Lesson - Summer

Welcome Song

Announce Date

Theme 
Summer is one of 4 seasons (Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall)
Summer officially starts on June 21, also called the Summer Solstice
It is the longest day of the year and the shortest night
Summer is the warmest season. Although we can grow a garden year round where we live, in many places where it snows in the winter, people plant gardens in the spring that will have vegetables to eat in summer. Some common summer veggies are: tomatoes, squash, peas. Do you have vegetables growing in your yard?

In the spring, the fruit trees and plants had flowers. Now they are getting fruit. Some fruits that are ready to eat in the summer are: plums, peaches, apricots, berries

Story
Jamberry by Bruce Degen
Cute rhyming story with lots of berries.  Summer is the time of year for berries.

Spanish Vocabulary
Some words and phrases related to summer:

verano = summer
el sol = the sun
hace calor = it is warm
la playa = beach
parque = park

Letter of the day - S
Seasons, Summer and Sun start with S.
Can you name some other words that start with S? (swim, strawberries, sea)

Worksheet: S Hide and Seek p.77 in Kindergarten Language Arts Success, S tracing p.104 in Brain Quest Workbook: Pre-K

Number of the day - 4
There are 4 seasons in the year. Count to 4 and show 4 fingers. Name some animals that have 4 legs.

Worksheet: Summer Dot to Dot p46. in Big Activity Ages 4 & Up

Craft
Blackberry craft

I cut out the branch and leaves ahead of time and had the kids glue those on first before painting on the blackberries.  The berries can be made by dipping fingertips into the paint (I used red, blue and a little white tempura paint), but my son refused to get paint on his hands so we used a paint brush.

Closing Song
by Me
Tune: “Row, Row, Row your boat”
Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall
Are seasons of the year
The days are getting warmer now
‘Cuz summer’s almost here.
(Substitute "finally" for "almost" if you sing this after June 21)

Lesson - Flowers

(This is a lesson I did in May)
Welcome Song

Announce Date

Theme
May is a time for flowers. Everywhere we look, flowers are blooming. Let’s look at the parts of a flower.  (I used several flowers I picked from our yard to show how very different flowers all have these same parts.  This page may also help you.)

Petals
Stem
Leaves
Sepal (protects flower before it opens)
Pistil (catches pollen)
Stamen (makes pollen)

Explain where seeds are made and how bees pollinate flowers.  Ask: What other insects or animals might pollinate flowers? (butterflies, moths, flies, and hummingbirds).

Spanish Vocabulary
Here are some Spanish words related to Flowers:

primavera = Spring
flor = flower
pétalos = petals
hojas = leaves
tallo = stem
semilla = seed
abejas = bees

Story
One to Ten... and Back Again (An Amazing Pull-the-Ribbon Book) by Betty Ann Schwartz
Ribbon pulling book with flower and bugs


Letter of the Day - F
F is for Flower.  Can we think of some other words that start with F? (friend, family, farm, fork, five, fingers)

Worksheet: p. 25 in Kindergarten Language Arts Success, p.78-79 in Brain Quest Workbook: Pre-K 


Number of the Day - 6
Count to 6, show six on our fingers, look at a die and find the side with 6 dots.

Worksheet: p. 136-137 in Brain Quest Workbook: Pre-K

Activity
Look for flowers outside

Craft
Corked Stamped Flowers

Closing Song
(Adapted from Susan's post on Perpetual Preschool)
First you take the seed and you plant it in the ground.
(Mime taking a seed and planting it in your other hand, balled up in a fist.)
Next a rain cloud comes and waters all around.
(Keep fist with seed same, use other hand to simulate a rain cloud raining down on seed.)
Next the sun shines brightly, without a sound.
(Keep fist with seed same, use other hand to shine down by moving fingers over seed.)
And in just a few days... a flower is found!
(Move fist with seed up through other hand and open like a flower.)

After kids are familiar with this poem, have THEM be the seeds that I plant and water and shine on. When I tap them on the heads the first time as I say the first line, they drop to the floor as if they have been planted. I tap them on the heads again as I recite the last line, and they grow into beautiful flowers.

Lesson - Clouds

Welcome Song

Announce Date

Theme 

Talk briefly about weather in general.
Look at weather chart and have kids set the weather (I made a weather chart using a circle divided into sections with pictures for different types of weather, then mounted it on card stock with a brad so it could turn and drew an arrow at the top of the backing to point to the type of weather.)
Ask: What kind of weather can clouds bring? (Rain, snow, hail.)
There are many types of clouds and today we’ll talk about 4 types.
Clouds are given names based on how they look and how high they are (their altitude)

(Use Lego people and cotton balls to give approx idea of clouds at different altitudes)

Cumulus - puffy, look like cotton balls, relatively low in the sky (under 6000 ft)

Cumulus

Nimbostratus - grey, often cover the entire sky, low altitude, bring rain

Nimbostratus

Cirrus - wispy, high altitude clouds

Cirrus

Cumulonimbus - tallest of the clouds, produce thunder storms

Cumulonimbus

Story
Sector 7 (Caldecott Honor Book) by David Wiesner
A beautifully illustrated picture book about an adventure a boy has with a cloud

Spanish Vocabulary 
tiempo = weather
las nubes = clouds
nublado = cloudy
está lloviendo = it's raining 
está nevando = it's snowing 

Letter of the Day - C
C is for Cloud. Which of the clouds we learned about start with C? Note that C can have a hard sound like it does in cloud, or a soft sound like it does in cirrus.

Worksheets: p. 10-11 in Brain Quest Workbook: Pre-K.

Number of the Day - 4
We talked about four types of clouds.  Let's count to 4 on our fingers.
Can we name some animals with 4 legs?

Worksheets: p. 131 in Brain Quest Workbook: Pre-K.

Craft
Paint white clouds on blue construction paper


Games
Look outside for clouds.
Blow a cotton ball cloud back and forth across the table

Closing Song
I’M A LITTLE CLOUD
by Jean Warren
Tune: “I’m A Little Teapot”
I’m a little cloud, in the sky.
You can find me, way up high.
Sometimes I’m puffy and sometimes stretched out.
I just love to float about.