Week of May 8th!

Theme for the Unit:

Plants!

Enduring understandings that the student should have by the end of the unit:

• Plants are living things; every part of a plant has an important function.
• Plants grow from seeds and need water, nutrients and light to live.
• Plants are all around us.
• There are many different types of plants. 
• Plants are important for many reasons. 

Lessons and activities for the week:

Blocks- The teacher will wrap blocks in green, brown and other color papers and invite children to use them to create stems, tree trunks, soil etc.  Paper, scissors, and tape will be supplied for children to create leaves, flowers etc. to add to their plants. Pictures of plants will be available for children to reference as they build. Teacher will discuss the parts of the plants and types of plants they are creating, highlighting vocabulary words such as branch, flower, leaves and stem. 

Pretend Play- The teacher will turn Dramatic Play into a flower shop by adding pretend flowers, containers and pictures of flower arrangements as well as a cash register, notepad, writing utensils etc. Children can pretend to make, buy and sell floral arrangements. Vocabulary words such as bouquet, floral arrangement, florist, and flower will be highlighted.

Art- The teacher will supply pipe cleaners as well as tissue paper circles. Children can pierce the middle of the tissue paper circles with the pipe cleaner, adding as many as they would like, then fold the circles up to create a flower. After creating these flowers children can use them in the Dramatic Play flower shop.

Science- The teacher will provide individual pictures of the plant life cycle. Students will be asked to sequence the pictures. The teacher will provide pictures / diagrams for children to refer to as they play and talk with them about each stage in the life cycle. 

Math- The teacher will cut out several paper watermelons, add a number to each one, and ask children to put the appropriate number of seeds on each watermelon.Students are encouraged to write the corresponding number.

Library- Students are invited to read books about our theme, plants.

Writing/Technology-  Weekly learning games on iPads are provided.  

Sensory- Sand and water, or play-doh.

Some of the books we will read this week are: 

• The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss  
• An Orange in January by Dianna Hutts Aston 

Recommended Home School Connection:

• Math Newsletter

• Families are encouraged to find and observe a plant together. Discuss what the plant looks like, how it smells, the way it feels etc. After observing the plant, students can write or draw about it and bring their reflections back to the class for a class display. 

Reminders / Notices:

• On Friday, May 12th, we are celebrating Mother's Day! Muffins with Mom will take place in the gym at 8:30 a.m.  

Link to Weekly Lesson Plan

If there are any questions regarding the Pre-K for All program that can not be answered by the office or classroom teacher, please feel free to contact the

Help Line at 888-227-8175