Unit Plan

Tuesday

Learning Strand| Description| Materials Needed|

Morning Activity| After each child has checked in for the day helps each child draw a picture of their school. Provide markers, paper, and encourage discussions about school as the children create their works of art. Have them tell you their favorite activity to do at school; write it on the picture for them| Markers and Paper| Morning Circle Time| Welcome: Sing Good morning from circle time sing along flip chart. Go over Circle time rules. Look at sign in chart and talk about who is here and who is absent Calendar: put markers on yesterday, today, and tomorrow and sing the “Today is…” song, also point out the year and the month. Weather: Talk about what the season is mark the weather on the weather chart. Helpers: Appoint helpers of the day. Letter Song: Review Annie Apple, Benjamin Bunny and Copper the Cat. Color song: Yellow Shape Rhyme: “Ricky Rectangle” shows poster that has the rhyme and pictures on it. Theme Discussion: Talk to the children about some of the things we do at school. Sing: Here at school. These are all my special friends, Special friends, specials friends these are all my special friends, here at school. We play together every day Every day, every day We play together every day Here at school We sing together every day Every day, every day We sing together every day Here at school We eat together every day Every day, every day We eat together every day Here at school We run (action) together every day Every day, every day We skip (action) together every day Here at school Continue to make up activities that friends do together at school then end with the first verse. Transition: Let the children hop to centers.| | Outside Play| Bring bells outside and encourage the children to continue ringing them. | | Small Groups| Make poster board or tag board schoolhouse cutouts. Invite children to decorate their school houses by painting them or using markers, crayons, or other art materials. When they are finished, be sure to display the school houses at the children’s eye level.| | Art Center| Encourage the children to decorate bell cutouts with glue and confetti.| | Science/ Sensory Center| Explain to the children that one of the things that they do at school is make discoveries. Explain that making a discovery is finding out something that you did not know before. Tell the children that they are going to do an experiment and make a discovery. Partially fill clear plastic containers with water. Have the children add food coloring to each container. Then have the children place celery stalks and/or white carnations in the water. Note: If using celery, cut off part of the bottom before placing it in the container. Tell the children that they will be observing the celery or carnation to see if any changes take place. As a group or individually make a picture account of what the experiment looks like now. Continue observing and guide the children to discovering the change of color in the celery/ carnations | | Writing Center| Provide supplies for the children to make an “All About My School” book during the week. Include construction paper, markers, and magazine cut outs of school supplies, glue sticks and crayons. Have children tell you about their school and dictate for them. Guide children through discussion to make all the parts of a book: cover, title page, author, illustrator, page numbers, and about the author section. | | Book Center| Add books about school to the book center, As you read with the children this week; ask them to compare their classroom to the classrooms in the books. Also as you are reading point out the different parts of books and practice pointing at words going from left to right. After reading a story, see if the children can retell you the story in sequence with and without looking at the pictures. | | Dramatic Play Center| Transform the dramatic play center into a miniature version of the circle time area of the classroom. Provide stuffed animal students and props so that children can recreate circle time and take turns being the teacher. | | Block Center| Suggest that students use the blocks to build a school. Can they build one just like the school they go to now? Provide school tools from the Language area, tag board school house cut outs, or bells from Music/ Movement area for the children to use. | | Math/ Manipulative Center| Prepare a File folder game. Draw several schoolhouse patterns with whatever concepts you want to reinforce, such as colors, shapes, numbers, or letters inside the folder. Make boy and girl cut outs with matching concepts. Invite the children to match the children to the appropriate schoolhouses.| | Music| Provide a variety of bells allow the children to experiment with the sounds made by different bells. Encourage the children to discuss their findings. Note: If hand bells aren’t available, ring a large bell to demonstrate, and supply the children with large jingle bells to shake. Caution: Small jingle bells are a choking hazard! Only use the extra large jingle bells in the classroom. Attach the jingle bells to elastic bands, and let children wear them as bracelets for added (and safer!) fun. | | Bible Circle Time| Pledge Theme Discussion: Read 2 Timothy 3:16-17All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. Explain what the Scripture means to them. “All Scripture” means every verse in the Bible. “God-breathed” means that God spoke every word to men. The authors wrote down what God told them to write down. “Useful for teaching” means every word in the Bible helps us to learn His ways and teaches us what to do. “Rebuking” means to show us the mistakes we are making. “Correcting and training” means each verse helps us to change and learn new behaviors. “In righteousness” means goodness and right ways. “So that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” means that the Bible helps the people that love God stay ready and available to serve God in every good work. Transition: Sing Wibbly Wobbly Woo and discuss words that rhyme as the children line up to wash hands for lunch. | | Large Group/ Story Time| Ring a bell to gather the children to circle. Once everyone has gathered, explained to the children that long ago teachers would ring a bell to signal the children to come to school. Pass the bell around the circle and invite the children to ring it one time and then pass it to the child sitting next to him or her. Once the bell had been passed around the circle, have each child act out a favorite school activity. Encourage the other children to guess the action. Teach the children a new finger play. Have the children fold their hands together with their fingers interlocked and recite the following verse: “This is my school” This is my schools where I have fun (interlocked hands) these are my friends; count them, everyone! (Open hands and wiggle fingers.) We sing and we count. We worked and we play. We learn something new, every day. Repeat the first verse and end by counting all the friends in the class.

