Lots of changes. So much to unpack. We're all processing and let's be real, none of us are going to get this completely right. And, that's OK!
Mama's - I need each and every one of you to give yourself some grace. At this very moment, I want you to fill yourself with as much grace as you can possibly muster because we will certainly need it to get through this. There's so much to talk about, but there will be a time and place for that and right now? All we need is some help and light from one another.
I can't come and wrap you all in love, but I can offer some help.
As you all know, I'm Mama to a sweet preschooler and since I just started my delayed maternity leave - I have a bit of extra time on my hands. Well, that's not entirely true but I stayed up until midnight lesson planning for the next few weeks and I want to share with you all what I can. These are the first of two (2) lesson plans I've put together for age ranges 3-5, but I have more to come. I've scoured the internet for you and found a few fun things to pull together to help.
1. I have an infant with me who does have some extra special needs (NG tube) so most of the activities will take place indoors and/or with little involvement from me since my hands will be full and the pump isn't exactly super portable. But, if you're able to - I can't tell you enough how wonderful it is to go outside for many of these lessons. We're working to hit up to 2 walks a day with the littles to get fresh air and get our energy out so we're more capable of learning when we do sit down
4. Our school is going above & beyond with check-ins for Tot. So blessed by them and what they're offering our sweet family. They continue to provide handouts, lesson plan, etc. that I'm incorporating a well. We just love them - thank you, Virginia Academy!
6. Because we aren't super mobile, a lot of our energy wasters are through our local dance studio. Not an advertisement by any means, but these sweet women are really taking a huge toll off of my shoulders. They are live streaming classes from a variety of studios and provide an all day schedule. Can't gush about them enough. Just today, Tot got to participate in Story Time with Jasmin as they're offering weekly fun events. Bella Ballerina is just the bees knees. We've also been supporting some small businesses like the Franklin Party Stylist - they're offering personalized FaceTimes with princesses and heroes that are a real treat at the end of a long week. Be sure to check them out!
7. Lastly, I created a little make-shift journal for Tot. Every time we finish an activity or two, I have her draw a little picture in her journal and practice whatever letter, word etc. we just reviewed. I've learned through all my research that repetition matters. We also told Tot she can present her journal to her teacher when this is all done to show her what she learned at home!
Here are the first two lesson plans I've put together thus far. I have another I can share tomorrow on next week's theme: Gardens & Ponds. Let me know if this is helpful...
Theme: Nature
Letter S Number 14
Scholastic Plan linked here
Monday ROCKS!
Rock Themed Activities: LINK
Sink or Float: LINK
Rocks - what are they? How do they feel? LINK
- Use a think sheet (white paper with box outlined) to have your little one draw a couple of rocks and talk about the color, shape and size
Magic School Bus Rock n Roll: LINK
Note: All Magic School Bus episodes can also be found on Netflix
Rock Spelling: LINK
Introduce Letter S: LINK
Tuesday: Bella Ballerina (Jasmine Visit)
Rock Detective: LINK
Nature Walk for Rocks: After watching Rock Detective, we're going on a walk to find all things ROCKS. We're going to collect some of different shapes and sizes to take home to trace and draw
Rock Painting: Once we've finished tracing and learning about the different types of rocks from our walk, we're going to paint them. White, blue, red - whatever colors or even markers you have around the house.
Baking and MATH: we're going to work on our numbers and let Tot lead the instructions for sugar cookies and banana bread
Wednesday: Nature is BEAUTIFUL!
Nature Collage - collect things from your front yard ONLY and use a white piece of paper to make a collage. Talk about what you find, season, and why nature continues to grow.
Nature Song: LINK
Nature Vocabulary: LINK
Tree Bark Rubbings - tape a white piece of paper over the bark of a tree. Use a variety of colors (crayons) to trace over and talk about the different patterns and textures you found
Introduce Number 14: LINK
Spring Scene: draw a quick box on a white piece of paper for your little. Have them look at the window and draw the scene they see. Ask them to narrate what they're seeing and what they're drawing, including the colors and shapes of things
Nature and the Bible: LINK
Thursday: the ZOO!
Zoo Introduction: LINK
What animals do we know? Describe them in your think sheet. Texture, color, pattern, size.
Zoo Worksheets: LINK
All about the Zoo Video: LINK and LINK
Feed the Animals - cut out pictures of different types of food that zoo animal eat (leaves, fruit meat, etc.) from a magazine (or have them draw) to make cards. Provide toy zoo animals you've gathered around the house and let children feed the zoo animal with the correct food they would eat.
