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Curriculum>If you make your own curriculm
Rachel 08:12 AM 08-03-2014
Where do you get your ideas from?

I need to start working on more curriculum next year. I am not looking for something formal, rather to decide on a theme for a couple of weeks and tie activities into it (I know one of the first ones I will be doing is apples).

So where do you find good ideas? No English library here, so all the "read this book or that one" aren't too helpful (I do have some books, but not a ton in specific themes and no English library to go to).

I'm looking mostly for projects, coloring pages and pages I can print, laminate, and put velcro on for my carpet board. Or things I can trace / make for my felt board. So some good clip art sites (where it would print big, not tiny), and some good sites of coloring pages (so I could print and color my own stuff), as well as ideas and themes to do. I'm looking to do 2 or 3 a month, and just tie stuff together loosely (so for apples I would work on red, but not in a "here is red" type of way, more like the apple is red. And have things on the board for the kids to take off and on (maybe big & little apples), and have a felt tree with apples hanging, that kind of stuff.

I was also thinking if there are a few of us that do our own stuff, maybe we could put together themes and trade. Upload google docs and you take all my apple stuff and I can take your stuff on fall.

Anyone interested in helping me improve my curriculum??? Please
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daycare 10:47 AM 08-03-2014
Originally Posted by Rachel:
Where do you get your ideas from?

I need to start working on more curriculum next year. I am not looking for something formal, rather to decide on a theme for a couple of weeks and tie activities into it (I know one of the first ones I will be doing is apples).

So where do you find good ideas? No English library here, so all the "read this book or that one" aren't too helpful (I do have some books, but not a ton in specific themes and no English library to go to).

I'm looking mostly for projects, coloring pages and pages I can print, laminate, and put velcro on for my carpet board. Or things I can trace / make for my felt board. So some good clip art sites (where it would print big, not tiny), and some good sites of coloring pages (so I could print and color my own stuff), as well as ideas and themes to do. I'm looking to do 2 or 3 a month, and just tie stuff together loosely (so for apples I would work on red, but not in a "here is red" type of way, more like the apple is red. And have things on the board for the kids to take off and on (maybe big & little apples), and have a felt tree with apples hanging, that kind of stuff.

I was also thinking if there are a few of us that do our own stuff, maybe we could put together themes and trade. Upload google docs and you take all my apple stuff and I can take your stuff on fall.

Anyone interested in helping me improve my curriculum??? Please
Pinterest is great.
I buy a lot of my books from amazon and save them.
I don't need too many books off that subject at least 4. I read the same book everyday for 1 week.

From Pinterest you could get some good read list and then buy for a few dollars off of Amazon.
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MsLisa 11:04 AM 08-03-2014
Pinterest Pinterest Pinterest!!!!
Many ladies from this site use it and even posted their boards on here. I personally get all ideas from there. I follow tons of daycare and teacher boards.
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SignMeUp 12:48 PM 08-03-2014
I get most of my "theme" ideas from my child care children. Then I build my curriculum by finding a song or fingerplay that fits the theme, a craft or activity, and a book.
I get bored with "sameness" in store-bought curriculum (or pulling from one website. or just using my own ideas ) so generally I google what I'm looking for and check sites until I find something I like or can tweak into something I like.
If I get stuck on re-writing a song to fit a theme, I email my child care parents. Last year, a grandparent wrote a great sailing song for us!

Recent themes:
Time -- this came about from a song one child had learned at a library preschool hour. We all learned the song, and made our own booklets based on a book called Cookie's Week that presents the days of the week in a fun way. We always talk about the seasons as part of our calendar activities. We learned the months of the year from lyrics set to Macarena. We brought it back up throughout the school year, as the concepts of past, present and future. Especially when we did a unit on ourselves -- in the past, you were a baby, what do you think you might do when you're an adult? There are many great theme possibilities in each concept - one leads to the next.

Space, Moon, Planets & Stars -- my wild and crazy boys just love space. We built our own rocket from a big cardboard box. I already had a bunch of preschool books, from fantasy to facts. I found a fun song online, We're Taking a Trip on a Rocking Rocket Ship. We made a mobile of stars, and another of each planet, labeled with names. I made myself a cheat sheet of facts about each planet (which one's rings are made of what substance, how many moons each has, which is hottest/coldest, etc.) so that when they asked me questions, I had some answers. And we watched online videos from the space station, of astronauts cooking & eating, and washing their hair.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle -- found a perfect song online, set to The More We Get Together. Printed recycling emblems for each of them, and (re)labeled our garbage and recycling containers. Read The Old Red Rocking Chair, a book about a chair that gets re-purposed into various items. Had families collect recyclable items and let the kids build their own recycled stuff. (They decided to build a group project instead of individual items, and built another rocket ship )

Dinosaurs and Dragons -- Real or Pretend? Sang Puff the Magic Dragon and talked about the meanings of many of the words. Made dragons/dinosaurs using sequins and glitter, paint and markers. Made a book together (that I scanned and printed for each child) about dinosaurs -- pics by children, and I wrote the words that they wanted.

