Welcome Back to School!

Welcome back to school!  We had such a fantastic time learning and playing together today.  This morning we had our preschool A class join us for lots of fun.  We played puzzles and with Starfall.com on the SmartBoard.  We read books about going to preschool and talked about the different fun things we'll get to do in preschool.  We learned the morning routine and talked about how we can wash our hands before snack time.  Each child gets to pour their own water at snack and we had zero spills, fantastic for a first day!

For art we colored our names in our journals and drew a picture of what we did in preschool on the first day of school.

We read The Napping House for math time and talked about the quantity of one.  Each child got their own copy of the book, so be sure to check for it in their backpack and pull it out to read at home.  We also went "fishing" to catch one fish at a time.  The kids were so full of excitement telling me all about the type or color of fish they were able to catch.  We enjoyed talking all about sound in terms of volume during music time and then got to play with all the different instruments.

There is new homework in their backpacks.  Remember that it is completely optional and if you choose to do it you may take as long doing it as you need.  There is no need to return it.  Today's homework is working on the colors red, yellow and blue.  You can sing and color the pages with your child.

This afternoon we had a fantastic preschool B class.  We also started our day with puzzles and playing on the SmartBoard.  Quite a few of the 48 piece puzzles were pulled apart and we worked in teams trying to put them back together.  What great teamwork they all exhibited!  When we sat down to start reading we talked about the most important things that good readers do.  They LOOK at the words, POINT at the letters, MAKE THE SOUNDS of the letters with their mouths, and LISTEN with their ears.  We worked on the letters M, T, A and the sight word "the" today.  Please work at home on those letters and reading their mini reader books (in their binders).  At school we got to practice reading our mini books to our new reading buddies, the sock monkeys.  It seemed to be a hit with the kids. In our encyclopedias we looked through lots of different pages and marked the letters M, T, A and the word "the" with highlighter tape anywhere we could find it.  You could continue that activity at home if you'd like.

 For math we also read The Napping House and talked about the quantity of one through five.  There were two pages that we did in school where we needed to identify how many fingers were held up and then color the same number of items (some kids didn't finish - finish at home if you'd like) and the second page we talked about which items there were 1 of, 2 of, 3 of, and so forth.  After math we moved into music where we explored all the different types of instruments we have in our box and danced around to music.

We also learned to pour our own drinks for snack time and worked on coloring our names and drawing a picture of our first day of school in our journals during art time.  There is new homework in their folder.  It is a focus on red, yellow and blue.  We'll be mixing colors of paint on Wednesday to learn what makes orange, green and purple.

School today was a whirlwind of excitement.  Please holler my way if you have any questions.  It was a fantastic day of learning!

August 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 "August Preschool Packs" contain 4 theme based lesson plans, a total of 136 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. 

*If you work with toddlers be sure to check out the Tot School information for Tot Packs.*

You can now download the bundle of August Preschool Packs HERE, or get them individually by following the links below. 

1.Welcome and Manners {Download}
The Welcome and Manners preschool pack sets you off on the right foot to have a fantastic school year learning the basics of reading, math, science, art, social studies, music and the world around us.  There are printables to help set up a learning station for preschoolers (colors, shapes, numbers, etc.) as well as activity pages to learn the quantity of 1, what "school" will look like and the routines we will follow, how to listen for sounds and participate appropriately.

2. School Tools {Download}

School Tools introduces students to many of the tools they'll be using throughout the year.  It introduces new vocabulary words like "respect" as we talk about how you'd show respect for school tools.  I find that introducing items and having a conversation around how to use and treat them provides the students with the structure and understanding they need to be successful throughout the school year.  There are many less broken pencils and crayons as we go along as well.  We start learning the quantity of 2, talk about how to share and the difference between needs and wants and introduce matching according to color.  We get more into sorting according to variable attributes later, and matching by color is a great place to start.  Volume is a fantastic study to start right off the bat so that children can understand "indoor" and "outdoor voices" and when to use them.  We arm children with the tools they need to be a successful reader by giving them age appropriate actions and reminders for what they do when they see a letter. There are also coloring and tracing pages to go along with this fantastic set. 

3. I Am Special {Download}

This pack starts introducing how each of us have our own special talents and abilities.  We look similar in certain ways and we look different in certain ways.  No one else is exactly like you!  As we study the quantity of 3 and start learning the letter M we trace, color, match, sing and use a magnifying glass to study our finger prints.  There are also materials to make a class or family apple tree that shows why each person is special.

4. Manners {Download}
We continue our conversation about fairness and respect as we talk about Manners on our 4th day of school.  We hit on how each person's actions affect the whole group.  We can share, help and be happy when we have manners throughout the day.  There are tickets for positive reinforcement and happy/sad face puppets for a few activities throughout the day.  The vocabulary "equal" is introduced as we talk about sets up to 5 and what quantities are the same.  We continue practicing the letter M with cutting and pasting activities and tracing activities. 

