2011-2012 Tot School Plans

 2011 - 2012 TOT SCHOOL PLANS

Munchky will be 3 (39 - 51 month)

T-Rex will be 2 (21 - 33 months)

The boys were away for a few days.  So I thought I'd take the time to get the whole school year ready.   Which took a loooonnnngggg time even w/out the kids.

We will mostly be using Letter of the Week printables from Confessions of a Homeschooler and/or Tot School Printables with theme printables from 2 Teaching Mommies, Homeschool Creations and others.

I usually feel a bit overwhelmed changing themes each week.  So I decided to do theme units for 3-4 weeks and do a different letter each week that corresponds to that theme

 In addition I wanted to focus on one music composer/composition each month and one Caldecott Winning Book each month.

So this is what my week will look like:

• Musical Mondays:      We will listen to the composer of the month and do an activity with it.  plus do some LOTW/tot printables.

• Tasty Tuesdays: LOTW/tot printables, a letter craft, and making something yummy.

• Winning Wednesdays: Read our Caldecott Book of the month and do an activity with it. (Dramatic play, stART project, etc)

• Theme Thursdays: Work on theme tot/preschool pack and theme craft.

•  Family Fun Fridays: LOTW/tot printables and field trip/theme games.

Of course we will also be doing tot trays throughout the week.

OUR 2011-2012 UNITS

UNIT 1: THE ZOO

Theme Printables: Zoo Tot Pack at 2 Teaching Mommies.

Music Mondays: Carnival of Animals - Saint Saens

Winning Wednesdays Caldecott Book: The Lion and the Mouse - Pinkney
Sensory Bin -The Zoo

Field Trip: The Zoo

Weekly Letters:

1:      E is for Elephant - COAH  

2:      H is for Hippo - COAH   

3:      M is for Monkey - COAH 

4:      Z is for Zebra - COAH

UNIT 2: AT THE FAIR

Theme Printables: To be made by me/will post

Music Mondays: Fanfare for the Common Man/Rodeo - Copland

Winning Wednesdays Caldecott Book: The Ox-Cart Man-Donald Hall
Sensory Bin: Oats, play food, farm animals, different colored ride/prize tickets, fabric scraps.

Field Trip: The State Fair

Weekly Letters:

1:  R is for Rollercoaster (or rides) - To be made by me

2: Q is for Quilts - COAH

3: G is for Goats - 1+1+1=1

4: Y is for Yarn - COAH

UNIT 3 - FALL

Theme Printables: Fall - 2 Teaching Mommies

Music Mondays: Four Seasons: Vivaldi

Winning Wednesdays Caldecott Book: A Tree is Nice - Udry
Sensory Bin: Fall

Field Trip: Apple Orchard

Weekly Letters:

1: A is for Apple - COAH

2: L is for Leaf - 1+1+1=1

3: P is for Pumpkin - COAH

4: F is for Football - COAH

UNIT 4 - ABOUT ME

Theme Printables: My Body - 2 Teaching Mommies

Music Mondays: Jeux d'enfants-Bizet

Winning Wednesdays Caldecott Book: Prayer for a Child - Field
Sensory Tub: Rice, paper dolls, Mr. Potato Head, bandaids, tongue depressors,  tooth brushes

Field Trip: Children's Museum

Weekly Letters:

1: N is for Nose (2 be posted) can use F is for foot at 1+1+1=1

2: X- is for X-Ray -Chasing Marcus (will post additional)

3: D is for Doctor - 2 Teaching Mommies 

Holiday Week: Thanksgiving - 2 Teaching Mommies

UNIT 5 - CHRISTMAS

Theme Printables: Christmas - 2 Teaching Mommies

Music Mondays: Handel's Messiah

Winning Wednesdays Caldecott Book: Polar Express -Van Allsburg
Sensory Bin: Christmas

Field Trip: Bronner's Christmas Wonderland

Weekly Letters:

1:  J is for Jesus - COAH

2:  C is for Christmas - COAH

3:  C is for Christmas - COAH

UNIT 6 - WINTER

Theme Printables: Winter - 2 Teaching Mommies

Music Mondays: DeBussy- Children's Corner-The Snow is Dancing

Winning Wednesdays Caldecott Book:The Snowy Day - Keats
Sensory Bin: Winter

Field Trip: The Zoo

Weekly Letters:

1: S is for Snowman - COAH

2: I is for Igloo - 1+1+1=1

3: H is for Hockey- Making Learning Fun - plus others

UNIT 7 - TRANSPORTATION

Theme Printables: Ways we get around- 2 Teaching Mommies

Music Mondays: Gershwin - An American in Paris

Winning Wednesdays Caldecott Book: The Glorious Flight: Across the Channel with Louis Bleriot
Sensory Bin: Transportation

Field Trip: Disney World!!

