I am both super excited and scared out of my wits. It is not as if I have never done this before, but it has been 11 years.
I have my week planned out and know to be flexible, I have a collection of both old know by heart songs and a whole folder of new maybe these will be fun songs. I was not given any direction from my Director on what the curriculum would be except that I need one Bible story and one memory verse for each week, so I based my theme for the week on a book, I know two year olds love repetition, so I am not too worried, just feel out of practice. Any practical advice? When I am changing diapers/ assisting a little one with the bathroom what is a good way to keep the other kiddos occupied? We have to wash hands before and after snacks and lunch...is there any way to keep everyone calm and focused? I really don't recall how I ever managed, except 11 years ago the ratio I had was 6 two year olds!
Thanks in advance = )
The 2 year olds are not expected to memorize the verses, its just something to say during Circle time, post on the bulliten board.
Also I have two Children's Bibles, one is adorable and has Rhymed stories and super short, each story is super condensed and only a few pages with beautiful illustrations. Also I know the Center has a nice library of books we can check out for our class. I think the younger rooms have bathrooms right in them, I know when I worked at La Petite we had bathrooms and changing stations in each room. I know the ratio here is 1 adult to 8 two year olds. I know it seems crazy but it can be done. I do appreciate the tips so far = )
i would have a box of special toys that only come out when you do the toileting, we did all the diapering at once. make sure you have lots of dup toys in your special toy box for this purpose. Or put on a story tape for them to listen to as they play that can sometimes set the volume level a little lower.
With kids that age, do not expect them to sit and listen.... for even 1/2 hour straight.
Keep things in like 10-15 minute sessions.
They cannot read.
They do not know their alphabets or numbers.
Mostly at this age, it is about socialization.... listening to direction.... circle time.... story time.... patterns, etc.
Doing 'lessons' like in simon-says or copy-cat type activities. ie: Let's clap our hands.... (as you count) etc.
Sure, 1 bible story a week. But how LONG is that story???? Kids this age, are not about 'novels.'
Board-book type books, with PICTURES in it.
As far as "memorizing'... well who knows if they can do that. BUT the verses should be SHORT. 1 sentence at the most.
They will NOT be memorizing entire psalms. For example.
AND... I would think, that there would HAVE TO BE... another Adult in the room with you.
There IS a child to Adult ratio... in school.
Because YES, what if you have to use the bathroom???? Or take them??? Then what?
YOU MUST ASK THE DIRECTOR THAT... about IF you will be having an assistant. It is imperative.
To get their focus, you can either clap your hands in a certain way, or use a bell... then in time, that will 'signal' the children... as to what is coming up or when to 'end' something. AND you verbalize this to them. So they learn that "patterning" in class and per the daily class routine.
how long do you have this classroom of 2 year olds,? If it's longer than 1- 1 1/2 hours you must have an assistant. I would not do it otherwise. The assistant could be a mature child. Good experience for them.
Coloring, pinwheels, blankets that are used to build ships lol (the blanket is the ship). Are you going to be in a church nursery type deal? Scan over the room at least once a minute whether you are or not lol. I stayed in my church's nursery b/c 2 kids were climbing on a big stack of little kids chairs and I didn't want them to fall. BUBBLES!!! Kids LOVE bubbles. You do it a few times and then have each child take a turn to stand by you while you hold the wand and they blow the bubbles while the other kids try to catch and pop them. Have a routine to get them to stop screamin. There were a lot of kids last week and they had ants in their pants (so to speak) and they didn't know what to do except say okay let quiet down (that didn't work with them lol). You could have the hand wipes, they do that and the kids seem to keep focused wiping their hands by themselves while the adult comes around to each child and wipes their hands actually clean :)
Remember positive reinforcement will work well with a big group to keep little ones calm.
Oh you could do songs to death too. Head, shoulders, knees, and toes song. Itsy bitsy spider. If you're happy and you know it... songs that have physical interactions with them (moving around, clapping, etc).
