Goldilocks and the Three Bears - Preschool Unit

For Circle Time everyday we said our opening verse, did the calendar, reviewed what we'd learned the day before and then said our rhyme.  After that we did our literacy activity and I told the kids the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears using puppets that I mounted onto magnet. The puppets were lost by Wednesday, but at least they were well loved and played with for a couple days.

Rhyme: Pease Porridge Hot

Letter: Bb

Number: 3

Vocab word: Habitat

Literacy Activity: Memory with Opposite Cards (found here)  **My kids top out at about 6-8 matches right now. I chose the easiest ones and went from there. You know what your kids can handle."


Day 1: B is for Bear

Look at pictures of different kinds of bears. Name them and see where they live. What do their habitats look like? What do they eat? Talk about how a habitat is an animal home and each habitat has to have a safe place for the bear to live and food available. Tape a picture of each bear onto a world map where that bear lives.

B is for Bear worksheets. and minibook

Watch videos of the four bears we talked about.
Polar bear video  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwZH_aT0FGI
Sun bear video  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc8oxe-5dts
Grizzly video   http://animal.discovery.com/tv-shows/other/videos/grizzly-bear-videos.htm
Panda video  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZjlVUG_APs

Go see the bears at the zoo.

Day 2: Porridge

Make an instruction sheet with 4-6 illustrated steps for making porridge (Cream of Wheat or Oatmeal). Go over the steps with the kids before, during, and after the actual preparation of the porridge. Have the kids help you.

Observe the porridge and make a "word web" describing it. Our describing words for porridge were "White, hot, soft, smooth".

Try the porridge with different toppings and vote on whether you like it with a specific topping or not. Make a simple graph of the Yeas Vs. Nays. Count each vote and then add both sides together to make sure all votes are accounted for (but really to begin teaching basic addition)

Day 3: Number 3

Do 3 Worksheet
Do sizing worksheet. Color, cut, count, sort into small medium and large, glue.

Talk about small, medium, and large throughout the day.

Day 4: Opposites

Set out an opposites exhibit and then have the kids help you label each thing with the appropriate word. We did Hot vs. Cold, Soft Vs. Hard, Wet Vs. Dry. Review each item and word (you're trying to build a little word recognition here)

Do the pattern worksheet

Day 5: Max's Birthday so....no school!

Today I Met a Homeless Man

I mean, really met a homeless man. I didn't just pass by him on the street, or hand him a few coins.

I stood behind him in line at the library as he asked if he could apply for a library card. The librarian handed him an application. He looked at it for a moment and said, "I can't read or write. Could you help me fill it out?"

The librarian replied that they were not allowed to do that.

He looked around him for a moment, sighed, and said, "Well, okay. Maybe I can find someone."

My kids were waiting back in the children's section with their dad, probably making him read the same terrible board book over and over. I knew Max was tired. We had plans to go to Hobby Lobby and the zoo. But I couldn't ignore him.

"I can help you fill that out when I'm done."

He smiled and said thank you. I felt a little awkward paying my fines, pulling out a twenty. He never asked for a cent. The librarian told me we were still missing a book. I sighed and explained how we were in the process of moving from one house to another.

The man, eager to be of help I think, made sure that we were completely moved in and didn't need help. He asked two or three times if we needed anymore help. I assured him that we were fine, just a little scattered still. He talked about how wonderful it was that I was getting so many interesting-looking books for my kids, and how it probably helped them fall asleep. Then he joked about not giving them any sugar or they'll run crazy. I informed him that I have a son who runs crazy without sugar.

We sat down together at a table, and he gave me his ID card. That's how I found out his first name, Robert, like my husbands. About 60 years old. Mailing address: General Delivery. No home address. No phone number. No e-mail address.

All I could think was "No wonder this man is homeless. He can't read or write. How can one function at all in society without those two skills." Then my thoughts went to wondering what his story was. Had public school failed him? Did he have a learning disability that went undiagnosed fifty years ago? How does one not know how to read or write?

But all over in the library were signs to volunteer to teach people to read. Apparently it is a real need where we live. And all of a sudden I understood what a life- changing service that was. My ideas about volunteering in NICU's and soup kitchens disappeared. If I really want to make a difference, and I do, this is where I can be of most help. This is something that can create real change in a person's life.

After I filled out the paper, we came to the signature part. I asked if he wanted to sign or have me sign. He said that he would sign. I watched him slowly put the pen to paper, and carefully move his pen to form the most beautiful, perfect, cursive letters. It was probably the only thing he could write. This was not a scribbled signature. He took such care, that it was evident to see just how precious those few letters were to him.

I complimented him on his handwriting, gave him the application and stood up. He wished me luck with the baby, and that was it. Our brief encounter was over. It only lasted a few minutes, but I can't stop thinking about him.

I think that's part of being a mother, caring for people, nurturing them, loving them. Even when they're not your children. Even when they may be old enough to be your grandparents. Everyone is somebody's child. Everyone needs a little mothering every now and then.

Preschool - Star Unit

We've started doing home preschool and so far it has been great. I thought I would record my lesson plans here in case you need ideas of your own.

