Tot School - Indians and Pilgrims

NOTE: This educational tot pack and activity day is meant as an introduction to Native Americans and Pilgrims.  I have intentionally used the word Indian to introduce the letter I.  Indian, however, is not an accurate description of Native Americans.  For more information please see this link. There are also many different tribes of Native Americans that have very different traditions. Though the Pilgrims were in contact with the Wampanoag, this pack introduces ideas from many different tribes.

We had a fantastic morning in tot school yesterday.  I have loved watching this group of children grow up- they really do grow and change so quickly.  One thing that I'm noticing now is how they are developing the ability to play together, a developmental step just beyond playing side-by-side.  I love how they are interacting and saying hello and goodbye to their friends by name.

We made feather headbands and counted to four.  We read stories about being thankful and Thanksgiving.  We also built tons of buildings with blocks.  One of our favorite activities was making petroglyphs by coloring on sandpaper (because carving rocks is a little out of our league right now).  Last, but not least, we made a home made game with a popsicle stick, a string, and a circle of chenille stem.  The idea is to hold the stick and try to get the circle around the stick by swinging it. We had such a fantastic day!

Indians and Pilgrims

NOTE: This theme is meant as an introduction to Native Americans and Pilgrims. I have intentionally used the word Indian to introduce the letter I. Indian, however, is not an accurate description of Native Americans. For more information please see this link. There are also many different tribes of Native Americans that have very different traditions. Though the Pilgrims were in contact with the Wampanoag, this theme introduces ideas from many different tribes.

We had great fun this morning as everyone came in they colored their I headband from the Moffatt Girls.  We added feathers behind the I for a headdress and a Pilgrim style hat on the back side so they could decide what side to have in front.  We listened to Native American Round Dance music while we made our headbands and while we read stories about the Pilgrims and Indians.  Next we moved into reading.  We practiced the letter Ii on the SMARTboard and each child took a turn tracing the letters while we all said, "/i/"!

 We had a blast in art today painting with feathers.  We used rather small craft feathers and the creative artwork that came out of it was quite fun and interesting. Most pictures included small strokes of paint rather than a big mess of paint that usually happens with preschoolers.  We had a fun time exploring big/little and quantities with the dry corn and oodles of buckets, scoops and containers!

 I took a video of our reading lesson this morning.  Because of the blog restrictions I had to split it into 3 videos (a total of 15 minutes in length).  It may be helpful to watch through them to see how we do our shared reading lesson together.  The way I read through books (even one-on-one with beginning readers) is to sound out each word and then go back and fluently reread the sentence.  I'd highly encourage you to do this at home.  The beginning reader books that we use throughout the whole year come from The Amazing Action Alphabet. 

In the afternoon we started our day out with the corn (it was out already and cleaning it up after didn't seem so daunting to me with such great helpers). They LOVED playing with the corn.  It was "popcorn" and "ice cream" and "for sale".  The creativity was awesome!  We had our regular reading lessons working within our small reading groups to master the skills appropriate.

 During math today we talked about AB patterns and how to "read" a pattern.  We took turns sharing our unifix cube patterns with the whole class "reading" the colors (red, orange, red, orange) and the letter names (a, b, a, b).  They picked it up quickly and were able to identify areas of their pattern that didn't work correctly and fix the problem.  We also painted with feathers this afternoon after a conversation about it now being November and the month of Thanksgiving.

Indians and Pilgrims

NOTE: This theme is meant as an introduction to Native Americans and Pilgrims. I have intentionally used the word Indian to introduce the letter I. Indian, however, is not an accurate description of Native Americans. For more information please see this link. There are also many different tribes of Native Americans that have very different traditions. Though the Pilgrims were in contact with the Wampanoag, this theme introduces ideas from many different tribes. 

Yay!  It's the holiday season!  We talked all about letter I in tot school today.  We made Indian headdresses (though I should remember to make the feathers smaller next time) and the kids loved them!  They all picked their favorite colors for the feathers.  It was funny that they all picked 2 of the same color. 

 We also were stringing beads to make necklaces and building houses from Lincoln Logs.

 We made totem poles with large cardboard tubes markers and stickers.  It was fun to watch them decorate their totem pole in so many different ways.  We also made a game with a stick, string and pipe cleaner.  The idea is that you swing the circle and try to catch it on your stick.  I was successful exactly ZERO times while trying to demonstrate it to the kids.  I hope they're having better luck at home with it!

 It was really fun when I started setting out green mats for story time they all ran over to find a mat right away without me being done setting up mats or even saying anything.  They love story time and we read oodles of books about Pilgrims and Indians.  We talked about the very basics of the events that led to the first Thanksgiving.  Each time I finished reading a book I'd hand it to a child to look at.  That ended up working really well because they were fully engaged in the books and wanted to be closer but all those kids in my space at the same time doesn't work.  I think I'll try it again next week where they each get a book to look at while I'm reading.   We had a fantastic day!  I look forward to seeing you all again next week!

November Tot Packs Are Up!

NovemberTot Packs

Find the year long theme calendar {here} and follow along with us!

This post gives details and pictures of all November Toddler Packs. Be sure to scroll down to see all of them.

Tot Packs 12-15

Tot packs are about 20 pages in length. They each have 2 pages of activity ideas, book suggestions, and links to the materials I use. You can certainly use all or part of the lesson plans.

The printable pages include songs, matching games, drawing games and other activities.

Tot packs are designed to be a first introduction to math concepts, letters, shapes and colors. They are not meant to obtain mastery in any subject. Let them be a guide for educational play between you and your child.

