The beginning of the school year is a fun and exciting time, whether at home or in a classroom. Getting off to a smooth start requires a lot of intentional planning. When I was in the classroom, I was super excited to get into my freshly painted classroom to decorate as it would be a second home for my students and me. A home away from home, where little ones could explore. A place where planned and incidental learning was constantly taking place because of the planning, beautiful decorations and resources that were strategically organised in the classroom just to broaden the horizon of the little ones.

No matter how beautiful the resources were that were ordered, I could never place them all on the walls of my classroom! Overstimulation is a thing, and teachers know we only gradually add useful material and resources to the classroom so that they have meaning to the children in our classrooms.

Now that I am homeschooling, one of the questions I have been receiving a lot is, “What charts or posters do I need to have in place when homeschooling my toddler?”

Preschool charts and posters are beneficial educational tools when teaching any young child a particular concept or the key learning areas that are covered in the early years.
Setting up a learning area or schoolroom for toddlers is super simple! I will be sharing what I believe are essential resources to have in place at the beginning of the school year based on my experience in the classroom and the resources I am currently using with my toddler twin girls at home along with our thematic resources.

Weather Chart

Weather impacts the everyday lives of people around the world. Understanding weather is a tricky concept for our little ones. Many children are often times afraid of thunder and lightning but love playing in muddy puddles and will spend forever looking at a beautiful rainbow. When learning about the weather on a daily basis, young children are learning key vocabulary in order for them to be able to talk about the weather. As homeschooling parents and teachers of young children, we are in the best position to share our knowledge about the weather with our little ones developing a lifelong interest in the world around them.

In a preschool setting, discussing the weather for the day is always a part of the morning Circletime. When the weather is discussed on a daily basis, reasoning skills are being promoted, and our little ones are being encouraged to ask questions regarding the weather. Also, on a daily basis, as educators, we are given the opportunity to discuss how we dress and the safety precautions to take during different weather conditions.

Calendar (Days of the week and months of the year posters.)

Understanding how a calendar works is a difficult concept for our little ones. It can take years for our little ones to understand what day today is, and not to mention what day yesterday was, and what day tomorrow will be. According to research, calendar time for preschoolers and even kindergarteners is not really meaningful. Also, understanding how many days there are from now until an event in the future will not take place until a child is between the ages of 7 and 10. Yet, in a preschool classroom, the calendar is reviewed daily because difficult concepts take time for littles to grasp. Even though our littles cannot understand some difficult concepts associated with the calendar, meaningful learning can take place daily during calendar time.

Below are a few examples of meaningful learning opportunities during calendar time:

• Learning New Vocabulary (Month, day, week, yesterday, tomorrow etc.)
• Learning the Days of the Week
• Learning the Months of the Year
• Sequencing (Yesterday, today, tomorrow)
• Matching
• Sorting
• Patterning (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday)
• Confidence with number recognition

Alphabet Poster/Flashcards

Knowing and practising letters and letter sounds are highly useful for teaching kids to read and write. Alphabet posters provide our littles with endless possibilities. Having alphabet posters in a learning area helps our little ones check their thinking and understanding about letters and letter sounds, which are keys for early readers. Children who know the names of letters learn letter-sound associations more readily than those without letter-name knowledge. So, teaching letters and sounds daily in your preschool, kindergarten or reviewing them with your homeschooler is important in establishing a strong literacy foundation.

Below you can follow the link to our YouTube channel to watch our educational videos that are also used as a way to reinforce learning. Video: ABC Flashcards For Kids| Alphabet Vocabulary Posters

Number Posters/Flashcards

Learning to count involves more than learning the numbers one to ten in sequence. Counting involves helping children understand the meaning of numbers, and understanding the meaning of numbers takes time.

Children learn the meaning of numbers when they are developmentally ready. For instance, you will notice your little ones at ages two to three might move things as they count, but they might count to three while moving four things. This shows that while they might know the numbers in sequence, they are not able to use them to count a set of objects. At this age, it’s great to count together with your child, just for fun. You might count the steps as you walk up them or the cars as they go by. You can also teach your littles nursery rhymes that teach them how to tag items in a set. When these kind of activities are done repeatedly they help children begin to move towards matching one thing at a time with the number as they say it. Hence the reason why preschool-aged children need repeated practice counting. Having visuals for reference when counting will help our little ones to start associating amounts with corresponding numbers. Counting daily assists our little ones in learning and knowing how to find out “How Many?”

Repeated exposure to numbers, number sequence, number names and counting items in a given set leading to the development of early number sense are all critical for children to be able to understand math in later years. These are important developmental skills that our little ones will need in order to conceptually understand math. In the early years, counting to ten and the skill of one to one correspondence is the focus and requires a lot of practice to master.

When I was in the classroom and now at home I never give up an opportunity to count objects of interest with my little ones. Number posters/flashcards help our little ones to identify numbers, to see what an amount looks like and provides an opportunity for them to check their understanding of numbers and their corresponding amounts.

