Preschool -- Dd

Xander is 3 and starting preschool this year. As part of his education and social development, I'm participating in a preschool swap with some of the other ladies in my ward. We take turns having all the kids over and teaching the lesson. There are 6 kids (5 boys and 1 girl) ranging from 2-4 years old. This week was my week and I was responsible for teaching the kids the letter Dd. The following are my lesson plans for the week.

Tuesday

The Letter D

Objectives: Be able to recognize the letter D (capital and lowercase). Be able to make the “D” sound and identify several words that start with D.

As the kids are arriving, I had the letter people DVD playing, "Meet Mr. D"

Opening activity: Children take turns picking objects from my bag and determining if it starts with a D or not. (Ex. Dog, Duck, Doughnuts, Dinosaur, Diamond, Dress, Doll, Dump truck)

Art Project: “D is for…” sponge painting

(This was my sample. After trying it out beforehand, my husband and I decided that my dog was unrecognizable so I made a better sponge for dog.)

Story Time: Arnie the Doughnut by Laurie Keller Detective Dog and the Disappearing Doughnuts by Valerie Garfield

Snack: Delicious Donuts!

Doughnut Dance: play Mr. D song

After Tuesday, I realized that the kids have very short attention spans. Although I thought I had too much planned, we finished before the hour was up and the kids ended up playing with toys until the mom's picked them up. Thursday's lesson plan was much more involved as a result.

Thursday

Circle time: Sing songs; Look Who Came to School Today
(tune: Mary Had A Little Lamb)

Look who came to school today
School today, school today
Look who came to school today,
_____ (child's name) did.

5 Green and speckled frogs, 5 little monkeys swinging in the trees

Opener: Children find the word strip with their name on it. Then they can take it to the table and glue beans on the letters.

(I copied this activity from Xander's other preschool. He does much better at staying on task and finishing projects when mom is not the teacher, so this was his project from the other class.)

Fish: Go fishing for letters (identify whether it’s a capital or lowercase Dd).

Science Experiment: Sink/Float Have the children take turns putting objects into a tub of water. Place the objects on a T-chart in either the “sink column” or the “float column.”

Story time: Read Dinosaurumpus! by Tony Mitton

Craft: lower case d with a dinosaur behind the door. Skills [coloring, cutting, gluing, sticker].

(This idea I stole from "No time for flashcards." The button is in the right column of my blog. She has a great website dedicated to activities for your little one! I highly recommend checking it out!)

Snack: Jell-o jigglers cut into dinosaur shapes.

I was much happier with the second day of preschool. The kids were attentive and excited. We also used up all 60 minutes. I can't wait for the next time I teach because now I know what to expect.