FRIENDS AROUND THE NEIGHBORHOOD
PLAYGROUP LESSON PLANS
1999
Day 1
The following is my
lesson plan for day one of our summer program for Z. This week we will only
meet 2 days. All other weeks will be 3 days for a total of 10 weeks.
Approximate hours 2 1/2 per day.
Activities for Summer Program 6-1-99
Today is our first day of our summer "friends around the
neighborhood" program. We will have 7 children. 2 - 3 year olds, 1 - 4
year old, 3- 5 year olds, and 1 - 7 year old. 2 of the children have autism.
Circle time activities include:
Each child will get his/her own carpet square (donated from a local carpet
store. Any store will do this is you ask them for discontinued samples.) They
will form a 1/2 circle. (They also make great center boundaries when placed
together to make bigger areas. This gives the children an area where they know
they have to keep specific activities in.)
Assigning each child with a duty for the day: snack helper (will be automatic
to the child who is bringing the snack for the day), calendar helper (2
children), weather helper, flag holder, exercise leader, counting children.
An introduction of each child: I will have each child tell us who they are and
name their favorite color or tell me what color their eyes are, etc. (we will
do simple questions because that is what Z is learning right now. It is
something he can participate in. I will have each child answer
the question in a sentence format because that is what Z is currently learning.
If your child is further along, you may want to have the children tell one
thing they did over the summer, etc.)
We have alphabet pretzels and gummi bears. After the children answer the
questions they will get their choice of either one. (the idea is to reinforce
each child for talking in circle time... which can be difficult - talking in
front of a group.
Weather: (Any teacher supply store will have a bulletin board set from Creative
Teaching Press, Inc. It includes all of the following---- or you can make it
from scratch)
I used a poster board and have velcro'd and glued all the props needed below.
Dressing the weather bear. Child gets to pick out the type of clothes the bear
should wear today.
Talk about the weather yesterday, today and tomorrow. How to make: Sentence
strips: "The weather today is" "The weather yesterday was"
"The weather tomorrow will be"
Thermometer that the kids can "slide" temperature to read
"cold", "warm" or "hot". How to make: Draw a
thermometer, cut a slit at top and bottom. Inserted strip of material (tie knot
in back so it makes a complete circle.) Color 1/2 of material red, the other
half should remain white.
Counting: Last year we made a simple math sheet for counting how many children
are present in the class. I have a 3 blocks (in between block 1 and 2 is an
addition sign and between block 2 and 3 is an equals sign.) Underneath each
block are smiley faces to look like boys (block 1) or girls
(block 2) and then both boys and girls (block 3). This has been laminated. Each
block contains a velcro piece.
On separate squares of paper (that will fit into each block) is the numerical
number (1,2,3, etc.) and underneath are dots to represent that number (like on
dice).
A child will count how many girls are present and place that number in the
block above girls. The same with boys. Then they have to add both together and
put a total number in the 3rd block. Children who do not know numbers yet can
count the dots to get the total.
Calendar:
Our calendar is from some educational store (I do not remember where). It has
pockets to insert cards for each day of the week, the name of the month, and
the date number. The children will trace dot numbers and stick into the pocket
for that day (considering we will only meet 3 days a week, other children will
get an opportunity to trace a number from the 4 days we did not meet.) (Z is at
a phase where he still needs a visual prompt to write the numbers correctly. If
your child is further along, you can provide him/her with a blank square to
write the number without the visual que).
I have recently purchased a wonderful program that allows you to make dotted
letters and numbers (for prewriting / tracing - how many of you have sat up
night after night writing out dot, dot, dot to represent letters for your child
to trace?) The name of the program is StartWrite: Type it... Print it...Trace
it! by the Idea Maker. They have a website but I do not remember the location.)
(you can make a simple board by using a chalk board, dry erase board and using
tape to make blocks to represent a one month calendar. The children can then
write the number for the date directly on the board. Another way to do this
would be to use a poster board and velcro or tape the dates in place.)
We will then have the entire class recite what today is: "today is
Tuesday, June 1". (We will also be working on yesterday and tomorrow. I
most likely will have sentence strips that the children can velcro in the
correct answers: Today is (day), (month) (date), Yesterday was...., Tomorrow
will be...."
Pledge of Allegiance: A child will be flag holder and lead the group in
reciting the pledge followed by singing "stripes and stripes" in the
tune of twinkle, twinkle, little star.
Stripes and stripes and little stars
Oh how beautiful you are
Red and white and blue it's true
Waving Proud for me and you.
Stripes and stripes and little stars
Oh how beautiful you are.
Exercise: A child will lead us in
exercise. We will pick 5 simple exercises (touching toes, jumping jacks, sit
ups, arm swirls, etc.) and count to ten of each one ending with 50 (1-10,
11-20, 21-30, 31-40, 41-50). This will give the children the opportunity to
count up to 50.
After circle time we will have snack. The child who brought snack will get to
pass out napkins and cups to each child. (to help Zach learn the children's
names.... we give one cup at a time and say "give this cup to your friend,
Chris." Then the child has to look around the room and locate that child.
This also helps all the children learn each others names.
After snack we will break up into 2 or 3 groups (2 or 3 children in each
group). We will have 3 activities planned for the day.
Table one: Tracing name, address and telephone number. (made
with StartWrite program)
Table two: Making macaroni
necklaces. (used food coloring to dye noodles. Purchase straight noodles, they
are easier to string. Using yarn with masking tape on the end to give each a
firmer needle like point for threading)
Table three: Making music
shakers. (We have a music therapists coming once a week and this will give me
the opportunity to talk a little about music and what the children can expect.
(How to make: empty toilet paper roll, construction paper -(2) 2 inch circles
and one piece the length and circumference of the toilet paper roll. Circles
are to cover the ends of roll. Tape in place on one end. Fill 1/4 to 1/2 way
with beans or rice. Cover the other end with the other circle. The construction
paper for the body of the shaker...allow the children to decorate with markers,
glue other colors of construction paper or apply stickers.
(At the end of the day we will have group circle time again, sing a song and
use our shakers during the song. We will also do a short story on music.)
Extra activity (if we have the time): Sticker matching. I have made a sheet with 6 blocks. Each block has a
number, picture and written word of what needs to be placed in that square
(example: 2 HEARTS and a picture of 2 hearts --- if asking for 3 there would be
a drawing of 3 hearts, etc.) Each child is then given stickers of hearts and
stars and they have to read and apply the number needed in each square. (the
reason we put the numeric, written number and picture of how many is to make
sure it is not to difficult for the children to complete. For Z the written
word is a prompt, for others they may need to count the pictures to know how
many, etc.)