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HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy New Year too all my current and future blog readers. I am very proud of what I have created thus far based off certain requirements that must be followed for my fourth year placement course. I take pride in all the lessons I create. Teaching little ones takes a lot of dedication and patience- and as future Early Childhood Educator- I believe I have what it takes to succeed. Below will be a representation of lesson plans that I will implement  over the course of my final semester of University!!

Snowball Fight Sight Word Language Experience

Thursday, January 19th, 2017

Learning Experience #1

      The purpose of this learning experience is to get the Kindergartners familiar with different sight words in which they are required to become familiar with. Both JK's and SK's will have a set of different words- as SK's require a more challenging list in preparation for Grade 1.

      Throughout the experience, the children will be able to enhance their vocabulary, practice their receptive and expressive language skills as they listen to the word said by the educator, repeat the word and then will have an opportunity to write down the sight word on the worksheet.

Materials Used:

  • Cotton Balls

  • White Tissue Paper

  • White Pom Poms

  • White Board Markers

  • Laminator

  • Scissors

  • Sight Word Games

  • Sight Word Language Worksheet

Hello

Group Learning Experience #2

'Snowman at Night' Language Writing

Thursday, January 26th, 2017

      The purpose of this activity is to introduce both the JK’s and SK’s to a new book based off the theme of winter. Based off the creative, fun-filled book ‘Snowman at Night’, the children will have an opportunity to enhance their receptive skills when listening to the story, expressive comprehension skills when we discuss the story afterwards and expand on their vocabulary. This literacy experience will allow the children to creatively put themselves in the character role of a snowman, and write out a sentence of what they would do at night if they were a snowman after brainstorming ideas as a class. Fine motor skills and the ability to think critically will come into play as well.

Materials Used:

  • 1 Large Chart Paper

  • Colorful Markers

  • ‘The Mitten’ Book

  • Worksheets

  • Pencils

  • Crayons

Learning Experience #3

Winter Alphabet Sensory Practice

Friday, January 27th, 2017

      This activity will help the children learn how to form their letters without the hindrance of a pencil and paper. This experience provided children with the opportunity to enhance their fine motor skill development. The tactile aspect of it helps the body develop muscle memory and the children will soon be able to transfer their acquired knowledge once they learn how to manipulate a pencil correctly.

When the children trace the letter in the sand box, they are learning and repeating the correct way to form both lower and uppercase letters. Incorporating the aspect of sensory exploration, I have 26 cards laminated with both lower and uppercase letters. The letters will be scattered around the table; whichever letter they pick-up, they will follow through and write it in the sand.

Materials Used:

  • 50 penguin letter laminated cards

  • Permanent marker

  • 1 plastic snowflake shaped bowl

  • 4 wooden canvas boxes

  • Sugar

  • Blue Glitter

  • Paint Brushes

  • Shaving Cream

Block Week Activities

Group Learning Experience #4

      To start off Block Week, I will begin the theme of the week based off the book ‘The Mitten’. The purpose of this activity is to introduce both the JK’s and SK’s to a new book based off the theme of winter. ‘The Mitten’ will give children an opportunity to enhance their receptive skills, expressive skills, vocabulary, enhance their writing skills, as well as their memory skills; when they remember the sequencing of the characters. With regards to written skills, after reading the story- the children will have an opportunity to choose to write about two different topics; something important they lost but then found again or something they think would fit in their mitten- illustrations will be included.

      This literacy experience will allow the children to creatively put themselves in the character role of Nicki, the little boy in the story who lost his mitten. Throughout the story, the children will be introduced to many different animals that hide in the mitten. Fine motor skills and the ability to problem solve will come into play as well.

'The Mitten' Language Writing Experience

Monday, January 30th, 2017

Materials Used:

  • 1 Large Chart Paper

  • Colorful Markers

  • ‘The Mitten’ Book

  •  Worksheets

  • Pencils

  • Crayons

Learning Experience #5

Re-creating Nikki's Mitten

Tuesday, January 31st, 2017

      The purpose of this learning experience is to give the children an opportunity to create their very own unique mitten; like in the story. By giving the children several craft items, I am allowing the children to create whatever their imagination allows them to create. In addition, this activity is very open-ended- allowing for open-ended discussion.

By allowing this activity to be very child-directed- as an educator it is important to remember to focus on the process of how the children made their mitten and focus less on the product; how it turns out. In addition, the children will enhance their imagination, ability to cut and their overall fine motor skill development.

