Tag: preschool theme

Ocean Preschool Theme

Posted on by Addie

This week is ocean week which means sea creatures, beach and sunshine for a fun summer theme! We’re doing a bit of review and reinforcement for my 2 year old, while my 4/5 year old are being introduced to some new concepts – namely, multiplication. Now, when I say we are doing multiplication this week, I don’t really mean that she will be learning her times tables. Instead, I am just INTRODUCING the concepts to her and laying a foundation for when she does actually start to learn multiplication (usually in the second grade). 

 M T W Th F 
Religion Read Earthquake in Prison  Comprehension questions**  Prison coloring page Ball & Chain Craft** I’ve Got the Joy Song** 
Language (2) Go over A-G & ocean nomenclature cards Letter ocean** Remove animal figures from todays sensory bin and hide review letter flash cards in it. Have them find a flash card and tell you the sound. When they get it correct, trade them for a figure. Play with the sensory bin after. Ocean life tic tac toe** Hidden letters** 
Language (4) Introduce Who & Out & ocean nomenclature cards Sight word ocean** Same as above, but with sight word cards instead of letter cards. Ocean life tic tac toe** Hidden Sight words** 
Math (2) Beach ball roll & cover Ocean geoboard cards  – I will have her tell me the number on the card and help her make them Sea star color by number from the In the Sea Printable Pack (she will color 1 and use dot markers for the rest) Ocean Ball counting** Clam counting 
Math (4) Introduce multiplication using manipulatives  – I’ll use sea creature figurines & cheerios to feed them   Ocean geoboard Draw the problem** Ocean ball multiplication** Clam multiplication** 
Art/Sensory Draw chalk ocean scene and let kids spray it with spray bottle to put it under water Sea shell/ sea animal playdo prints Ocean sensory bin (blue sand, water animal figurines, shells etc..) Freeze small sea animals in blue water and excavate them outside  Jellyfish craft  
Science
Geography
History 		Pick an ocean (or 2) to learn about & find it on a globe or map Pick another ocean (or 2) to learn about & find on a globe or map  Ocean zone craft  Float or sink experiment (example at minute 2:30ish) Weighing seashells 

Comprehension Questions: 

Why were Paul and Silas in jail? 

What were Paul and Silas doing while in jail? 

What caused the doors to come open? 

Because Paul and Silas were joyful and obeyed, what did the jailer do? 

Paul and Silas felt better when they sang songs to God.  Tell me about a time that you felt sad or scared and you sang. 

What song do you sing when you are sad or get scared? 

Jail Handcuffs and Ball and Chain Craft – Make a paper chain and add a balloon on the end.  Place the chain around the child’s ankles.  Create another paper chain and use as handcuffs.  Discuss how it must have felt to be in jail. 

I’ve Got the Joy Song – Even in times of trouble and hardships, if we act as Jesus would, God will be there for us. It’s about what’s in your heart 

Letter/Sight word Ocean – Cut out circles or other shapes of colored foam. Use a sharpie to write practice letters/sight words on each piece. Then, put them in the bath, they should float. Call out a letter or sight word and have the child place it on the tub wall. Alternatively, you can have your child ‘fish’ for them and use a net to scoop them up. 

Ocean life tic tac toe – Write review letters/sight words on the bottom of 12 cupcake liners and put them in a muffin tin (you can repeat letters/words if you wish). Call out one of the letters/words and have your child put a sea creature figurine on the correct word/letter. When they get 3 in a row, they win! 

Hidden letters/sight words – On a piece of paper, use a white crayon to write review letters/sight words. Then have child paint a beach or ocean scene with water colors and when they reveal a letter or word, have them say it. 

Ocean ball counting – In a storge bin, baby pool or ball pit (the ocean) put 15 balls (I have ball pit balls so I will use those, but you could use any ball you can find). Also put some sea life creatures to make it more like an ocean. Write the numbers 0-5 on 6 pieces of construction paper and place them around the ‘ocean’. Have your child place the correct amount of balls on each piece of paper. 

Ocean ball multiplication – Set up same as ocean ball counting except leave construction paper blank. Ask your child to add X balls onto X amount of papers (ie. On 2 pieces of paper add 4 balls each). Then write out the multiplication problem with them and explain. Repeat until they lose interest. 

