The Benefits of Using a Yearlong Theme-Based Curriculum Curriculum Design % %
Hey all! I hope that you are enjoying your last few days of summer. I've had some questions lately from both new and veteran teachers alike about year-long pacing of curriculum. How can you make sure
Curriculum mapping is an essential part of planning for your school year. Learn the important components needed to create a curriculum map.
Invitation to Create a Self Portrait with Loose PartsSelf portraits are actually a key part of learning and personal development. When they are creating a self portrait it allows the maximum amoun
Ok so…I know I haven’t posted much of anything lately. That’s because I’ve been working on a Pacing Guide to use this school year. I wanted to make it editable…
Free Mister Rogers Unit Study for homeschooling multiple ages. This unit study is about his life and the activities allow the homeschoolers to stay engaged.
Our theme this week was "Our Five Senses" and we focused on the letter B and the shape circle. We read this week: Ferdinand by Munro Leaf Paddington by Mark Brown Paddington and the Busy Bee Carnival by Mark Brown The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle Stellaluna by Janelle Cannon Our question of the week was "What is something that you are really good at?" For our theme of the week, we talked a lot about our senses, what they help us do and why we need them. We made texture collages: This week is full of some of my favorite activities from the year, these texture collages being one of them. I love how each one is different, and the kids are so proud of the texture choices that they make. AND they look amazing on the wall. We tasted sweet, salty and sour things, and the kids had to vote on their favorite taste. (They think it's awesome when they get to eat things as part of a project.) We tested their sense of smells with this project where I asked them to describe the things that they were smelling. I used perfume, shampoo, chocolate syrup, pickle juice, toothpaste and (the most tricky) water. Out on our schools nature trail we talked about the different sounds that we could hear. We did this at various points of our walk, close to the school, by the parking lot and deeper in the woods. Lastly we did another activity with the sense of touch. I set up my table with different texture objects. I used flour, rice, oatmeal, sand and a scrubbing sponge. As the students felt each thing, I asked them to describe what they were feeling. It was hard to get them away from just telling them what the items were and to use describing words, but we got there in the end. For our shape of the week, the kids practiced drawing circles with this cool worksheet of circles and another with squares and circles. We also worked on recognizing circles out of other shapes. We talked a lot about things that are circles. We sang the song "This is a circle, this is a circle. How can you tell? How can you tell? It goes round and round, No end can be found, It's a circle, it's a circle." -Found Here For our letter activities, we used our handwriting sheet for the letter B, the sheet that helps work on letter recognition, both were mentioned in the "All About Me" post. The students also wrote in their journals for the letter B. We turned B's into Bees! After we read Ferdinand we all made our own bees. This was a great way for the kids to practice their cutting skills. I love how each child's bee is different. Another project that we did (another one of my favorites all year) is the Boat Builder activity. I love it because I give the students the materials and the end result is something completely their own. Each child got a piece of white paper, a square of brown paper, a skinny black rectangle, scissors, a glue stick and crayons with the instruction of make me a boat however you want to. (They love when I say that). If I get "I don't know how..." or " I can't do it.." We go back a few steps and talk about boats.. what do they look like, where do we find them, what do they do, and then the creative juices start flowing. Here's the end results! Love it! For our Alphabet wall we made butterflies with coffee filters and water color paint. After the children painted their coffee filters and they dried I used small pipe cleaners to turn them into butterflies! And with the B addition, our wall now looks like... Our list for words beginning with B's was very impressive. Here it is! As a side note, teachers always need to be flexible, and as such, it was in the best interest of the flow of the classroom to switch two centers, the library and dramatic play center. And I'm always telling the kids to make sure that they turn off the water faucet after getting a drink or washing their hands. I tell them to "Save the water for the fishes, so I painted a mural for above the sink to remind them. Up next week: The letter C, Triangles and "Our Feelings".
This is a great collection of educational rock activities you can do with preschoolers! Includes science experiments and projects, math, letters, and more! Makes a perfect rock theme!
