First semester schedule

Here is what I have planned for the first semester.  It is totally open to others ideas though!

Field Trips

September 26th- little buddies (I have not heard back from the lady with regards to location, I'm thinking playing at Herron park is a great back-up)

October-

3rd-fall activites/cooking-my house

10th-fire station tour on base

17th-little buddies

24th-small in town corn maze (Kasie would you mind spearheading this one?)

31st-Haunted Houses-the church or my house (Elizabeth is checking on the church use that day)

November-

7th-little buddies

14th-thanksgiving activities/crafts

28th-base indoor play center

December-

5th-Christmas crafts-my house or the church

12th-Christmas service project

Preschool

September-

27th- Deborah 

October-

4th-Lindsay's-fall and five senses

11th-Amber's-fall and five senses

18th-none fall break for public schools

25th-Ashley and Kasie

November-

1st-none, just recover from Halloween :)

8th-Ashley and Kasie

15th-Deborah-Thanksgiving 

29th-Deborah-Thanksgiving (yes this is after thanksgiving but it would provide a good review, p,us can you really teach a four year old too much on gratitude?)

December-

6th-Lindsay's-Christmas 

13th-Amber's-Christmas 

Ashley and Kasie-I was thinking you girls could do either colors and shapes, or music or dinosaurs.  Or something entirely different. Let me know how much you want amber and myself to plan for you.  

I also wasn't sure how late into December people would want to go.  I thought two weeks was good because it is the end of the teachers cycle.

I am gone November 1st but if you all really want to do it you can figure something out. I know for me the day after holidays are just nice to not have anything going on.  

Again let me know if you have other ideas or if days don't work for you!

First rotation

Here is the schedule of activities, who is teaching, and topic of school for the first set of rotations. Since there is an even number this time we will be teamed with people and then we can reevaluate for the next set if we decide to keep doing the little lesson days.

Unit 1

Teachers: Amber and Christine

Topic: Animals

Activities:

September 12-horses

September 19-Giant Springs

Unit 2

Teachers: Deborah and Ashley

Topic: Wonderful world and I am special

Activities:

September 26 Little Buddies

October 3 Little Buddies (I need to double check the dates and locations for this)

Unit 3

Teachers: Lindsay and Kasie

Topic: Fall and 5 senses

Activities:

October 10 Fire station tour on base

October 17 Fall Festival

So there is it. Let me know if you have an questions or comments. I think most the lesson plans are up already so I just need to compact them into two days instead of three, or you and your co-teacher can do that.

Thanks!

Scope and Sequence

I realized I should have posted this from the beginning. Here is the outline for the entire school year. I left one unit completely unit and other units partially open. If you have suggestions for units let me know and we can fill them in. We can also rearrange units. We can add units as well depending how long into December and May we would like to go.

September

Unit 1: Wonderful World and I am Special

Activity day: Weather experiments possibly some cooking too.

Unit 2: Farm and Forest animals and General Conference

Activity Day: Amber's horse

October

Unit 1: Fall and 5 senses

Activity Day: 5 senses fall festival. Each sense will have an activity related to fall.

Unit 2: Transportation and Dinosaurs

Activity Day: Airport (we might want to do this unit in the spring depending on weather)

November

Unit 1: Thanksgiving and shapes

Activity Day: Thanksgiving crafts/cooking

December

Unit 1: Christmas and music

Activity Day: Christmas Party

January

Unit 1: Winter and Let's experiment (science heavy unit)

Activity Day: Children's museum or a Bill Nye day at home

Unit 2: Health and nutrition and writing

Activity Day: Healthy snacks

February

Unit 1: Stars, Space and the Moon

Unit 2: Jungle and Safari animals (possibly add a math related theme)

*Still brainstorming activities for these units

March

Unit 1: Feelings and emotions and colors

Activity Day: big paint project

Unit 2: Springtime and General Conference

Activity Day: The park, or garden, or a nursery and every child gets a plant to plant.

April

Unit 1: Community helpers

Activity day: Fire station tour

Unit 2: Open Unit

May

Unit 1: Summertime (haha yeah right in Montana, but we can try to pretend there isn't ten feet of snow outside :) and America

Activity Day: If it is warm the splash pad. we could do a pool party in a garage maybe?

Unit 2: Preschool Olympics, maybe throw in some standardized tests just for fun :)

Activity Day: Olympics and graduation.

I think with each unit we could add some more math, science, writing, problem solving while still making it a fun, hands on learning environment.

Thoughts?

Preschool Unit 3-Fall and Five Senses

Unit Objective: Help the children become aware of the changes that occur with fall. Help them find ways to create using items from nature. Show the children fun activities that can be done as fall comes and the weather gets colder. Reemphasis weather lessons from unit 1.

Introduce children to their five senses. Help them learn what their mouth, hands, eyes, nose and ears are used for. Allow them opportunities to use all five senses in new ways.

