CO-OP

Our first day of co-op went GREAT! 

My first hour I realized that my hubby and I both had classes to teach. So, I sent my kids off to their classes and sent a friend off with my camera to snap a few pictures of them on their first day. Then I settled in and began class. 

The kids were already playing with some of the toys from the previous class, so it was hard to round them up for a story. I finally just started reading and one by one they came over and sat down. We read My "a" Book by Jane Belk Moncure. I love these books for this age. They are a great introduction to phonics.

Afterward, we had a show and tell. Each of the kids brought something from home that started with the "a" sound. We got 2 alligators, a picture of an alligator, a book about an alligator, an abacus, and a bunny whose name starts with A. 

I had brought a variety of writing pages for the kids to try. I was not sure where they were yet. Only one child completed a real letter writing page and she is in Kindergarten. The rest were more comfortable with a coloring page. I am going to try some other fun ways to write the letters instead of worksheets. Drawing in rice, play dough, geo boards, and finger paint are a few ideas I have so far. Also, a friend of mine is letting me borrow her Handwriting Without Tears blocks. So they can build the letters with those. I am going to be reading up and looking into that this week so we can use them next week. 

I was trying to keep the kids contained in the class I had but it was small and there were very few toys. I went ahead and got out my folder games early. They played with them for about 10 minutes and were bored. I don't think I will be spending the time, effort, and money on those that I did. Especially since I found out this week that I had WAY under estimated the cost of printing off what I need. I thought it was 10 cents per page but it turns out color copies are 50 cents per page!!!!! OUCH!!! Nearly everything I had printed was color! I finally let them go play in the nursery which has lots of fun toys and a giant tree house in the middle of the room. Folder games can not possibly compete with a tree house! 

I was going to read them a science book about alligators. Unfortunately, I left the book at home! So, I read the alligator book that one of my students brought instead. It was fun. Then we made an alligator out of the letter A. 

I cut out the A and the eye lid but I let the kids cut out the teeth. They turned out so cute! Even more so because a friend had given me a whole ream of this pretty marbled construction paper! Perfect for alligator skin!

At lunch, I learned that my 7yo had skipped his Math class and gone to Art instead! ERGH!!! Who wouldn't, right? Well, I lectured him that we paid for math class not art class. He HAS to go to math from now on. What am I going to do with that boy? They both informed at the end of the day that they LOVED all their classes. 

When we went back to school, the preschoolers were getting tired. We put on a movie for them to have some quiet time. After the movie we read a story about Adam and Eve and they made a pattern out of apples and trees. They were so exhausted by the time we finished that, I didn't bother getting out the games again. It was the end of the day. I only had 2 students left, so I let them sit in the nursery. I rocked one adorable little boy and got the BEST cuddles during most of the final hour. Ya, it was a tough job but someone had to do it.