• The sound of the letter E
• The shape of the letter E
• Words that begin with E
• Elephants are large animals.
• There are two types of elephants – African and Indian.
• African elephants are larger than Indian elephants, they have baggier skin and bigger ears, too.
• Elephants live together in families. Several families living together form a herd.
• The leader of the herd is usually the oldest female, called a matriarch.
• Elephants eat plants. They eat a lot of plants!
• They eat leaves, grass, hay, tree bark, and fruit
• Elephants flap their ears to cool themselves.
• Elephants spray water on their skin.
• The wrinkles hold the water, which helps to cool them.
• Elephants live for eighty years!
• Elephants have four teeth and two tusks.

Children Love Elephants

Children seem fascinated with elephants, perhaps more so than any other Jungle animal. There have long been picture books capitalizing on this phenomenon, from Babar the Elephant, to today’s Elephant and Piggy series. Dumbo the Elephant was once a popular film. There are stuffed elephants, Beanie Baby elephants, plastic toy elephants, Duplo elephants, and even elephant costumes for children of all ages. You can use your child’s interest to help him learn the sound of the letter e. Practice saying “eh – eh – elephant” to help him hear the sound. Vowels are often much harder to learn than consonants. For one, they have multiple sounds, and they can be harder to hear in the word. It is not uncommon for children to assume that the word “elephant” begins with the letter L!

Musical Help

Elephants Continue to Fascinate Us

Elephant Activities for Preschool

Your child will make some elephant crafts. He will string “emerald” elbow macaroni to make a necklace. You will color the pasta the same way you would color rice. You will play some counting games, and practice large muscle skills by tossing peanuts into a cardboard “elephant”. If your child or children may have an allergy to peanuts, substitute Styrofoam packing peanuts instead.

If possible, try to plan a trip to the zoo on Friday or Saturday. Make sure you visit the elephants! But also find out if there are elk, or eels, or eagles at your zoo.

If you can afford only one book this week, I’d strongly suggest the Tarra and Bella story, although Twenty-One Elephants and Still Holding is also excellent. Hopefully, you can find them all in your library, if your budget doesn’t cover new books this week.

Five Star Picture books for Your Preschooler

Kruger National Park, South Africa

• “Stand Back,” said The Elephant, “I’m Going to Sneeze!” by Patricia Thomas
• The Elephant’s Child by Rudyard Kipling
• Twenty-One Elephants and Still Standing by April Jones Prince
• I am a Little Elephant by Francois Crozat
• Pennies for Elephants by Lita Judge
• Elephants: A Book for Children by David Henry Wilson
• But No Elephants by Jerry Smath
• My First Jumbo Book of Shapes by James Diaz
• Richard Scarry’s Best Counting Book Ever
• Elephants Can Paint Too! by Katya Arnold
• No Matter What (Templar Books) by Emma Dodd
• Tarra & Bella: The Elephant and Dog Who Became Best Friends by Carol Buckley
• Ella the Baby Elephant by Kathleen Duey

Quality Toys and Products(Optional)

• A+ Educational Tray Puzzle ~ Elephants
• Calico Critters Ellwoods Elephant Family
• Webkinz Velvety Elephant
• 10 piece Soft Plush Finger Puppets
• Schleich African Elephant male, female, and calf
• Schleich Indian Elephant male, female, and calf
• Melissa & Doug Deluxe Zoo in a Box puzzles

Preschool Worksheets (Optional)

1. Letter E Beginning Sounds
2. E is for Elephant
3. Drawing Ovals
4. Nine Seahorses number worksheet
   
5. Counting worksheet
6. Number 9 Coloring Page
7. Elephant Coloring Page
8. Cutting Practice Worksheet Level 1

E is for Elephant – Preschool Lesson Plans

Photo Credits:
Top:photo by Brett Holt
Middle: photo by Ryan McFarland
Bottom: photo by Stuart Bassil

This week, your child may learn:

• Everybody has feelings.
• Feelings are not good or bad, they just are.
• It is okay to feel angry.
• It is okay to feel scared.
• It is okay to feel happy.
• It is okay to feel sad.
• It is okay to feel loving.
• It is okay if you don’t feel very loving sometimes.
• What we do with our feelings is important.
• It is not okay to hit when you are angry.
• It is not okay to bite or kick when you are angry.
• It can help to exercise when you feel angry.
• When you feel sad, you can ask for a hug.
• When you feel scared, you can ask for a hug, too.
• When we say, “you hurt someone’s feelings” we mean that you made them feel bad.
• You should say you are sorry when you hurt someone’s feelings.

