You know the kind. The high school losers seniors who had to take the bus to school. Because their parents didn’t love them enough have money to buy them a car on their 16th birthday. And they had absolutely no life besides homework and a job.
That was me! (Shyly raising my hand and sinking slowly in my chair on the first row)
Believe it or not, I actually have some great memories from my last year on the school bus, even if I felt like a loser face.
While this may or may not have been a great introduction, we’re talking about school buses today!
“The Wheels on the Bus”
It has been so fulfilling to raise my oldest daughter with music. Just today she sang “The Alphabet Song” and “You Are My Sunshine” without me prompting her…and she just turned two! Is that normal for this age? I don’t know, but it really is precious.
One of our favorite action songs has been “The Wheels on the Bus.” It never gets old, and she can get so animated!
First, here are the lyrics and tune (this version has slightly different lyrics) in case you don’t know it. I know I was at a loss for words when I first started sharing these songs with Sofía. I had to re-learn many of the lyrics, because it had been a long time since I last sang them!
The wheels on the bus go round and round
Round and round
Round and round
The wheels on the bus go round and round
All through the town
The people on the bus go up and down
Up and down
Up and down
The people on the bus go up and down
All through the town
Other ideas:
- Horn (goes beep beep beep)
- Wipers (go swish swish swish)
- Daddy (says I love You)
- Mommy (Shhh shhh shhh)
- Driver (says Move on back!)
- Doors (go open and shut)
- Babies (go Waa waa waa)
Her favorite actions are the people and the babies. And the mommy. She thinks it’s funny. Ha.
I’m not sure if my girls will ever take the bus to school (I’ve actually been thinking about homeschooling them), but I hope that they learn to love learning just like I have, whether they take the bus to school or stay at home.
Our Very Simple Tot School
I miss getting all ready to go back to school (it’s been 4 years since I went back to school!), so I’ve been getting excited to get Sofía ready for our little tot school this year. I haven’t planned it out real well, and I am still lost as to how to go about teaching her, but she has seemed to really enjoy the little variety in our days.
On Monday, we learned about the color red. I got out a piece of paper and a red crayon, and I drew her an apple, a red bell pepper, and a tomato (it was right before lunch and food was on our minds 🙂 ). She colored and colored that paper. We pointed out all the red in our house, and I even (not on purpose) put a red shirt on her that day. We did really simple stuff, but she loved it!
Tuesday we learned about triangles. I showed her some videos on youtube, and then I drew some triangles for her. I pointed out that her crayon was in the shape of a triangle, too.
We learned a bit about apples on Wednesday. We had an apple for snack, but before I cut it up, I let her hold it. We talked about how it tasted when she ate it. We also sang “I like to eat apples and bananas.” Classic. Finally, I pointed out all the apples we have in our apple tree in the backyard (nasty, worm-infested apples, mind you).
The letter A was yesterday. I let her watch some YouTube videos about the letter A, and we colored again. This time I drew the letter A on her paper, and she just colored around it.
Today we will talk about alligators. I’m not quite sure what we’ll do since we don’t have any alligators in the house, but we’ll think of something!
So basically, this is how I will be planning out our weeks:
Monday: Color
Tuesday: Shape
Wednesday: Food
Thursday: Letter
Friday: Animal
Tot School Schedule (UPDATED FOR 2015-2016)
I even made a free printable to help you organize your own Tot School! You can print it out and put it in a sheet protector or laminate it. Then write on it, and put it on your fridge, and you won’t have to think of things off the top of your head, because you will already have it all planned out! Click here to download one now.
These resources have been very helpful for ideas:
How to Start Tot School from Living in This Season
Tot School from 1+1+1=1
Were you part of the “cool” group that sat in the back of the bus or the “nerds” that sat in the front of the bus?
Linked to: Blogger’s Digest and SHINE Blog Hop
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I was one of those poor unloved high school students, too! Until my senior year when I scraped and saved and baby sat and worked and begged long enough for 800 bucks to buy the oldest car to ever run from my cousin. Then I didn’t know what was worse, driving my piece of junk car or the bus, lol! Great tips for toddler learning, too.
Ha ha. I tried the babysitting thing. Wasn’t for me. Now I have two kids. Strange how things work out, huh? Ah, the junker car 🙂 I bet you had great memories, too, am I right?
Psh! Back of the bus but I actually liked the front because it was easier to get out! LOL Dylan’s favorite part of that song is the wah wah wah part too. The other day he hit me and then he did “wah wah wah” and I had to hold back laughing because HELLO! He hit me! lol
I thought you might be a back-of-the-bus type 😉 There have been sooooo many moments where I should have been a serious and strict parent, but I just couldn’t hold back. I am going to regret it big time!
You’re such a creative mommy, love this post! And, I still love The Wheels on the Bus song (truly). Have a great weekend Charlee!
Heather, you’re way too sweet! Many of these children songs are starting to get to me (in a good way), because now I’m connecting them to my girls 🙂 I hope you enjoy your weekend, too!
We usually sing the song when we go to the store (ironically on foot!) and when I first started I was actually amazed at how much I forgot and had to look up the lyrics. Our daughter especially loves If you’re happy and you know it.
You gotta keep the kids entertained! So cute 🙂 So I’m not the only mama who needed help in the lyrics department? Glad to hear, Ana!
Thank you so much for sharing my post. Appreciate it! I love your tot school schedule! It is perfectly laid out. I plan to print one myself. Looks like you are doing a great job!
Keri, I was so glad to find your tot school post! You made me believe I could do it for my daughter even with everything else I have to do. I hope the schedule works for you 🙂
Tee hee… sounds like I could fit into the taking the bus description too. Oh my those were the days. I bought my first car when I was 26!
You have some lovely ideas here!
Thanks for sharing (and for linking up to the #SHINEbloghop).
Wishing you a lovely day.
xoxo
Oh, wow, Jennifer! I guess I didn’t have it too bad, then 🙂 Thanks for hosting!
I have been visiting tons of websites and reading a lot about tot school. I began feeling overwhelmed when trying to figure out where to start. THANK YOU for creating such a simple and realistic schedule and for giving me a great starting point. I am finally starting to feel excited about this 🙂
That’s wonderful, Aileen! It’s so much fun to teach our little ones, and I really hope this schedule is just what you and your tot need! 🙂