Week 4 Lesson Plan for Homeschooling Preschool

Literacy

Objectives:

• Identifies uppercase and lowercase D
  
  
• Tells the main sound of /d/

Parent instructions

Two commonly confused letters are lowercase B and lowercase D. Now that your child is learning both of these letters, look for opportunities to practice telling which one is which. One way to help your child remember is to point out that if you make an extra curve on top of the curved line in the lowercase b it will make an uppercase B.

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. Look at and have them trace with their finger the upper and lowercase examples. Tell your child that D is a consonant, which is a name for all the letters that are not vowels. Say, “D says /d/ like dog.” Try to ask your child a few times a week (during bathtime, driving in the car, etc.) to tell you the sound of D. (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, “D says /d/ like dog.” Always say it with its example word. (Estimated Time: 4 minutes)
  
  
• Play letter hide and seek! This week, find items around your home that begin with D. Search by the sound! Say, “/d/ /d/ doorknob!” Point to the doorknob. “Now, you try!” Give help or ideas where needed. If your child is stumped, give them a choice of two items, one starting with D and one not, and ask them which begins with the sound /d/. Stumped yourself? Try: desk, dish, dog, drawer, dresser, or drain. Make it more fun by giving them stickers or post-it notes with the letter D written on them to label their items as they find them! (Estimated Time: 5 minutes)
  
  
• If the letter of the week is in your child’s name or a family member’s name, write it down and point it out to them. Ask your child if they recognize any of the other letters in the name. (Estimated Time: 3 minutes)
  
  
• Complete a “Find the Letter” worksheet to locate all the upper and lowercase Ds. Use a marker, highlighter, or dauber to mark all the letters they find. (Estimated Time: 5 minutes)
  
  
• While out and about or while reading books, point out words that begin with D. (You could also use your D flashcards for this.) Also, point out words that end with D. Here are a few examples:
  
  add, and, bad, bed, bud, dad, did, end, fed, had, hid, mad, mud, odd, old, pad, pod, red, rid, rod, sad (Estimated Time: 10 minutes)

Math

Objectives:

• Continue from Week 1: Counts objects up to 20
  
  
• Continue from Week 1: Identifies written numbers up to 10
  
  
• Recognizes simple repeating patterns

Activities

• Count to 10 on the 100s chart, pointing to each number as you count. (Estimated Time: Less than 1 minute)
  
  
• Count bubbles while you pop them. (Estimated Time: 10 minutes)
  
  
• Do simple dot-to-dot worksheets. (Estimated Time: 10-15 minutes)
  
  
• Play with pattern blocks! This math manipulative pays for itself over and over again. At this stage, allowing your child to free-play with them is enough. They may come up with surprising patterns on their own! To encourage them, make a few simple patterns of your own and show your child. (square, diamond, square, diamond) (Estimated Time: 10 minutes)

Fine Motor

Activities:

• Practice 1 open thumb web space activity
  
  
• Practice 1 precision activity
  
  
• Practice 1 finger isolation activity
  
  
• Practice 1 wrist extension and stability 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.

NOTE: Many fine motor activities also work well as math activities by counting objects or creating simple patterns with them. You can work on them at the same time if you choose!

Social-Emotional

Objectives:

• (Self-management) With support, begins to regulate impulses
  
  
• (Social awareness) Demonstrates awareness of others’ expressions of feelings (both verbal and non-verbal)

Activities

Choose one activity a day (Monday - Thursday)

• Games such as Red light, green light, Wacky Relay, Self-control Bubbles, Ready Set Go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_O1brYwdSY
  
  
• Story: Waiting Is Not Easy! by Mo Willems
  
  
• Play House or Family: Playing family and assigning roles is popular scenario children create. The negotiation of roles is an important part of the process where children learn how to work with others to come to an agreement. Let your child lead, but ask questions like, “Who should I be? The baby or the big brother?” “Do you want to be the little sister?” Sometimes children like to be the family pet. By playing another character, your child will naturally take the perspective of that person and act accordingly. Once in character, you can pose simple problems, “Pretend I’m the baby and I’m crying and you help me feel better.”
  
  
• Animate Stuffed Animals or Dolls: Children use stuffed animals and dolls in dramatic play. Join in with an animal of your own and ask, “Can we play too?” Most likely, your child will say yes and tell you what your animal should do. Look for natural ways to have your character encounter a problem and pose it in context. Perhaps your animal lost a favorite toy, or couldn’t find anyone for a game of fetch. You might say, “I’m so sad today because no one wants to chase my ball with me.” And then see where it goes.

Additional resources

• My Feelings and Me: Kids books read aloud by Books with Blue
  
  
• The Rabbit Listened by Cori Doerrfeld
  
  
• Hey, Little Ant by Phillip Hoose and Hannah Hoose, illustrated by Debbie Tilley