More Lesson Plans and Examples

To finish out our study of circles, Maverick hunted in a magazine and found pictures of circles.

I cut them out and he glued them.

After we finished the circle page, he wanted to look for triangles....all on his own! I let him, then after one picture, he started tearing out magazine pages and throwing them on the floor (see, just when you thought I had the perfect little child, hahaha) and I put an end to his "exploratory learning."

Sorting is another important foundational skill. Here, Maverick sorted buttons. These were random buttons that I probably have been collecting for YEARS from my clothes that have that extra button attached. As you can see I wear far too much black!

Originally I had wanted him to sort by color, but since there were only like 3 colors, I decided to let him figure out how he wanted to sort them. I simply told him, "Can you put the buttons that are alike or the same in piles?" He then lined them up like he does his Hot Wheels, like this.

Then we worked together sorting more of them by size, since that is the trait he chose. We talked about the biggest ones (which he calls Daddy buttons), the medium ones (mama buttons) smaller buttons and tiny buttons (baby buttons).

For each letter and sound we learn, I am having him make that letter with something on it that makes that sound. For the letter Q I chose quarters. Now, I could have found some picture on clip art or gotten those paper coins at the teacher store, BUT, after teaching in the public schools and seeing how many children in this generation don't handle cash/coins (think about how much debit, online payments, etc. we use) I thought it was important for Maverick to handle the real thing. (Yes, a very expensive letter Q, but don't worry, I will be borrowing quarters off his Q when I need them :)

I pre-drew and taped the Q so he could easily place the quarters.

I showed him what a quarter looks like (wow! another circle!) and we talked about what's on a quarter (good vocabulary exposure, I don't expect him to remember) then I had him hunt for them in our coin jar.

Looking for quarters...

The finished product!

Click here and here for a few more weeks worth of lesson plans. Just a note, these are loose sketches of what to do. There are SO many other blogs out there with cute ideas but quite frankly, with two small kids, I really need SIMPLE. So, here ya go! :)

Cooking

This activity was from Thursday on the lesson plans I posted last week. Since we were studying circles, I remembered a recipe I had seen on Savvy Source for mini apple pies and thought it would go perfectly with our theme. I altered the recipe a little to only make 4 little pies, since Maverick really doesn't eat food like this and I didn't want to have to help him!

What you will need: 2 small apples, or one large, cut into thin wedges; small package of refrigerated biscuits (the kind you pop out of the can and put in the oven); brown sugar and cinnamon.

Apples cut into thin wedges (obviously an adult job)

Mix 1/4 cup brown sugar with 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. This part is super fun for the kiddo.

Mixing...

Next, smash one side of a biscuit on a cookie sheet, place apples on top, sprinkle on brown sugar/cinnamon mix then top with the other side of the biscuit (squished).

Here is what it looks like with all the ingredients, just missing the top

Make sure to poke holes in the top biscuit before placing in the oven. Follow baking instructions on the package of biscuits.

    

Disclaimer...my oven does NOT get hot on the outside

Doesn't this look delicious?

Cooking is a great way to practice following steps, which is a great pre-writing skill even though there is no writing involved! Also, I tell him what size measuring cup we are using even though he has no clue what it means. The more they are exposed to this vocabulary and use these measuring tools, the better equipped they will be when they actually learn the mathematics behind it.

Yum!

Lesson Plans

Today I'm going to include an example of a week's (VERY lofty goal) lesson plans. I have been an over planner since my first year of teaching in the inner-city of Los Angeles. You simply cannot "wing" it with those kids (really with any kids, but even more so with those) or they will TAKE YOU DOWN! So, I over plan which can sometimes be a good thing, but sometimes a frustrating thing when you feel like it takes forever to accomplish a week's worth of plans. However, tot school is about the tot, so we move at his pace!
These plans did not take us a week, in fact we stretched them over two weeks! We had several busy days in there, and ended up doing only one activity a day, instead of the two it shows on the plans.

You will notice the plans sort of go by themes. The shape he learned was circle, so I chose letters that use a circle (Q, O) and numbers that also use circles (8 and 6). I want to provide support so he can make connections between everything we are learning. Also, these lessons give me opportunities to point out and explain how they are connected.
Over the next few posts, I will break down each activity with pictures and descriptions.
The first one I want to show you is the circle lesson (Tuesday). Supplies: White construction paper, crayons or markers, various objects that include a circle as part of their shape for tracing (ie: cylinders).

Random things I used to trace circles.

I started by reading him a shape book, "Shapes that Roll," but really you could read any book that talks about shapes. Throughout the book I continually drew attention to the circles. He pointed them out after reading, and we "drew" circles in the air.

The book we read.

Next, I showed him the items I had collected and pointed out the circle part. I took his finger and traced the circle part of each piece. I then helped him trace the circles on a piece of paper. (This kind of tracing was pretty difficult) I let him color them and we counted and numbered them. I tried to get him to think of things that were circular, but that was WAY too difficult. Far too abstract for his little brain, so I drew a pizza and a smiley face to show him.

The finished product.

This will go in his room on his "work wall" so he can constantly have a reminder of what he has learned.

(Click here for lesson plans)