KJ's Ladies: organization

Showing posts with label organization. Show all posts

Lesson Plans the Erasable Way

I have found the best pens EVER!!!

These are FriXion Point Erasable Gel Pens

In my lesson planner I color code my kids work... blue, purple, pink... each little Princess gets her own color. But I am constantly changing and rearranging my schedule and these pens have this neat little white tip that erases the pen perfectly and unlike pencil erasers they don't wear down.

Then throughout the week as we accomplish task I highlight it...

what doesn't get done moves to next week or skipped.

(this is a good week look at all that yellow!)

It has made a world of difference for me in my lesson planning. I love the bright colors, I love the fact that they are erasable. Go ahead try these pens for yourself.

The Messy Teacher

I am a teacher and here's what I think I look like....

But reality strikes and I realize I am one of those "messy" kinda teachers. Ya know the kind that if given a choice of 3-4 activities to "enhance" your subject I am always gonna pick the painting, dig in the dirt, glue lots of little pieces of paper to the paper kinda project. I love when kids dig in a get dirty with the projects!...

What I have trouble accepting is that while messy teachers are fun teachers, "messy" teaching creates- well, messes....

I am working on being ok with my piles. I really am! I am working on finding the balance between fun "messy teaching" and cleaning up after myself to create a home that is welcoming and well cared for. It is a not an easy balance for me. I struggle more often than I care to admit and my Prince Charming and little ladies generally get the brunt of my frustration.

Today I am feeling a little overwhelmed with my piles of stuff and yet balancing that with my looming lack of preparation of lessons for this week. Someday I really hope that I find a balance between what I should do and what I want to do... but for now I really need to go get cleaned up and plan some school lessons....

New House= New Chores

School is starting and we are in a new house so I want to revamp the chores for the girls...

I started a "responsibilites" check list for the girls... this means these are things that they are need to do everyday without any compensation. I also started a chores chart that are specific tasks they receive a quarter for if done on time and with a good attitude. (if I figure out how to add a document I will add them later) but here are the girls folding their laundry (5yrs and 4yrs)

3 Year Old Preschool Objectives

These are the things I would like for Princess #2 to know by the time we finish "school" this year

Bible Skills

Bible Verse Memory- one per month
Godly Behavior
Daily Prayer
Biblical character traits
Proper behavior in church
Familiar with short bible songs

Pre-Math Skills

Number recognition 1-10
Number Counting 1-20
Understands comparisons (Big, bigger, biggest)
Understands spatial awareness
Counting and Sorting Objects
Memory and matching skills
Simple patterning recognition and reproduction
Stringing beads

Pre-Reading Skills

Proper care of books

Left to right movement

Correct pencil placement

Story-picture recognition

Identify all letters in sequence

Identify shapes

Identify colors

Beginning understanding of opposites

Name recognition

Memorize short nursery rhyme or saying

Tracing

Understanding the difference between statements, questions, and comments

Science Skills

Calendar recognition

Seasons/holidays

Weather

Animal behavior

Health and Hygiene

Five Senses

Identify basic body parts

Artist Sills

Playdough manipulation
Painting by color
Coloring within lines
Cutting with scissors
Pasting
Creative free expression and exploration

Musical Sills

Understands musical contrasts (soft, loud, fast, slow)
Dancing and creative music
Introduce various styles of music
Introduction to rhythm activities
Introduction instrument identification

Gross and Fine Motor Skills

Understand "jump", "climb", "run", "pedal" "catch"
Games
Outside Activities
Obstacle course
Lacing
Puzzles
Cutting
Pasting

Listening Skills

Following 2 step directions
Sit during one short story
Nursery Rhymes
Repeat directions

Dramatic Play

Show and tell
Puppets

Creative Dress Up

Housekeeping

Cooking

Encourage independent play

Self-Care Skills

Wiping in bathroom
Washing hands
Putting on clothes
Putting shoes on right feet
Blowing nose
Covering mouth with sneezing and coughing
Obtaining and returning objects in correct places

Social Skills

Familiar with different occupations
Familiar with different parts of the community
Familiar with different modes of transportation
Familiar with own address and phone number
Familiar with parents given name
Obeying teachers/authority figures
Having another adult other than parent as a leader
Being patient for a turn
Can sit still during a short circle time
Learning manner, being poliet
Speaking kindly to family members
Standing in line patiently
Respect God, adults and others

Giving a receiving forgiveness

Learning to appreciate family members

Emotional Skills

Work independently
Can "share" parent attention
Expresses fustration in an appropriate manner
Can deal with changes easily

Happy Ice Cream Day

Did you know that July is National Ice Cream month? On July 9, 1984 Ronald Regan signed the proclaimation making it offically National Ice Cream month... so... Happy ice cream day! We celebrated by making our own homemade chocolate ice cream... mmmm! The girls had fun, although mommy didn't read the recipe really well and it ended up being a two day process due to cooling times (oh well). We also installed our AC units yesterday. Being in upstate NY the weather only requires us to have window units in the dead of summer and even then it is a luxury we save only for nightime sleeping. It has been in the high 80's and low 90's with dew points in the 70's which means you just drip with humidity! We lost one AC unit this year and thought we were going to have to get a new one, but Prince Charming found someone at work getting rid of one... THANKS! (pie to follow really soon)

Yesterday was the first day of our summer bible study. It is a really relaxed sort of book study. A group of ladies have decided to read "To Shepherd A Child's Heart" by Tedd Tripp (if you haven't read it I highly reccommend it) and get together to discuss what we read. (basically swap parenting stories) We let the kids run in our church's gym area (this week there were 5 ladies with 22 children) but the great thing is that they range in age from 15 yrs-3 months, so the older ones entertain the younger ones.

Yesterday I also met with a very good friend, who happens to also be family, a veteran homeschooler, former preschool teacher, and former school administrator. (She started the Christian school in our area) Anyway, now that I have sung her praises... I meet with her to get some direction on what I want to do this year in school. As I have tried to put together my "plan" for next year I realized I was all over the board on what I wanted to teach. I needed to find some direction. She suggested that I first write out what I wanted Princess #2 to accomplish by the end of the school year and then figure out how best to get that end result, rather than starting from the beginning and trying end up with goals. She also told me I was also expecting too much from Princess #2. She is really only at a Pre-preschool level and I was preparing for a preschool level. So I have spent the last few days researching on line for resources on what 3 year old should be able to do. The Veteran Teacher also lent me some good books to read. Prince Charming is actual reading some too... I am amazed! Yeah! Currently I am into "So you Think you Want to Homeschool", which is a good book to just kinda figure out what type of homeschool might work best for your family. I thought I was classic school type teacher, but so far the stories I seem to relate to best are called "electic"... hmmm sounds kinda eccentric huh? ... anyway, all that means is you find out how each child learns and teach that way to that child. But I have yet to finish the book, so I could change between now and then... hmm maybe I am more electic than I thought...no wait maybe not... oh just stop it!

Also this week, I happened upon a website called FlyLady . In this website there is an item called a "control book". I love this idea! It is a binder with everything you need for life in check list format... menu, grocery lists, lesson plans, daily schedules, cleaning, etc... As you can see from this post, I can get a tad side-tracked at times and the idea of a "control book" is to keep me on track. (Plus I am a control freak and love checklists) I haven't yet figured out how to post anything other than pictures, so when I do figure it out I will try and post some examples of my control book. Yes, I know I am wacko, I loved making this control book!

So anyway, I guess I have rambled on enough for one night... don't you agree... here are some photos of our ice cream adventures... (which will continue on tomorrow at school)

Making the ice cream mixture