Preschool starts everyday with circle time. We say an opening rhyming verse, do the calendar, and then sing a song or do a fingerplay or something like that. After that I talk about the theme for the week, cover the information we've already talked about, etc. Then I do a literacy/reading activity. We say a quick closing rhyme and go make our beds and do a few other chores. After that I intersperse the rest of the morning with theme based activities or worksheets in between chores or free play time. Phew! Did you get all that?

So here's what we did this week.

Song: "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"

Literacy Activity: Rhyming words. We change each word by putting a different letter/letters at the beginning of the word and then patting our legs and chanting all the rhyming words we've come up with. (i.e. pat, cat, hat, bat, pat, cat, hat, bat) I started with -at words before I knew I was doing stars and so we stuck with it, but discussing words that rhyme with star (far, bar, jar, car) would be great.

Theme: Stars

Letter: S    Worksheet    Mini book   We mostly just practiced writing the letter "S" and talking about words that start with S.

Number: 5  Worksheet   Worksheet 
Additional activity: I printed out a basic star shape. We counted the "points" on the star. Then each child counted out five cotton balls and glued a cotton ball to each point.

                             We numbered the fingers on our hand from 1-5

Vocab word: Constellation

I printed out these pictures and we talked about how constellations were pictures made out of stars. Then we tried to figure what each of these constellations were. After guess I told them each constellations name and we tried to see the picture in it.

Activity: Using foam star stickers and a sheet of black foam we each made our own "constellation". You could easily do this with small gold stars and black contruction paper as well.



Additional Activities:  Using the page below, I cut out every star except the big one. I let the kids try their hand at cutting out the big star. ** Then we counted all our stars. I gave each child a piece of construction paper broken into three sections, labeled "Small", "Medium", and "Large". Then I had each child sort the stars into the three categories. A few of the stars were kind of on the border between the two, so it was interesting to see how each child sorted them. After that we glued each star onto the paper and the counted how many stars were in each section and wrote down the number. We counted all the stars again to make sure we still had 11.

**My 4.5 year old is getting pretty good with scissors, but cutting out stars is hard. So many turns of the paper. So be ready to help. My three year old just cut the star in to little pieces, which I figured was fine. Don't get worried about perfection. The process is more important.**

Talk about wishing on a star. Chant "Star light, star bright" rhyme and everyone talks about their wish.

Give everyone a paper star and practice following instructions on where to place the star with words like "above", "behind", "next to", "in front of" etc.

Talk about the life cycle of a star.  This chart seems simple enough. Make two copies, but cut one up so that the children have to practice sequencing. This is kind of an abstract concept, but if they have their own picture to use as a reference, it will help. The talking and new vocab words are most important.

I'd say go outside and find a constellation, but it's the summer solstice this week and my kids are in bed before the stars are out. 

You can do whatever you want on each day. I personally broke up the days. So one was about "S", one about "5", one about "constellation", one about the life cycle of a star. But we built on everything each day and so continued to talk about the letter and number and constellations even when it wasn't the main focus that day.

The kids have seemed to really love it and I feel like it's been a good mix of literacy, science, some history, vocab, math, writing, etc.

Why I will always encourage my children to read fantasy

I just received an e-mail today from a woman in my critique group. She was submitting her chapters for the month and decided to add a little diatribe about how the children's book market is glutted with fantasy. And do we really want to be filling our children's minds with satanism and life-after-death in the here and now, and other garbage? Of course, in the same breath she went on to say that she wanted more books about children in the real world and their wonderful imaginations.

Excuse me while I bang my forehead against my keyboard.

What more is fantasy, especially fantasy for children, but the ultimate representation of that boundless and wonderful imagination so peculiar to humans, especially children? The ability to create entire new worlds is the birthright of writers and a testament to the capacity of the human mind. The ability to create, whether it is another human being or an entire world complete with magical creatures, made up languages, etc. is a gift from our Heavenly Father. It is one of the few ways that we truly become like Him. Creators.

Beyond that, I've never understood the idea that fantasy is satanism or that magic is some sort of conterfeit perversion for the power of God. The idea holds some sway with a few members of my church (I've heard them speak in Relief Society before), but not most. I will always remember and love Elder Uchtdorf for speaking of his love for Harry Potter and referencing it in an address he gave at a Stake Conference when I was in college.

Does fantasy contain magic? Yes. Is it sorcery and some manifestion of the devil? Heavens no! Fantasy is nothing more than the eternal struggle between good and evil set in another place. It teaches the power of love, friendship, kindness and sacrifice in the face of love of power, greed, cruelty, and selfishness.

These struggles in a child's everyday life or in the world around us are not only complicated, but oftentimes, gruesome and harsh. And too often, the wrong side wins. What better way to help a child make sense of the different forces and motivations of the characters in their world, than through a book set in another land. Sometimes taking a step into the unknown helps us come to understand human nature and ourselves like nothing else.

I am deeply religious, and a lover of fantasy. Many of the greatest fantasy writers of our time have been devout Christians who saw their characters as archetypes of Christ, and their stories as religious allegories.

