Zeke's Tot School Curriculum for 2021-2022

 Zeke will be 3 in November, but he already loves tot school. He asks for it almost every day! I've been compiling a really fun, hands-on bundle of curriculum for him. He absolutely loves worksheets, and even though I think worksheets are unnecessary at his age, I try to find him plenty to keep him busy. I know as I'm trying to work with my older kids this fall, he is going to need engaging activities and worksheets to keep him focused. 

His main curriculum is going to be Heart of Dakota's Little Hands to Heaven. This is written for ages 2-5, and is mostly a Bible/letter of the week curriculum. There are very few worksheets, but lots of hands-on activities planned. We are going to use this as our starting off point each week. He will learn Bible stories and songs, letters, numbers, colors, and shapes. There are beginning math activities each week - super simple things like color sorting, counting, and patterns. I did make some worksheets for this curriculum, and they are listed under my Toddler Resources tab. Feel free to print them and use them. If you're interested in this curriculum, you can look at the first week for free! Each day has it's own page of plans. The plans are detailed which I really like.

I know this is not enough to keep Zeke busy. In fact, it will probably take us 15-30 minutes each day to complete the activities. I also purchased a huge bundle of Tubs and Trays activities from Teachers Pay Teachers. I printed quite a few worksheets that will go along with Zeke's letter, number, and color themes as well hands-on centers that I will use as tot trays or busy bags. I also printed some from different places that he will be able to use independently. 

I'm also creating lots of busy bags and busy boxes for him to use when I need some time with the older kids. I purchased another bundle of Center Mats which is a collection of pattern block cards, craft stick cards, pom pom cards, playdough cards, linking cube cards, and geoboard cards. These will be used as independent busy bags/boxes/trays.

I also purchased the Learning the Alphabet bundle from This Reading Mama.  She offers each letter for free, but I bought the expanded and update bundle and I'm so glad I did! There are quite a few worksheets and activities we will be using each week from that.

I organize Zeke's lessons weekly. I bought a banker's box and some hanging files. I labeled each file with the week and letter so I can easily see which folder to grab. All of the worksheets I've printed out, I have placed in the correct weekly file. I'm also going to be putting extra craft templates, fingerplays and songs, and other flat activities, including our Morning Board posters, that go along with each week's theme. This keeps things all in one place, easy to find, and difficult to forget. I'm planning ahead about five weeks at a time since the curriculum does 4 letters a week with a 5th week review week.

I also have a smaller file box that I'm keeping some of his hands-on activities organized in - letter and number wheels, playdough mats, and pattern block cards. This way I won't be always looking for the resource I need.

I also have a cube shelf with four large cubes that contain Zeke's other resources like pattern blocks, linking cubes, counters, puzzles, and other things like that. I actually need to go through it and purge a few things as well as organize a few things a bit better. My laminator stays on top because I use it all the time.

If you need some busy bag ideas, I have lots of busy bags in my Etsy shop! I'm also creating busy box digital files that you can use to make your own busy boxes. Zeke loves short and independent activities and I know I'll be depending on these quite a bit this school year - which is coming up so soon!

How do you organize your tot school resources?