As an Experience Early Learning Blog Ambassador, we receive the Experience Early Learning preschool curriculum in exchange for sharing our honest and authentic stories resulting from our personal experiences. As always, our opinions on amazing things for children are 100% our own. Keep in mind that all preschoolers do things in their own time and on their own terms. What one is ready for, another might not be. Please use your best judgement when planning activities for your children.
Hello friends! Ms. Cristi here and this week I wanted to share some of the things we're doing to make the most of distance learning.
It's probably safe to say that in one way or another the last month has been difficult for everyone, but having a great preschool curriculum like Experience Early Learning (formerly Mother Goose) at least makes things a little bit easier.
We're finding that the materials we receive lend themselves well to learning at home and everyone is really enjoying having something familiar during these uncertain times.
I think we're finally starting to settle into a routine with this distance learning thing and I wanted to share a list of things we're doing that both the teachers and the children are really enjoying.
1. Our director has been putting together weekly take-home activities for both the toddlers as well as the preschoolers. We've been getting them for my daughter and she loves having her very own special "schoolwork" just like her big brother. The bags are organized by week and left at the center for parents to pick up at their leisure. They include a variety of activities from the week including creative art, journals, I Spy pages, and lots more. Both the parents and the children love them.
2. We created a private Facebook group for families and teachers to interact. We have teachers go "live" and do everything from showing the kiddos baby chicks to having music class and cooking lessons. We've also been sharing links to read alouds via YouTube as well as other fun bird-themed things we've found online. It's a great way to give parents ideas for play-based activities they can do at home with their toddlers and preschoolers. 3. Another thing that we've been doing is using digital meeting apps to get together as a class. This morning the toddlers got to "hang out" for a while online and right after the preschoolers did the same. It was definitely great to see some of the kiddos and to hear what they've been up to. We talked about what we've been doing and what we're looking forward to and read a story together. It was wonderful.
Having so many amazing resources at our disposal really helps us to make the best of the current situation. And especially Experience Early Learning (formerly Mother Goose Time), which is versatile enough to be used at home or in the classroom.
Talk about a huge help when there are so many other things vying for our time and attention right now.
Hopefully we'll be able to get back to the classroom soon and of course safely too.
In the meantime, we're just really thankful that we have both Experience Toddler and Experience Preschool to work with.
Don't forget to check back next week to see what we're up to as we wrap up our Birds & Eggs theme.
