Preparing for the Next Unit of Preschool

I love when my new little school bus box arrives on my doorstep from Mother Goose Time.

There are some main things I do to prep for the next month that make life so much easier, and I want to share them with you.

1. Prepare and order books if needed.

The first thing I do is go through the teacher guides and order the suggested books for the month.  There are usually 7-9 books.  For the past 2 months, I have used Amazon and Thrift books and spent about $25 on the books for the month.  You can read more about how to prep your library here.

      2.  Break out the TEACHER TOOL BAG.

The Teacher Tool Bag has the Activity Calendar in it along with all the Teacher Guides.  I write in the Sunday column of the calendar all the books we will be using that week which are listed in the Teacher Guides.  

    3.  Get Materials out early!

There are certain materials I like to have out all month long instead of waiting for that particular day.  On the back of the picture that has the theme and words "Teacher Tool Bag" (above picture), is the Supplied Core Tools.  This is a dream list for me! It tells what bags certain materials are in.  Basically everything that is highlighted below, I dig out and either place around our homeschool/preschool classroom or prep the materials. 

     4. Punch out and Prep certain materials.

There are a few materials that need a little extra time to prepare.  Here's the ones I pull out early and how I prepare them:

I like to have the Little Journal out early in case we want to start it sooner.

The I Can Read book I take out and add to our library collection so that Sweet Pea is reading it throughout the month. 

I always tape a sandwich bag inside of the I Can Rad book and place the arrows and punchouts that come with it.  Sweet Pea always thinks that reading this book is a game since I ask her to point to the word that matches on her arrow.

I then prep our calendar.  I get the next month's name which came in the start up/ welcome kit and punch out the calendar numbers and place them in a snack size bag.  This makes it super easy to start calendar time everyday. 

     5.  Laminate.

Many many moons ago, my husband bought me a laminator for Christmas.  #teacherchirstmaslist

Fortunately, it still works wonderfully and I can laminate the few items I need to each month, including the Thematic Poster and nametags. 

     6. Place manipulatives.

I like to have our manipulatives out all month.  The more fine motor practice the better.  I place our newest manipulatives in open baskets on Sweet Pea's playroom table.  When she wakes up or during quiet time, she can play with these however she wishes.    

I routinely do this prep work each month and it makes things so much easier!  

What are some things you do each month to prepare for the next?