Wednesday

Learning Strand| Description| Materials Needed|

Morning Activity| Show the children the xylophone. Discuss what shape we are learning this week. Since we are learning about the shape of a rectangle, we are going to use the rectangles to make our own xylophones. Discuss the length of the rectangles how there are 2 long sides and 2 short sides. | | Morning Circle Time| Welcome: Sing Good morning from circle time sing along flip chart. Go over Circle time rules. Look at sign in chart and talk about who is here and who is absent Calendar: put markers on yesterday, today, and tomorrow and sing the “Today is…” song, also point out the year and the month. Weather: Talk about what the season is mark the weather on the weather chart. Helpers: Appoint helpers of the day. Letter Song: Review Annie Apple, Benjamin Bunny and Copper the Cat. Color song: Yellow Shape Rhyme: “Ricky Rectangle” shows poster that has the rhyme and pictures on it. Theme Discussion: Bring back the “My favorite things About School” chart you started yesterday. What were some of the things that the children listed on the chart? Is Bible Time listed as a favorite? Keep adding to the chart and draw or add pictures you have cut from magazines or toy catalogs. Then, teach the children a song to the tune of “Here We Go ‘Round the Mulberry Bush,” using the items of the chart to guide your song. This is the way we color at school, Color at school, color at school. This is the way we color at school, Each and every morning! Substitute a different activity each time you sing a verse.| | Outside Play| What has the children named on the chart as their favorite outside activities? Be sure to play the games they have chosen as their favorites or bring out props they enjoy such as bubble solution, plastic toy hoops or balls. Encourage large muscle development as they enjoy their favorite things to do outside today.| | Small Groups| Set up your flannel board and provide the children with felt school supplies. Note: If you don’t have felt pieces, cut out pictures of school supplies cover them with contact paper and add a hook and look fastening tape strings on the back to use with your flannel board. Invite the children to name each piece as they place it on the flannel board.| | Art Center| Encourage the children to stamp print with tempera paint and sponges in school shapes. Help foster language development and increase cognitive skills by asking the children open ended questions such as “What shapes do the sponges make?| | Science/ Sensory Center| Place a variety of school objects in the science center along with two containers. Have the children sort by whether they are hard or soft. Encourage them to test for floating and sinking in the water table or a tub of water.| | Writing Center| Help children continue to make “My favorite things at School” book during the week. Include construction paper, markers, and magazine cutouts of activities, glue sticks and crayons.| | Book Center| Add books about school to the book center. Encourage children to read “school stories” to the stuffed animals who have never been to school before.| | Dramatic Play Center| Continue circle time play by adding doll “students” a chalkboard, and chalk.| | Block Center| Encourage the students to add a model of the playground to the school they have been building. Guide them to include a slide by propping up a piece of poster board at a slant on top of several blocks. Encourage them to let smaller blocks and stuffed animals slide down.| | Math/ Manipulative Center| Make school house shaped counters. Prepare numbers and matching dots on index cards for the children to match the counters to. Note: If some children have mastered counting up to 6, add cards so they can count up to 10.| | Music| Continue yesterday’s bell activity. Play music and encourage the children to ring the bell to the music.| | Bible Circle Time| Theme Discussion: Read 2 Timothy 3:16-17All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. Talk about all the things that we can learn from the bible. Read a few of your favorite verses. Then do art projects together that can help your fours mark where they left off in their Bibles. Make bookmarks together that can remind each child the power of God’s Word. Provide construction paper strips, markers, stickers, and glitter. Write Psalm 119:11 on each book mark. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Laminate book marks. Encourage each student to place his or her bookmark in God’s Word while reading it. Your students will build the Wisdom of Solomon into their lives at a young age as they write its words on their heart. Sing “Thy Word have I Hidden in my Heart.Thy Word is a lamp to my feet, A light to my path always, To guide and save me from sin. And show me the heavenly way.Thy word have I hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against Thee.That I might not sin, that I might not sin,Thy Word have I hid in my heart.| | Large Group/ Story Time| Bring Back the School Supplies that you used in Theme and Bible Talk. Place them on a blanket in a circle. After removing what each one is, have the children close their eyes while you remove one object. Can they guess which one is missing? Continue until you’ve removed all of the objects or the children lose interest.| |