Weekly Letters
1: B is for Boat - Walking by the Way
2: T is for Train - 1+1+1=1
3: P is for Plane - Our Little Monkeys

Holiday Week - V is for Valentine - COAH

UNIT 8 -SPACE

Theme Printables: Space - 2 Teaching Mommies

Music Mondays: The Planets - Holst

Winning Wednesdays Caldecott Book:  Kittens First Moon - Henkes
Sensory Bin: Space

Field Trip: Planetarium

Weekly Letters
1: S is for star - 1+1+1=1
2: M is for Moon - Walking by the Way plus M printables
3: U is for Universe - space preschool pack - homeschool creations plus U printables

UNIT 9 - THE OCEAN

Theme Printables: Ocean - 2 Teaching Mommies

Music Mondays: Oceannides - Sibelius

Winning Wednesdays Caldecott Book: The Little Island - Brown
Sensory Bin: Ocean

Field Trip: Aquarium

Weekly Letters
1: J is for Jellyfish - 1+1+1=1
2: O is for Octopus - COAH
3: C is for Crab -Lawteedah
4: F is for Fish - COAH


Holiday Week: Easter - COAH

UNIT 10 - WEATHER

Theme Printables: Spring - 2 Teaching Mommies

Music Mondays: Beethoven - Sonata for violin & piano No. 5 in F major ("Spring"), Op. 24

Winning Wednesdays Caldecott Book:
Sensory Bin: Rainbow

Field Trip:TBA

1: W is for Wind- to be made by me
2: U is for Umbrella - COAH
3: R is for Rainbow - COAH

UNIT 11 - POND LIFE

Theme Printables: Pond Preschool Pack -Homeschool Creations

Music Mondays: Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake

Winning Wednesdays Caldecott Book: Frog went a Courtin' - Langstaff
Sensory Bin: Pond

Field Trip: Pond

1: D is for Ducks 1+1+1=1
2: N is  for Nests -  COAH
3: T is for Turtle - COAH
4: F is for Frog - 2 Teaching Mommies

UNIT 12 - BUGS!

Theme Printables: Bugs Preschool Pack - Homeschool Creations

Musical Mondays: Rimskey-Korsakov - Flight of the Bumblebee

Winning Wednesdays Caldecott Book:Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears - Aardema
Sensory Bin: Bugs

Field Trip: Butterfly House

1: A is for Ant - COAH
2: I is for Inchworm - COAH
3: L is for Ladybug - COAH

UNIT 13 - GARDENING

Theme Printables: Garden preschool pack - Homeschool Creations

Musical Mondays:TBA

Winning Wednesdays Caldecott Book: TBA
Sensory Bin: Garden/flowers

Field Trip: Botanical Gardens

1: F is for Flower - 2 Teaching Mommies
2: G is for Garden Tools - 2 Be Made
3: W is for Watermelon - COAH
4. Y is for Yard - to be made

Holiday Week - Fourth of July - 2 Teaching Mommies

UNIT 14 - SUMMER

Theme Printables: Summer - 2 Teaching Mommies

Musical Mondays: John Williams - Summon the Heroes

Winning Wednesdays Caldecott Book: Time of Wonder - McCloskey
Sensory Bin: Ice Cream

Field Trip: Hot Air Balloon Jubilee

1: K is for Kites - Coah
2: H is for Hot Air Balloons - 2 be made by me
3: B is for Baseball - 2 Teaching Mommies

There are quite a few letters I didn't use from COAH because they didn't go with a theme, we've done them recently (butterfly/caterpillar)or b/c I used that letter twice already.  I tried to use most of the letters 2x  and F is used a whopping 4x, (I wasn't going to do f for fish or frog - but they're too cute. I had to stretch G is for garden tools as I wanted a T-tools week in the garden unit but wanted that 2nd G and not a 3rd T.

I'm excited to get started next week.   I have everything printed and laminated....now I just need to get the tot trays and crafts organized.  If anyone is interested, I am almost done with my excel spreadsheet with my weekly plans that include links for the printable units, letter and theme crafts and tot tray ideas plus list of books, tasty Tuesday food recipes, and list of videos.  I will email it to anyone who wants it and may upload it.  As for now here is the summary of the units with the links to printables.

See what other Moms are up to over at 1+1+1=1.

Have a great school year!