I work in a home daycare with five one-year-olds and a four-year-old who will be five in September. We've had him for two years already, and he misses the cutoff for Kindergarten by about a month. I don't really know what this year should look like for him. Obviously, we have to spend a lot of time doing stuff with the ones, but I'm thinking of having some kindergarten type work for him. He already knows all his colors, shapes, letters, numbers to 20, etc. I know we'll be working on more writing letters and numbers this year, letter sounds, perhaps some sight words and beginning reading. Anyone have ideas for start of the year stuff for him to do? I feel he's above most if not all of the pre-k students I've taught in the past, skill-wise. I'm also posting in the preschool forum for ideas.
Obviously one of the main K skills he will be missing is the socialization, and I don't know how you will address that. Certainly reading prep is so important, so lots of reading to him, see if you can get his to predict what is going to happen, phonics, sight words, word wall, picture books, creating his own stories, even with invented or creative spelling. Turn taking, even if with the staff and practice sharing. Good luck!
Thanks, lynettstoy. I agree with the socialization--he does socialize with the littles and plays some with them, and with me. He's had to learn how to share and wait his turn because their needs are more immediate that his a lot of the time (i.e., they need a diaper now, they need to be fed at a certain time). We have some toys that are just his (because of small pieces) and some they share. But he doesn't have a true peer--our next oldest just turned 2. I've thought about doing a word wall and putting up environmental print around the house, as well as perhaps doing some journaling or book-making with him. We already read books daily and I've taught him basic concepts of print. I also try to squeeze in a craft activity or open-ended art each day. As much as I enjoy having him, I think he does get the short end of the stick. It's hard to find time to fit in what he needs for k prep.
Does your area have a free VPK program through the school district that you could send him to? Around here, the programs are three hours per day.
