Squirrels, Nuts and...Boats? A typical Home-school Co-op Day

For the last couple of years I've worked with some other parents to form a preschool group for our little ones. We meet once a week to give the kiddos time to play and learn together. Some of the kids will go on to public school next year, and some will learn at home, but for now, we're all still together. The age group is mostly 3-5 years, with several younger siblings as well.

I thought I would share what a typical co-op day looks like, for anyone who may be interested.

This week we had so much fun exploring and playing with nuts!

Here is what we did this week:

Arrival Activity

As everyone arrived we got busy kneading and shaping our bread for snack...this week I used one of my basic go-to bread recipes, and put out a plate of chopped nuts for the children to knead and fold into the bread. As the children arrive they go and wash their hands in the bathroom, then come to the table to work on the bread. I attempted to shape a couple of pieces into squirrels...one child made a leaf...this week we just made whatever shapes we felt like. When we're done with the bread, it goes to the kitchen for a final rise and we clean up the table.

We almost always bake bread for snack. The kids love participating in kneading and shaping the dough, and really enjoy eating something they've helped to make. I usually have some dough made and ready for the children to shape as soon as they arrive. Having an activity to keep them busy while they wait for everyone to arrive is extremely helpful. It allows them to settle into the group setting in a calm, constructive way, and sets the tone for the rest of morning.

Circle Time

Next I call everyone together for circle time. I find that the best way to do this is by singing a little song that brings everyone together, instead of just telling them to come to circle time now. I use this one (sorry...I can't remember where I found the rhyme, and I just made up a tune)...

"Come along with me, we're walking, walking in our circle, come along with me, it's circle time again. Come along with me, we'll dance and sing together, come along with me, it's circle time my friend."

I begin walking into our circle time area (the living room) while singing, and the children join in and sing along. We do various things during circle time, with some predictable rhymes and songs they know, and some new ones (usually related to a theme for the week). I try to include movement, music and fingerplay each week. As a part of circle time we usually have a couple of stories...one from a book and one that I tell from memory.

Here's what this week looked like:

Come along with me

Opening verse, which we do every time:

"The earth is firm beneath my feet, The sun shines bright above, And here I stand so straight and strong, All things to know and love."

Next, we talked a little about squirrels, and how we were going to pretend to be squirrels today.

"Whisky Frisky, hippety hop, up he goes, to the tree top. Whirly twirly, round and round. Down he scampers to the ground. Furly curly, oh what a tail, soft as a feather, can curl like a snail. Where is supper? Look in the shell, snip, snip and crackle, and out the nut fell."

Next, we sang these words to the tune of She'll be Coming Around the Mountain.

I'll be gathering all the acorns till they're gone...

And I'll put them all inside my little home...

And I'll eat the nuts until the winter's gone...

Then I'll do it all again come next fall.

And then this rhyme, which we acted out with our hands:

5 little squirrels with acorns to store, 1 went to sleep and then 4. 4 little squirrels hunting nuts in a tree, 1 fell down and then there were 3. 3 little squirrels wondering what to do, 1 fell down and then there were 2. 2 little squirrels tossing acorns for fun, 1 got tired and then there was 1. 1 little squirrel playing in the sun, he ran away and then there were none.

Next, we read the book A Friend for All Seasons, by Julia Hubery:

Then I told a simple story about a little boy who helps a squirrel gather acorns in the fall. It was similar to this one at Domestically blissed.

I finished circle time with an intro into our next activity. I brought out a basket of autumn leaves and nuts (in shell) and we talked about how the nuts are hidden in the leaves, and hard to see. We looked at each nut, and identified it...almond, walnut, hazelnut, pecan, etc. They look quite a bit different in they're shells! Then they were told that they're were nuts just like these scattered all over the back yard, and they were to be little squirrels and find all the nuts they could and put them in a basket. For fun, they were each given a magnifying glass to use on the search.

Activity

This week we did the Great Nut Scavenger Hunt. Between holding the baby and enjoying the process, I did not get a photo of this, which is too bad, because it was awesome. The kids had a blast searching for nuts all over the yard. (I'll be finding nuts out there for years.)

