Marsha,
I've noticed from hanging around with lots of kids and moms over the years that I've been a mom, that a lot of times 4 year old BOYS are not as ready for Kindy programs as a 5 y.o boy will be. They need more time to be ready for school. Kindy doesn't have to be hard. Easier to get it done - doesn't mean holding back. It means we are going to have more success for their first years of learning as well as learning how to teach that child.
There are lots of great ideas in the Preschool Activity Book that MFW has to really work on those fine motor skills and cognitive steps along the way that really help a 4 year old (especially a young one) be even more ready for school.
It might not look like there are workbooks or worksheets in MFW's preschool program -- but that's because when we use the Preschool program we get to create our own worksheets. There are ideas in the activity book for use the shapes to trace and then cut. I can remember reading the story
The Snowy Day (by. Ezra Jack Keats) to my kids. Then, I remembered, oh yeah, the preschool activity book suggested using the shapes... So we traced some circles and cut them out and had a craft to go with the story. We had selected that story just because it was a featured story at our library during preschool library time.
There really isn't a need to rush into using MFW's Kindy program. I know some places/people will say it is a preschool program -- but it is not a preschool program. Most preschool programs do not teach the child how to read short stories, or write several words in one sitting. They aren't working on place value in math, or lots of addition/subtraction concepts. That's school.
4 year old still need to learn how to listen to a longer story than they did at age 3.
4 year olds still need to learn how to use their hands and fingers for scissors
They can be tracing shapes, or using finger paint for letter formation -- well prior to using pencil and paper.
They need to learn how to clean their room, put things away, etc.
They need to learn how to follow instructions.
In Kindy program -- the product does matter as much as the process. You have a soon to be 4 year old boy --- work on process over product right now. If you are wanting him to know his ABC's and the initial sounds -- that's ok. Nothing wrong with that. MFW Kindy -- that is reviewed in the beginning or in some cases it will be taught for the first time.
So, if you get the Preschool package, you'll have these lace and link letters....
Go grab the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
play with the lace and link letters while enjoying that book. I think your son will know what to do as he follows along in that book. hee hee heee..
then, later you can select one of those Letters and tell him the main sound that letter makes.
Take the letter with you in the house.
Place it on an object that begins with that sound
and say the name and sound "b" "b" Bed
b b bathroom
now -- ask him if he can find something else in the kitchen with B B sound (banana, beans,)
My guess is that he isn't asking for a full kindy program and pencil and seat work.
I think the Preschool program will fit his active needs and learning needs.
Lucy mentioned adding in library books. Once upon a time, MFW sold a collection of stories called The 20th Century Children's Treasury Book. See if your library has that book. Not all of the stories will fit all families, but with about 44 choices, you'll find something. Chicka chicka boom boom -- is in that book
another idea in that book: Freight Train (by donald crews) ---- read that story with your child. Now, can he make a similar color train out the Preschool Number Pegs? and then play train for the rest of the "school time" -- line up chairs, or play with trains. Can he make a train from different colors of construction paper?
another "easy' idea in that book: one of our family's favorites -- Goodnight Gorilla! Read the story with your 4 year old and then see if your child can retell the story (act it out) and get it in the right order. keep reading.... let him try again. Now -- you've just done a literature story and had him "narrate" it back to you. That is language arts for a 4 year old and done in a fun style. Ask him to notice closely in that story --- how does the zoo keeper(and therefore gorilla who is watching) know which key to use? (simple.... he matches up the color of the key to the color of the cage.) Add in more dialogue in the story. And that's creative writing lesson now.
Wee Sing Bible......
4 year olds enjoy game time and learning. You'll never get these years back with him.
-crystal
Postby cbollin » Fri Feb 12, 2010 9:33 am
As a family we fell in love with that Goodnight Gorilla story when we saw the video version from weston woods during Family Storynight at the library.
then... the librarian retold the story during Afternoon story time once --- and that was when she added dialogue and action and all of sudden all of us in the audience realized "wait a minute.... she keeps saying words that aren't in the book!" Goodnight Gorilla barely has words! She was telling the story from the pictures..... "so he matched up the color of the key to the color of the cage and followed along with his friends. Where do you think they were going?"
that is where and how I learned to be a preschool teacher with literature -- I watched the really good children's librarians tell stories, share videos, and even get Keith (from the AV department) to come in and play his guitar and sing songs. they had take home crafts to do. (thank you Mary F and Patti C and Keith from AV, and mary jane and joan....)
and my 14 year old is over here saying "how come I don't get to do Goodnight Gorilla anymore?"
I don't know.... I'm not sure algebra is getting done today.
it will.
blessings. no matter what you use to teach your 4 year old --- make it fun so that when you are remembering it 10 years later, it will bring some smiles, even if it is a bit messy.