Preschool Concepts

The lesson plans have started adding more “academic” concepts to the themes. This week, the lesson plans will also focus on the letter h, the number 8, the color periwinkle, and the shape octagon. For younger children, you may want to stay focused on the color blue, but once the child knows blue, it can be fun to teach him all the different shades of blue: sky blue, cornflower blue, cobalt, midnight, navy, and of course, periwinkle. There is a periwinkle crayon in boxes of 64 colors. It was always a favorite in my family, and the first crayon to be broken or lost from the box, with thistle coming in a close second.

Preschool Art Projects

Unlike other themes, there aren’t a lot of art projects that can be done for feelings. Your child will make a faces collage, and a feelings book. He will color while listening to music, and try to describe how the music makes him feel. If you have the Feelings Stamps, he can use those, marking how he feels each morning on the calendar, then you will help him make a bar graph at the end of the month as you tally up how many days he chose “happy” or “sad” faces. You can watch a movie with him, pausing periodically to discuss how the characters in the movie may be feeling, or how the movie is making your child feel.

Your child will make several blue pictures, mixing colors and overlapping them to create the delicate shade of periwinkle. He will make a large 8 with glitter and glue, to display in the calendar area. Finally, you will color different shaped pasta, and have your child either string it on yarn for a necklace, or paste it to construction paper for a collage, depending on what shapes you bought.

New Songs Page

I’ve recently added a Songs page at the top, far right of the menu bar. I’ve added links to the songs there, so you can hear them being sung by various artists and children. Not all the songs will be available, but if a song says it’s to the tune of another song, then that song will be featured. For instance, this week your child will should learn the song “If You’re Feeling Grouchy”, which has different words sung to the tune of “Did you Ever See a Lassie?” The song “Did You Ever See a Lassie?” is posted to that page, in case you either don’t know it, or remember it from your childhood. The songs “Skinamerink”, “I’ve Got That Joy” and “If You’re Happy and You Know It” are all listed there, as well. I will add songs from past and future lessons as time allows.
 

Some Children Become Angry When They are Frightened, because They Don't Understand the Difference This is My Angry Face

Five-Star Books on Emotions Teeth are Not for Biting by Elizabeth Verdick Leonardo, the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems How Do I Love You? by Marion Dane Feelings by Aliki Happy Sad Silly Mad: My World Makes Me Feel by John E. Mistchel Andrew’s Angry Words by D. Lachner When I Feel Angry by Cornelia Maude A is for Angry: An Animal and Adjective Alphabet Book by Sandra Boynton Not Afraid of Dogs by Susanna Pitzer The Berenstain Bears in the Dark by Stan Berenstain The Berenstain Bears and the Green-Eyed Monster by STan Berenstain Jamaica and Brianna by Juanita Havill Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories by Dr. Seuss Brand-New Baby Blues by Kathi Appelt Feelings to Share from A to Z by Todd Snow

Quality Products for Your Preschooler (Optional)

• Moody Bear Travel Bag
• The Feelings Playing Cards
• How Am I Feeling? washable fabric chart
• Ready2Learn Giant Feelings Stamps
• Faces & Feelings Listening Lotto
• Children’s Classics – Prokofiev: Peter & the Wolf
• Fantasia/Fantasia 2000 Four-Disc Set

Periwinkle is Both a Flower and a Color

• Worksheet 1: Letter H
• Worksheet 2: What Begins with H?
• Worksheet 3: Words Beginning with H
• Octagon Worksheet 4
• Periwinkle Color Page worksheet 5
• Worksheet 6: Number 8 Trace and Color
• Worksheet 7: Number 8 Count and Color
• Worksheet 8: Number 8 Trace and Color

Happy and Sad Preschool Lesson Plans on Feelings

Photo Credits:

