Week 17 Lesson Plan for Homeschooling Preschool

Cognitive activity ideas

Objective: (Remember) Follows multi-step directions

This week, we take short-term memory up a notch by practicing tasks that have multi-step directions. At this age, two- or three-step tasks are plenty. Here are some tips to help your child have success with this often difficult skill:

• Minimize distractions and get your child’s full attention before giving them directions.
• Ask them to repeat the directions back to you.
• Be concise and specific: “Put your stuffed animals on the bed and your shoes in the closet” rather than “Go clean your room.”
• Try numbering the directions: “One—Put your backpack in your room, Two—Wash your hands,
• Three—Tell your brother it’s time for a snack.”
• Until you are sure your child has mastered this skill (at least most of the time), observe your child as they work on the steps and provide reminders and encouragement if they need it. This will not only avoid frustration (both for your child and for you when steps are inevitably forgotten), but it will reinforce to your child that, when they are given tasks, they should follow through and complete them every time.

• Incorporate multi-step directions into your child’s normal daily routine as in the examples above. Getting ready for the day, preparing to go somewhere, or bedtime routines are optimal places.
  
  
• Make a small craft or art project and give multi-step directions to create it: “Color the monster purple and then glue its eyes on.”
  
  
• Play a silly game with multi-step directions: “Jump up and down two times, spin around three times, and then find something in the room that’s orange.”

Literacy

Objectives:

• Identifies uppercase and lowercase Q
  
  
• Tells the main sound of /q/
  
  
• Identifies story-related problems

Parent instructions

Choose one activity a day with the exception of #1, which should be done a few times a week if possible.

NOTE: The sound of Q is similar to a hard C + W sound /kw/. In English words, the letter Q is always followed by a U. Sometimes it is helpful to teach that from the outset: “Q and U stick like glue.” If your child already recognizes the letter U, you may want to incorporate this teaching. Simply point this out every time you see it and repeat the rhyme. It will be helpful later on for your child to know that the U is a companion letter to the Q and does not perform the job of a vowel in the word, so they would not segment that letter sound separately: quiz = /kw/ /i/ /z/, not /kw/ /u/ /i/ /z/.

Activities

• 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—Q. Look at and have them trace with their finger the upper and lowercase examples. Tell your child that Q is a consonant, which is a name for all the letters that are not vowels. Say, “Q says /kw/ like quail.” Try to ask your child a few times a week (during bathtime, driving in the car, etc.) to tell you the sound of Q. (Don’t forget to include some previously learned letters, especially those vowels!) If they need help or say it incorrectly, model the correct way by repeating, “Q says /kw/ like quail.” Always say it with its example word. (Estimated Time: 5 minutes)
  
  
• While out and about or while reading books, point out words that begin with Q. (You could also use your Q flashcards for this.) Don’t forget to point out that companion U as well and repeat the rhyme, “Q and U stick like glue.”:  Quack, Queen, Quick, Quiet, Quiz, Quilt, Quail. (Estimated Time: 10 minutes spread throughout the week)
  
  
• Complete a “Find the Letter” worksheet to locate all the upper and lowercase Qs. Use a marker, highlighter, or dauber to mark all the letters they find. (Estimated Time: 5 minutes)
  
  
• Trace or draw upper and lowercase Qs with fingerpaint, in sand, or in shaving cream. Show your child how both the upper and lowercase Qs have a little “tail” and how both the tails point in the same direction (to the right). This will be helpful when distinguishing between lowercase Q and lowercase P, a common point of confusion. (Estimated Time: 5 minutes)
  
  
• While reading stories this week, help your child identify the problem or obstacle in the story. Ask them to tell you what the problem or challenge for the main character is in the story. If the obstacle is presented by another character, ask your child to identify who that is. Avoid using language like “the bad guy.” In literary terms, this character is called the “antagonist.” Feel free to use that label. Children love a sense of completion and resolution. Talk with your child about how the problem was solved or the obstacle was overcome at the end of the story. (Estimated Time: 15 minutes)

Math

Objectives:

• Continued from Week 16: Count by 10s to 100
  
  
• Sorts items according to their shape regardless of color
  
  
• Knows days of the week

Parent instructions

Choose one activity a day with the exception of #1, which should be done a few times a week if possible.