Clam multiplication – I’ll use 5 clams from the 2 year old math resource. Then I’ll write 2-3 simple multiplication problems on a card for my daughter to solve (ie. 3×2). Explain what the problem is asking (for 3 groups of 2 items). Have your child put 2 poms into 3 egg cartons. Then have them count the total number of poms. 

Draw the problem (idea from here) – A girl is going to the beach. She packed 2 bags with 4 toys in each so that she could play on the sand and in the water. How many toys did she bring altogether? Have your child draw a picture of the problem. Then write 4+4 =8 and explain that adding is how you found the number of toys. Then write 2×4=8 and explain that the 2 represents the number of bags and the 4 represents the toys in each while the 8 represents how many toys there are in total. You can point out how there are two 4’s in the equation which your number 2 replaced. 

BIRDS PRESCHOOL THEME

Posted on by Addie

The birds theme gives us a chance to use so many different senses and is such a nice way to take advantage of the beautiful spring weather. There are so many different kinds of birds, you don’t have to talk about them all. But I would recommend discussing some that are in your area so that they have a chance to spot them when bird watching. With this theme you could stay at a high level or get more detailed depending on your child’s interest and age.

 M T W Th F 
Religion Read Mary & Martha Story Comprehension Questions** Place some dollops of paint on the Martha worksheet.  Use craft sticks to move the paint around the worksheet. What’s More Important** Daily Choices** 
Language (2)  I sandpaper letter Paint the Ii worksheet with watercolors then place bird stickers around it I binder Color and say the words of the I coloring sheet I miniatures 
Language (4) Introduce THIS sight word Long & short vowel I sort + sight word Long & Short sort + sight word Color the I coloring sheet then say if each picture is long or short I + sight word I picture clues + sight word 
Math (2) 19 sandpaper introduction & use math beads demonstrate the number value Go outside and collect 19 objects to build a bird nest with (acorns, leaves, twigs etc..) Count 19 feathers then sort them by color using tweezers to move them Cut a few pipe cleaners into 19 pieces to make ‘worms’. Then use a clothespin or tweezers to transfer them to the nest for the babies Make 19 bird eggs out of playdo  
Math (4)  Preposition opposite match up  Using the cards from Monday, use a chair to act out the cards one at a time Nest positions**  Prep activity above, but direct the child where to put the worm (left, right, in etc..) Draw a bird cards from Monday and use the preposition with this room printable to place the playdo 
Art/Sensory Bird chalk** Make a bird nest from math objects Make your own birdhouse (This is an easy kit) Make your own bird seed Go birdwatching 
Science
Geography
History 		Learn about birds Birds & their feet + Birds & their beaks Birds of Prey Labpook Birds of Prey lapbook continued Match birds and their continent of origin to the map 

Comprehension Questions: 
Name the people in the story. 
What did Mary do while Jesus was at their house? 
What did Martha do while Jesus was at their house? 
When Martha started to complain, what did Jesus tell her? 
Doing work is very important, but it is always more important to listen to Jesus.  What would be more important than work? 

What’s More Important 
Explain to the child that you are going to say two different things and he is to choose which one is more important. 
Examples: 
•“What’s more important, playing with the dog or feeding him?” 
•“What’s more important, getting what you want or making your mommy smile?” 
•“What’s more important, eating ice cream or eating a good dinner?” 
To end the game say, “But what’s the most important thing of all?” Jesus! 
 
Daily Choices 
Discuss choices that we face every day: 
Food to eat:  cookie vs fruit, potato chip vs carrot stick 
Words we say:  loving vs mean, praise vs hurt 
Activities:  pick up toys or leave them out, come when Mommy says come or ignore her request 

Bird Chalk – Use chalk to draw birds of all sizes. Then have the kids jump from bird to bird making a bird call in a different voice depending on the size of the bird. For example, the small birds might have soft little peeps while the large birds have a loud booming squwak. 

Nest Positions – Using an egg and small basket (nest) move the egg around and have the child describe its position. For example: to the right of the nest, in the nest, above the nest etc.. 