Top: photo by Molly Pop
Upper Middle: photo by Robbie Grubbs
Lower Middle: Photo by Gerry Thomason
Periwinkle: photo by Jeff McMillian

Summer is nearly here! Gardens are growing, flowers blooming, bugs buzzing about – and it is a great time to teach your preschooler about the great outdoors. For this Welcome Summer lesson plan, your child may learn:

• Summer is the season that comes after spring
• In summer, the days are often sunny and hot
• gardens that were planted in the spring now continue to grow
• many flowers bloom
• Trees that bloomed in the spring may now be growing fruits
• Baby animals that were born in the spring are growing bigger
• We need to protect our skin from too much sun
• We protect our eyes, as well, from bright sun by wearing sun glasses
• Water is fun to play with, but we must be careful around water
• We should drink more water in the summer

Teaching the Concepts

This week you will also focus on the letter R, the color red, a rectangle shape, and the number four. These concepts are introduced during the calendar activity. You might have a shelf around your calendar, where you display objects that begin with the “r” sound, like a rubber band, a ring, a toy rabbit, a silk rose, a rag, something red, a rook from a chess set, a ruler. When you and your child talk about the date, and count the numbers from the first of the month to today, then you may point to the items and teach your child the names if he doesn’t know them. Help him to recognize the sound that they begin with. Show him a letter R. I buy six-inch wooden alphabet letters in the craft store and paint them. They come with a plastic hook stapled to the back, that I leave on, and hang them on the wall. Tape a rectangle shape to the wall. Display some things that are rectangular. Display four things, and have your child count them with you. You might not cover all of this every day. Always end an activity before your child is restless and bored.

Summer Sun and Sunscreen Use

This summer, you may want to move many of the projects and other activities to the back yard. It will keep the house cleaner, and your child will enjoy it more. Many children in the U.S.A. are actually deficient in vitamin D! This may be because they spend too much time indoors playing video games, or because they never go outside without sunscreen. The “authorities” disagree on how much sunlight exposure is too much. Those who push for sunscreen use insist that you apply it every time you go outside, and frequently during the day. Those who believe in a more natural approach, insist than thirty minutes outside without sunscreen is sufficient for your child to soak up some vitamin D. You must chose for yourself. I allow myself and my granddaughter to go out without sunscreen for a half an hour, especially if it is before 10am or after 4pm. After that, I either put on a long-sleeved, loose-fitting shirt, move to the shade, or apply sunscreen. I have sensitive skin, and I’m not convinced that sunscreen isn’t part of the skin-cancer problem, but that’s my issue. Encourage your child to wear a hat and/or sunglasses, to protect his face, ears, and eyes. You may wish to read these two opposing articles:

• Sun Safety and Kids
• Sunscreen Use Causes Skin Cancer

Serve Something Red

This week you will focus on the color red. Try to serve red foods at every meal. Some may be family favorites, and some your child might never have tasted before. Foods that are bright, bold colors tend to be very high in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. This week, consider serving some beets, strawberries, watermelon, cherries, cranberries, tomatoes, and red peppers. Visit Red Foods, the New Powerhouse for more information.

Wet Sand is a Different Sensory Experience than Dry Sand

Five-Star Books:

• Summer by Alice Low
• Summer (Four Seasons) by Nuria Roca
• Mouse’s First Summer by Lauren Thompson
• Mama, Is It Summer Yet? by Nikki McClure
• Carl’s Summer Vacation by Alexandra Day
• Caterpillar Spring, Butterfly Summer by Susan Hood
• Under Alaska’s Midnight Sun by Deb Vanasse
• One Hot Summer Day by Nina Crews
• Sunflower House by Eve Bunting

Quality Products for Your Preschooler: (Optional)

Drink Lots of Water in Warm Weather

• Waterwheel Activity Table
• Build a Kid’s Play Yard
• Playground Pool
• Geometric Dome Climber
• Alpine Custom Ready-to-Build Swing Sets
• Cool Wave Slide
• Sandbox Cat Digger
• Big Construction Dump
• Schwinn Trike Pink, Red, Blue