Please don't deprive your children of the rich learning experience that is fantasy. I wish this world was more like Hogwarts, or Middle Earth, or Narnia. A place where there is magic and good always wins.

Sometimes children are embarrassing...

And when they are I would just like to say that they in no way reflect the thoughts and feelings of their parents. Got it? I have nothing to do with it.

Max has a new thing. He likes to point out the "bad guys". Unfortunately this leads to some embarrassingly public denunciations of the "bad guys" in our every day life.

Like the guys in hats and sun glasses at the store. "Look Mom! Bad guys!"

The two African-American men at the restaurant.  "Dad! A bad guy! Another bad guy!" (This was so embarrassing. I can't even tell you. All Rob could do was correct Max, apologize and hope his eyes somehow communicated how NOT racist we really are.)

And then today, perhaps the worst. In the hallway of the Disneyland hotel, a somewhat tall (but not super tall) gentleman walked out of his room. Max gasped. "Look! It's a bad guy!"  I responded the way I always do. "That's not a bad guy, Max." But then he went further, yelling, "It's a giant."  And as the man walked past us and down the hall Max kept shouting. "Where's the giant going? Where'd the giant go?"

Are we sure that duct taping a child's mouth is abuse?

The Story of Martin

Many of you have probably read this post on Momastery.

I just wanted to add my experience and what I learned from it about teaching children compassion and standing up for the little guy.  It's not anything I learned by teaching my own children. It's what I learned when I was little, from my mom (who, if you're wondering is awesome so pretty much everyone should learn from her.)

**After writing this story, I don't feel like giving you a list of how you can help your children be more compassionate. I think you can garner those lessons from the story the way it is.**

I think the story of Martin will live on in my family. He will be the experience my children get to hear about when they are older.

Martin was that kid in elementary school that nobody likes. Not because he did anything to deserve it. In fact all the reasons he was hated, left out, and picked on were all the reasons he really needed a friend.

Martin wasn't mean. He was clingy, needy, he wanted so much to be liked. He was lonely. Rejected and abused at home. Rejected and abused at school. I moved into a new school in the second grade. That was when I first saw Martin and saw how rude the other children were to him. It didn't sit right with my little 7-year-old heart. And like everything else that doesn't make sense in the world, I let it all come out to my mom after school.

That's when my mom told me her own story of the kid in school nobody liked. Then she issued me a challenge. She told me she wanted me to be Martin's friend, and that I would probably be his only friend. Not only that, she wanted me to stand up for him when the other kids were unkind.

And she didn't just issue the challenge. She checked up on me...for years. She wanted to know how Martin was doing. Had I stood up for him? Had I smiled and said hello to him? I admit some days I was more sincere in my friendship with Martin than others. Some days it was hard. Some days he was needy. Some days I felt embarrassed. Some days I didn't have the courage to tell people to stop and so instead I only made sure to smile at Martin and let him know I was still his friend.

And yet some days were good. Many times people listened when I told them to stop. Sometimes other kids were kind to Martin as well. I wasn't sacrificing playing with other kids and only spending time with Martin. I wasn't really going out of my way at all. My shows of friendship were mostly done when necessary or as convenient.

And then in the 6th grade, four years later, the most wonderful and saddest part of our entire "friendship" happened.  Martin told me that I was his best friend.  His best friend. Me. Who half the time was still embarrassed and hoped no one was watching when I was his friend. Who didn't go out of my way to invite him to my birthday party or make sure I always played with him at recess.  I felt ashamed.

I tried harder to be a better friend to Martin after that. But I didn't have to do it for very long. That year, Martin ran away from home, was in and out of youth homes and was finally sent away to a special home. I never heard from him again. But before all of that he showed me the large scars on his legs where his dad had purposely burned him, sat next to me in class, laid his head on my shoulder countless times, and kept smiling that huge smile that must have hid so much pain.

I don't know where Martin is today. Given what he had already dealt with in his first eleven years of life, I would consider him a roaring success if he was simply still alive and not in jail. I think about him. Often. I tried to find him on Facebook, but his name is too common. I wish I had been a better friend. I wish I could have understood what I understand now about his life.

For some reason out of all my elementary school experiences, my story of Martin is the one I remember and think about most. In some ways, I think the challenge of it; Of being nice even when it's hard; of standing up for what you believe in; of going against the crowd; of having compassion; all these challenges and lessons from that one experience have made an impact on who I am. They were lessons worth learning. And if my friendship with Martin did nothing for him, it did a lot for me.

This Mother's Prayer

Dear Lord, help me remember when he's up at day's first light,
That soon I'll do the waking, and he'll put up the fight.


And when I come upon him in the middle of a mess,
Please help me, Lord, remember how he makes me feel so blessed.


Oh Father, help me stop to see the light that's in his eyes,
When he tracks mud, or colors walls, before he hears my sighs.

And when he breaks another keepsake, ornament, or vase,
Please help me, Lord, to first clean up the tears upon his face.

Lord, help me to be patient with each kick, hit, or bite,
And know the way to gently teach him how to do what's right.

And on those days that seem to hold frustration more than joy.
Dear Lord, help me remember, that he's just a little boy.


-Amanda Hill