Following the Plan Friday: The Letter C

Welcome to another addition of Following the Plan Friday.  This week we focused on the letter C.

Well, actually, we started C last week.

Monday, a week ago, we did our Cats theme.

Oh, let me tell you this:  Jason had a blast cutting animal pictures out of magazines.  See, two weeks ago I was prepping for the week's lessons.  The kids were playing and doing various things.  I started cutting animal pictures out of magazines (I knew there was a reason for those free magazine subscriptions!).  Jason asked me what I was doing, and then asked if he could do it.  He absolutely loved finding animals, calling them out to me, and cutting them out.  It was a wonderful, impromptu learning experience and connecting time for us.  I will definitely be adding more of this type of thing into our days.

So, Monday we sorted cats from other animals and did a bunch of Cat Printables.

Monday was also the first day of school for my daughter, so we began our new schedule of getting up and out the door in the morning do drop her off at school and to participate in chapel.  You can read about our new routine and what our days look like in my Day in the Life post.

Tuesday we had to stop at Walmart on the way home from the school and so we were late getting back and starting school.  Tuesday night is our mid-week service at church, and I knew that I needed to get things ready for my mom's arrival the next day, so I scratched the plans to paint with cars and have a carwash and instead, gave the boys the cars and some blocks.  They had fun making structures for their cars to drive around.  We didn't get any more school done that day :(

The boys playing with cars and blocks.

Wednesday my mom came and we didn't get any school done that day either.

By Thursday I had decided to scrap the week and start again the next Monday.  We had a blast visiting with my mom.

So, school began again this past Tuesday.  I picked up the Cars theme again and we did the painting with cars activity.  My boys loved this and it looked so cool.  I used black poster board and started out with white paint.  We then added yellow and purple.  The boys also enjoyed going into the bathtub for a "car wash".

Jason also painted the cars.

Jason also did his printables.  I was amazed to discover that somewhere along the line Jason learned his numbers.

My mom said he looks asleep here, but he's just concentrating really hard :)

Wednesday we had another 4-year-old join us for the day.  I held off on Preschool until Justin went down for a nap, then I had both 4-year-old boys do the lesson.  They breezed through my plans and wanted more, so I printed off twelve pages of tracing.  They shared and stayed busy for 1.5 hours!!  It was great!

Trace and Color Cow

Thursday I borrowed a Candy Land game from a friend.  Once the boys saw it, they refused to wait until the next day to play it, so we switched and did our Candy lesson instead of Caterpillars.  Jason has loved playing Candy Land and is a good sport even when he gets sent all the way back to the cupcake!

I would place a number on the dish and he had to add the correct number of candies to the bowl

Color by number candy dish

Friday we had furniture delivered (hurray!), so we just did an abbreviated lesson while waiting for our new table.  The boys glued pom-poms onto a C to make caterpillars.

Justin's Caterpillar

Our favorite books this week were If You Give a Cat a Cupcake and Cows to the Rescue

They hated It Looked Like Spilt Milk.

What'd you do this week?

Lesson Plan for August 27: The Letter C

I am so excited about this week, the letter C!  I have some fun things planned.

"C" can be a hard letter because it can make three different sounds.  For this week, we are going to concentrate on the hard /k/ sound.

A collection of fun printable will help us have a cool cat day.  Cars will be the theme on Tuesday.  Wednesday we will look at things that "Moo".  Thursday we will revisit the caterpillar.  We will end our week will a candy unit!  If candy is not your thing, feel free to substitute with carrots and corn.

Note:  Though we will still be doing them, I will no longer be writing Pledges and the Alphabet Song into my lesson plans.

MONDAY

MATERIALS

• C is for Cat sign
• There is a cute one in the Cat Printable Pack from 1+1+1=1 that we will be using today
• Here is one from Coloring-Crafts.com if you would prefer to have a coloring page

• Items for Handprint Cats Activity, from Reading Confetti
• Construction Paper
• Paint
• Marker

• Bonus:  Items for Cat Sorting, from Reading Confetti
• Pictures of different things, including cats

• Cat Printable Pack from 1+1+1=1
• As desired

• Bonus:  Ingredients for Cupcakes
• Here is a round-up of cat cupcakes ideas

PREPARATION

• Print out the "C is for Cat" sign
• Gather items for Handprint Cats Activity
• Gather items for Cat Sorting, if desired
• Cut pictures out of magazines, or print off of the computer
•  Print desired activities from the Cat Printable Pack
• Gather ingredients and items to make cupcakes, if desired

LESSON PLAN

• Review the letters A and B with your child.
• Introduce the letter C
• Show your child the "C is for Cats" sign.
• Allow your child to color the sign, if desired.
• Introduce C is for Cats
• Talk with your child about cats.  According to their interest, you may pull out a Picture Encyclopedia and look at pictures, or maybe find something on the computer.

•  Make Handprint Cats, from Reading Confetti
• Dip your child's hand in washable paint.  Press the hand onto construction paper, holding all four fingers straight up, but open, and the thumb out to the side.
• Turn the paper around.  Use a little bit of paint to draw a tail.  Use markers to draw a face and whiskers.
• Embellish the picture as desired. 

• Bonus:  Cat Sorting, from Reading Confetti
• Cut pictures of different things, including cats out of a magazine, or print pictures off of the internet.
• Give the child the pictures and ask them to take out all of the cats.

• Work on desired Printables, using the Cats Printables Pack from 1+1+1=1

• Bonus:  Read If You Give a Cat a Cupcake and make cupcakes
• This website has a huge round-up of cat cupcakes, if you need some inspiration.

