Welcome/All About Me Lesson Plan

Materials: Shape name cards, Calendar , Weather Chart, Helper chart, cardstock for handprint cutouts, Felt Carpets, Question of the day sentence and colored pieces of paper, Rules Chart, Snacks- Rice cakes, cream cheese, raisins, licorice, m&ms, carrots, pretzels, apples, juice, “Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom,” Chart paper with words and letters, “Now I Eat My ABC’s,” dancing music, instruments and ribbon wands, Large letters B, C, P, T hidden around the room, placemat supplies (large paper, stickers, crayons, markers, scissors, glue, shapes, ink, etc.), rainbow string, Centers: scrap paper and scissors in a large box, computer, Name tracing supplies.

10:00-10:05– Question of the Day/Reading Corner- "What is your favorite color?" As children enter, have them find their name card and put it on the “question of the day” chart. Direct them to the reading area to look at books until all the children arrive.

10:05-10:30- Circle Time

Welcome and Introduction- Have children sit on “carpets” and sing a welcome song (Here We Are Together, Where is Peter?, Favorite songs?)

(Quiet Mouse- Puppet) We have a special friend that only comes out when we are nice and listening… Would you like to meet him? You must be very quiet and listen or he may run away and hide.

Discuss “Question of the Day”- What is your favorite color- count and share

Review Rules- Have children model what it looks like to listen, be happy, Use nice words.

Open, shut them, open shut them, do a little clap, open shut them, open shut them, put them in your lap.

Helping Hands- Rotate class jobs and remind children what their job is

Teacher- Assists the teacher (hold books, pass things out, etc.)
Weatherman- Look outside and chooses one or two weather pictures to put on the chart of today’s weather
Calendar- Helps put the dates on the calendar
Snack Helper- Helps pass out snacks

Calendar- Have calendar helper put dates on the calendar. Sing a “Days of the Week”song. Talk about what day it was yesterday, today and what day it will be tomorrow.

Weather- With the help of the weatherman, look outside and put up the weather for today on the weather chart. You could also discuss what kind of clothing is the best to wear today.

Movement activity- Do a musical dance, hop on one foot, crawl on all fours, jump, etc.

Alphabet- Read Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom. Introduce the alphabet. Begin by showing foam letters or an alphabet chart. One way to demonstrate what "words" are is to have the children, without speaking, show you "happy." Then discuss how we can "show" happy, we can "say" happy, and we can "print" happy (show them a printed version). Let them help you match the letters in "happy" to letters of the alphabet. Make a game of this by using other words in the same way. Think of any word that can be gestured, said, and printed: yes, no, cold, sad, sleepy, etc.

Numbers and Colors- Use counting throughout the day. Count children, books, days of the week, fingers, eyes, etc. Discuss colors when appropriate.

Read, Now I Eat my ABC’s and sing the song.

Do child elimination game to dismiss to the table (This person can go sit at the table, the person I'm thinking of is wearing blue, has brown hair, etc.). Remember to use your nice words, listen and be happy.

10:30-10:40 Wash hands/Snack- Create their own face using: rice cakes, pb, or spreadable cheese, m&m’s, raisins, carrots, pretzels, licorice. Also can make letters with their food and then eat their ABC’s.

Sung to tune of “Feres Jacques”: “Peter stand up, peter stand up, turn around, touch the ground, reach up really high now, jump to touch the sky, WOW!, now sit down, now sit down”

10:40- 11:05 - Lesson/Activity/Craft- Hunt for some special letters B, C, P, T (the letters that the children’s names start with) that are hidden around the room and then have them sit on the couch once they have found a letter. Choose a letter and have the children tell you what that letter is and if they know any words that start with that letter, what about any names, any names of children we know, who are in this room? Once they figure it out have that child come up and share the toys that they brought and tell about themselves.

Play do as I’m Doing and measure with a rainbow string.

Do the placemat craft. Children can decorate any way they want. We will laminate and use them for the rest of preschool.

11:05-11:25 – Centers or Structured Play (group game, puzzles, learning activity, learning centers, etc.)

Some ideas for learning centers could be:

-Cutting- Scissors and scrap paper in a box that children can cut into pieces

-Computer- Play “About Me” game on starfall.com

-Name tracing center- use their names printed in large letters and placed inside sheet protectors. They can trace over it with tracing paper.

11:25-11:30 - Clean up and Close- Sing the clean up song and cleanup.