Flowers & Plants Preschool Theme

Posted on by Addie

This week we are talking about flowers and plants. I love doing this theme in line with Mother’s Day because you can easily transform some of the crafts into Mother’s Day cards or gifts.

 M T W Th F 
Religion Talk about what prayer is** & say the Our Father – Break the prayer into 5 parts and work on the meaning of  part 1 today (also try to memorize) Work on part 2  Write down a few people you could pray for and put slips of paper in a box. Draw one a night Part 3  Trace childs hand on paper and let them decorate, talk about how you use your hands to pray Part 4 Do coloring page or activity from here Part 5 and try to say the whole thing by the end of the day 
Language (2) q Q tactile letters 
(could use dirt instead of sand/salt) 		Make Q with flowers, beans & seeds. Talk about how Q is always used with U Q Binder Garden tools cards Q Miniatures 
Language (4) end blend CK & ED sight do ‘Do’ worksheet from this pack  Intro CK ends and practice words Intro ed ends and discuss how when more than 3 letters they usually represent the past Practice CK, ED & sight words *discuss trick ed words when ee is present Flower Emergent reader 
Math (2) 18 18 tactile/sandpaper number Leaf counting to 18 (can use real leaves or manipulatives) Teen Flower* (M Plemons Kindergarten) Seed counting* & playdo (M. Plemons Kindergarten) Plant *measuring (Pocket of Preschool) 
Math (4) Learning time set puzzles More puzzle practice from yesterday Time matching O’Clock practice Draw the hands to show the time cards from activity kit 
Art/Sensory Flower sensory bin – dirt, pots, shovel, pomp oms, seeds, fake flowers, bees  Clock craft Paint a flower pot then plant a flower or go pick some flowers Cotton Ball Flowers (happy toddler play time) – could make this for Mother’s Day Draw flowers & Flower puzzle 
Science
Geography
History 		Parts of a plant puzzle & Types of flowers Bulbs Parts of a Tree & Types of roots Tree/Plant of its origin* Plants we Eat 

What is prayer – Prayer is talking to God.  He wants us to talk to Him and is never too busy to listen.  Prayer is thanking God for what He has given us, asking God for things we need, and asking God to forgive us for what we have done wrong.  We can pray anytime and anywhere. 

Teen flower – draw a flower center with 18 on it. Then cut 18 strips of tissue paper for flower petals and glue them to the center to make a flower. Draw a stem if you want. 

Seed Counting – Make 18 out of playdough, then count 18 beans and place them on a half sheet of brown construction paper ‘dirt’. Write the 18 on the paper  

Plant measuring – go outside and find a variety of plants/flowers. Use unifix or a tape measurer to measure them – try to find one that is 18” 

Cotton ball flowers – Glue cotton balls on a piece of carboard. Make a couple different colors of water with food coloring and use a dropper to drop the colors onto the cotton balls to paint them 

Tree/Plant of its origin – Unfortunately I cannot find the resource that I have, but it basically has a bunch of different products and shows which plant or tree they come from. Here are some ideas of things that come from plants & here is a printable with a few as well. 

Bugs & Insects Preschool Theme

Posted on by Addie

The bugs that I chose in the science section are ones that we see around our home all the time. If you do not come across these, you can substitute for something more common to your area. As always these are just some ideas for this theme and the activities are associated with what we are focusing on at our house, you can substitute if you are working on something else.

Note: These end blends are not the ones that I would normally start with, but I thought they would be easy because the blends are also sight words (one that we have practiced (and) and one that we see all the time in books that is very similar and can be sounded out (end)).  I am not so much worried about mastering concepts at this age, but more so introducing them.

