Preschool: B is for BOat

The kids and I had fun with letter B. We mostly focused on boats, but a few other fun B activities snuck into the mix of things as well. Our story of the week was Toy Boat by Randall de Seve.  And the kids couldn't get enough of all the different boats and the faces painted on each one. I think the story is cute, but once again, the pictures are what sold me.

First we made our letter craft; a lower case ‘b’ as the mast of a boat. If you are interested in the pdf for the boat letter craft, download it here. We'll hang these up next to our apple A's on the kids' closet doors as part of our alphabet train. I think having the alphabet train out for the kids to see is a really helpful visual, and an easy reminder of the letters they’ve already learned. Often I will have the kids repeat the letters to me as I move my finger along the train at night before bedtime. It’s a fun and easy way to review the letters.

Another day we played a rousing game of boat bingo. Which unintentionally fit in really well with the Toy Boat story because of the different types of boats. The game was a fun way to work on our matching skills, even my (then) two-year-old was able to play without too much help. Click here for a pdf of our bingo sheet.

It was my turn to host the preschool co-op, and it was all about the letter B. We sang a welcome song, and the Adam's Family version of the days of the week. Then we had show and tell. This week for show and tell, I had them each bring their favorite book and tell why it was their favorite and show their favorite picture from it. Then I read them Toy Boat.

Next we did the B Basket. I had put together a little basket full of things that start with letter b. The kids took turns picking items out of the basket and showing everyone. In our basket we had: A capital B fridge magnet, banana, brush, broccoli, baby, bouncy ball, boat, Buzz Lightyear, bunny, bear, block, and bow.

Next we sang a couple of B songs: Row, Row, Row Your Boat, and Head Shoulders Knees and Toes (which I explained was about different parts of the body, another B word.)

Then it was time for some balloon bad-mitten. I made paddles by stapling a jumbo craft stick onto a small paper plate. Then I blew up 8 or so balloons and let them have at it. When they'd gotten enough of their wiggles out, we moved on to our next activity.

I had big sheets of butcher paper, and I had each kid lie down on one and I traced the outline of their bodies. Then we colored them and they got to practice writing their name next to their body. 

After bodies, we had a boat snack: apple slices with peanut butter on top, with a corner of cheese slice and a tooth pick stuck into it for the sail. And lastly, while we waited for the moms to come, we blew bubbles outside on the front porch.

Over the next few days the kids and I kept working on their body projects from preschool. We colored them, and cut them out and taped them on the wall in their rooms. They were so proud of them.

This project actually came at a perfect time too, because we just started Peter Pan (a junior classic version) for our family read aloud, and read the chapter where Peter loses his shadow and Wendy's mom rolls it up and sticks it in a drawer. The way the body cut-outs rolled up reminded the kids of Peter's shadow. So that was fun.

Next up is letter c, starring the very hungry caterpillar!

 

Preschool shape up

Four-year-olds are one of my favorite age groups to interact with. They’ve developed enough verbal skills and muscle control, that they are mostly past the tantrum stage, but haven’t quite reached that I-Know-Everything stubbornness that you find in older-five and six-year-olds. When my oldest was 4 my husband and I were poor college students, and didn’t have the money to send him to a fancy-scmancy preschool. Another mom and I decided we’d get together and do preschool for our sons ourselves. We were nervous at first, but it turned out to be such a wonderful opportunity! We had so much fun, and our kids learned everything they needed to know and more.
I’ve been teaching pre-school co-ops for almost four years now. And it really is the way to go. Especially because there are so many online resource for lesson plans and fun activities.  You think Pinterest is your friend when it comes to crafty things? Well, I promise you, Pinterest is your BEST friend when it comes to all things educational.
A few months ago, I taught our preschool kids about shapes. I want to walk you through some of our activities, so you can get an idea of some of the resources I use to plan preschool lessons, as well as some different kinds of things to consider including in your preschool day to make it a success.
Gathering Activity: This year our co-op has six preschoolers in it. They don’t all arrive at the same time, so I like to have some sort of activity prepares that they can occupy themselves with while we wait. A gathering activity can be anything really, puzzles, play dough, books, etc. But if I can I like to somehow connect it with the topic I’m teaching for the day. For example, for this shape unit, I brought out our Wedgit Blocks, and challenged the kids to build towers.
New Learning: Right after the gathering activity is when I like to introduce the “new” thing we are going to be learning about and focusing on that day. And I like to do it through a hands-on activity if possible. For example to introduce shapes I handed each child cut-outs of the four basic shapes; circle, triangle, rectangle, square. We talked about each one, and said how many sides and how many angles it had. Then I would describe a shape by saying something like, "I'm thinking of a shape that has three sides and three angles." And the kids would have to hold up their triangles. For more practice with shapes, I made them a bag with paper shapes and colored sticks in it. The idea is to set out the paper shape, and then use the same colored sticks to go around the edge. I did a piece of string so they could do a circle too. I got this idea from a Pinterest link that led me to this blog, and by looking at her picture, I was able to make my own.
Fine Motor Skills: One main purpose of preschool is to develop those fine motor skills. (Fine motor skill is the coordination of small muscle movements which occur in body parts such as the fingers, usually in coordination with the eyes.) Cutting, pasting, and writing are a great way to do this, but there are many others…the sky in the limit, really. In our shapes unit, I had the kids cut out the four basic shapes, use a glue stick to glue them to paper, and then trace around their glued shapes with a marker.
Sorting: Sorting and classifying objects are important pre-math and pre-science activities. They help the brain develop associations and make connections between different things. It also builds vocabulary and concentration. In the shape unit, the kids drew a shape card out of a paper bag, and had to put it under the right group based on how many sides and how many angles it had. I found this activity, and the printables to go with it, in an awesome book put out the the AIMS education foundation called Getting Into Geometry. I have several books from this company and they are all excellent.
Matching: The benefits of matching are similar to those of sorting. Matching increases a child’s concentration, and keeps their brain active. Think of it like exercise for your mind. One of my favorite matching activities is Tangrams, also called pattern blocks. Pattern blocks are a must have, if you have a preschooler, whether you’re teaching them preschool or not. That’s how fun they are. We have really enjoyed our inexpensive magnetic foam set.  And there are tons of free printable patterns online, just search Pinterest for “Pattern Block Mats”. I like to set up our patterns inside a metal cookie sheet, but you can also do them on the fridge, the dishwasher, or any other magnetic surface.
Wiggle Activity: Every preschool lesson needs at least one wiggle activity. Wiggle activities usually focus on and develop gross motor skills. (Gross motor skills are the abilities required in order to control the large muscles of the body for walking, running, sitting, crawling , and other activities.) A wiggle activity can be almost anything that involves movement, but again, it’s more meaningful if you can incorporate it into your subject matter. For our shapes unit, I drew a large triangle, rectangle, circle, and square on my driveway with sidewalk chalk. Then we walked, skipped, hopped, etc. around the perimeter of each one. Then I invited the kids to use the sidewalk chalk to try their hand at drawing their own smaller shapes inside of the large ones.
Snack: I don’t have to explain that snack time is a must for preschoolers. And by now you can guess that a snack is more fun and more meaningful if it goes along with the theme of the day. Pinterest is crammed full of excellent ideas on this topic as well. The snack for our shape unit was so simple, yet so perfect. I gave everyone a large handful of stick pretzels, and we used them to make fun shapes while we ate, counting out the number of sides and angles as we went. Who says it’s not ok to play with your food? :)