I recently became the head teacher of a 3 year old group. Suggestions?

Question

A co-worker was recently asked to step-down from her position as head teacher of the 3 year old group due to a conflict with another pre-school teacher. When asked who she wanted to take over her group - she picked me.

I am 20 years old and have not had ANY expierence with lesson planning and such. I AM going to school for Early Childhood, so I HAVE been taught a little bit about it in my classes.

I have to include math and science into my lesson plan every day with the group of 3 year olds (and some who are 2, turning 3 this year)...

I have a few ideas for math such as using measuring cups in the water/sand table, sorting shapes, matching shapes, building towers with legos and comparing their size.

And for science I have observing our ant hill (we have an ant farm), find items that float and items that sink in the water table, go on a 'bug hunt' outside.

what other ideas would be age appropriate for a 3 year old, and include science and math?

Answer 1

Remember to do simple, fun activities with them. It's not about the result of the lesson, it what happens during the lesson that counts.

Try the sites mentioned by other answerers above. I've used those many times!!

Good luck-- you're in such a wonderful, rewarding profession!!

Answer 2

What you suggested is a good start, but remember that at their age, your goal is not to teach them anything, but rather to cultivate interest.  So just show them what science is and how it is interesting, perhaps build a model volcano to demonstrate or something.  Try to capture their interest, that is key.  Don't worry about having them walk away with specific concepts like you would with older kids.

Answer 3

You've picked a wonderful profession to go into. I just graduated with my degree in Early Childhood Education. Let me assure you that by the time you graduate you will know so much and feel so confident in the classroom. I am also working with 3 year olds in the preschool program this summer. You can find amazing lesson ideas on kindercorner.com, lessonplans.com, and there are books you can look at like the Encyclopedia of Activities for 2-5 year olds. It has so much great information in it and its planned out by theme as well. Also, is your center following a curriculum of some sort? Ours uses Cuddlebugs and they have ideas in their books. I wish you all of the best, just remember to have fun and love what youre doing and the kids will fall right into place..I promise!!!!!

Answer 4

This is the age they are learning to communicate and form friendship and become aware of the world around them.

They are only 2 and 3 year old, not Einstein, simple fun activities would be more than enough.

Answer 5

You are on the right track. Anything using counting is great.  Block buliding is a math activity. I like to play blocks in small groups- everyone working together building something. Also try a patterning activity. Get large beads and have them copy you stringing the beads- blue bead- red bead -blue bead -red bead. Have them try to make their own pattern.

Answer 6

Have the children grow seeds.  I teach twos and every spring my class plants seeds in a milk jug(you have to cut it down to the size that you want).  If you are able to put it outside.  You and the children can check the growth every couple of days.  

In my class everyday we try to go through first name recognition(recognizing their name printed out), calendar, numbers, colors, shapes, songs, science, math, music, and sensory.

We have weekly themes in which these things are incorporated into.

Answer 7

I love the book "Science is Simple." It gives hundreds of science learning activities for preschoolers.

For math, you can do some shape art, size sorting, and use manipulatives. Mailbox has a great book with math activities.

I also love this site, it has tons of ideas related to themes: http://www.perpetualpreschool.com/