Munchkin Academy

This is terribly overdue, but here's a glimpse at the part-time job I've recently ventured into- teaching preschool. I started a 1-day/week in-home preschool called Munchkin Academy for kiddos ages 3-5. I LOVE it! I have 8 kids plus Spencer, so a total of 9 and they are the best group of kids I could have ever asked for! They all get along really well, they're smart and eager to learn, not to mention super cute. ;)

Our day starts out with puzzles or books at the table. Then when everyone arrives we do the calendar and weather. After that if it's a baking day we go bake our snack for the day (usually muffins or cookies or some kind of bar), then we do a little lesson with an introduction to whatever letter we are doing and I apply a story, activity, song, etc. to the letter. After that we have stations which include art, a practical behavior practice (think Montessori activities- learning to set a table, pouring water, matching socks, etc.), constructive play (blocks, legos, kitchen, marbleworks) and math (counting, matching, number practice.) The kids get to decide when and which stations they do first, but they know they have to do all of them. They get stickers for each station they rotate through. Then we have a snack and recess. Finally we have story/singing/review time and then they go home. So far each day has flown by!

My brother made me the dark blue table while he was here over the summer and I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE it! It's absolutely perfect for the kids. Thanks Daniel!!

Reading books.

I'm following a phonics method of teaching the alphabet (kind of like this site). So we've learned letters T, A, S, I and P. For those of you interested, here is a review of some of the things I've done...

For letter T, I read them "The Tortoise and the Hare" and acted it out with stuffed animals. They actually loved it and still remember it! We sang "Ten Little Teddy Bears" and sequined turtles for art.

For letter A, I incorporated the theme of animals for the day. I had each of them bring a stuffed animal and we made our own "zoo." We put the animals in cages and fed them "food." One of the stations for the day was playing with the Little People farm. We did an alligator puzzle and did an art project putting cotton balls on a sheep, painting a chick yellow and coloring a horse. I also had them stamp letter a's all over an apple.

For letter S we made S's out of yarn (which was actually harder for them than I thought it would be, but with a little help it was okay). I read them "Little Miss Muffet" and acted it out with a doll and spider (they seriously love this kind of reading!). We sang "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" and learned how to set the table. I brought out a bunch of different balls and we learned about sports, then for recess they got to play with all the balls. For art they used glitter glue to decorate snow flakes.

For letter I, I taught them "I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!" (A HUGE hit!) We played "I Spy" and played in an igloo (our little blue tent that looks like an igloo). I also gave each of them a little ziplock bag with an ice cube in it, told them they had magic hands that were going to turn the ice into water and we spent the next five minutes melting ice. I know it sounds so simple, but they loved it! They were each so proud when their ice cube totally melted. For art they glued paper ice cream scoops on a cone and ice cubes on an igloo.

I love how each piece of art work is SO different - and very similar to their little personalities. So so cute!

Snack time!

Letter P has been my favorite so far (and I think the kids too!). We had baking day, so we made pumpkin cookies. I taught them a pine cone song (just sing the word "pine cone" over and over again to the tune "Auld Lang Syne," kids love it!) Then we conjured up some "potions." I knew it was a success when every single little face was watching what I was doing so intently and one little boy goes, "This is SO fun!" One of the stations for the day was play-doh (which was totally worth the huge mess I had to clean up, they played with it forever!) and for art the kids decorated cardboard pizzas.






I was a little worried about Spencer going to preschool 4 days a week (he goes to a different preschool MWF) and then we have ours on Tuesdays, but he loves it. He's always asking me when it's the day for preschool at our house. He's made some good friends and I love that I'm doing something for him that he enjoys so much. On Thursdays (the one day he doesn't go to school) he follows me around all day asking me if I want to play games with him or color or bake and if I tell I have to get some things done around the house he'll follow me around and ask me what we're going to do for the day (which by that point I usually put him to work cleaning toilets, haha!).

So that's one of the things that has been keeping me busy lately, but I seriously LOVE it! Probably one of the most fun jobs I've ever had. ;)