Materials Used:

  • Various colored construction paper

  • Various colored tissue paper

  • Scissors

  • Glue

  • Glitter

  • Sequins

  • White Poms Poms/ Cotton Balls

Learning Experience #6

Practicing Positional Words

Wednesday, February 1st, 2017

      The purpose of this activity is to allow the children to practice and be tested on their knowledge of positional words. I will provide worksheets with a picture of each character on different pages. A mitten will be attached to the back of the booklet by a string, the children will move the mitten to the right position on the page based off what the animal asks them. For example; ‘The Mitten is above the rabbit’. In addition, the children will enhance their vocabulary and practice reading complete sentences based off of a visual.

Materials Used:

  • Several Worksheets

  • Mini Sized Mitten

  • String

  • Tape

  • Pencils

  • Word Activity Cards

Learning Experience #7

How Many Mittens Tall Are You?

Thursday, February 2nd, 2017

      The purpose of this activity was to create a fun, engaging activity for Kindergarteners to apply a familiar story they have been reading in class ‘The Mitten’ and incorporate it with the topic of Measurement which they are starting to learn. The children will measure how many mittens tall they are with a non-standard measuring method and then write down their name/number on the large mitten Bristol board.

Materials Used:

  • Blue Bristol Board

  • Blue Yarn

  • Black Marker

  • Hole Puncher

  • Ruler

  • Scissors

  • Various Colored Construction Paper to Make Mittens

Fun Extension of Activity:

​

Make more mittens and a worksheet to allow the children to go around the classroom and measure different items. Chalkboard, tables, chairs, etc. By extending this activity, they are not only measuring themselves, but they are able to compare their height to different items around the classroom.

Learning Experience #9

The story of "The Mitten" by Jan Brett

Valentine's Bingo!

Monday, February 13th, 2017

      The game of Bingo can be used for all different age-groups to teach different educational topics. For Kindergartners, Bingo can teach various skills, while having fun all at the same time. The children will enhance their receptive/expressive language skills, their matching/identification skills; as well as their fine motor abilities. Through the theme of Valentine’s day, the children will be able to recognize key logos/symbols that go along with the special day.

Materials Used:

  • Bingo Game Sheets

  • Heart Shaped Game Pieces

  • Instructor Game Sheet

  • Tablecloth

  • Platic Heart Plates

Fun Extension of Activity:

​

To create a giant life-sized Bingo game sheet and turn the game into a mini game show where all the children will want to participate.

Learning Experience #10

Snowflake Investigation Match-up

Wednesday, February 22nd, 2017

Learning Experience #8

Winter Carnival Bonhomme Literacy Activity

Friday, February 10th, 2017

This week, the school has been participating in different activities that represented Winter Carnival Theme. The theme of today had to do with Bonhomme the snowman. I was able to do some research on the well-known carnival in Quebec, and share with the children didn’t facts, pictures of the event and various winter words that represented. Through this activity, the children were able to enhance their expressive and receptive language skills, and practice their fine motor/written skills in writing down a word that goes along with the picture.

Materials Used:

  • Large Sheet of White Chart Paper

  • Scissors

  • Printer

  • Pictures

  • Glue

  • Construction Paper

Bonhomme, King of the Quebec Winter Carnival

 

Facts:

- Bonhomme Carnival

- 1954

​

Height: 7 feet

Weight: 400 pounds of compacted snow

​

​

​

For more information visit: https://carnaval.qc.ca/

      This learning experience will allow the children to use their investigation skills to match up similar photos of snowflakes through the use of real life objects; magnifying glasses. The children will have an opportunity to look through the magnify glass into the tiny picture and match it by eye to one of the larger versions of the picture scattered on the table.

      The children will enhance their cognitive skills by sorting the different pictures by size, color, and detail. In addition the children will practice their memory skills by remembering what they looked at through the magnifying glass and be able to match what they saw with a larger version of the snowflake.

Materials Used:

  • Various Pictures of Snowflakes

  • Blue Construction Paper

  • Glue

  • Scissors

  • Magnifying Glasses

Learning Experience #12

Mitten Match-Up Memory Game

Friday, February 24th, 2017

      The purpose of this learning experience is to give children an opportunity to enhance their cognitive development- through their ability to problem solve in attempting to match up and practice the pairing of opposite words. The children will gain the ability of matching up opposite words and in the process will feel an immediate sense of success as they find two words that go together. Through previously acquired knowledge, the children will gain a new vocabulary and practice reading these words. In addition, the children will be able to practice their fine motor skills.

Materials Used:

  • A small piece of cardstock to use as a template

  • Various colored construction paper

  • Laminating machine

  • Yarn

  • Scissors

  • Paper clips

Learning Experience #11

Making Snow

Thursday, February 23rd, 2017

      The children in my Kindergarten classroom absolutely love playing with Playdough. This sensory experience allows children to squish, flatten and use different cutters to form different things. Instead of playdough however, the children will be working together to make snow slim.