Thursday

Learning Strand| Description| Materials Needed|

Morning Activity| Making bumble bees. Using the template provided, the students will count how many parts used to make a bumble bee, cut the parts out, and assemble the parts to make a bumble bee. | | Morning Circle Time| Welcome: Sing Good morning from circle time sing along flip chart. Go over Circle time rules. Look at sign in chart and talk about who is here and who is absentCalendar: put markers on yesterday, today, and tomorrow and sing the “Today is…” song, also point out the year and the month. Weather: Talk about what the season is mark the weather on the weather chart. Helpers: Appoint helpers of the day. Letter Song: Review Annie Apple, Benjamin Bunny and Copper the Cat. Have the children name things that start with each letter. Color song: Yellow. Shape Rhyme: “Ricky Rectangle” show poster that has the rhyme and pictures on it. Have the children look around the room and find things that are in the shape of a rectangle. Theme and Bible Talk: Can the children remember the name of their school? Praise their efforts. If no one knows the correct answer, be sure to tell them. Tell them how grateful you are to have a school where you can learn about the world, books, numbers and also God and the Bible. Share with the children that schools sometimes have a “mascot” or an animal that they use as a symbol for themselves. Suggest that the children choose one of the stuffed animals in the classroom as their school mascot. Encourage them to think of a name for their mascot and dress him or her in child sized clothes in the school colors. Be sure to put your mascot on display for all to enjoy. Help the children develop school spirit by teaching them a chant. We come to school to learn and play. We love our school every day! We love our teachers and our friends, too. We love our school; there’s a lot to do!| | Outside Play| Say the school chant outside. Don’t forget to bring out the blowers. Chant: We come to school to learn and play. We love our school every day! We love our teachers and our friends, too. We love our school; there’s a lot to do! | | Small Groups| Show children some T-shirts with logos or mascots on them. Note: Make sure you only show the children appropriate logos or mascots. Many of the children may be wearing T-shirts. Give each child a construction paper T-shirt and provide stamps and inkpads for decorating it. | | Art Center| Give children small, brown paper bags and various art materials such as paper and fabric scraps, glue, confetti, yarn, markers, etc. Invite them to create their own mascot hand puppets.| | Science/ Sensory Center| Encourage magnet exploration. Provide magnets and encourage the children to test many things in the classroom to see if they stick to them. Suggest that the children chart their results with a friend. | | Writing Center| Continue helping children make “My favorite things at School” book during the week. Include construction paper, markers, and magazine cutouts of activities, glue sticks and crayons. | | Book Center| Place a basket or tub near your “mascot.” Add several books to the container and a sign that proclaims these are your mascot’s picks for the day. Invite the children to select books from the animal’s favorites. | | Dramatic Play Center| Add old Halloween costumes to the area, and suggest that the children dress up as mascots. Invite them to sing the school chant they learned earlier. | | Block Center| How are the block schools coming along? Cut pictures of items you have in your classroom from toy magazines, paste them on poster board, and laminate them. Add them to the block area so the children can create learning centers in their schools. | | Math/ Manipulative Center| Create “mascot” matching cards for the children to enjoy in a game of concentration. Place pairs of animals on index cards, one sticker per card. Encourage the children to turn the cards facedown and find matching animals. | | Music| Bring out musical instruments and lead the children in singing the school song from Day 2. This is the way we color at school, Color at school, color at school. This is the way we color at school, Each and every morning! Substitute a different activity each time you sing a verse. | | Bible Circle Time| Theme Discussion: Read 2 Timothy 3:16-17All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. Read the “pretend story” found in day two and attached to the back of this lesson plan. Talk about what Jimmy learned in school from his teacher. Remember together what this week’s Bible verse says about the Bible and all that it is good for. Then sing some songs that talk about what the Bible means to us. Teach the Children to sing “The B-I-B-L-E” The B-I-B-L-E Yes, that’s the book for me. I stand alone on the Word of God, The B-I-B-L-E! Repeat the songs from earlier in the week.Thy Word is a lamp to my feet, a light to my path always, to guide and save me from sin. And show me the heavenly way.Thy word have I hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against Thee.That I might not sin, that I might not sin,Thy Word have I hid in my heart.| | Large Group/ Story Time| Remind the children of the school spirit chant we learned earlier in the day. We come to school to learn and play. We love our school every day! We love our teachers and our friends, too. We love our school; there’s a lot to do! Introduce the book to the children. Point out the cover, title page, spine, author and ask the children what they thing the book will be about. After reading, ask the children to retell you the story. Transition: Ask the children to pretend that they are the mascot and quietly go to their cot as the mascot would. | |