Below you can follow the link to our YouTube channel to watch our educational videos that are also used as a way to reinforce learning. Video: Learn Numbers and Counting 1-10 Flashcards| Number Names for Kids

Basic Shapes Poster

You will at times notice that your little ones can identify different shapes even if they do not know the names of the shapes. It takes a significant amount of time for our little ones to learn the properties of the basic shapes, such as the number of sides or how the shape looks. Giving our little learners lots of practice with identifying the basic shapes helps their understanding of the two-dimensional structures making their knowledge concrete. That knowledge of shapes gives our little ones advantages in many areas of learning.

• Literacy: When your little one is able to differentiate between shapes, he/she will be able to notice the differences in shapes of the letters of the alphabet. When your little one is able to identify the differences in the shape of letters, they are at an advantage not only with reading but also with writing. Children who have repeated exposure to different types of shapes and lines can eventually translate and transfer their knowledge into reading and writing.
• Math: A strong understanding of shapes can help preschoolers better recognise the numbers and how they look. Number recognition is an early math skill preschoolers need before they can move on to more advanced math skills, such as addition. The shapes themselves fall under the geometry standards of math.
• Categorizing and Comparisons: Learning the differences in shapes requires preschoolers to focus on the specific characteristics. Preschoolers learn to use observational skills to identify the different shapes. They also learn how to compare different shapes and group similar shapes together. Those observational skills transfer to other areas. Observation and categorisation are key skills in science.
• Problem Solving: Shape activities can help preschoolers develop problem-solving skills. Shape sorting toys are one example. When a child recognises the characteristics of a rectangle, he/she can match it with the rectangular hole on the toy. Shape recognition can also help when putting puzzles together. If your little one pays attention to the shapes of the pieces and the shapes of the openings in the puzzle, they can determine the correct spot for each piece.

Below you can follow the link to our YouTube channel to watch our educational videos that are also used as a way to reinforce learning. Video: Shapes Flashcards For Kids| Shapes In The Environment

Colours Poster/ FlashCards

Knowing colours is a key way in which we describe and categorise the world around us. Children will notice that a green leaf is different from an orange one.

Knowing Colours Helps Our Little Learners in the Following Ways:

• Verbal communication: Teaching children about colours is a great way to give them some vocabulary for describing the world around them. This opens up new and exciting avenues for verbal communication and discussion that leads to learning.

• Sorting and classifying: As children learn to identify colours they can sort and organise objects around them based on this attribute.

• Health and safety: Colors sometimes give us information about health and safety. For example, we use red in most cultures to indicate ‘danger’ or ‘stop,’ such as with red stoplights and red stop signs. Colours can also tell us about our health.

Below you can follow the link to our YouTube channel to watch our educational videos that are also used as a way to reinforce learning. Video: Colour Flashcards for Toddlers | Learn Colour Names and English Vocabulary

Visual Schedule Poster/Chart

As mentioned previously, young children will have difficulty estimating the length of time between events (for example, how long the time between lunch and outside play will be), they can understand a sequence of events (for example, snack comes after their activity time). Young children generally have a strong sense of narrative and the way a story progresses. Pictures illustrating the schedule of class/home activities are often utilised with children with particular disabilities. Similarly, a poster with illustrations or photos of the day’s activities in sequence can be helpful for all young children.

Visual Schedule Posters:

• Provide organisation, structure, and predictability to our little ones’ days.
• Aid in comprehension, recognition of words, and the relationship between words and pictures.
• Teach time concept and sequencing.
• Teach our littles to be responsible.
• Help with making transitions smooth.
• Reduce anxiety that can build up when a child does not know what to expect.
• Help children to become independent. Overtime when a child knows what is coming next and what is expected of them, they will move on from one activity to the next on their own.
• Build self-esteem
• Allow for a change to be introduced into your littles day easily.

Signs & Labels

Displaying signs and labels in your homeschool room or classroom is crucial to creating a print-rich environment for your little ones.

Signs and labels aid in comprehension, recognition of words, and the relationship between words and pictures. In a classroom or homeschool room in which the resources are labelled our little ones are given opportunities to use printed language in meaningful ways. They will begin to associate letters and words with pictures, learning that real objects and spoken words can be represented by pictures and letters.

When choosing signs and labels for your learning space, choose labels and signs that have meaning for your little one. Also, ensure the connection between print and image is clear.

Some areas you can use signs and labels:

• Signs to highlight interest areas
• Learning materials and toys that correspond to labels on shelving to indicate correct placement in the room.
• Name labels to help young children recognise their names and manage their belongings.
• Labels on key room elements such as door, window and sink.

Tips To Ensure You Get The Most Out Of Utilizing Educational Charts/Posters

1. Choose the position of your chart carefully.
2. Have a routine that you follow when utilizing them.
3. Recite the content on the educational charts because young children learn through repitition.
4. Work in sections – For example, learning 2D shapes before 3D shapes.
5. Play games
6. If you have a small space, keep your posters on rings for easy access and organisation.

I do hope you find the information in this article useful. If you have any questions please feel free to contact us by sending us a message or visiting us @learning.stepbystep on Instagram, Learning Step By Step on Facebook and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for educational resources that will help you and your littles on their learning journey as they continue to Learn Step By Step!

Thank you for being here!

Kimberlee and the Learning Step By Step Team.