This week was the beginning of a new month, which also means the beginning of a new theme! The teaching mother is focusing this month’s lessons around a construction theme and the children are so excited about it!
Theme: Construction
Sensory Bin – Sensory play is always something students look forward to when exploring a new theme. Check out the awesome sensory bin below from Olives and Pickles.
Moving Parts Digger – This is such a fun craft! Students color and cut out pieces that make up a digger, then assemble them with brads to make the parts movable. Get the template and complete instructions here.
Construction Themed Books
Here are some of our favorite construction themed books:
The Construction Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta Road Work! by Sally Sutton Good Night, Good Night Construction Site by Sherri Dusky Rinker Construction Zone by Cheryl Willis Hudson Big Digs and Construction Sites by DK PublishingReading
Phonemic Awareness Skill: Initial Phoneme Isolation: Initial Sound – Students practiced listening for the first sound in words. Say a word, (preferably a one syllable word), emphasizing the first sound. For example: Red. /rrr/ed. what sound do you hear at the beginning of the word red?
Phonics: Letter Bb – Students learned to identify the letter Bb and it’s sound. The participating mom used several color photos beginning with the /b/ sound. Examples: barn, bird, ball, bread, balloons, bear, etc. Students practiced saying each picture name, emphasizing the /b/ sound at the beginning.
Name Letter Sort – As practice and review of the letters in their names, students also sorted rocks with letters on them. If the rock has a letter on it that was in their name, it went on one side of the mat. If it did not fit into the name, it went on the opposite side.
Math
One to One Correspondence – Children can learn both number identification and one to one correspondence counting skills with this activity I posted several months ago. Make it themed by using nuts and bolts as counters.
Patterns – Themed activities are so fun in math, and easy to create, too. Find some pictures of construction machines, like diggers, bulldozers, cranes, compactors, and such, mount them on heavy cardstock and laminate. (I find the two best places for such pictures are stickers and wrapping paper). You’ll want multiples of the same picture. They are great to use for patterns. If your child has mastered the basic AB pattern, try ABC, AABB, or ABCC for an extra challenge!
Writing
It is important to remember that writing practice is preschool does not look like what writing practice does in elementary school. Students do not (and should not) spend a lot of time practicing formation of letters, but rather gaining control of the muscle groups in the hand and arm that make writing possible. Read this article I wrote several months ago called What Does Writing Practice Look Like in Preschool? for more information and ideas.
Next Week
- review of recent weeks
- more phoneme isolation practice
- letter Kk
- construction themed math activities
I am Sarah, an educator turned stay-at-home mama of five! I am the owner and creator of Stay At Home Educator, a website about intentional teaching and purposeful learning in the early childhood years. I’ve taught range of levels, including preschool and college, and a little bit of just about everything in between. Right now, my focus is teaching my children and running a preschool from my home. Credentials include: Bachelors in Art, Masters in Curriculum and Instruction
I love your sensory bin; I should definitely do a construction week with my son! 🙂
I’d love to take credit for the sensory bin, but it was actually done by Olives and Pickles. It is great, isn’t it?
What a fun unit! My vehicle-obsessed son would have loved it when he was little! Thanks for linking up with Montessori Monday. I pinned your post to my new Construction Unit Study Board at http://pinterest.com/debchitwood/construction-unit-study/
My kids loooooove books about construction. Thanks for sharing at The Children’s Bookshelf.
GREAT ideas!!! My little guy will love trying them out!
I found you through Enchanted Homeschooling Mom’s blog hop! 🙂
I love your sensory bin!
I hope you will stop by our linky, The Preschool PreKinder Nook to share your post with our readers!
You can find us here: http://itsybitsylearners.com/2013/02/preschool-prekinder-nook-3/ !
Hope to see you there!!
Allie from Itsy Bitsy Learners
What a great theme! I love the idea of doing a sensory bin. Thanks for sharing at my Pin It Thursday party!
Great posy and you are very kind to link to my blog…thanks a bunch!!
I would love to have the movable digger project, but the link is broken 🙁
I just edited the link. This is the best alternative I could find.
http://www.sketchite.com/digger-moving-parts-craft/cy1tZWRpYS1jYWNoZS1hazAqcGluaW1nKmNvbXw3MzZ4fGQzfDljfDNlfGQzOWMzZWEyZDYyMDc0N2I4NjM5YjMxMTk0MzRhZjg3KmpwZw_cGludGVyZXN0KmNvbXxwaW58MTExMzkzNzkwNzU2MDk1MjUxfA/
This is another fun alternative: http://kyndrasteinmann.com/construction-truck-preschool-dump-truck-and-printable/