“We can’t both be the teacher,” one of my boys said to the other. “Sure we can, we’ll just have the stuffed animals be the kids. They’ll listen good, because they can’t talk.”
Click arrow above to see our school room where the boys are practicing being teacher! As we finish up our summer school / tutoring sessions and prepare our place for an educational daycare program my boys are eager to help with setting up the area and coming up with ideas for activities. The video below shows our abundance of supplies for such activities and books in our resource library. (There are more videos on our YOUTUBE channel.) Both boys have expressed how excited they are to read to the little ones who join us.
We are now enrolling 2-12year olds in our “education through recreation” program, so if you know anyone looking for childcare around the Kingsley area, please share our information. It’ll be a great program for preschoolers, young 5s, kindergarteners, homeschool families… CLICK Adventure Academy for more information about our program. We will be utilizing top rated curriculums including Right Start Math, Math U See, Spelling U See, All about Reading (click highlighted words for links) … We’ve been enjoying Mother Goose Time with our summer students. Although it’s a preschool based curriculum the activities are easily adapted for different ages/stages, and parents have been loving the take home activities and resources. CLICK Mother Goose Time for more information about the program or schedule a visit and check it out yourself!
Crow & Pitcher activities
We’ve been enjoying more Aesop’s Fables this week. “The Crow and the Pitcher” story led to a day of learning beyond the obvious language/literacy lessons. Math and science and even music was integrated as the boys measured and weighed rocks and water and changed amount of peas in the shaker for different sounds … then tried other materials inside (rice, noodles, bells…). Best lesson learned was how to consider using materials available to solve a problem – as the crow did.
frog friends
“The Boys and the Frogs” day was filled with reading, math, science and music as well, although some of the created croaking noises I wouldn’t say were music to my ears ~ but the boys AND girls had a blast. From croaking to hopping to play games with the number pieces and frogs, this day ended up lasting a few days as the children kept wanting to come back to the activities and make up new games with the materials.
some supplies (and frogs with counting gems)
“The Young Crab and his Mother” activities were again filled with valuable lessons and just as the frog story led to lotsa hopping, the crab tale led to crab walks, and races and obstacles… Since gross motor is a great brain break the next couple days were a mix of frog and crab movement moments between lessons.
letter C craft and crab-walkers
“The Milkmaid and her Pail” lesson offered some more gross motor activities as well as teaching times and a teachable moment about “counting chickens before they are hatched” as my boys wanted to make eggs (technically eggs in a nest * or in middle of toast) for lunch and set out everything for 6 servings … and buttered toast and got it all ready to drop in an egg in middle when they opened up cartoon to find only 2 eggs… I actually knew there was only 2 left, but because we have been having an issue with 1 son running through activities and not paying attention to details – I let him set pace and discover the problem on his own. Teachable moment.
teaching tools (Milkmaid & Pail)
The last teachable moments came after teaching the “Bell on the Cat” lessons. “Bell on the Cat” had again, 4 good activities, but one was a great reading game. For the littles we worked on the sound “at” and the letter before creating a word. The older kids, like my boys, created reading and matching games. Teaching kids to read is an invaluable tool and like my last article discussed it’s the most important activity to do over summer vacation to ensure your child retaining grade level. Teaching kids to read is important for many reasons, but for my boy who runs through activities we’re working on him reading all information, which is where the last teachable moment was priceless. During a recent zoo adventure he put his hand in an area that said “Don’t pet! All animals with teeth bite.” It was a close call. To his defense he was encouraged to interact with other animals nearby – but that’s why it’s important to read everything through!
great hands on reading resources with MGT
Life is full of teachable moments and parents are a child’s first teacher. Adventure Academy respects that and encourages parent partnerships by sending home daily notes regarding the child’s day along with resources for how you can continue teaching such lessons at home. I encourage parents to utilize the daily binder to send notes back and forth or schedule times to meet with me and talk freely to keep communication open and therefore work together towards their child’s future success. Although their future success academically is important, the social / emotional success of each child is of upmost importance, which starts by observing how their parents and providers interact. If you are a provider who wants tips on such interactions or a parent who’d like to start interacting with our program please feel free to email Christi@MiFamilies.com. Also feel free to comment below, subscribe above and share our information. Thank you for reading! Now go read to your child 🙂 or let your child read to you …
born with books – never too early to read
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