Consider the Preschool Palace Curriculum Program!

This program is design for children ages 3-5 for use in a family childcare home, preschool, or homeschool environment.  The curriculum is divided into 10 months, each with 20 days.  You may start any month at any time.  However, it is recommended that Month 1 starts in September, Month 2 in October, etc.  Seasonal and holiday lesson plans are separate and can be found at the end of this lesson plan book.

Daily lesson plans are easy to follow and implement.  Materials needed are simple and low-cost.  Most daily lesson plans include 1-2 songs, circle time activities/themes, a movement activity, sensory activity, craft ideas, and a printable worksheet. 

During circle time, you may choose to incorporate attendance, weather, and calendar activities in addition to the suggested circle time activity and lesson of the day.  It is also suggested that a story be read during circle time as well.  Most preschoolers are only able to handle a short period of time during circle time and that is why the rest of the curriculum revolves around other activities that can be included during other times of the day, depending upon your schedule.  Overall, each day strives to  promote each child’s cognitive, social, gross motor, fine motor, and other kindergarten readiness skills.  Just one  sample of a full-day childcare program with integrated preschool is below:

  7:00    Welcome, breakfast, free play.
  9:00    Circle Time (welcome song, calendar, counting, letters, shapes, colors, story, sharing, learn new song/rhyme, etc…)
  9:30    Music & Movement.  Interactive songs like Ants go Marching or Hokey Pokey, free-style dance to Music CD, dance/hop like animals.  Stretching and tumbling on nap mats. 
  9:45    Snack/potty/clean-up.
10:00    Table time.  Age appropriate paperwork (learn to write their names, patterns, scissor skills, math, journal, etc.).
10:15    Craft.
10:30    Outdoor play/neighborhood walk/park day.  Trikes, slides, bubbles, playhouse, sidewalk chalk, etc. Create natural playscapes which allow children to interact with bugs, plants, water, trees and nature.
11:30    Centers:  blocks, puzzles, dramatic play, kitchen area, tool bench, sensory table.
12:00    Clean up & wash up, Lunch.  Children participate in food prep, hand washing, setting table, serving and cleaning.  Family style meals are a great way to expose children to social skills, math, and language skills. 
12:30    Story & nap time.
  3:00    Snack/potty/clean-up.
  3:15    Outdoor play.  Group play like gymnastics/parachutes/races/tag/jumprope/hopscotch, hide & seek.
  4:00    Inside wind-down.  Children play with materials in activity areas while teacher uses time to focus on one-to-one activities with each child or pairs in organized games like Candy Land/Hi-Ho Cheerio.  Floor puzzles, free-style art with provided materials.  Free-play. 

Most daily lesson plans will reference a printable with a page number.  Those printables are part of the Printable Package that is included in this program and is a separate document.  The circle time posters are also included in that printable package.  Consider printing and laminating all the circle time posters for use and display throughout the school year.  You may print as many copies as you need of the worksheets for your class.  This program is provided in digital format so you can print one or as many as you need. 

You can print one complete set of this document and 3 hole punch it so that you will have the entire year’s worth of curriculum and lesson plans in one binder. 

Click here for more info!

May 12-16, 2014 is Children's Book Week.

Children’s Book Week, a literacy initiative, is an annual event that began in 1919. Since 2008, it has been celebrated in the United States in May. 

Celebrate Children's Book Week and read some of your childhood or current favorites!

Need some ideas, check out some suggestions of books to read to your preschooler on one of my idea pages here.

Happy Reading!

Heat wave here...time is right for some popsicle painting!

1. Add paint & water or paint & food coloring to popsicle tray or muffin tin. 
2. Insert popsicle stick or craft stick. 
3. Freeze. 
4. Paint!

Free Mother's Day printable for preschoolers.  Space to draw a picture of child and mom and space to write out original answers.

Blank printable here:

As the end of the school year approaches, you may consider assessing your preschoolers' academic skills.  Do they know their colors, upper and/or lowercase letters, 123's, any letter sounds?  Are they heading off to kindergarten in the Fall?  Have they made progress over the last year?

Assessments offer a way to see if your teaching and your students are progressing over the school year.

Here is a great award to print for your preschoolers.  Circle the crayons of each color that your preschooler can name.  

This printable and other assessment printables can be found on the Assessment tab of this website.
 

8 Spring themed preschool worksheets - free, here on the Spring printable page!

COULD YOUR GRADUATING PRESCHOOLERS BENEFIT FROM A KINDERGARTEN BOOT CAMP AT THE END OF THIS SCHOOL YEAR or DURING THE SUMMER?!?

Fun and enriching ideas for a 2 week Get Ready for Kindergarten Program
For children entering Kindergarten in the Fall, offer a Kindergarten Boot Camp style program that mimics what will happen during the first month of Kindergarten.  Not necessarily an academic program, more of a social and skills based program to help children have a better transition.  Returning from Disneyland the day before a child's first day of school is not going to help a child!  

Practice all the skills needed for a successful transistion to Kindergarten:

*Taking shoes on and off.

*Hanging up jackets on hooks.

*Practice lining up at the door and at transition periods.

*Join a Summer Reading program and read together everyday for at least 20 minutes.  Most Kindergarten programs request that parents read with their children for at least 20 minutes every night as part of their "homework."  Start now!

*Cut pictures out of magazines and paste onto paper to improve scissor and pasting skills

*Go shopping for a new backpack and lunchbox.

*Sit at circle time and listen to a story and learn to raise hands and share or ask questions when asked.

*Practice asking for assistance when needed (i.e., straw in juice box, where is the bathroom?)

*Practice writing name in new and fun ways.

*Before school starts, make sure you transition to earlier bedtime and earlier wake times.

*Take an outside walking tour of the school so you can show your child where the location of the bathrooms, playground, and office.  Best to do before the first day of school to help ease transition without so many other children on campus at the same time.

Take advantage of the sunny days and re-purpose some of those broken crayons to brighten up your windows with some pretty preschool crayon sun catchers!

Supplies:  wax paper, shaved crayons, iron, scissors

Instructions: Place a piece of wax paper cut into desired shape onto counter or other iron proof surface. Sprinkle crayon shavings onto wax paper.

Place another piece of wax paper cut into desired shape on top of shavings. Put a thin cloth over that. Gently press down with a warm iron (adult use only). Crayon will melt quickly.

Optional:  add a border.

You can make hearts, eggs, circles, stars, etc!

String several together on the window for a super-colorful display!  

An outdoor classroom can be created with plenty of learning opportunities for children.  A garden project can be created in the Spring and evolve over the Summer to incorporate lessons on plants, growth, change, nutrition, and nature.  Plus, home-grown flowers make for thoughtful Mother's Day bouquets!

PAINTING IS FUN WITHOUT BRUSHES!
Feathers
Legos 
Spaghetti
Straws
Sponges
Plungers (clean plunger of course, at the Dollar Tree), dab into paint - make large circle art on paper on fence or ground
Frozen popsicles (made with water and paint color)
Ice cubes
Salad spinner art
Line slide with butcher paper and dip golf balls into paint and slide them down the slide for art project
Balloons
Marbles rolled in paint rolling around paper on cookie sheet
Paint with feet

And with the fabulous Spring weather upon us, take the painting outdoors!