 M T W Th F 
Religion Read Jesus Returns story – Matthew 28:16-20 Comprehension Questions Color Jesus and create shaving cream clouds around Jesus on the My Father’s House worksheet “Is Jesus Gone?”  Puppet Lesson Jesus Ascends Craft 
Language (2)Sandpaper letter Z Buzzz coloring sheet (we’ll just color this and I’ll point out the letter Z) Letter Z Binder Fill the letter Z printable with bug/insect stickers/stamps Z Miniatures 
Language (4) Introduce sight word by & use sandpaper letters to spell it.  Spring word tracing from EMLC Box Practice the word and + practice sight word of the week: by Use letter magnets to spell END, then write it on the board + by practice Introduce the concept of final blends + by practice Practice final blends with words that end in and and end (I’m using easy examples like land & bend) 
Math (2) Intro 17 sandpaper numbers 17 coloring sheet 17 Bees pollinating** 17 Ladybug spots** Spring iSpy from EMLC Box 
Math (4)Bugs in a jar**  Estimate how many cubes long the bug figurines from the sensory bin are Do an estimation jar with leaves or plants (bug & insect food!) Get a bag of gummy worms or bug gummies and estimate how many is in the pack. Use tweezers to count. Measuring worms from EMLC Box – estimate before measuring  
Art/Sensory Bug moves from EMLC Box Bug sensory bin – bug figurines, fake worms, plastic jars, tiny shovels, fake leaves Make egg carton bugs Go outside and dig for bugs Try to catch lightning bugs this evening 
Science
Geography
History 		Parts of a stink bug Facts about and parts of ants Facts about and parts of a honey bee & more facts Ladybug Lifecycle Facts about lightning bugs 

Comprehension Questions: 

What did Jesus tell the disciples to do after He left? 

What did the angel promise? 

Bees Pollinating – With 17 small bee manipulatives or 17 yellow & black pom poms (pretend bees) use tweezers to transfer them into a flower container to ‘pollinate’ them. Count each one. 

Ladybug spots – Print the ladybug without spots template and then use a dot marker to make 17 spots 

Bugs in a jar – Fill up a jar with pom poms (‘bugs’) and estimate how many are in it. Then count them. If it’s a large jar group in 10’s to count. 

Earth Day Preschool Theme

Posted on by Addie

For Earth Day I thought it would be a great time to talk about waste, recycling & composting! Magic School Bus Meets the Rot Squad is one of my favorite books for teaching about decomposition and a lesson that my kids LOVE! 

 M T W Th F 
Religion Read ‘The Brave Queen’ story of Esther Comprehension questions** Cover the Esther worksheet with tissue paper Make tortilla starts Remember When** 
Language (2)Letter X Sandpaper letter Cover X mat with blue & green playdough Letter X binder Color by letter we will do the last one since we are working on X X Miniatures 
Language (4) Trace the words & intro sight word did – spell with magnets & then write on dry erase board Practice blends that end in ING + sight words Practice blends that end in NG + sight words Hidden sight words (we have not practiced all of these yet so I will change some to our recent sight words) “Recycle King” of ING 
Math (2)Count out 17 green & blue fruit loops then make an AB pattern  What Comes Next & Which is Different Use shaving cream to draw the number 17 and make 17 dots. You can add paint to color green and blue Cutting practice Write 17 on the top of a piece of butchers paper then have child paint 17 lines underneath with a jumbo paintbrush 
Math (4)This week we will intro time: Parts of a clock (hands, numbers) 1hr = 60 minutes; Hour hand & minute hand Half hour & Quarter hour 5 minute intervals practice AM/PM 
Art/Sensory Make a recycled boat (at the end) or paint some recycleables (at the beginning) Go for a walk in the forest/ park and look for natural breakdown (mushroom or fungus, broken down decay, soft ground etc..) playdough and sticks, worms, leaves wood, flowers etc..  Do some composting – if you don’t compost at your home, you can make a simple compost system like this  Pollution activity 
Science
Geography
History 		Types of recycling sort Introduce decomposers & the idea of composting Parts & needs of a worm  Trash, Recycle, Compost sorting Learn about pollution 

Comprehension Questions: 
Name the people in the Bible story. 
Who was Esther? 
Who did Esther save? 
How did Esther have courage? 
Esther had courage to do what God wanted her to do. What do you need courage to do? 

“Remember When…” 
God took care of Esther and Mordecai.  As a family talk about times that God took care of your family in the past.  Start each moment with the words, “Remember when….”  It may take a few examples from the adults for the child to think of an example.   End the time with a prayer of thanksgiving. 

Butterfly Preschool Theme

Posted on by Addie

It definitely feels like the start of spring with a theme like butterflies!! Here is what we will be doing this week. You could probably find some more ‘butterfly’ themed language and math resources, but I wanted to keep focusing on our blends and money to really finish it out with a good understand and foundation for my littles.

