The first day in summer preschool

Preschool is over for the big kids for this year and now that everyone has gone off for their summer break, I have reset up my classroom for my two year old grandson.

Yes, he is the only student I have during the summer – well that is until baby brother gets just a little bit older or we have a friend come over to play.

Throughout this summer, I will share a little bit of what my grandson and I are doing as well as posts from this past school year with the “big kids.”  I will actually hop back and forth a bit and even take a day off here and there so I can rest up for next school year and spend extra time with my family over the summer. But for today, I thought I would take you along as my grandson explored our new (more toddler friendly) classroom set up.

As with any two year old, the first thing my grandson needed to do was get familiar with the room. I didn’t plan anything special for us to do – just time to explore the room and the things set out for play around the room. One thing that I know about my grandson is that he loves to play on a table. He will bring pretty much anything he chooses to play with over to a table so I set up two tables. One table is for me to set up new things for my grandson to try and the other is for my grandson to use for his play.

My grandson went right to work bringing over cars and trucks and animals over to the table even though there is a large carpet for him to play on. If I insisted he play with things where I thought he should play, he would just ignore the toys altogether. So for now, one table stays cleared off for table top free play.

And like most average two year olds, my grandson wants to take things down – not everything, but things that seem out of the ordinary to him.  For example, the puppets on the back of the shelf seemed out of the norm so he took them all off the hooks and dropped them on the floor.  He wasn’t interested in playing with the puppets (and may never be), only interested in removing them from the hooks.

And once the puppets were out of his way, then he spent a few minutes taking a closer look at the hooks. The hooks were clearly more interesting than the puppets.

At the music center, my grandson spent a few minutes playing the drums and turning the CD player volume up and down.

And then he took a few xylophones over to the table to give them a try too.

Except for car and truck play on the table, my grandson didn’t spend more than a few minutes in any one area of the room.

Instead, he went from area to area then back again – sometimes choosing something to play with and other times just looking things over.

And where he left things left on the floor, like the puppets, I quietly went and put them back up. Today was about exploring the novelty of a new place and feeling free to explore – not feeling pressure to pick it all up.

I modeled the care of our room for him and, as I have done at home, he will soon realize that everything has its place and be ready to pitch in and help put things up. Today, he needed to know where every was and what it was – he needed to just explore his new environment.

So now that my grandson has explored the classroom (for a couple of days now) I will begin introducing new experiences and materials for us to explore together.

So I think I was able to take a photo of my grandson exploring most of the areas of our classroom so you could get a little tour too!

Summer time preschool lasted about an hour today and now it is time (depending on which clock you are following) to go outside and play!

 

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Deborah J Stewart

Deborah J Stewart

Every time I think I know everything I need to know about teaching young children, God says, "Hold on a minute!" and gives me a new challenge.

Let me tell ya...

With each new challenge that you overcome, you will find yourself better equipped and more passionate about teaching young children.

God didn't call wimps to lead, teach, or care for His children. Nope, he has high expectations, so get ready. You will have to give your very best but after teaching for over 30 years, I can tell you that it is a wonderful and rewarding journey.

Whenever your calling feels hard, just remember, 'He who began a good work in you (and in the children you serve) will be faithful to complete it.'

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