Wonderful Worms

THEME: Wonderful Worms and other Creepy Crawlies


Some books in our library
Spiders
Mighty Spiders
The Fascinating World of Insects
Backyard Insects
A Picture Book of Insects
The Icky Bug Counting Book
Quick as a Cricket
Hey, Little Ant
Where’s that Insect
Bugs
Full Worm Moon
Eency Weency Spider
The Creep, Crawly Book
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
The Grouchy Ladybug

Mon.
Music/Movement: “Spiders and Snakes” Walk like spiders
Small Group: Create W booklet with wiggle worms and water colors
Book: Worm’s Wagon
Activity: Sing “What’s the Sound that Starts these words?” using W words
Religious Activity: Thank you God for Spiders wed yarn toss game

Tue.
Music/Movement: Spider walk and rolly poly races
Small Group: Create W booklet with wiggle worms and water colors
Book: Worm’s Wagon
Activity: Sing “What’s the Sound that Starts these words?” using W words
Religious Activity: Thank you God for Spiders wed yarn toss game.

Wed.
Music/Movement: Butterfly dancing with scarves
Small Group: Create a caterpillar with egg cartons, paint, pipe cleaners, goolies eyes
Book: The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Activity: Butterfly life cycle- Flannel Board
Religious Activity: Create a class list: “Why Did God Make Spiders?”

Thurs.
Music/Movement: Butterfly dancing with scarves and spider walking
Small Group: Surprise Paint Butterflies
Book: The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Activity: Butterfly life cycle floor puzzle – Flannel board
Religious Activity: Gospel Story / Create a class list: “Why Did God Make Spiders?”

Fri.
Music/Movement: Sing the “Itsy Bitsy Spider” and spider walk
Small Group: Create a worms with clay
Book: Miss Spider’s Tea Party
Activity: Spider web dot to dot/Sharing
Religious Activity: Gospel story

Sensory Table:
Soil and worms & pill bugs

Work Jobs:
Counting (plastic) flies
Buggy Bingo
Sequencing Insect Game
Ladybug Match-up
Wooden puzzles
File folder games
Pond life floor puzzle


Free Art:
Pastel paints,
College material for making bug.
Clay
Insect stencils
Insect stamps
Block & Accessories:
Frogs
Bugs
Lego’s
Marbled mazes

Dramatic Play:
Insect lab: lab coats, magnifying glass, microscopes, Bugs, twisters, glove, ect.

Overall Curriculum Objective:
Provide activities that reinforce rote counting to 20 and above, focus on the numbers 19 & 20. Introduce children to spiders, insects, bugs and butterflies.
Talk about their life cycles and their importance to the earth.
Learn the differences between spiders and bugs.

Religious Theme: We learn more about the insects and bugs God made for us.
Religion Objectives:
To help the children explore the world of insects and bugs and appreciate them as God’s gift to us.
To encourage the children to appreciate the ways that insects help us.
Prayer: “Thank you God for all your creatures, insects, bugs and spiders too. Amen.”
Prayer Center:
Thank you God for insects, bugs and spiders- Counting and sorting spiders and bugs. Bug file folder games

Each of the following will be introduced in class this month through books, activities and music:
Artist: Andy Warhol
Music: Irish
Native flower: California Fuchsia
Act of Grace: Holy Water
Saint: St. Patrick

Some ideas for experiences with your child at home.
Clap out words and names.
Cut paper
Count everything
Measure things around the house using a ruler

Fun With Dr. Seuss

THEME: Fun With Dr. Seuss

Some books in our library
Dr. Seuss’s ABC
And To Thank That I Saw It On Mulberry Street
Oh, The Thinks you can Think
Mr. Brown Con Moo! Can You?
One Fish, Two Fish
The Cat In the Hat
There’s a Wocket in my Pocket
Fox In Sox
Horton Hears a Who and other stories
If I Ran The Zoo

Mon.
Music: Rhythm instruments – following the beat
Activity: Make up a silly rhyme and illustrate
Book: The Cat in the Hat & The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins
Religious Activity: Learn the song “Let’s Pretend” – Take an imaginary carpet ride

Tues.
Music :Rhythm stick activities with rhyming words
Small Group: Color, cut and group Small, Smaller, Smallest worksheet
Book: Horton Hears a Who
Activity: Feelie-Meelie box of different sized items
Religious Activity: Learn the song “Let’s Pretend” – Take an imaginary carpet ride

Wed
Music: Rhythm stick activities with rhyming words
Small Group: Create Yertle the Turtle using paper plates and paints
Book: Yertle The Turtle
Activity: Examine Crackers the tortoise, what does her shell look like? What does it feel like”
Religious Activity:

Thur.
Movement: Bean Bag activities
Small Group: Design/create a bird college using feathers.
Book: Gerturde McFuzz
Activity: Sharing-feather blowing relays
Religious Activity: Gospel storytelling and action song

Fri.
Movement: Animal Actions
Small Group: Create our own whacky zoo
Book: If I Ran The Zoo
Activity: Sharing- Animal sound lotto
Religious Activity: Gospel storytelling and action song

