A is for Ambitious

A couple of moms with kids Joseph's age have started a little preschool swap, and I got to host the letter 'A!' On the off chance I ever do something like this again, I want to write it all down to remember what works and what didn't. So, here it is.

I wasn't quite sure what to do while the kids were trickling in since I didn't want them to get distracted by toys before it even started. So I decided to have some coloring page available for them. About 4 of the 6 were interested, and some found the toys anyway (I ended up putting those away until the lesson was done).

The leaf came a little later

Once all the kids were there, I tried to get them all over from the table to the living room to start. I ended up singing the Primary song "Hello Song" basically by myself (my friend Michelle was there to provide much needed help with Matthew as well as moral support, and she sang too). They gradually trickled over, and when some of them were completely done coloring all the 'A' words they joined us too. So, it might not have been the best start, but it still worked fine.

Then, I announced that we were learning about the letter 'A', and I wrote both 'A' and 'a' on the white board. Then we talked about the kids who had the letter 'A' or letter 'a' in their names. I then gave all of them a chance to draw A on the whiteboard, saying "up the slide, down the slide, bridge across the middle." I think 5 of them wanted to try it. Perhaps I should have had them try the lowercase 'a' as well.

Next, I said we were going to learn more about the letter 'A' using our 5 senses. I wrote the number 5 on the white board. (This was all I really ended up doing with the number 5. Oh well.)

So, I sang the chorus to this song, and I almost didn't feel embarrassed that I was singing Barney songs:

And then, we started with seeing! I had a pile of papers where I had written lots of words that started with 'A'. I explained that something we could see was art, and I pulled out a book with art in it. That is, a book with photographs from southern Utah. So, we first looked at an arch (which almost looked like an A), aspens, and autumn. Then, I said we could make autumn art too! I had gone on a 130-second run that morning and had picked up some leaves on the way back that would be good for leaf rubbings. Only 2 kids wanted to do this activity, and it ended up that I had to do it one at a time. So they all started to get bored. Overall, this sense may not have been the best executed.

I sang the senses song again and we talked about listening. Since the main working audio device right now is a laptop essentially chained to the desk with power cords and monitor display cords, I had to use the preset songs on the piano to provide audio. So, the kids danced to Alla Turca and Arabesque, about a minute of each. I had them march to the first and twirl to the second. The boys were definitely more into this one than the girls.

I think at this point I said another thing we could listen to was stories, including one by Aesop. I then handed out Joseph's stuffed animals and had them act out the Tortoise and the Hare with a frog and a teddy bear. This one didn't go too smoothly either because it was hard to give instructions about the hare sleeping and the tortoise going past. But they didn't seem to get too bored, and I think the tortoise ended up winning.

We sang the senses again and moved on to touch. I had them close their eyes and reach into bags and boxes full of 'a' things such as an apron, afghan, acorns, alligator, airplane, and a bag of applesauce. I tried to ask questions like, "does the object in there feel soft or hard?" and sometimes the answers were way off. Haha. Also they kept peeking! Throughout this and all the other activities, as soon as an 'a' word was discovered they would take the paper that I had written the word on and tape it to the door. The object feeling and word taping were definitely the most participated-in activities.

Sang the senses song again and we were to smell! I had them smell the air (thankfully it smelled like nothing instead of diapers), and then some allspice. Except I think Joseph just snorted into the allspice instead of smelling it. I guess I could have done apple cider vinegar too.

And then came the last sense -- taste! I first brought out some small slices of avocado, and most of the kids tried it! (not mine.) They then went to the table to eat apples and animal crackers and water. While they were eating, I managed to read There's an Alligator Under My Bed and part of Ten Apples Up on Top before Matthew decided that my pitiful attempts to feed him at 8:45 (he just stared at me instead of eating) were not going to hold him over, so I had to feed him. Michelle took over reading. This started at about 10:10, meaning all the activities lasted for about 50 minutes.

I had the books all set up before preschool to make an easy decoration.

They all gradually left the table, and from about 10:25-11:15 they just played. Some on the main level and some in the basement. I think this was the part they had all looked forward to anyway. Other kids' toys are so much cooler than your own.

Overall, I think it went pretty well. I had been pretty nervous about hosting 4 boys and 2 girls, and having another adult there definitely made me calmer. I was a little surprised sometimes at how they didn't necessarily want to pay attention, but it was really fine. I think it worked well to have lots of short activities and a long play time. So, even though my ECE major was definitely not the early childhood education kind, I still had fun and look forward to doing it again.