Worksheet - feed the monkey: LINK
Z for Zoo - let children practice writing the letter "Z" and the word zoo. Write the letter Z O O on index cards and let children spell the word zoo. If you don't have index cards (like us), I just cut up printer paper into four.
Watch & learn - baby animals: LINK
Parent and kid differences - talk about how animals are the same as us! LINK
Friday: Fun Friday at the Zoo
Continuing from yesterday, feel free to do any activities you couldn't finish.
Chat with a Zookeeper: LINK
Morning Walk with the Zookeeper - have your little one pretend they're a zookeeper and go on your morning walk. Stop every so often and ask your little one to pretend to be an animal. Talk about what they look like, how they eat, and where they hang out (grass, water, etc.)
ZooCam: One of our favorite things here, the San Diego Zoo is great for webcams of a multitude of animals. Feel free to keep this on while they do any worksheets on the letter S and number 14: LINK
Animal Patterns: interactive activity where they can go ahead and solve some simple pattern questions with animals LINK
Number Review: 1-10 interactive video Hop with Me! LINK
Nature Boom Episode: Watch a National Geographic episode about an animal/environment of your choosing LINK
All about Reptiles: SONG and VIDEO
30 Min Free Play - we earn this based on weekly goals. For this week: spelling 2 new words (SOIL and ROCKS, counting to 40, and matching 10 letters with cards I've made). If that's completed, she gets 30 minutes of any activity and I will play with her (i.e. Hospital, Princess, etc.).
Theme: Garden & Ponds
Letter T Number 15
Amazing plants that the Lord has made..
Scholastic Lesson Plan: LINK
What are plants? Have your little one describe what plants are to them? Do they know of any? What color are they? Ask them to narrate a scene with plants (i.e. my backyard has green plants and pink plants and spiky plants etc.)
LINK
Plants Explained: LINK
Letter T Introduction (Song): LINK
Garden Activity - create a construction paper "garden box" (essentially, a square outlining the edge of the paper) and have your little one plant what they want to grow. Have them narrate what they are drawing, color, size of items etc.
Let's be Terrific and Learn about T: LINK
Garden sensory bin: LINK
Magic School Bus Goes to Seeds: LINK
Seeds to Plants: Talk to your littles about growth and how seeds become a plant. Grab a glass of water and ask them to take a sip. Talk to them about how plants need water to grow.
Video: LINK
Berenstain Bears Season and Plants: LINK
Plant Journaling - Nature walk to see all the flowers and plants. Bring a journal with you to help your little one stop and document what they see. Pick up any flowers, plants that have fallen that you can tape into your journal. Come home and draw 1-2 plants that they liked the best.
Plant Scavenger Hunt - create a list of plants you know are within your neighborhood. Provide your little one with a ziploc bag and the list to go ahead and gather everything they find. Come home to make a plant collage.
Flower Crafts
- First one is to cut out a simple flower in 4 parts for them to glue onto a white piece of paper (does not have to be perfect at all). You need the flower, stem, leaves, and root.
Video LINK
What is a pond? LINK
Use the think sheets and have your little ones draw what they see: LINK
Frog Jump: frogs can jump ten times their length. Lay ten cutouts (use anything you have) end to end to see how far a frog can jump (I used the square construction paper I put in a ziploc bag to use for activities). Count each of the cutouts and take some away to change the numbers each time.
Number 15 Introduction: LINK
Gus the Alligator: LINK
Watch a National Geographic video called "Gus the Alligator", and discus what we learn about alligators. We make a 4 page book about alligators.
Alligators eat....
Alligators live....
Alligators have....
Alligators can....
The blank are filled in with the children's dictation (a fact about alligators they learned from the video), and the children draw a picture to illustrate it.
Frog/Fish Bingo: LINK for printout (fish LINK)
To prepare the bingo market stamping games, print out the game that matches your theme. Write a letter, number, or shape (whatever you're focusing on) on each picture and make a copy for them. To play the game, let them pull a number or letter card from a stack you made. They will find that letter/number on their mat and stamp it out. You can use a normal stamp or a marker (pick a shape they need to do etc.).
God Made Animals: Bible Lesson LINK
Vocabulary Cards: LINK
- cut these out and let your little one first try to identify each of them, they have them work on identifying letters in each of the words. Lastly, work on spelling 1-2 word each week based on sounding out the letters on the cards.
Frog Connect the Dots: LINK
Music Lessons:
LINK
LINK
Counting 1-15 Review: LINK
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