Thursday, May 5, 2011

May Theme - Tennessee, First Week Unit - Smokey Mnts.

Well, I finally figured it out!  I will do a monthly theme and then break it down into smaller units.  I want to implement several things I saw on the blog last night and I think this is a great way of doing it.  Even though we lost a week due to being sick we will finish out the month.  I want to start out this idea with Tennessee.  After all, that is our home-state.  Then I am going to break it down into units.  We are planning a trip to the mountains soon so I think that learning about the Smokey Mountains will be a great way to start out.  We went to the library today and checked out several books about the mountains.  While I was there the librarian and I brainstormed a bit ::side note, I have a great library and the children's librarian is amazing and knows so much about the books on those shelves:: and decided that tying black bears in with the unit would be a great way to start introducing some Science in with the unit.  So the kids and I picked out several books about black bears as well.  Now I must plan.  (That is my favorite part!)  I am on the hunt for a poem for the month and some bear and mountain themed crafts for next week.

Here is how I plan to do Themes and Units
Monthly we will have NEW
  • Themes
  • Poem - with activities around it
  • Sensory Tub
Weekly we will have NEW:
  • Songs
  • Movements
  • Art/Craft Projects
  • Library Books
  • Games
  • Coloring Activities
I will add more to this list as necessary but so far this is what I have.  Of course this is just added into the curriculum that we will do each day.  We have chosen to use "Rod and Staff" for both of the children.  S will use grade 1 and N will use the preschool curriculum.  Now that I have a plan in place I am very excited!  I am brainstorming some new themes and trying to come up with units for them then I will plug them into the calendar as I go.  I want to be flexible with this so that if something comes up we can change our plans and move on to something else.  If you have any ideas for Themes or Units we could do let me know.  I would love some inspiration!

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