Horses and Unicorns - Real or Pretend? ... etc ...

I wonder, since it seems you might want more books, if you can order them as e-books and read them from a computer or tablet? I have never done it for children's books, but they are often "suggested" on my tablet, where I order e-books for myself.
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laloolee 02:31 PM 08-03-2014
I try to line up our themes with what the children are interested in and the books that they are reading. But after doing this for two years and trying my best not to repeat themes with my group I sometimes run into a creative block when choosing the next upcoming themes. So, I'll look into the community calendar to see what is going on locally, especially things that we can visit together or they can visit with their parents on the weekend and try to create our own learning experience arranged around that. Another place that I go to for ideas is a website like this one (http://www.holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/index.htm) that lists silly holidays. These holidays work as great placeholders for ideas until another better idea comes along. Nowadays my two SAs will frequently recommend themes to me. Makes my job easier! I stopped making felt story kits for the kids as the return on investment didn't seem to be there and didn't really hold the children's interest. Now I rely upon studying the illustrations in our stories, doing an art or craft activity daily along with fingerplays and songs. I try to set up dramatic play scenarios for the kids. I get a lot of our "props" from the dollar stores and thrift stores or things I have collected over the years. I use a lot of cardboard and paint to transform the playroom. Pinterest is awesome and other general web searches for the theme and the terms preschool or dramatic play have more than helped us have plenty to go with.
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Rachel 09:47 PM 08-03-2014
These are all great, thanks.

I use pinterest, but I cna't seem to get the hang of it. I use it to stick things I find, but I can't seem to find boards and ideas to follow.

My kids are going to be between 10 months and almost 2 in September. I know a lot of you would say who needs a curriculum, but here it's a BIG DEAL (including lots of stuff the DCP does, which I wont' do, there is always SOMETHING the child did in the project).

As for Amazon, I don't live in the states so it costs way more than a few dollars to ship books. There are a couple of free book shipping sites, but even so it adds up quickly.
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daycarediva 03:34 AM 08-04-2014
Rachel- I use teacherspayteachers.com I spend about 10-15/month. It gives me decorations/theme related job charts, behavior charts and educational activities. All I do is print and laminate. I am getting such a good stash, that in another few months I will have enough to reuse/rotate out for a year.
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SignMeUp 08:10 PM 08-04-2014
Originally Posted by Rachel:

As for Amazon, I don't live in the states so it costs way more than a few dollars to ship books. There are a couple of free book shipping sites, but even so it adds up quickly.
I was wondering if you could order books to read on your computer or tablet, rather than having books shipped. They're generally less expensive too, and some are free.
Here's a link to one, just for an example:
http://www.amazon.com/Growing-Vegeta...vegetable+soup
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Rachel 01:36 AM 08-05-2014
We are really not supposed to use tablets with the kids but I did think of it.

Any good sites for clip art I can print and laminate?
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Blackcat31 05:06 AM 08-05-2014
Originally Posted by Rachel:
We are really not supposed to use tablets with the kids but I did think of it.

Any good sites for clip art I can print and laminate?
Rachel,

PM me your e-mail address and I will send you an entire years + worth of curriculum. It's all separated into months/themes with daily teacher guides, supply lists and activities all laid out for you...you just have to do the printing.

It also includes over 2500+ "extra's" that are printable and great for laminating and/or supplementing the main curriculum.
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MsLisa 01:54 PM 08-05-2014
Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
Rachel,

PM me your e-mail address and I will send you an entire years + worth of curriculum. It's all separated into months/themes with daily teacher guides, supply lists and activities all laid out for you...you just have to do the printing.

It also includes over 2500+ "extra's" that are printable and great for laminating and/or supplementing the main curriculum.
Can i haz some?
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Thriftylady 08:28 PM 06-27-2015
I haven't had a chance to use any yet, but I have a pile of stuff from the stuff BC sent, to things I have found searching the internet to ones I have found free online. The problem I am having right now is having it all sorted out enough to combine well. But I think that will fall into place once I get the kids to start using it. It seems like so much work for something I am not using yet lol.
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