Day 1

9:30-9:40-Arrival/organized activities

9:40-9:50-Opening circle time. Songs/pledge/find name/weather board

9:50-10:00- Introduce "5 senses" bulletin board. Introduce the senses sight and sound

10:00-10:10- Use different objects to help the children explore sight (magnifying glass, binoculars, kaleidoscopes) then focus on sounds. Have children try to guess sounds of things in containers. Have half place ear on floor while the other half stomps. Put a comb to their ear and run finger through the teeth. 

  

10:10-10:30-

Go for a walk, observe nature and collect leaves. Focus on sights and sounds.

 Art Activity-use leafs have the children make "leaf people" (leaf is the body then they draw hands, face, feet) (This project might have to be adjusted due to weather-because let's face it most likely it will be snowing by October!)

10:30-10:40-Snack

10:40-11:10-Playtime

11:10-11:15-Clean up

11:15-11:30- whistle hide and seek. Give one child a whistle, that child goes and hides and then blows whistle for the other children to follow and find them.

Day 2

9:30-9:40-Arrival/organized activities

9:40-9:50-Opening circle time. Songs/pledge/find name/weather board

9:50-10:00- Senses smell and taste.

10:00-10:10- have a variety of items for the children to smell and taste 

10:10-10:20-Take a walk focus on smells (probably not so much the tasting)

10:20-10:30- Popcorn animals (have the children glue popcorn into center of an animal outline)

10:30-10:40-Snack

10:40-11:10-Playtime

11:10-11:15-Clean up

11:15-11:30- smell matching game. Give each child a scented object and they have to find the other child with the same smelling object as they have.

Day 3

9:30-9:40-Arrival/organized activities

9:40-9:50-Opening circle time. Songs/pledge/find name/weather board

9:50-10:05- Sense of touch. Book "Our Hands" see how long they can go without using hands (have them place hands on head). Have "mystery bags" with items to touch inside.

10:05-10:15- take a walk focus on touch

10:15-10:30- Art Activity-paint an apple. A white paper plate is the apple. They can add a stem and decorate their apple however they like

10:30-10:40-Snack

10:40-11:10-Playtime

11:10-11:15-Clean up

11:15-11:30- sort the pictures onto the "5 senses" Bulletin Board

Day 4

Fall festival. Different activities that relate to all the senses 

*Again we will work phonics into the unit. This is also a great unit for math because we can do lots of counting (count the trees as we walk, how many ears do we have, we are going to smell six items-lets count to six!)

*Also I am loving the idea of a word wall. Each unit can have a word wall so that the children can learn to recognize words with pictures and how those words relate to what they are learning. Your thoughts?

Unit 2-Farm and Forest Animals/General Conference

Unit Objective: Familiarize children with different animals that live on farms and in forests. Help the children learn to sort the animals based on characteristics and knowledge. Have the children learn animal sounds and songs. Allow the children the opportunity to spend time with a horse. Learn about care and caution around animals.
 Prepare children for General Conference at the beginning of October by helping them understand who the prophet is, why we have one, and what we can learn from Conference. Help them to prepared to participate in Conference with their own families.

Day 1

9:30-9:40-Arrival/organized activities

9:40-9:50-Opening circle time. Songs/pledge/find name/weather board

9:50-10:10- Introduce the idea that General Conference is in two weeks. Teach the song "Old McDonald with lots of pictures." Then play "Animal Sounds" game. Blindfold one child and have the other children form a circle. One child makes the sound of an animal while the blindfolded child tries to find that child. Maybe a book about the prophet is there such a thing?

10:10-10:30- Art Activity Clothespin animals (clothespin are the legs for cute little barnyard animals paint one side of the clothespins). General Conference watches?

10:30-10:40-Snack

10:40-11:10-Playtime

11:10-11:15-Clean up

11:15-11:30- Yardstick crawl (picture the limbo but they crawl pretending to be animals instead of the forbidden backbends (see 1965 edition of "For the Strength of Youth") once the kids are done we moms can have a turn!)

Day 2

9:30-9:40-Arrival/organized activities

9:40-9:50-Opening circle time. Songs/pledge/find name/weather board

9:50-10:00- General Conference Activity-Possible Apostle Match Game

10:00-10:10- Farm animals versus forest animals (have pictures of farm animals and forest animals have the children sort them based on where they live)

10:10-10:30- Art Activity-Clothespin animals part two (paint the rest and assemble), Farm animal matching worksheet

10:30-10:40-Snack

10:40-11:10-Playtime

11:10-11:15-Clean up

11:15-11:30- Repeat a favorite former activity

Day 3

9:30-9:40-Arrival/organized activities

9:40-9:50-Opening circle time. Songs/pledge/find name/weather board

9:50-10:00- Conference Activity (Possibly the nursery lesson on the Prophet, or stories from the friend about the Prophet)

10:00-10:10- Stories about animals.

10:10-10:30- Art Activity Farm pictures (have children color and cut out the different parts of a farm and assemble how they wish on another piece of paper)

10:30-10:40-Snack

10:40-11:10-Playtime

11:10-11:15-Clean up

11:15-11:30- Sing Old McDonald and other animal songs.