 **Preschool packs are lesson plans intended for a small preschool classroom or homeschool.  They are not to be used individually as they follow a year long curriculum that builds upon itself.  The themes specify what the underlying topic is that we'll be talking about with literature, in our art, and any science or social studies activities.  Reading and Math activities most often do not relate to the theme and these lesson plans are heavy in the reading and math department.  Printables expand on what we're able to cover in our 2.5 hours allotted to learn the materials and are often used as homework practice. The reading lesson plans are designed to be used with all the materials from the Amazing Action Alphabet and have been proven to teach children to be successful readers.

**Each preschool pack has 3 pages of lesson plan ideas.  Each child should be introduced to activities that don't involve something you can print from a computer, such as building blocks or painting.  These first 3 pages of lesson plans have all of the ideas that match the theme in one easy spot.  The lesson plans pages are organized by subject for easy referencing.  I've linked many of the materials listed to Amazon.com to provide you with more information about products you might want to consider using.  These packs have a lot of research behind them as I am a licensed teacher with experience teaching PreK-2nd Grade for 10 years.

August Preschool and Tot Packs

Get them while they're hot!  The Preschool and Tot Packs for all of August are now ready!  Preschool and Tot Packs will always be separate files.  To download all of the August Preschool Packs, go here.  To download all of the Tot School Preschool Packs, go here.
These downloads are currently free to give you an idea of what my curriculum will look like through the year.

I am completely thrilled to start the school year off with a bang. Find the year long theme calendar {here} and follow along with us!
Be sure to scroll down to check out the details of all 4 Preschool Packs and both Tot Packs!

Preschool Packs 1-4

1.Welcome and Manners

Each preschool pack has 3 pages of lesson plan ideas. Every child should be introduced to activities that don't involve something you can print from a computer, such as building blocks or painting.  These first 3 pages of lesson plans have all of the ideas that match the theme in one easy spot. The lesson plan pages are organized by subject for easy referencing. I've linked many of the materials listed to Amazon.com to provide you with more information about products you might want to consider using. The preschool packs I'm developing this year have a lot of research behind them. Skills within the packs intentionally build upon each other and I'd recommend that you use them in the order listed.

Subjects covered:

• Welcome/Starting your day
• Children's Books
• Literacy
• Snack
• Art
• Math
• Science
• Social Studies
• Calendar
• Music

We start every day with singing our bilingual "Good Morning" song. I also teach the sign language for "Good Morning." "How are you?" and "Thank you." within this song. We use it every day, so you'll have to refer to an August Preschool Pack for a copy of it.

Each pack has different activities. This "Welcome and Manners" pack has ideas for sequencing the morning and learning about sharing.

Other activities include listening skills that will lead into phonics instruction and math skills that build upon each other week after week.

There is a list of books that go with each lesson plan. Download your packs early and dust off your library card because there are some good ones you don't want to miss!

2. School Tools

I like to print all the pages of my packs, cut and laminate as needed, and bind them into books with a comb binder. We use wet erase markers on the pages to keep notes, color, circle and trace things. Wet erase markers was easily off of lamination. You can use dry erase, but it doesn't clean off as

I use Velcro to attach the loose pieces into the book, this way I have most of what I need in a handy packet. Many of the pages in my preschool packs are intended to be as interactive as possible. Using the Velcro to attach pieces provides preschoolers with the opportunity to manipulate the pages.

There are games, such as "Go Fish for School Tools", pictured below. These types of games are best kept in a small baggy.

3. I Am Special

"I Am Special" has a fun whole class or whole family apple tree activity to talk about what makes each one of us special. This pack introduces the letter M as the first letter of the school year. Letters are not taught in alphabetical order. Letters are taught in an order that makes sense for reading. I'd highly recommend supplementing my material with materials from The Amazing Action Alphabet.

Utilize craft sticks for your stop and go signs. To keep them handy in my preschool pack I add a piece of Velcro above the stick and then place it in the book.

Suggested books for "I Am Special". You can find links for all of the books in the lesson plans section of the printable.

4. Manners

 The previous concepts start introducing the quantity of sets, without using numerals.  Now we're starting to recognize that 1=1, 2=2 and so forth.  My kids love saying, "One is the same as one!  One is equal to one!"

 Happy and Sad faces for puppets help us identify how different actions in a story book make us feel.

An example and a blank template for a manners photography book is included, just take your own pictures and paste them to the pages! 

 I've love using tickets to reinforce positive behavior!

Tot Packs 1-2



1. School Tools

Tot packs are about 30 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.

 2. Manners
This pack introduces letter M along with manners that toddlers can master. 

 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.