objects and seeing if the students can find them.

By the time they leave your classes room it is great if they can name many everyday items and common objects. It is great for the older teachers if they have started to work on color and shape naming. Some rooms at this age even work on letter identification. Have the students color an A and but stickers or stamp marks on the A. Have them cover a C with cheerios or do a letter dance. You can sing the ABCs a lot for the students.

I would also play songs for the students. Any winter song now would be great. The students will learn many new words by listening to the same songs over and over again.

Good luck!

[fnaylor72]

Thank you so very much for all your input - your suggestions are most appreciated!

Frances

[3rdgradeteach]

I really like things that involve music or sign language....I have seen children that young do WONDERS!! It's amazing! And fun to watch them learn! They pick it up sooo fast...

[MsJenniffer]

I have found that children this age learn best through play. That is why I set my classroom up with many different areas of play...dress up,arts and crafts,sensory,blocks,a quiet reading area, etc. and just let the children go from center to center in free play. At different blocks of time throughout the day I localize my self in certain centers and we do directed play of that sort. The children are encouraged to join me for the activity, but at that age I am aware it is difficult to get all of their attention at once. We do common circle time activities (sing ABC's, fingerplays, read stories) while sitting at the table waiting for our lunch to be served.

[bkfan1]

They like fingerplays. Sing songs that has animals on it. And let them do the sounds of the animals. I'm doing stage with the same age. They actually have a long attention span because I read books like "Caps for Sale"
You can also do waterplay. They like to play with water.

[mopar]

I like MsJenniffer's ideas of using centers that the students can go to as they wish. But what do you do with children who don't want to go to any center? Can they choose to sit out or nap?

[MsJenniffer]

We have a Cumfy Corner which is full of books and big cozy pillows to just sit quietly and relax or read. One of my favorite Centers, love the cuddles with a good book :)

[mopar]

That's a really great idea. I love the idea of letting the students choose and encouraging them to try new things.

[sarzacsmom]

You can do simple "cooking" orojects with them like making pudding-- they can help stir- with your guidance of course, or make cupcakes and let them frost them with a plastic spoon and some whipped store bought frosting (it spreads easier) if you have to, you can put a dollop on top of the cup cake and let them spread it.

finger painting in shaving cream is a fun fi ne otor activity-- youhave to watch them to keep it out of their m ouths, but if you get the kind that says non-toxic you'll be fine .

A lot of sensory play-- youcan put other things int he water table---just becareful that it is either big enough or small enough not to pose a choking hazard--I'm going to put snow in mine and put mittens on thema nd let them play in the snow. you can work on color recognition and shape recognition as they are concrete concepts that they will need to learn and it's never to early to INTRODUCE concepts-- jsut remeber that at this age it's more about the process and exposing them to things than the end product! Have fun!!

[mopar]

These are some great ideas. The more you try, the more your students will learn.