12. Indians and Pilgrims {Download Here}

NOTE: This pack is meant as an introduction to Native Americans and Pilgrims. I have intentionally used the word Indian to introduce the letter I. Indian, however, is not an accurate description of Native Americans. For more information please see this link. There are also many different tribes of Native Americans that have very different traditions. Though the Pilgrims were in contact with the Wampanoag, this pack introduces ideas from many different tribes.

Printables in this pack:

· Two Piece Puzzles

· Indian Feather Headbands

· Native American Teepee Paper and Straw Craft

· Dream Catcher Lacing

· Letter I

· Songs

13. Scarecrows {Download Here}

Printables in this pack:

• Color Matching Scarecrows


• Scarecrow Body Parts


• Location Word Book


• Shadow Matching


• Size Sequencing


• Letter L


• Spin a Scarecrow


• Cornmeal Play-dough


• Scarecrow Songs

14. Thanksgiving {Download Here}

Printables in this pack:

Handprint Turkey

• Thanksgiving Dinner Plate - Trying New Foods


• 3 Piece Puzzles


• Letter L


• Turkey Grid Game


• Thanksgiving Songs and Poems

15. Animals in Winter {Download Here}

Printables in this pack:

Animals in Winter Songs

Tracing Winter Animals

Animals in Winter

Letter P

Cave Size Sequencing

Animals in Winter, a Short Path Game

November Preschool Packs

Find the Year Long Theme Calendar here and follow along with us!

The preschool curriculum that is all inclusive and provides hours of fun and engaging learning!  The "November Preschool Packs" contain 6 theme based lesson plans, a total of 179 pages of lesson plans and activity printables.  My preschooler has begged to do his "homework" because it's a wonderful time that we spend together learning age appropriate concepts!  These plans are intended to be taught in a 10 month sequence from Aug-May, though may be adapted to use individually. 

November
{Download all 6 November Preschool Packs}
21. Insects {Download}
The insects preschool pack contains 43 pages of lesson plans and activities for preschoolers all about insects.  We introduce the letter "I" and the sight word "my".  We spend November talking about comparing attributes of objects and rhythm in music.  We talk about ant pheromone trails and how that relates to following a path and standing in a line. There are mini books about insects and insect safety.  We match beginning sounds to pictures, follow instructions in art, find shapes in pictures, and talk about attributes of objects.

22. Indians and Pilgrims {Download}
NOTE: This pack is meant as an introduction to Native Americans and Pilgrims. I have intentionally used the word Indian to introduce the letter I. Indian, however, is not an accurate description of Native Americans. For more information please see this link. There are also many different tribes of Native Americans that have very different traditions. Though the Pilgrims were in contact with the Wampanoag, this pack introduces ideas from many different tribes.

The Indians and Pilgrims pack has 17 pages that will teach all about the group of pilgrims that settled on the east coast of America and celebrated the first Thanksgiving.  Activities include listening skills that will lead into phonics instruction and math skills that build upon each other week after week.  There is a long path phonics game, sorting the words into a sentence, science activities about corn, a letter I headband, matching words to pictures (from the initial sound), and an introduction of a Venn Diagram. 

23. Scarecrows {Download}
Scarecrows is a super fun day with oodles of scarecrow activities!  You can play "Old Scarecrow" just like "Old Maid" but fall themed, and even make your very own dancing scarecrow.  There is an alphabet dot-to-dot with the introduction of letter L.  There are scarecrow puzzles and mazes.  There is a scarecrow mini book as well as the anatomy of a scarecrow and looking at scarecrow characteristics.

24. Thanksgiving {Download}
The Thanksgiving Pack is jam packed with activities.  With 36 pages of lesson plans and activities there are plenty of review games and new games!  There is a large motor hopping and counting turkey game, a word game with animals to talk about how words can be long or short and are defined by a set meaning.  There are also 5 piece puzzles, a short path game and a grid game.  There are 8 different 3D shapes as well.  Kids need a lot of experience playing with 3D shapes.  You can cut out and glue together all 8 shapes in this pack.  I like to laminate mine and Velcro them so they can be put together and laid flat over and over again.  Did you know that being able to recognize what a flat outline will turn into in a 3D shape is a skill that is tested through the school years?

25. Play Ball {Download}
The Play Ball pack has 28 pages of lesson plans and activities all about baseball.  We introduce the letter P and the sight word "ball".  There are baseball letter and word wheels to play with, football picture and numeral matching, a ball game for practicing letters and the sight word 'ball'.  We also learn about words having meaning in context and out of context.  We take the sentence "Take me out to the ball game" and play with the word order to find out what makes sense.  There is an activity where preschoolers manipulate the baseball players around the field as they answer questions such as what color, quantity, shape, or word is on the card.  There is also a tracing page full of words that the preschoolers should already be reading, a long path bouncing ball game, a one to one correspondence game, matching upper and lower case letters, and a word wheel to practice their reading.

26. Animals in Winter {Download}

Animals in Winter has 30 pages of preschool lesson plans and activities all about what animals do in winter.  This is a fun pack that talks about the changing season and how that affects different animals.  We talk about adaptation, migration and hibernation.  We sort summer and winter clothing and play a short path game to help the squirrel get his acorn! We also match pictures to beginning sounds and words, follow mazes to get the animals that migrate to their new destination, play a winter snowball reading game and read a book "Goodnight Summer" written by my best friend based on the children's book Goodnight Moon.

We have so much fun playing with the November packs and learning oodles along the preschool path.  I hope you enjoy them as much as we do!