If your child is still not comfortable counting to 100 by 1s, you can continue to work on that skill and delay counting by 10s. Otherwise, if they have mastered it, let’s move on to the next level in counting!

Activities

• Explain to your child that counting by 10s is counting 10 numbers at a time or every 10th number. Using the 100s chart, show them how counting by 10s means counting all the numbers in the right-hand column and that each number ends in 0. Practice counting by 10s to 100. (Estimated Time: 3 minutes)
  
  
• Count out 100 small household items in piles of 10. (buttons, paperclips, cereal pieces) Have your child count the piles. Show your child how there are 10 groups of 10 in 100. Count the piles by 10s to 100. (Estimated Time: 7 minutes)
  
  
• Because color is often the most noticeable characteristic of an object, this week, we will ask your child to disregard color to focus on shape instead. Legos are the perfect item for this task since there are a variety of colors of the same shape. Ask your child to sort Legos into different piles by shape regardless of what color they are. (Estimated Time: 5-7 minutes)
  
  
• If you have placed a calendar in your child’s room, continue to review the days of the week with them. Teach your child a simple “Days of the Week” song like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CB79gFbAh0k. Continue to work on this until your child can recite the days in order and tell you what day yesterday was and what day tomorrow will be when you tell them what day today is. (Estimated Time: 10 minutes spread throughout the week)

Fine Motor

Activities:

• 1 pincer grasp activity
  
  
• 1 in-hand manipulation activity
  
  
• 1 bilateral hand coordination activity
  
  
• 1 spherical grasp 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:

• (Relationship skills) Seeks advice or assistance from peers and/or adults to resolve conflict where appropriate
  
  
• (Responsible decision-making) Recognizes situations that are safe vs. dangerous

Activities

Choose one activity a day (Monday - Thursday)

• “Talk to your child about what to do when they are in a conflict with a peer and when to ask for help from an adult. Provide them with steps to take. Here is one example:
  
  - Tackle feelings first: Identify their feelings and use a calm-down strategy like counting to 10 and breathing
  - Identify the problem/reason of the conflict
  - Brainstorm solutions, including whether they should ask an adult for help
  - Choose the best option and practice communicating effectively: sharing the problem, their feelings, a possible solution
  
  This is not a one-and-done conversation. Continue to discuss this topic with your child regularly and use examples from real life, stories, or shows whenever possible. (Estimated Time: 15 minutes)
  
  
• Make a chart on poster board divided into two halves, one labeled “Safe” and the other labeled “Dangerous.” As you think of or encounter them, write or add pictures of things that belong to the particular categories. (Estimated Time: 5-7 minutes for initial setup, 5 minutes at a time ongoing)
  
  
• Read books with a focus on safety. You could talk about stranger danger as you read Little Red Riding Hood or the importance of avoiding sharp objects when reading Sleeping Beauty. (Estimated Time: 15 minutes)
  
  
• Rehearse safety scenarios with your child and teach them specifically what your family rules are for these situations. Here are some examples:
  
  - What would you do if someone you didn't know came to your daycare and told you to go home with him?
  - What would you do if your ball rolled out into the street?
  - What would you do if you couldn't find me in the supermarket?
  - What would you do if you saw a three-year-old fall off the jungle gym?
  - What would you do if another child sat at the top of the slide and refused to go down?
  - What would you do if you dropped a glass of juice and the glass broke?
  - What would you do if a friend asked you to do something you thought was unsafe?
  - What would you do if the smoke detectors went off?
  
  (Estimated Time: 10-15 minutes at a time—ongoing)

Additional resources

• Suggested books about good touch and bad touch:
  - Amazing You: Getting Smart About Your Private Parts by Gail Saltz
  - It's My Body: A Book to Teach Young Children How to Resist Uncomfortable Touch by Lory Freeman
  - Not Everyone Is Nice: Helping Children Learn Caution With Strangers by Frederick Alimonti and Ann
  - I Said No—A Kid To Kid Guide To Keeping Private Parts Private by Kimberly King
  
  
• Suggested books about safety:
  - Watch Out! At Home by Claire Llewellyn.
  - Watch Out! Around Town by Claire Llewellyn
  
  
• https://childmind.org/article/teaching-kids-how-to-deal-with-conflict/