Work Jobs:
File folder games
Wooden Puzzles
Sorting/counting teddy bears
Pattern blocks
Balance scale & items to weigh
Pom-Poms w/ spoons/tweezers

Free Art:
Easel Painting
College tray with items to create Seuss pictures
Markers & crayons
Scissor: straight edge & decorative
Play dough

Block & Accessories:
Doll house
Family figures
Furniture
Cars, trucks & Trains
Lincoln Logs
Legos

Dramatic Play: Book Store: Dr. Seuss Books, crazy hats, cash register, play money, book bags, couch and chair, cups and saucers

Sensory Table:
Oobleck, funnels, measuring cups

Writing Center:
Pencils, color pencils, stencils, lined paper, journals, easy sight words to copy(the, and, if, ran, you, me)

Overall Curriculum Objective:

Provide activities that allow the students to explore “division” by folding, use scales for weighing Provide activities that reinforce rote counting to 20 and above, focus on the numbers 19 & 20.
Encourage students to draw or write in their Journals and dictate stories.

Religious Theme: God gives us the gift of our imaginations
Religion Objectives:
To help the children be aware of God’s gift of imagination with which they can make many new things.
To affirm how well the children can use their imaginations.
Prayer: “Dear God, thank you for the gift of my imagination. Amen.”
Prayer Center:
Butterflies,
Butterfly books and puzzle

Bedtime Lesson Plan

I have a number of students who have been experiencing bedtime issues and nightmares so I decided to address this problem with this lesson plan.

THEME: “Q”uiet It’s Bedtime

Overall Curriculum Objective:
¨ Encourage the students to talk about their dreams and bedtime rituals.
¨ To introduce students to the letter Q through song and activities.
¨ Provide opportunities for the children to look at books and play rhyming games.
¨ Make available activities that reinforce one-to-one correspondence, and matching equivalent sets. Encourage jumping roping while reciting rhymes.

Books:
The Quiet Quail
We Can’t Sleep
The Dream Child
Can’t You Sleep Little Bear?
Goodnight, Sleep Tight
Just Go To Bed
Goodnight Moon
Sleepy Bears
Take a Nap
Good-Night Gorilla
Berenstein Bear’s In The Dark
Time For Bed
I Want To Sleep In Your Bed
The Monster Under My Bed

Mon. Jan. 21
NO SCHOOL – MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY
ENJOY YOUR DAY OFF

Tues.Jan. 22
Movement and Music: Zig-Zag walking path to “Crooked Mile/Listen and move
Small Group: Q Books with a Quilts and Q-tip painting
Book: The Quiet Quail
Activity: Introduction to the letter “Q” with file folder game & file folder game
Religious: Learn class payer and sing “If Your Happy and You Know It”

Wed. Jan. 23
Music:Dance to “The Muffin Man” /Listen to Jazz, talk about the sounds and instruments we hear
Small Group: Q Books with a Quilts and Q-tip painting
Book: The Quiet Quail
Activity: Introduction to the letter “Q” with file folder game & File folder game.
Religious: Learn class prayer and sing “If Your Happy and You Know It”

Thurs. Jan. 24
Music: Create beats and play follow the leader using rhythm sticks
Small Group: Create “Sleepy Bear Dream Hats”
Book: Sleepy Bears
Activity: Sharing Day - Sing and act out “Lazy Mary”
Religious: Create a class book “Thank you God for Making me Happy: I can make others happy too.”

Fri. Jan. 25
Music: Use rhythm instruments while reciting nursery rhymes
Small Group: Illustrate a dream and dictate a story about it.
Book: The Napping House
Activity: Sharing Day – Act out “The Napping House” & “Lazy Mary”
Religious: Create a class book “Thank you God for Making me Happy: I can make others happy too.”

Parents are ask to reinforce at home:
¨ The letter “Q” and words that start with “Q”.
¨ Make up simple rhymes with your child.
¨ Read Everyday, talk about the story and make up your own stories.
¨ Recite nursery rhymes at home this week.
¨ Make up simple rhymes with your child.
¨ Find interesting things to count for example windows and doors in your home, how many Mac Donald’s you pass on the way home
¨ Encourage your child to talk about their dreams.

Work Jobs:
File folder games
Lego blocks
Animal lotto game
Links
Nursery rhyme puzzles
I Spy Puzzles

Free Art:
· Easel painting
· college material
· Play dough with animal cookie cutters
· Watercolors
· Stencils

Block & Accessories:
House
Cars/trucks/emergency vehicles
People figures

Dramatic Play:
Tent with sleeping bags and cuddly animals, housekeeping furniture, cribs & Dolls

Writing Center: Letter Q worksheets, Nursery Rhyme booklets, dot to dots, paper, pencils, sensory letters A – Q.