Day 4

Field trip-Amber's Barn (this might have to be arranged for another day depending on weather)

*I am still trying to think of meaningful ways to teach the importance of General Conference to three year olds as well as activities that will prepare them for Conference. I love the General Conference watches that have a picture of President Monson and then says "It is time for Conference" (Caleb loves making those). Making "Bingo" cards is another idea. I am not sure if there are Children's books about conference. I know there is a story about the podium, we could share that with the children and show pictures. I am open to ideas as always!

*Depending on how things are going we might start Zoophonics this unit. 

First Unit-This Wonderful World/I am Special September 4th-Sept 14th

Unit Objective: Help children to better understand their identity as children of God. Allow them to express and celebrate their unique personalities while learning to be respectful of others. Establish routines, schedules and rules for the classroom. Become familiar with basic weather terms and how that relates to their daily life.

Day 1:

9:30-9:40-Arrival/organized activities

9:40-9:50-Opening circle time. Songs/pledge/find name/weather board

9:50-10:00- "Sunbeam activity" Likes and dislikes/God loves you (have children take turns stating their name and one thing they like. Then the group repeats "this is ____ he likes _______ God loves ________ and God knows he likes __________)

10:00-10:10-Weather books. Discuss basic weather terms using weather board

10:10-10:30- Art Activity "My Circle"(Have a piece of paper with a circle already drawn on it. Have a variety of art supplies and allow each child to create their circle. Then each child shares his/her circle with the class)

10:30-10:40-Snack

10:40-11:10-Playtime

11:10-11:15-Clean up

11:15-11:30-Freeze dancing (start and stop the music and have children freeze when it stops-helps teach body awareness and coordination)

Day 2:

9:30-9:40-Arrival/organized activities

9:40-9:50-Opening circle time. Songs/pledge/find name/weather board

9:50-10:00- Look At Me (have children take turns looking in mirror and describing what they see)

10:00-10:10-Weather dress-up (have assortment of clothing that they can dress up in based on "weather")

10:10-10:30- Art Activity "Book of what I like" (Each child creates a collage of things they like)

10:30-10:40-Snack

10:40-11:10-Playtime

11:10-11:15-Clean up

11:15-11:30-Toe Talking (Have children put smiley faces on their toes and have their toes have conversations with each other)

Day 3:

9:30-9:40-Arrival/organized activities

9:40-9:50-Opening circle time. Songs/pledge/find name/weather board

9:50-10:00- Explore the dark (use flashlights to explore the world when it is dark)

10:00-10:10-People, Places and things sorting (use pictures and sort people place or thing)

10:10-10:30- "Breezeometer" (a stick with different weight items on it, this will tell you how breezy it is by which items can fly in the wind)

10:30-10:40-Snack

10:40-11:10-Playtime

11:10-11:15-Clean up

11:15-11:30-Walkie-talkies (basic tin can walkie-talkies)

Day 4:

Cooking/science day

My plan is to have a lot of books relating to the unit checked out from the library and in the classroom if there is a lull. Also to make several different activities for the opening and then try to have the closing activities be more active/group activities since the teachers won't have to be worried about getting kids settled. Once everyone approves of the unit outline I can give more details on a certain activity so the teachers know what they are doing.  

Again let me know what your thoughts are!

Literacy

Hello ya'll

I have been researching a lot about teaching letters/reading to pre-k. A lot of what I am reading is saying to stay away from Letter of the Week (LOTW) and trying to do word and letter integration into the ciriculum. I am wondering if any of you have opinions one way or the other or know of a great program. The one I am seeing a lot of is "Morning Message"  or word/letter walls.

Thoughts?

intention

I have been thinking about the word "intent" a lot lately. Maybe it is my old age, but I see such little point in spending time on intent-less pursuits.

My teaching advisor's mantra was "what is your objective."  Every lesson plan, every activity, every minute of teaching needed to be linked to an objective. I thought it was overkill at the time, but it might be the only thing I really remember from all my teaching classes.

All of this has gotten me thinking about the intent of our preschool.  I thought "oh we need a mission statement" (I never realized how much my education classes in college were ingrained into my thought process).  

This is my personal mission statement for the preschool. I am sure you will have your own, and at some point we can combine. I am trying to go off of everyone's express opinions during our meeting or other conversations. I might be totally off the mark, but here I go.

Mission Statement:

As a mother I want more for my child than I can give him alone at home. I want something different for him than a formal preschool. I want his first experiences to be unique and wonderful. Tailored to his interests and needs. I set out to help create a safe, exploratory, educational, and value-based preschool experience where he can learn and develop with friends. Structure and routine are extremely important, but so is adaptability and student-lead learning. I hope he learns more than just shapes, colors and letters (though those are important) but that he also learns to think and to reason. To interact with others and learn to respect those around him as well as himself. I hope that he not only learns more about the secular world but the spiritual world. 

Your thoughts or own mission statements? Did I totally miss the boat on this one?