We’re on Day 5 in the 10 days of Free Preschool Lesson Plans series and I just wrapped up four weeks worth of free lesson plans about the seasons.
What better direction to next next than weather?
It can easily follow up the seasons as you explore different types of weather and learn what causes the weather. The experiments in this week’s plans are super hands on and some of my favorite activities yet!
I’ll admit, I’m not winter’s biggest fan. I did love delays and snow days as a teacher, but they lost their allure after having kids and being stuck indoors with them for days in a row.
Still, I’m not a total Grinch. I do enjoy a good fluffy snow and a nice fire in the house. Hot cocoa ranks pretty high on my list also!
Winter crafts just happen to be another favorite of mine and the crafts I included in this free winter themed preschool lesson plan are some of the cutest!
Apple picking, bonfires and stews, pumpkin patches, the changing of the leaves…What’s not to love about fall?
I love that after a long, hot summer I can look forward to a brisk, beautiful fall.
I love it even more that fall brings about the absolute cutest crafts and activities! So, I’ve rounded up some of my favorites and created a 3rd installment to my seasons unit. If you’ve been following my 10 day series, you know I’ve covered spring and summer, and now I’m offering you my free fall themed preschool lesson plans.
Next up in my 10 Days of Free Themed Preschool Lesson plans is the second post in my Seasons unit. And it’s my favorite season of all!
Summer!
As a teacher, I think I’d love summer by default even if I didn’t love everything else that comes with it, but I love everything summer!
Watermelon, cookouts, swimming in the hot sun, beach trips, fireworks…the list goes on and on! Even the heat doesn’t bother me as long as I’m near water!
This summer unit is one I’m so excited to use with my own kiddos in the coming weeks!
As a Kindergarten teacher, I loved to teach about seasons, even though it wasn’t addressed in the curriculum every year.
Understanding the passage of time is such an abstract concept for young minds and breaking it down into bigger chunks helps them begin to understand.
Once they know there are four seasons in a year and begin to notice the patterns of the changing seasons, they slowly start to understand the passage of time in the world around them.
Plus there are so, so, SO many fun crafts and activities to do with the seasons.
So much so that I devote a week to each one. Today I’ll be starting you off with my free Spring Themed Preschool Lesson Plans!
One of my favorite things about using Word Study in the classroom is how well it lends itself to a schedule.
I love schedules for so many reasons, but as a teacher, they are a Life-Saver. Having a schedule cuts planning time in half and gives students structure and predictability, which so many of them need!
I’ve created many different variations of word sort schedules in my time as a classroom teacher but my most recent is my favorite. It works perfectly at home with my 6 year old. It would also be great in a classroom as a small group block of time and perfect for tutoring.
If you haven’t had a chance, please take some time to check out my previous post Word Study instruction for Beginning Readers about why word sorts are so essential to an effective reading program. They are literally the secret ingredient in my special recipe for strong beginning readers!
If you’ve already read it, then I’m assuming you’re ready to dive right in. Lucky for you, I’ve made the process super simple!
As a teacher, I had colleagues often ask how I pulled out such good reading scores year after year, no matter the group of kids I had.
I’d like to say it’s because an amazing teacher for whom students always behave and strive to preform for. But if you’ve taught school you’ll know that’s a joke!
The real answer is that there is a science to teaching Reading.
There is a magic formula where you take a pinch of this, and add a dash of that and give it time to bake and grow.
The formula I use is also pretty one size fits all. In fact, many of the instructional strategies I use are frequently prescribed interventions for struggling students. Even my students that struggled, or my babies that started K super young, were able to get where they needed to be by the end of the year because of the secret sauce I sprinkled them with all year long.
There’s one big, often overlooked ingredient to this formula. It is in fact perhaps the magic ingredient that makes the whole thing work.
What is it?
Word Study instruction.
What do you do after your child has mastered the alphabet?
Once they know all the letters and sounds, how do you begin to teach them to make sense of it all? How do you guide them to use this newly acquired knowledge to read and spell words?
The answer is fairly simple. You do this by teaching them to blend and segment.
The process in which you do that is not quite as simple. However, You are in luck my friend! I spent over a decade teaching kids to read in the classroom and devoted years of my life to the research and study necessary to acquire my M.eD of Reading.
I’m prepared to walk you through it step by step. So much that I’ve replicated my entire instructional program, that consistently produced years of students who left me reading at, and most often above grade level.
You’re probably visiting from my free Letter of the Week series. I’m assuming your child has learned the sights and sounds of the alphabet and they’ve mastered print concepts. If so, welcome my friend! One of the next steps in our Reading journey is teaching blending and segmenting words.
With the onset of COVID-19 and the cancellation of schools, our kids have lost so much.
My oldest is a kindergartener and missed out on so many firsts. She didn’t get to go on her first field trip, she’ll miss kindergarten graduation, and worst of all, she didn’t get to experience her first field day!
As a Mom, I’m really sad for her. As a former teacher, I’m brokenhearted. Those experiences mean so much to so many kids and this year they’re cancelled.
Luckily for her, I’ve sat through a decade+ of field days and have a little experience in helping plan them. So I got together with my Mom and sister (also teachers) and we planned a day of field day fun!
These are strange times we are living in.
Invisible enemies lay in way hoping to attack our immune system; a simple trip to the grocery store now requires a mask, gloves, and some serious social distancing; and hugs, the currency of many grandparents, are now in theory, dangerous weapons.
I can’t imagine being a kid right now. It’s hard enough to watch my own kindergartener miss elementary milestones like field trips, field day, and talent show. But the thought of having to experience this total upheaval of our word as a tiny person whose mind can’t possibly process this is beyond sad.
It’s heartbreaking.
As a former teacher who was currently working as a Reading Tutor, my mind finds it’s way back to the thought of my students. It scares me how upended their lives are now. I wish they had a sense of normalcy to hold on to, but in fact traditions that existed pre-Corona are probably going to look different for a long time.
Already several of my kids friends had to cancel birthday parties, with no date to reschedule in sight. I was broken hearted for them. Everyone deserves to be celebrated and made to feel special!
But when I saw these drive by birthday parades popping up on social media, I was immediately in LOVE with the idea!
What a perfect way to safely follow social distancing precautions while also making a child’s day! My mind instantly starting spinning wheels in party planning mode.
