First Day of PreK Itinerary

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PreK is the best year!  I love the kid’s excitement for school and learning!  If you homeschool or are teaching a pre-K group, this is a perfect, simple itinerary to get your school going!

I get to teach preschool for the first day of my daughters Pre K.  I have taught all my children in co-op groups.  A co-op means the parents teach preschool to their own child and a group of friends.  The kids switch homes and parents take turns teaching.

I love a co-op preschool because:

• 1. A. It is FREE! We work together to collect supplies. We have a box of supplies we pass around each month.  It includes paper, pencils, markers, crayons, water colors, scissor, glue, white boards and markers and a few craft supplies.  This year we had enough left over from last year we didn’t have to buy a thing!
     B. My daughter gets to experience a variety of teachers and homes, and get socializing with the same kids each week.  In our case, it is the same kids she goes to church and this is her 3rd year to participate so they are becoming quite good friends
     C. I get to see my child’s abilities with similar aged kids and see where she shines and where she may need extra help
     D. I get to teach what I’m passionate about.
     E.  I love teaching.  I have a degree in Elementary Education and really love watching kids discover and grow in learning.
• 1. My first day of preschool always includes the following:

1. Activites that create excitement for preschool
2. Learning and practicing the rules and expectations
3. Getting to know other preschoolers and teacher
4. Basic daily routine

• Our preschool is only 2 hours.  I plan the day in 15-minute increments, so this is our daily routine:10:00 Self Start activity
  10:15 Opening
  10:30 Writing
  10:45 Read Aloud
  11:00 Snack and free play
  11:15 Math Activity
  11:30 All About Me
  11:45Music and Movement
  12:00 Parent Pick up
• This is a very short time!  If you have a longer preschool, just add 5 minutes to each activity or add sections such as social studies, science, arts & crafts, poetry or character building.
  

  Self Start activity

  You want something that can be set out that the kids can do one their own with no help at all.  You will be welcoming kids, speaking to parents and otherwise engaged.  The kids will get started on something exciting and watch others doing it, so there will be no fears or tears as mom leaves.

• Play-doh
• Legos
• puzzles
• beading
• Sensory play (beans, rice, water play)
• Geoboards or Tangram shape puzzles

Opening/ Circle Time

The first day of school I will introduce the rules.  We will talk about what it looks like and sounds like when they are keeping the rule.  We then role play some examples of not keeping the rules.   Our Rules are on this board.  We will revisit and talk about and practice them all month.  We only have 5 rules and they are all stated in the positive, telling the kids what we do want, not what we don’t want.  I have a hand signal to match each rule so  they do something to help them learn the rules.

Then teach them the daily opening routine.  This will take a lot longer on the first day!  You can start with just a few and add to it as the month progresses.

• • • • • • Welcome song
          • Pledge of Allegiance
          • Calendar
          • Weather
          • Count to 20 (skip-counting as the year progresses)
          • Sing ABCs (phonic rules as the year progresses)
          • Days of the week song
          • Month of the year song
          • Manners/Rules song

 Writing

We laminate sheets with the student’s name and phone number on lined writing paper.  The students practice tracing and then writing on their own with expo markers.  We also try specific letters as the year progresses.

 Read Aloud

We are going to read “Where is my mother?” and discuss leaving our moms.

Snack and free-play

The kids will get to make their snack by picking a food color to go on their icing, stirring it in and then spreading it on their graham cracker.  We will also have carrot stick and grapes.

Math Activity

We have a worksheet to review shapes and colors.  It says “color all of the circle Red” or “Color all of the squares blue”  I’m fairly certain that these kids all know shapes and colors, but this is just an activity to make sure before we move on.
 All About Me

We are making a booklet all about each student.  They will draw a self-portrait. I will teach them how to draw a simple face and pick their eye color.  Inside the booklet, we will cut out magazine pictures of their favorite item.

Music and Movement

We will sing songs and do movements: 5 little ducks, If you’re happy and you know it, the freeze dance song (free dancing and freezing when the music stops).

If we have any extra time, we will cut out shapes from construction paper and have the kids glue them down on a shape, such as the first letter of their name or any shape they decide.

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