Friday

Learning Strand| Description| Materials Needed|

Morning Activity| Play Alphabet Bingo.| |

Morning Circle Time| Welcome: Sing Good morning from circle time sing along flip chart. Go over Circle time rules. Look at sign in chart and talk about who is here and who is absent Calendar: put markers on yesterday, today, and tomorrow and sing the “Today is…” song, also point out the year and the month. Weather: Talk about what the season is mark the weather on the weather chart. Helpers: Appoint helpers of the day. Letter Song: Review Annie Apple, Benjamin Bunny and Copper the Cat. Have the children name things that start with each letter. Color song: Yellow. Shape Rhyme: “Ricky Rectangle “Theme and Bible Talk: Discuss with the children all things that they must do in the morning to get ready for school. Have the group stand and lead them in a form of charades, performing the actions of getting ready for school. Narrate the activities in the order in which they are performed such as waking up, getting dressed, eating breakfast, brushing teeth, and combing hair. Remind them that the morning is a good time to read a Bible story and talk to God to start the day off right. How do your children get to school? Remember to talk about buckling seat belts. Transition: Pretend you are riding in a car put on your seat belts and drive safely to your next activity. | | Outside Play| Add colanders and sieves to the sandbox to encourage sifting sand. Note: If a sandbox is not available, take a rubber tub (the bigger the better!) filled with sand outside for some inexpensive fun. | | Small Groups| Have the children make their own finger friends using fingers cut off from child sized gloves and markers. Have them show their friends around the school and introduce them to each other. Make several large poster board cutouts and suggest that the children use them with their finger puppets to put on a puppet show. Encourage them to show the puppets reassuring a friend who is afraid to go to school. | | Art Center| Create a welcome banner for your school. Using tempera paint in a variety of colors, paint the children’s feet and allow them to make foot prints on a large sheet of butcher paper. When dry, add the title “Follow our Footsteps to Fun” at the top. Display the banner in an area seen by parents and visitors when they enter the building. | | Science/ Sensory Center| Provide gauzy scarves in various colors for the children to look through while examining various objects. Ask: “How does the object look through the scarf? Why?”| | Writing Center| Continue helping children make “My favorite things at School” book during the week. Include construction paper, markers, and magazine cutouts of activities, glue sticks and crayons.| | Book Center| Place a basket or tub near your “mascot.” Add several books to the container and a sign that proclaims these are your mascot’s picks for the day. Invite the children to select books from the animal’s favorites.| | Dramatic Play Center| Provide breakfast food props such as empty cereal boxes, egg cartons, and juice containers. Encourage children the children to dramatize getting ready for school in the morning. | | Block Center| As the children finish completing the schools in the bloc area, sits with them as they build and talk about their creations. If possible, take pictures of the architects and their new designs. Display these in the classroom for the children at the children’s eye level, next to descriptions of what was created. If using instant photos, place the description of the buildings as dictated by the “designers” at the bottoms of the pictures. | | Math/ Manipulative Center| Place a classroom balance scale and various objects to weigh in the math area today.| | Music| Sing all the school songs from this week together today. March and add large motor movements to them. | | Bible Circle Time| Pledge Theme Discussion: Read 2 Timothy 3:16-17All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. Explain what the Scripture means to them. “All Scripture” means every verse in the Bible. “God-breathed” means that God spoke every word to men. The authors wrote down what God told them to write down. “Useful for teaching” means every word in the Bible helps us to learn His ways and teaches us what to do. “Rebuking” means to show us the mistakes we are making. “Correcting and training” means each verse helps us to change and learn new behaviors. “In righteousness” means goodness and right ways. “So that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” means that the Bible helps the people that love God stay ready and available to serve God in every good work. Use a large piece of chart paper during group sharing time. Encourage each child to share his or her favorite Bible verse or story. Write the children’s words down and illustrate their choices with simple pictures. Transition: Sing Wibbly Wobbly Woo and discuss words that rhyme as the children line up to wash hands for lunch.| | Large Group/ Story Time| Bring out a puppet or make a finger puppet by cutting the finger off an adult sized glove and drawing on features to create a little friend. Tell a story about how your friend is a little scared to go to school. Have the children make suggestions about how the puppet can overcome his or her fears. Ask them questions such as, “What should our puppet friend do?” “Have you ever been afraid to go to school?” ‘Do you think any of your other friends have ever felt this way? “How can you help them?” Encourage the children to share their responses about being afraid to go to school. Reassure them and remind them of all the great fun they have had at school doing their favorite activities with their friends. Transition: Tip toe to your cot as if there was a new baby asleep in the middle of the room.