Worksheets

These are optional. If your child is not ready for pencil and paper activities, just ignore them.
Letter R worksheet 1
Letter R worksheet 2
Letter R worksheet 3
Letter R Itsy Bitsy Book
Itsy-Bitsy Book Directions
Count and Trace number 4
Rectangles worksheet 1

Lesson Plans for Welcome Summer! week

Photo Credits:

Top: photo by Flyheatherfly
Middle: photo by Grandmamusher
Bottom: photo by wealhtheow1

Your Child Can Learn:

• All birds lay eggs
• All birds have feathers
• The bird’s beak is shaped just right for the type of food they eat.
• Birds come in different colors, shapes, and sizes
• Birds make a variety of sounds. Some of them sound like they are singing.
• Birds live everywhere: mountains, valleys, forests, meadows, the seashore, deserts, and even in the arctic.

Birds are Fascinating to Watch

They are wild creatures, yet often found right in our own backyard. If we feed them, we encourage them to return to our homes, making it easier to observe them. Add a birdbath, and you’ll have hours of fun watching them splash in it. You may wish to feed them all summer long, but then taper off and stop altogether in the fall unless you plan to fill the feeders clear through the winter. They may chose not to migrate south if they find food plentiful at your feeder, so if you stop feeding them, they could suffer.

Feeding the birds brings them closer to us, so we may watch them

Visit the Decorah Eagles online! There is a live video feed up in their nest, broadcasting 24/7. Watch the male and female eagles as they care for their young. This fascinating broadcast may be the most addicting screensaver yet.

Feathered Friends Lesson Plans

In the links below, you will find a list of suggested picture books. Look for them in your library first, then you may wish to purchase a few to add to your child’s collection. These books have all received a “five-star” rating from the parents and grandparents who own them. Following the books are some interesting yet optional items for this unit on birds. Next are links to preschool worksheets. Print them off if you wish to do these activities with your child. Ignore them if your child is not yet ready for pencil and paper activities. Finally, there are some links to the songs for this week, if you don’t already know them; a link to pictures of various bird nests, and a recipe for egg-drop soup.

Five-Star Picture Books:

• Three Little Birds by Cedella Marley & Gerald Hausman
• Busy Birdies (A Busy Book) by John Schindel
• Flap Your Wings by P.D. Eastman
• Birds by Kevin Henkes
• Bird Calls (Hear and There Books) by Frank Gallo
• The Best Nest by P.D. Eastman
• Grumpy Bird by Jeremy Tankard
• Common Birds and Their Songs (Book and CD) by Lang Elliott
• About Birds: A Guide for Children by Cathryn Sill
• Birds, Nests & Eggs by Mel Boring
• Bald Eagle (Walter Lorraine Books)
• My Spring Robin by Anne Rockwell

Quality Products for your Preschooler (optional)

• Gardman USA Wild Bird Feeding Kit
• Audubon Singing Bird Clock
• Bird Bingo by Channel Craft
• Eeboo Counting Birds Wall Cards
• Birdson Identiflyer Portble Audio Birdsong Guide
• Bushnell Natureview Prism Birding Binoculars

Worksheets

• Letter N coloring page
• N is for nest writing worksheet
• Letter N worksheet #2
• Number 5 worksheet
• Shapes: Oval
• Bird in a Nest cutting practice

Useful Links:

• Pictures of Bird Beaks
• Five little Ducks song
• The Sparrow song
• Pictures of Various Bird Nests
• Online Bird Jigsaw puzzles
• Egg Drop Soup Recipe

Lesson Plans for Feathered Friends week

Photo Credits:
Top: photo by Alex Murphy
Bottom: photo by Tatiana Gerus

We Enjoy Playing in the Ice and Snow
• when it is very cold, water freezes (gets hard), making ice, snow, sleet, and icicles.
• A blizzard is when a strong wind blows for a long time during a heavy snowstorm.
• Days are shorter, and nights are longer.
• Most plants stop growing for a while.
• Some plants and trees grow all year round, and are called “evergreens”.
• Some trees lose their leaves in the winter.
• Some animals hibernate.
• Many birds fly south (migrate) for the winter.
• We wear warmer clothing in the winter.
• We enjoy playing in the ice and snow – we build snow forts, throw snow balls, skate on ice, ski on snow.

