Community Helpers Theme

Community Helpers are something that students are often interested in so they are often one of the themes that we participate in during the school year. We usually take a field trip or two during this theme also and there are so many places to visit for a Community Helper theme. Think Fire Station, Police Station, local restaurant or grocery store, bakery, hair salon, library, Post Office or even a different classroom. There are so many activities that will interest students as they are introduced to their community and the many helpers in it. Place different uniforms in the Dramatic Play Center. Place tools or vehicles in the Block Center. I collect many different tools and then we sort the tools by which helper would use them. We do this together at Circle Time and then it can also be used in the Science Center. I use Community Helper puzzles and games in the Math Center. There are many fun books that can be read together as a class and also placed in the Reading Center. Some of those books include:
*"Librarians Help"
*"Teachers Help"
*"Police Officers Help"
*"Firefighters Help"
*"Firehouse"
*"Dentists Help"
*"Doctors Help"
*"Whose Tools Are These?"
*"Whose Hat is This?"
In the Writing and Literacy Centers students can draw and write about what they want to be when they grow up. Word cards of Community Helpers can be posted for students to copy. The Fine Motor/Sensory Center can have tools for children to use. Place a bucket of nuts and bolts for students to put together and take apart. A hammer and golf tees can also be placed there and students can hammer the tees into Styrofoam or cardboard. Papers can be fringed by the teacher and then students can practice cutting the fringe as if they are a hairdresser or barber. This also lends itself to whole class or group baking and cooking activities. Parents are invited to come in and share their job with us.

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Friends

Social-Emotional Skills are such a large part of the Preschool curriculum. Most of our activities are group based and we spend a lot of time and instruction learning about how to be a good friend and how to treat the people around us. In February, I send home a handful of cutout hearts with each child. I ask parents to document each time they catch their child doing something kind and send it back to school. We then read them aloud to the class and hang them on our wall. The goal is to cover the entire wall with hearts. We also focus on one character trait each week. We discuss the trait and give examples of that trait and then watch for students exhibiting that character trait throughout the week. Some books that I use to reinforce our lessons are: *"Stick and Stone" *"A Sick Day for Amos McGee" *"How Do Dinosaurs Play with Their Friends?" *"Llama Llama and the Bully Goat" *"Rainbow Fish" *"Should I Share my Ice Cream?" ...

Daily Preschool Schedule

Our Preschool runs a half day program so we have a morning class and a completely seperate afternoon class. Here's the lesson plan form that I have tweeked and found to be helpful in fitting everything into our short day. Class Name_________ Week #____ Day #____ Theme_____________ 9:00-9:25 Arrival and Free Choice Play 9:25-9:30 Clean Up 9:30-9:45 Morning Meeting and Music 9:45-10:00 Gross Motor Play 10:00-10:15 Math Circle Time 10:15-10:20 Brain Break and Movement 10:20-10:35 Fine Motor Table Work 10:35-10:55 Snack and Quiet Time 10:55-11:10 Literacy/Science/Social Studies Read Aloud Read: Focus: 11:10-11:25 Centers 1)math center: 2) art center: 3) fine motor center: 4)language arts center: 11:25-11:30 Clean up and Dismissal

Body and Senses Theme

I usually spend a day for each of the basic five senses and then further the theme by spending a few more days covering the basic parts and functions of the body such as heart, lungs, skin, and brain. For the sense of taste, I give each child something sour (lemon drop), something salty (pretzel), and something sweet (a piece of chocolate) to eat. We discuss the tastes and which they like the best. Then we discuss our tongues. Each student can be given a mirror to look into to see their tongue and the taste buds on it. We read "Jamberry" and try some different flavors of jam. For the sense of smell, I place items in film canisters and allow each child to smell each item and guess what it is. Then we graph which smells we like and do not like. A follow up activity is to ask students to determine which items will have a smell and then walk the items around and have students smell them and determine if their guesses were correct. I use things like mustard, a comb, or...

Engaged Early Learning

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