      Throughout this child-initiated, hands-on experience- the children were able to learn basic science concepts, enhance their receptive listening skills and participant in an engaging, age-appropriate experiment.

Materials Used:

  • Conditioner

  • Baking Soda

  • Pan

  • Bowl

  • Giant Spoon

  • Blue Glitter

  • Mini Crafts to create mini snowman’s

"Can you match all the snowflakes?"

Learning Experience #13

Spin& Cover with 3D Shapes

Thursday, March 2nd, 2017

Learning Experience #14

Scavenger Shape Hunt

Thursday, March 9th 2017

      This learning experience will allow the children to build sentences about different shapes and their properties. The children will begin the experience off with a game. The purpose is to spin and cover the different shapes that they land on. Once the whole game sheet is covered, the children will learn how to form simple sentences.

     The children will select a shape and create a sentence describing the properties of shapes. Using simple beginner sight words, and proper grammar; the children will learn the basic literacy skills that come along with forming a sentence. For example, a sentence begins with a Capital Letter, ends with a period and within the sentence they will acquire and enhance their knowledge on different vocabulary and sight words.

Materials Used:

  • 4 printed out spin& cover game sheets

  • Blue Pebbles: Game Pieces

  • Shape Pictures

  • Printed out vocabulary cards

  • Paper clips

      For this activity, the children will be able to distinguish between different shapes. Based on their startup of their math unit last week, the children are already familiar with the different names of shapes and their properties. During this experience, the children will have an opportunity to search around the classroom for different types of shapes, and record their results on their worksheets. Throughout this experience, the children will practice their fine motor skills as they write out different words, and enhance their cognitive/memory skills as they recall names of different shapes.

Materials Used:

  • Various Pictures of Shapes Laminated

  • Laminator

  • Worksheets created by me

  • Clipboards

  • Pencils

Note: March Break school days have been made up during my Reading Week.

Learning Experience #15

Making Patterns with Easter Eggs

Thursday, March 23rd, 2017

The purpose of this learning experience is mixing together the theme of Easter with the simple math skill of patterning. The children will have an opportunity to use plastic Easter Eggs and create a pattern in a hands-on way using an egg-cartoon. The children will them transfer their pattern onto a worksheet by coloring in different AB, AAB, ABB& ABC patterns.

Materials Used:

  • Plastic Easter Eggs

  • Egg Cartoon

  • Worksheets

  • Crayons

  • Pencils

The children transferred their patterns onto the worksheet.

The children created patterns in a hands-on way using different pattern styles.

AB Pattern

ABB Pattern

AAB Pattern

ABC Pattern

Learning Experience #16

Graphing with Easter Eggs & Pom Poms

Friday, March 24th, 2017

The purpose of this activity is to provide the children with a hands-on, science exploratory experiment. In this experiment, the children will have the opportunity to predict what will happen before the experiment starts and discuss the findings afterwards using their verbal and written skills. The children will be provided with a variety of different sized materials to place in their Easter egg, in which they will use to determine if the egg will sink or float.

Materials Used:

  • Basket to hold eggs

  • Variety of colored plastic Easter eggs 

  • Various colored pom poms

  • Graphing Worksheet

  • Pencils

  • Crayons

Examples of the children's work :)

Learning Experience #17

Easter Egg Sink or Float Science Experiment

Thursday, March 30th, 2017

The purpose of this activity is to provide the children with a hands-on, science exploratory experiment. In this experiment, the children will have the opportunity to predict what will happen before the experiment starts and discuss the findings afterwards using their verbal and written skills. The children will be provided with a variety of different sized materials to place in their Easter egg, in which they will use to determine if the egg will sink or float.

Materials Used:

  • Clear container with water 

  • Variety of colored plastic Easter eggs 

  • Various objects to place inside; rocks, Lego blocks, pom pom, etc   

  • Observation Sheet

  • Pencils

  • Crayons

Here's to the end from an amazing chapter in my life....

I want to thank my field Supervisor Vicky and the Kindergarten teacher Natasha for making me feel nothing but welcomed and apart of your family from the first day I started in September. People like them, have a passion for what they do, and I am so fortunate to have been placed with such wonderful, caring women.

 

After 300 hours finally completed for my Fourth Year placement, I can defiantly say I am excited to graduate in June. This placement experience not only gave me the confidence I need to continue on into teacher's college, but it really opened up my eyes in knowing that I am doing what love and I can't wait to be a teacher with my very own classroom one day!

© September 2016 by Melissa Pohland. Proudly created with Wix.com

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