Feeding the Birds and Squirrels Will Give Your Child Many Hours of Enjoyment

In the winter, we dress warmly. It’s better for the environment to put on a layer of long underwear rather than crank up the heat on your thermostat. It may be healthier, too. It’s less of a shock going out to the cold, when you have that extra layer of insulation next to your skin. Thermal (long) underwear comes in so many attractive colors and prints! Get a dozen pair for your child and yourself, as well. Hard-to-find flannel-lined overalls fit nicely over the thermal underwear. A long-sleeved tee-shirt,then a sweatshirt completes the layers. Don’t forget wool socks for the family. Never buy synthetic socks in the winter. Synthetics do nothing to insulate, or wick away moisture. Cotton socks are okay inside, but when you are outside, if you want your feet to stay toasty warm and dry, you must go with pure wool. They can be expensive, but if you take care of your wool socks, they will last a lot longer than cotton. I’ve heard so many people complain that they just don’t like winter – but nearly everyone of them isn’t dressed appropriately for the weather. If you dress warmly, you won’t begrudge the chilly temperatures.

Dog Sledding Can Be a Great Family Sport

For answers to all your mushing questions, you can either email me, or contact: Sled Dog Central. I’ve been mushing for about ten years, so while I don’t know all the answers, I do know several places I can go to get the answers.

The worksheets for this week were all taken from First_School.
Worksheet 1
Worksheet 2
Worksheet 3
Worksheet 4
Worksheet 5
Alphabet

All of the books that are recommended for this week can be found here, if you don’t find anything suitable at your library. When I select books, they are either ones that I have read and loved, or they have a five-star rating from parents. The music and a few seasonally appropriate toys are also found here .

Lesson Plans for Winter Week

Related Reading:
Beginning Writing
Play Areas for Encouraging Creativity
Working With the Lesson Plans

Photo Credits:
Snowy Day by Mark Evans
Chubby Squirrel by Jeremy Noble
Running Sled Dogs by Lorelei Sieja

I had two close friends whose daughters were about the same age as my oldest child, and all the girls were taking music lessons – theirs on the piano, and mine on the violin. The two moms exhibited the extremes of parental opinion in regards to their child’s music. The one mom clasped both hands to her breast, and with a dreamy expression on her face proclaimed, “It just brings me such joy to hear my child practice! To think than any child of mine would have so much talent is a true blessing!” The other mom snorted, remarking, “Thank God for electric pianos! She can plug in the ear phones and I don’t have to hear it.” I was somewhere in between. I loved hearing my daughter practice, but after listening to ten-thousand twinkles, I was mighty glad when she progressed to the next level.

The benefits of Music for the Young Child

Music develops listening skills! Music helps children express their emotions. Music and dance can give children a healthy way to expend some energy. Creating music fulfills a basic need that many of us have long ignored. And finally, music develops neural pathways in the brain, that lay the foundation for reading and math.

Introduce your preschooler to wide variety of music. Let him listen to classical music, folk music, baroque, romantic, jazz, blues, and more. Have him sing, clap, dance, and move to music. Help him discover sounds. One day he might bang on the back of a pot with a wooden spoon. The next day try beating on an empty oatmeal carton with a rubber spatula. One day you might actually get him a drum. How does it sound when he hits it with his hand, as opposed to the drumsticks?

Here below is Jonathan, a preschool conductor. He is listening to Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony, and he doesn’t miss a beat. He knows this piece! He knows what’s going to happen next, he anticipates it, giggling gleefully. In the comments after the video on YouTube, professional musicians said they would have no difficulty following him, and they wished their own conductors were as enthusiastic. The video is precious, but what struck me more than how talented this little guy is, is how joyful he is! I want that joy for my grandchild! I hope all of you can give your young children joy like this.

If you can find a class near you, you might want to look into Music Together. I’ve just discovered it while doing an internet search. I don’t have first-hand information on this program, but I watched their promotional video, and it surely looks good. I contacted a local class in my community, and depending on the cost, may give it a try.

The most important tip of all – have fun! Music should be loved, enjoyed, experienced. It should never be forced.

Photo Credits:

Little Drummer: by Bev Sykes