Little Learners are captivated by science! In this post, we're talking all about the Little Learner Science Curriculum and hopefully answer the questions you may have about it. First things first, the science curriculum has been designed specifically for preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten using the NGSS standards, various state standards, as well as current research. Research tells us students learn by doing, feeling, touching, and examining, so that's just what this science curriculum is packed full of! I have included hands-on science activities that are appropriate for little learners.
Here you'll find free unit studies and lessons for each month. Includes holidays, historical events, seasonal themes, monthly themes, & more!
This post was sponsored by GOJO Industries, the makers of PURELL® Advanced Hand Sanitizer. The opinions are completely my own based on my experience. We completed this Germs Preschool Science Experiment to teach my son how germs are spread. As a messy boy, he often touches things with no consideration as to where they've been.
We often use loose material compositions in our classroom as a way for children to tell us what they know. We set out various mater...
These occupational therapy themes are great weekly themes for occupational therapy planning. Create a weekly lesson plan and go!
Teach math with art!
Last year, I started a new Space Club program at four middle schools. Not wanting to reinvent the wheel, I searched the web for ideas and curriculum to implement. I soon became excited to find great resources like NASA and TeachEngineering , but I was
Preschoolers are fascinated by a desert preschool theme. Use these 8 desert theme preschool activities to build your preschool thematic unit.
Our five senses tot school unit was full of exploration and learning. We had so much fun learning about our sense of sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch that big sister Madelynn even joined us for a lot of our activities. Here were our plans for 5 Senses Week: And here are the details of […]
So way back in September we studied all about our five senses and I made a little recording sheet for an anchor chart activity I saw on pinterest from Spotlight on Kindergarten. I made a similar anchor chart and then gave my students some popcorn and we brainstormed ideas while we ate. {any excuse for food in the classroom is ok with me!} Here is our chart we came up with...... Then, I had my students fill out the sheet below choosing one word for each of the five senses from our chart. It's a freebie for you so click on any of the pics to download the recording sheet, as well as colorful graphics for an anchor chart or whatever else you might need. My students then picked one word to write on the popcorn shapes and then we displayed them out in the hallway. This bulletin board was thrown up in a hurry...don't judge. ;) Happy Monday!
Apple science experiment to explore the effect of different liquids on apple slices. A fun, science experiment for preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten
Tons of helpful growth mindset activities for elementary students in one place. Easy to implement ideas to motivate kids to build a strong growth mindset!
Students need time to practice their spelling words. By having a large number of activities to offer, you can avoid falling into the spelling rut! These low-prep editable spelling worksheets help students practice their words in a fun and engaging way. Whether you are using a list of spelling words, vocabulary words, or sight words, all you need to do is type your list of words one time and all of the worksheets will be created at once. Some answer keys will also be generated to help save you time! You can use these spelling worksheets for centers, morning work, with small groups, or even as homework practice.
Learn for easy lesson ideas you can use for teaching theme to your students in upper elementary.
A few weeks ago our little daredevil had her first x-ray due to a little jumping on the bed incident. Yup 1 little monkey jumping on the bed, she fell off and bumped her head… broke her clavicle. Well ever since, she has been fascinated with the bones inside her body so there couldn’t be […]
Make learning about Australia FUN for kids with these super cute Australia coloring pages for kids of all ages to read, color and learn!
Do you want to organize and plan your curriculum pacing? Use these completely EDITABLE planning guides to help you map out your units, themes and pacing for every subject by the unit, week, month, quarter, trimester and/or year. Great to get organized for Back to School and perfect for keeping you ...
After way too many Christmas posts, I'm finally back to writing about homeschool stuff (although you shouldn't assume Christmas p...
Teaching themes in literature made easy and effective! Read how I teach theme and the theme activities I use on this post, free resource included!
Find out exactly what to teach and how to homeschool kindergarten. This list was created by a former classroom kindergarten teacher and homeschool mom.
Free reading sorts for grades 4-5 with idea for implementation! These make perfect reading centers, stations, and independent practice reading activiites.
From insect crafts and themed activities to fun facts and games, these preschool insect theme printables are a great way to make learning fun!