Religion Objectives: It is important to be happy and make others happy. We can ask Jesus to help us be happy by praying to him.
Recite the prayer: “Thank you, God, for helping us to be happy. Amen”
Prayer Center:
Our favorite things – children will put one of their favorite things on the prayer table, ie. Shells, flowers, book.
Poster “Be Happy”, “What makes you happy” class book

Each of the following will be introduced in class this month through books, activities and music:
Artist: Georges Seurat
Music: Jazz
Native flower: California Lilac

Pill Bugs, Pill Bugs Everywhere

Title of Activity: Pill Bugs, Pill Bugs Everywhere (Science Activity)

Age Group Recommended: Three to five year olds

Development Emphasis & Objectives:

Social/Emotional – work collaboratively with others as they hunt for pill bugs, ease fears of bugs as they become more familiar with them.
Cognitive/Language – describes, compare, classify and order in terms of observable characteristics and properties (number of legs, color, where the pill bugs where found, how many they found). Use of a variety of simple tools in their observation – magnifying glass, bug boxes. Raise questions, share and discuss what they found/discovered about the bugs.
Physical/Motor – use of fine motor skills and eye hand coordination in picking up pill bugs and using tweezers.
Creative - record observations and ideas through representation (drawing).

Materials Needed:
Sensory Table/Garden
pill bugs
Soil
Magnifying glasses
Bug Boxes
Crayons
Drawing Paper
Books with illustration and information about pill bugs (sow bugs)

Procedure:
1. If you do not have a garden, fill sensory table with soil and pill bugs you have found in your home garden, worms also if you like.
2. Read the story in “In My Garden” or any other story about bugs you might find in a garden.
3. Discuss with the students what lives in a garden and what their job in the garden is. (Pill bug-decomposition, worms-holes in the soil that helps get water and air to the roots of plants.
4. Distribute bug boxes, explain to the students that after they have examined the bugs that they must put them back in the garden or sensory tub.
5. If you have a garden it’s time to go on a bug hunt, if not have the students go to the sensory table. Explain to the children they must be gentle with the creatures they find.
6. If a student is frighten of bugs reassure them you will be there to help, provide gardening or rubber gloves, tweezers for those who might not wish to pick up the pill bugs with their bare hands.
7. Children can place one pill bug under a magnifying glass or bug box.
8. Once everyone has a pill bug, have the students examine the pill bug carefully. Ask questions such as; What does your bug look like? How many legs can you count? Does the pill bug have wings? What does your pill bug need to live?
9. While the students are looking at their pill bug, have them draw a picture of the bug and dictate to you about what they saw and/or how they felt.

Limits and Guidance Suggestions:
Some students may be fearful of insects/bugs and need lots of assurance.
Children will need to be reminded to be very gentle with the bugs.
Teacher should monitor the bugs/insects that the children a finding before they touch or pick them up.

Extensions of Activity:
Discuss what living things need to live.
Build a worm habitat.
Life cycles- Butterflies
Discuss the relationship between living things and their environment. How living things depend on other living and non-living things for some of their needs.

Feather Dancing

Feather Dancing (Music Activity) for children three to five years.

Development Emphasis & Objectives

Social/Emotional – Work collaboratively with others. Self expression through movement, how a piece of music makes them feel.
Cognitive/Language – Provide an opportunity to hear and learn about classical music. Introduce musical terminology. Encourage verbalization regarding how the music moves them such as feeling sad, happy or excited. Following directions.
Physical/Motor – Use of gross motor skills as they dance and move. Eye hand coordination as they use the feather as a dance prop. Provide opportunities for students to walk, skip, gallop, slither, crawl, etc. Moving their bodies in space. Breathe control.
Creative – Create movements to go along with the style, tempo, and rhythm of the music they are listening to. Self expression.

Materials Needed
CD “Classical Music for Children” or another classical CD or music
CD player
Large Space
Feathers

Procedure
1. Play short passages from the music you are going to play while they dance, have the children just listen.
2. Discuss what it sounds like; explain tempo, beat, rhythm and how the music makes them feel
3. Give each child one feather to "feather dance" with. While the music plays, they have to keep the feather in the air by blowing it or using it as a prop.
4. Have the children stop dancing and just listen to Le Carnaval des Animaux by Saint Saens- for a few minuets.
5. Play the "Royal March of the Lion" have the children use their feathers as they roar and march with the royal lions.
6. Continue through the animal themes letting the children create movements as they become elephants, swans, fish, etc.

Limits and Guidance Suggestions:
1. Remember there is no “right” way to dance and move each child will have his/her own style.
2. Some students may prefer to be the “audience” and not performers.

Extensions of Activity
Use Le Carnaval des Animaux by Saint Saens along with a “Circus” theme – the children can create animal costumes such as elephant ears and trunk, swan wings or a lion’s mane to wear during their musical circus as they dance to movement of Le Carnaval des Animaux.

Any style of music can be used for “feather dancing” as long as it provides varied tempos and rhythms.

Dance with ribbons or scarves

Books that can be incorporated: Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell, Elmer by David McKee, The Saggy Baggy Elephant by K & B Jackson, Going To The Zoo adapted from the lyrics of Tom Paxton, My School’s A Zoo by Stu Smith, The Tortise and the Hare Adapted by Janet Stevens, Thump, Thump Rat-a-Tat-Tat by Gene Baer, Head to Toe by Eric Carle, Polar Bear, Polar Bear What Do You Hear? By Eric Carle
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