STORYTIME

 

TUESDAY

MATERIALS

• C is for Car sign

• Items for Painting With Cars Activity, from Preschool-Plan-It.com
• Paper, preferably long
• Washable Paint
• Toy cars, preferably with different kinds of tire tracks

• Items for Car Wash, from Preschool-Plan-It.com
• The messy toy cars from the above project
• water bins, kitchen sinks, etc

• Printables, as desired
• Coloring Pages
• Cars Preschool Pack from 1+1+1=1
• Car Printables from Kidsparkz

PREPARATION

• Print out the "C is for Car" sign
• Gather items for Painting with Cars Activity
• Gather items for Car Wash
• Print off desired printables

LESSON PLAN

• Review "C is for Cats", as well as the letters A and B
• Introduce "C is for Cars"
• Show the "C is for Cars" sign
• Talk about cars.  You can be general, or if you child is a fan of the Disney Cars, be specific.  Discuss the different colors and shapes of the cars, and the different kinds of vehicles, such as trucks and vans (which I call cars!)
• Do the Painting with Cars Activity, from Preschool-Plan-It.com
• Dip different toy cars into paint and drive the car along paper, making different scenes with the tire tracks.
• Use cars with different tire tracks, if available.
• Car Wash, from Preschool-Plan-It.com
• Those messy cars need a car wash now!  Use water tables, water bins, kitchen sinks, tubs, whatever to wash those cars all up!
• Do Desired Printables

STORYTIME

WEDNESDAY

MATERIALS

• C is for Cow sign
• Items for Cow in the Field Activity, from Busy Bee Kids Crafts
• Green, yellow, and blue construction paper
• White paint
• Paper Plate or shallow container
• Glue
• Marker
• Scissors
• Items for Contact Paper Cow
• Piece of Contact Paper
• White and Black Tissue Paper
• Desired Printables from Kidsparkz.com

PREPARATION

• Print "C is for Cow" sign
• Gather Items for Cow in the Field Activity
• Gather items for Contact Paper Cow
• Cut a piece of contact paper into the shape of a cow.  Do not remove the backing yet.
• Cut white and black tissue paper into lots of small pieces.

•  Print desired printable

LESSON PLAN

• Review
• Introduce "C is for Cows"
• Ask your child if they have ever seen a cow.  Talk about the size, colors, and, especially about what they give us:  beef and dairy products!

• Cow in the Field Activity, from Busy Bee Kids Crafts
• Instructions here
• Contact Paper Cow Activity
• Remove the backing from the contact paper cow that you cut out.  Secure the contact paper to a flat surface, sticky side up.
• Have your child decorate the cow using white and black tissue paper pieces.

•  Printables, from Kidsparkz.com, as desired 

STORYTIME (thanks to Everything Preschool for today's book recommendations)

THURSDAY

MATERIALS

• "C is for Caterpillar" Sign, from No Time For Flashcards
• Today we are going to make our sign.
• Two colors of construction paper
• Pom-poms or cotton balls
• Googly Eyes
• Pipe Cleaners
• Marker
• Glue
• Items for "Fork and Cup Caterpillars Activity" from Teach Preschool
• A long piece of paper
• Plastic Forks and Cups
• Variety of Paint Colors
• Marker
• Playdough

PREPARATION

• Gather items for C is for Caterpillar Sign
• Print a block "C" onto one piece of construction paper.  You can cut it out now or have your child cut it out later.

•  Gather items for Fork and Cup Caterpillars Activity
• Gather Playdough

LESSON PLAN

• Review
• Introduce "C is for Caterpillar"
• Talk about caterpillars.  Remind your child about the Alphabet Caterpillar that we did the first week of school.  Talk about the shape of the caterpillar:  long with circles.  Also talk about how caterpillars turn into butterflies.
• If you have never done a butterfly garden with your child, this is the perfect time.  We did the Insect Lore Live Butterfly Garden last year for Tyler's Science class and everyone got interested and involved in it, even the little guys.  A wonderful visual experience.
• Make the C is for Caterpillar sign
• Today we are making our sign, using this activity from No Time For Flashcards
•  Give your child the block C.
• Have them glue pom-poms or cotton balls onto the C.
• If not already done, cut out the C.
• Glue it to another piece of paper.
• Attach eyes and pipe cleaner antennas.
• Write "C is for Caterpillar" on the sign.
•  Do the Fork and Cup Caterpillar Activity, from Teach Preschool.
• Follow the instructions here
•  Play with Playdough
• Have your child roll the playdough into balls and make caterpillars.

STORYTIME

FRIDAY

MATERIALS

• C is for Candy sign, in the Candy Printables Pack by 1+1+1=1
• Items for Lacing Lifesavers Activity
• Thin Lace or a Red Vine
• Lifesavers

•  Desired Printables from the Candy Printables Pack by 1+1+1=1
• Bonus:  Candy Land Board Game

PREPARATION

• Print desired printables, including C is for Candy sign
• Gather items for Lacing Lifesavers Activity
• Bonus:  Gather Candy Land Board Game

LESSON PLAN

• Review
• Introduce "C is for Candy"
• What kid doesn't like candy?  

•  1+1+1=1 has a huge Candy Printables Pack, so today we are going to spend time working on these.
• Get in some lacing practice lacing lifesavers into a thin lace or a Red Vine.  You don't have to let them eat all of them in one sitting ;)
• If you have it play the Candy Land Board Game with your child.  They will love it.

STORYTIME

Click here for a Printable PDF of the Materials List

Click here for a Printable PDF of the Preparation Guide

Click here for a Printable PDF of the Lesson Plan

Read about the fun we had with the lesson on Following the Plan Friday: The Letter C

Painting With Cars!

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