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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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...

Nursery Rhyme Theme

A few years ago when I pulled out Nursery Rhymes to read to my class, I discovered many of them had never heard these stories before. I grew up on Nursery Rhymes so this was interesting to see. We dove into a unit of Nursery Rhymes and Fairy Tales and they loved it! This is also a great unit to really focus on rhyming with the children. Blocks, pool noodles, and cups can be used in STEAM challenges to build castles and towers. Straw, sticks, and rocks can also be added to use in building houses when you read "The Three Little Pigs." We create our own Nursery Rhyme book where the children illustrate the rhymes and then get to take their books home to share. The students love collecting the pigs and returning them to their pens. We use pink balloons and hula hoops. We also try to be as nimble and quick as Jack and jump over our own candlesticks. "The Three Little Kittens" lost their mittens but we play a matching game with ours. ...

All About Me/Feelings Themes

The first week of school, we spend practicing our routine and getting comfortable with coming to school. The next couple of weeks, we spend getting to know ourselves and each other. We do an All About Me Theme followed by a Feelings Theme. We create cutouts of ourselves and display them to show our differences and connectedness. I love how each cutout looks different. We talk a lot about how we are each special and unique. We compare eye colors and hair colors. We talk about our families and who is in each family. We draw pictures of ourselves and our families including any pets we have. We do name activities where we count how many letters are in our names and then we use letter tiles to make our names. We compare each child's name to the other names in the class and look at beginning letters and syllables. We also graph some of our favorites, such as colors, animals, foods, or sports. We draw pictures of our friends and copy our friends' names....

Engaged Early Learning

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