Week 1 Lesson Plan for Homeschooling Preschool

Literacy

Objectives:

• Identifies uppercase and lowercase A (including print and script “a”)
• Tells the short sound of /a/
• Knows text is meaningful and can be read (Concepts of Print)

Parent instructions

Have you ever noticed how most videos, books, posters, and products designed to teach children letter recognition focus predominantly on uppercase letters? Yet the vast majority of letters we encounter in the text are lowercase. Keep this in mind as you work on letter recognition and focus most of your time and attention on the lowercase letters. 

This week, we begin with the letter A. The weekly activity suggestions for letter recognition will remain much the same, but the letter will change. Don’t forget to incorporate previous letters into the activities as well as the one you’re currently focusing on, paying particular attention to any letters they have difficulty with. We will give tips for commonly tricky letters as we get to them. 

Our tip for the lowercase A is to remember that a typed “a” is different from a handwritten one, which is typically missing the curve on top. Make sure you point out plenty of examples of each!  

As you work on letter sounds, keep in mind that vowels are tricky business. They can make so many different sounds depending on the context, but the first vowel sounds a pre-reader should learn are the short sounds. When you inevitably encounter a word where the vowel makes a different sound, you will be questioned about this. It will happen. Trust me. Simply say, “Yes, this letter can make more than one sound and we will learn more about that shortly. Right now, we are learning that [insert letter] can say [insert correct sound] like in [give example word].”  

NOTE: You will commonly see AN or AM words (man, jam) included on short A word lists. These are not good examples! A does not make its short sound before N or M. We pronounce these words with something far closer to the short E sound. Once the short sound of E is taught, you can explain this exception.  

Activities

Choose one activity a day except for #1, which should be done a few times a week if possible.

• Say the ABCs using your chart from beginning to end once a day, pointing to each letter as you say it. After going through all the letters, ask your child to find this week’s letter—A. Tell your child that A is a vowel, which is a special type of letter that can make lots of sounds. Explain that you will be learning its short sound. Say, “A says /a/ like apple.” (You will need to spend more time perfecting the vowel sounds than you do on consonant sounds.) Look at and have them trace with their finger the upper and lowercase example. Try to ask your child a few times a week (during bathtime, driving in the car, etc.) to tell you the short sound of A. (Estimated Time: 3 minutes)
  
  
• Play letter hide and seek! Take turns finding the letter of the week on a cereal box, grocery store signs, or on a specific page of a book. Specifically, look for words where A makes its short sound. You typically encounter this in C-V-C (consonant-vowel-consonant) words. Here are some good examples:
  
  cab, dab, gab, jab, lab, nab, tab, bat, cat, fat, hat, mat, pat, rat, sat, vat, bad, dad, had, lad, mad, pad, sad, cap, gap, lap, map, nap, rap, sap, tap, yap, zap, bag, gag, hag, lag, nag, rag, sag, tag, wag
  
  When you find one of these words, point out that A makes its short sound in this word. Point to it and say it slowly, emphasizing the /a/ as in apple sound. Ask your child to repeat the word and if they can hear the short A. (Estimated Time: 10 minutes)
  
  
• To reinforce the idea that text carries meaning and can be read, while you’re out and about, read signs to your child and talk about what they mean. Show your child how you use reading for meaning in everyday life: reading a recipe to learn how to cook something, reading instructions to know how to assemble a piece of furniture. (Estimated Time: 3-5 minutes)
  
  
• Gift little notes to your child (which you will read to them of course) telling them that you love them or something that you love about them to illustrate how we can use text to express feelings and emotions. If you can, incorporate the letter of the week! (Estimated Time: 3-5 minutes)
  
  
• Complete a “Find the Letter” worksheet to locate all the upper and lowercase As. Use a marker, highlighter, or dauber to mark all the letters they find. (Estimated Time: 5 minutes)

Math

Objectives:

• Counts objects up to 20
• Identifies written numbers up to 10
• Understands 1-to-1 correspondence

Parent instructions

We cover the first two objectives over the course of the next several lessons because they are critical foundational skills to master. Gauge your child’s skill with these objectives and, if they have mastered them already, feel free to add more numbers and count higher so as not to induce boredom. Pay particular attention to the teens numbers, as those can be a bit tricky and sometimes require additional practice!

Activities

Choose one activity a day except for #1, which should be done a few times a week if possible.

• Count to 10 on the 100s chart, pointing to each number as you count. (Estimated Time: Less than 1 minute)
  
  
• Have your child count out 20 grapes, crackers, or cereal pieces for snack time. (Estimated Time: 2 minutes)
  
  
• Point out numbers 1–10 on signs at the grocery store and ask your child to identify the number. (Estimated Time: 5 minutes)
  
  
• Roll dice and ask your child to count how many dots. Have them place that many small toys or objects into the empty ice cube tray slots (one in each). Then, dump them out and repeat! (Optional: Sometimes using tweezers to place the objects makes it more fun and is a fine-motor activity!) (Estimated Time: 10 minutes)

Fine Motor

Activities:

• Practice 1 bilateral hand coordination activity
  
  
• Practice 1 in-hand manipulation activity
  
  
• Practice 1 hand-eye coordination activity
  
  
• Practice 1 precision activity

Parent instructions

Choose one fine motor objective each day and then select an activity that practices that objective from the list in Appendix A. Feel free to choose more than one activity or work on more than one objective a day if you like! Just remember that little hands tire easily and short, regular practice sessions are better than long, sustained ones. (Estimated Time: 5-10 minutes)

Download the Appendix A that lists all the fine-motor activities.

Social-Emotional

Objectives:

• (Self-awareness) Recognizes and labels basic emotions and associates them with words, facial expressions, and/or gestures
• (Self-management) With help, uses strategies to manage intense or difficult feelings

Activities

• Rhyme: If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands. (Estimated Time: 5 minutes)
  a.     If you’re surprised and you know it say, “Oh my!”
  b.     If you’re excited and you know it jump up and down.
  c.     If you’re sad and you know it rub your eyes, “Boo hoo!”
  d.     If you’re scared and you know it shiver and shake.
  e.     If you’re sleepy and you know it close your eyes.
  f.      If you’re angry and you know it stomp your feet.
  
  
• Draw emotions – think about each emotion in the rhyme above and draw something that made you feel that way. (Estimated Time: 10-15 minutes)
  
  
• Make an Anger thermometer (Available in the complementary worksheets bundle) identifying the different stages/levels (Estimated Time: 10-15 minutes)
  
  
• Belly breathing, star breathing, calm-down Yoga, or taking a mindful walk noticing through all the senses (Estimated Time: 10-15 minutes)

Additional resources

• Me and My Feelings- Book by Vanessa Green Allen
  
  
• Sesame Street: Name That Emotion with Murray! Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxfJicfyCdg
  
  
• A Little Spot of Feelings - Emotion Detective Book By Diane Alber
  
  
• The Pout-Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen
  
  
• My Mixed emotions: Learn to love your feelings- Book by Elinor Greenwood
  
  
• B is for Breathe by Dr. Melissa Boyd
  
  
• Breathing Makes It Better by Christopher Willard and Wendy O’Leary
  
  
• How to Take the Grrrr Out of Anger by Elizabeth Verdick and Marjorie Lisovskis