Plans and Centers

The kids have been a little off lately.  Not themselves at all.  CJ threw a temper tantrum at playgroup last week.  Today was better.  Of course now everyone is getting sick and rundown again.  I made awesome lesson plans this week, and got some great books at the library to go with them.  What happened?  Life.  Kids were sick Monday.  We went to the library Tuesday.  Mason is spending a lot of time using the potty each day.  So all the lesson plans are not being finished.  We finally finished Tuesday's plans yesterday.  We are doing the letter L, number 12, leopard, llama, ladybug, shape is heart, gardens and weather.  Gardens and weather will continue next week, along with clouds, related to weather of course.  We will start a new letter number and shape though.  I also might start with telling time, as I found some great preschool age books devoted to that at the library.  It occurs to me that I have never shared my lesson plan format here, so here it is. 

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March 21

Do daily calendar, weather, letter sound song, review posters

Letter L

Write letter on whiteboard

Review and add to letter poster

Color letter paper

            Talk about words that begin with letter

            Do page in letter book

Number 12 dozen

            Write number on whiteboard

            Make number page for number book

            Count out number

            Color the number paper

Animals Llama/Leopard/Ladybug

            Activate prior knowledge of animals

            Read about animals

            Identify animal type, discuss features and habitats

            Compare/contrast to each other and other animals we know

            Make a Venn Diagram of the two mammals

Shape Heart

            Draw shape for them on whiteboard

            Find something that is the shape

            Color shape paper

Theme Gardens

            Discuss what a garden is

            List things that can be in a garden

            Read books The Gardener

                        This is Your Garden

                        My Garden

            Sing Garden Songs

            Observe our own garden and what goes in it, and what we do to it

Theme Weather

            Activate prior knowledge

            List types of weather and define

            Define the word weather

            Read weather book from Enchanted Learning

Read the Lorax and Helping Out Day

Play Chutes and Ladders

Introduce Lacing Center

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This is a typical Monday lesson plan.  On Mondays we always play a game.  On Tuesdays we always do a story on storyline online.  Tuesdays are light days since we go to the library now.  Wednesdays we do craft.  Thursdays are focused on tracing, and writing together.  Fridays we cook a recipe.  Fridays are also assessment day normally.  While these are not traditional lesson plans, it is enough for me to remember what I items I need to complete the days work, and to make sure I don't forget what I wanted them to learn.  I try and get everything out and ready the night before.  On weekends I put all my materials that are ready into folders labeled with each day of the week.  I also don't do everything all at once during the day.  We fit parts of the lessons in to different parts of the day. 

When planning I think about what I want them to learn from the activity, the purpose.  Then I figure out how to accomplish it, and find or create materials for it.  I have found some great resources in the past few weeks, which I will be posting soon.  Every couple of weeks I try to create and introduce a new center based on the types of activities that are age appropriate and would be introduced in preschool or kindergarten.  We have a matching center with several activities in it.  We have a color matching activity, a shape matching activity, a number matching activity, and a sorting activity that uses size, color and shape together.  I have a habitat matching activity and a food group one from the times we did those themes.  I always introduce the activity in a lesson and do it with them a few times before letting them do them alone.  I also don't let them play with them.  They can't take them whenever they want to.

I use some cheap plastic shoe boxes Rich found for a dollar at Home Depot, zippered bags, and items from around the house to create the centers.  I use Rich's label maker to label EVERYTHING!!!

This is their favorite at the moment.  I grabbed all types of things from the house in all different colors.  I wrote the color names on index cards in colored sharpie.  I added to it as we did colors during our lessons, and now that we are done with colors they like to use this all the time.

I like to add sorting activities that are part of what we are learning.  The habitat matching center has pictures of animals and different habitats that I printed from various websites and clipart.  The kids love placing the animals in their correct homes.  The food group matching center has the food pyramid, each group labeled on their own card, and pictures of all types of food.

I have a math center, science center, art and craft centers, shape center, and a lacing center that we started using this week.  It has some old shoe laces, plastic craft lacing in differing lengths with knots already tied, large pony beads, and some Dr. Seuss cardboard cutouts specifically for lacing that I found for a dollar at the craft store.  They love this center, and I love that it helps with their fine motor skills.  I also love that everything has its home, and the kids already understand how to clean the centers up and put it all back in its place.  I find that to be an important lesson in and of itself.  I will post some of my lesson plan templates within the next couple of weeks, and take some more pictures of how I have set things up to help stay organized and on track.  Thanks for reading, and I really hope you comment or send suggestions my way!  Happy Spring!