When we filled our baskets, we brought the nuts inside and examined them with our magnifying glasses. (I put our bread in the oven about this time.) Then I brought out various kinds of nutcrackers, and the kids tried cracking nuts...and eating nuts! They had a lot of fun with this. One little boy kept telling me about his favorite nuts, and then he said, "I found a new kind of nut, a yuck nut!" He was talking about a Brazil nut. This I did get some photos of...

Creative Play

After the nutcracking the kids had free play until snack was ready. One little boy got out the wooden figures I use to tell The 3 Billy Goats Gruff and began acting out the story...it's his favorite.

Snack Time

Next we enjoy snack time. The children go wash their hands and we sing this song:

"Wash hands, wash and dry them on the towel. Soon it's time to eat our snack so wash our hands now."

This week we had wonderful homemade nut bread (which the kids helped with), and some homemade applesauce one of the parents brought. The kids help set the table for snack time, and before we eat we light a candle and say this verse:

"The sun it shines so bright above it strengthens all I do, now let me take this bit of light, so I shine brightly too."

Then we sing our blessing song:

"Blessings on the blossom and blessings on the root, blessings on the leaf and stem and blessings on the fruit, and blessings on our meal". This song was taught to us by one of our moms (who unfortunately moved away) and we use it every week.

Then we eat!

Creative Play

After snack time, the kids spend some more time in creative play.

Arts and Crafts Activity

We do not always do a second activity, but this week we had all these nut shells to use! While the children were cracking nuts, a couple of the parents got some pretty good walnut shell halves to make walnut shell boats with.

Each child got a walnut shell. We put a little beeswas at the bottom to stick the mast and sail in. Our first attempts at a mast and sail were little twigs and leaves gathered from outside, but the leaves were a little too crispy at that point to work well. So...we improvised and used toothpicks and cut little sails from paper. Whatever works!

Clean-up

Next, we signal that it's time to begin clean-up by singing the Dust Fairy song (which the children love!):

Very quietly we sing, "The dust fairies are sleeping, the dust fairies are sleeping, the dust fairies are sleeping, all over the house." Most everyone pretends to sleep wherever they are.

A little louder we sing, "The dust fairies are sweeping, the dust fairies are sweeping, the dust fairies are sweeping, all over the house." The parents pick up children and pretend to sweep with them. The children love this part.

And finally, enthusiastically we sing, "The dust fairies are flying, the dust fairies are flying, the dust fairies are flying, all over the house!" The parents pick up children and fly and swing them all around, with smiles and giggles all around.

The we go into the classic preschool clean-up song:

"Clean-up, clean-up, everybody, everywhere. Clean-up, clean-up, everybody do your share."

Everyone cleans up as we sing.

Closing circle

Once again, I find it easier to bring everyone together for closing circle by singing a song that invites them to join in. We love to use My Wee Ring.

"Who will come to my wee ring, my wee ring, my wee ring? Who will come to my wee ring and make it a little bit bigger?

Will Mason come to my wee ring, my wee ring, my wee ring, will Bella come to my wee ring and make it a little bit bigger?"

We continue singing this until we've used every child's name.

Next comes our closing/centering verse:

I can be as small as a tiny seed. (Crouch down like a seed.) I can be as tall as a towering tree. (Stand up and stretch up like a tree.) I can be as wide as the whole wide world. (Stretch out as wide as wide as you can.) Or I can just be me. (Bring hand to heart.)

Next comes a child favorite...the Tide, which I got from the lovely book The Breathing Circle, by Nell Smith. To do this one we join hands and, as we sing we bring our circle in, and out, in, and out.

The tide comes in and the tide goes out. The tide comes in and the tide goes out. The tide comes in and tide goes out, and when the big wave comes we all run out!

Lastly, we sing our good-bye song.

Goodbye, goodbye, blessings on your way, may the sun shine brightly in your hearts today.

And that's it! A typical day of our little home school co-op.