 M T W Th F 
Religion Read Jesus Washes Feet & The Last Supper & Comprehension Questions* Read & Color the Jesus Serves the Disciples Worksheet Happy Hands are Helping Hands Activity Send thank you cards to someone who has helped you Take turns washing each others feet 
Language (2) Y SANDPAPER Color Y worksheet yellow and glue yarn to it Y binder Draw a butterfly from the letter Y Y Miniatures 
Language (4) Intro Sight word IF S blends Use dot marker to complete the worksheet S sort activity again Say the S blend 
Math (2) Make 16 playdo balls and then form a 16 out of it as well Fingerprint caterpillars * Butterfly dots – this butterfly has 16 dots between the wings. Count as you stamp. Then do the body in a different color Make a 16 out of playdo and then count 16 ‘caterpillar egg balls’ to go with it Count 16 blocks or legos then build a house for a butterfly 
Math (4) Equivalent coins Caterpillar coins Money lesson from a butterfly Go over dollar bills again, use math beads to visualize the values Adding dollar bills 
Art/Sensory Very hungry caterpillar sensory bin Use clothespin and pom poms to paint a caterpillar & butterfly on paper Coffee filter butterfly Break out of the cocoon activity Butterfly exhibit* 
Science
Geography
History 		All about butterflies  Lifecycle of butterfly  Cut & glue lifecycle  Types of butterflies Butterfly habitat, migration & where they live 

Comprehension Questions: 
What did Jesus do to serve the disciples? 
Tell me about a time that you helped someone. 
How does it make you feel when you help someone? 
How does it make God feel when you help someone? 
If you can’t see God, how can you tell that He is happy and smiling at you because of what you did? 
What are some examples of being a servant to others? 

Fingerprint caterpillars – Draw the head of a caterpillar on the left side of a piece of paper (landscape style, not portrait). At the top write the number 16. Use fingerpaint and a finger to dot on 16 dots for the caterpillars body. 

Butterfly Exhibit – Near us there is a conservatory that has hundreds of butterflies in a room that you can go in and let them land on you and observe. If you don’t have anything like that near you, you could see if you could get a butterfly kit and do that. 

Color Preschool Theme

Color Preschool Theme

Posted on by Addie

Since St. Patrick’s Day falls this week, I thought it would be a great time to have a rainbow/color theme! Here is what we will be doing.

 M T W Th F 
Religion Read the True King True king coloring sheet Read about St. Patrick Use a shamrock to discuss the Holy Trinity My hand palm – write something you want to pray for 
Language (2) Rainbow name craft Use playdo to mold the letter J in different colors Find letter J dot work J binder J miniatures 
Language (4) Intro R blends & Sight word An – Color by sight word (I’ll make and, an) R blends Choose one of these worksheets Color the R Blend Word matching 
Math (2) Color sort and stack activity – try to do 15 fruit loops on each Use 15 blocks to build rainbow towers (can work on patterning too) For an extra challenge you could use applesauce pouch lids Catch a Rainbow color sorting game Lucky Dog Game St Pats Roll & Cover 
Math (4) Dump the piggy bank and sort coins. Work on identification and then throw in some addition and subtraction.  Color by coin St. Pats Alphabet Code  Lucky Dog Game  Counting money worksheets 
Art/Sensory Sensory bin: green or rainbow rice, gold coins, shamrocks  Making colors* Rainbow dot marker page Make shamrocks out of green pipe cleaners Rainbow tissue paper craft*  
Science
Geography
History 		In the dark prism experiment Use the rainbow arch to practice balancing and build different structures Read about Ireland and find it on a map Skittles rainbow science Rainbow melting ice experiment 
     

Rainbow tissue paper craft – cut an arch shape out of white cardstock. Cut tissue paper squares in various colors and glue them to make a rainbow around the arch. Glue cotton balls or white pom poms to the bottom of each side of the arch to make clouds. If you don’t have the supplies, you could fingerpaint the rainbow and glue on the clouds once dry. 

Making colors – Use a color wheel to talk about different colors and how mixing certain colors creates new colors. Then get some paint in primary colors to make secondary colors. Then use the secondary colors you made and mix with a primary color to make a tertiary color.