Hi there, homeschooling parents! Welcome to week two of preschool lesson plans! For some context on these plans and why I'm sharing them, please refer to So Now I'm A Preschool Teacher? from last week's newsletter. How is it going? I hope these weekly plans are helping your child learn and enabling you to enjoy this time with them!
Each week I will include 3-4 days of plans per week because my son only attended preschool 4 days per week. As you will likely notice as you read these lesson plans each week, I am figuring this out as I go, just like you. I started out attempting to follow the letter sequence from preschool, but quickly realized that starting back from A helped us to reference the alphabet song and other teaching tools. You will also see that my timing and pacing shift based upon what I'm learning about my son's attention span and learning preferences; I encourage you to do the same with your child(ren).
It's also worth noting that homeschool hours do not equate to school hours. In other words, a 2.5 hour per day preschool program does not translate to 2.5 hours of one-on-one instruction (*collective sigh of relief*). Your preschooler may only be able to handle 20-60 minutes of one-on-one learning per day, and that's ok. Think about how much time is spent in a school setting lining up, completing classroom routines, taking turns, etc. And, most importantly, have fun! This is not a competition. The goal is to enjoy this time with your child, and to encourage him/her to develop a love of learning. Just one month into this, I can honestly say that I think my son has learned a little, but I have learned A LOT about him and how he learns. He actually likes Mommy School, so I'm going to keep doing my best and enjoying this time with him. My hope is that these plans take some of the pressure off of you so that you, too, can enjoy this unexpected gift of teaching your child.
Just one more thing ... we're all better when we work together and support each other. I would love to establish a forum for sharing ideas, activities, games, recipes, lessons, triumphs, and questions on our Macaroni Kid Willow Grove Facebook Page. If you haven't already, please check it out! If you have friends you think would benefit from these resources, please share! We are ALL in this TOGETHER!
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Week 2, Day 1 - Focus: Letter T, Number 5
9-9:10 AM - Circle Time/Family Meeting (I have been using My First Daily Calendar, and my son loves it!)
9:10-9:15 AM - Anticipatory Set - Trace hand and foot, count fingers and toes - intro letter 5
9:15-10:00 AM - Activities (T, 5)
- Hand Puzzle (We have an older version of this puzzle by Melissa & Doug, but you could simply trace a hand and number the fingers.)
- Introduce Letter T (StoryBots video "Time for T")
- Sand Tray - practice T and 5 (I simply used an old cookie tray and added sand from our sandbox. I draw the letter/number and he copies.)
- Practice forming Letter T and Number 5 with manipulatives - popsicle sticks, Legos, marshmallows, etc. (I simply draw the letter and number on construction paper and my son fills the shape with the objects provided.)
- Letter T Scavenger Hunt - We walk around our house and he looks for the letter T. I take a picture of each T and later on create a collage for future reference. A simple app like Pic Collage works well.
- #5 and T Worksheet Practice (I've been using a combination of resources I find online and pages from Big Preschool.)
10:00-10:15 AM - Snack & Bathroom Break
10:15-10:45 AM - Letter T/5 Tree Craft - My son and I went for a walk and collected sticks and leaves. We traced his hand and forearm on a piece of construction paper. Then we glued the sticks to the "tree trunk" and the leaves to the five finger branches.
10:45-11:00 AM - Physical Activity - Check out Cosmic Yoga!
11:00-11:40 AM - Social Time (We have been doing daily Zoom meetings with friends during this time. Each child chooses a book and show and tell item to share.)
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Week 2, Day 2 - Focus: Letter T, Number 6
9-9:10 AM - Circle Time/Family Meeting (My First Daily Calendar)
9:10-9:20 AM - Anticipatory Set - Stacking Cups - I gave my son six Silo cups and encouraged him to stack and sort them as many ways as he could. I showed him how to make a pyramid with the cups.
9:20-10:00 AM - Activities (T, 6)- Insects - We Googled pictures of insects and counted the legs.
- Epic - Select and read books about insects. (If you haven't checked out Epic yet, I strongly suggest you do so! It is free for 30 days for parents, or free always for teachers. My son loves to search for different topics and have the computer read books to him. I don't mind, because in read aloud mode it highlights the words as he hears them (win!) and enables me to prep our next activity (win-win!)!
- Introduce Number 6 (StoryBots video "The Number 6")
- Sand Tray – T, 6
- Practice forming Letter T and Number 6 with manipulatives - popsicle sticks, Legos, marshmallows, spaghetti, etc. (I simply draw the letter and number on construction paper and my son fills the shape with the objects provided.)
- #6 Worksheet Practice (I've been using a combination of resources I find online and pages from Big Preschool.)
10:00-10:15 AM - Snack & Bathroom Break
10:15-10:45 AM - T is for Tiger Craft (see image)
10:45-11:00 AM - Physical Activity - Check out Go Noodle!
11:00-11:40 AM - Social Time - Zoom with friends
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| Week 2, Day 3 - Focus: Letter R, Number 7
9-9:10 AM - Circle Time/Family Meeting (My First Daily Calendar)
9:10-9:15 AM - Anticipatory Set - Racetrack 7 - I drew a large 7 on black construction paper with chalk (see image) and instructed my son to select 7 toy cars to fill the 7 road.
9:15-10:00 AM - Activities (R, 7)- Introduce Number 7 (StoryBots video "The Number 7")
- Introduce Letter R: (StoryBots video "Are You Ready For R?")
- Sand Tray – R, 7
- Practice forming Letter R and Number 7 with manipulatives - popsicle sticks, Legos, marshmallows, cars, etc. (I simply draw the letter and number on construction paper and my son fills the shape with the objects provided.)
- Letter R Scavenger Hunt
10:00-10:15 AM - Snack & Bathroom Break
10:15-11:00 AM - Creative Time/Physical Activity- Read Bitty Bot (I selected this book because of the R in rocket and robot.)
- Make Rocket Ships (Check out this great straw rocket ship activity on Pinterest!)
- We played with the rocket ships for quite a while!
11:00-11:40 AM - Social Time - Zoom with friends | 
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Week 2, Day 4 - Focus: Letter R, Number 8
9-9:10 AM - Circle Time/Family Meeting (My First Daily Calendar)
9:10-9:15 AM - Anticipatory Set - We started by playing with a toy octopus that my son favors and counted the legs.
9:15-10:00 AM - Activities (R, 8)- Introduce Number 8 (StoryBots video "The Number 8")
- Review Letter R: (StoryBots video "Are You Ready For R?")
- Sand Tray – R, 8
- Practice forming Letter R and Number 8 with manipulatives - popsicle sticks, Legos, marshmallows, cars, spaghetti, etc. (I simply draw the letter and number on construction paper and my son fills the shape with the objects provided.)
- Begin Octopus craft (Save a toilet paper roll. I let my son select what color he would like his octopus to be, then he painted the toilet paper roll green. Allow the paint to dry while you complete the next activity.
- Epic - Read books about Octopuses while paint dries. Did you know that an octopus has a beak?
- Finish Octopus Craft - My son cut 8 legs for his octopus, and then we glued on googly eyes. (see image)
10:00-10:15 AM - Snack & Bathroom Break
10:15-11:00 AM - Creative Time/Physical Activity- Letter R Road Craft - My son had a blast putting stickers on his letter R road! (see image)
- On our driveway, I used sidewalk chalk to draw a huge figure-eight racetrack (we said it was Thunder Hollow since my son used to LOVE Cars 3!). Then we pretended to be cars and raced around while he grew accustomed to the shape of the number 8.
11:00-11:40 AM - Social Time - Zoom with friends | 
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