Letter G – Preschool Unit Plan
G Week!
Gardner
(Thanks, Connections Academy) I had no idea that when I took a doctoral class of Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences in 1999 that I would one day be using it to educate my own children. On my way to my doctorate, I completed my Education Specialist Degree that is in Curriculum Design. During their Homeschool Preschool year, I created my own curriculum for Carter and Ammon that I still rely on from time to time even though they have a separate Kindergarten curriculum. Verbal/linguistic 1. Practicing writing the letter G 2. Gorilla be Good (Letter G): Scholastic Items used/needed: Any paper, pencil, jumbo crayons (actually Ammon is holding colored pencils real well, so she asked for pencils. I obliged. Preschool Workbook by Mead (bought at WalMart) Logical/Mathematical Geometry-triangles, hexagons: We spent a few minutes introducing “lines” and triangles that have 180 degree angles. Items needed: sidewalk chalk The Dot and the Line: a Romance in Lower Mathematics http://bit.ly/Y96he3 Visual/Spatial 1. Typing the letter G: pointer finger left hand Items used/needed: any computer keyboard. Ammon and Carter used their iPads with two different Apps. 1)ABCKeyboard 2)ABC Games Art: Gauguin : comparing and contrasting European painting vs. Tahitian paintings. Power Point (less than 6 slides) with Gauguin paintings Music: explore the music of Gershwin 1. Breakfast to the sounds of “I’ve got Rhythm” –several times during the week, we would break out in a “tap-danced” to this tune 2. Watch a video of “An American in Paris” Bodily/Kinesthetic 1. Gallop Intrapersonal: 1. What does it mean to be grateful (discussion) During meal or evening prayers, we would discuss what each of us were grateful for. Interpersonal: 1. How can you show gratitude to others? (discussion) We stopped often to tell each other “thank you!” and MEAN IT! Nature Plan a garden or plant seeds Learning in Action In Blooms Taxonomy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom’s_Taxonomy) , the pinnacle of the learning pyramid is creativity. My favorite part of the week was when Carter and Ammon CREATED their own “G”ame. We made up rules as we went along, and you and yours can do the same: IT’S YOUR GAME! LOL Cowboys and Indians (Carter and Ammon style) 1. Cowboys and Indians (like a pack for $1 at the Dollar General) 2. Bottle caps 3. Line up your men (it can be by color, or Indians vs. Cowboys, rifles against pistols whatever) 4. Line up your men about 3 ft. apart. From each side and taking turns, toss your bottle cap at the line of “soldier” so as to knock down the men. 5. The first contestant to knock down all the figures wins.
Haven's Ideals by Haven Caylor-Brown 
Wow! What a great week of learning and fun!
Thanks, Anne! Hope all is well. Prayers still going up for you and yours! Haven
Over all awesome plan!
Of course I have some quirky ideas to add:
1. Make the letter “G” out of something that begins with that letter (gum, gummy bears, glitter, etc)
2. You could actually do a little unit about gum, how it’s made, and start a continual “where in the world does ____ come from?” and highlight guatemala…just an idea…
3. You could do something with a mystery food– put it in a bag and have them feel it, then have them cover their eyes and have them smell and taste it to identify it…one idea is having “grape” as the mystery food, or you could challenge them with something like guava or grapefruit…
4. Make a goofy word game where they could make up a word and definition, or pick a new g word for them and give them two silly definitions and one true definition, and have them guess which is the correct definition.
You will probably gather from most of my ideas is that they include more of the senses; touch, taste, smell….feel free to use whatever ideas you like.
Awesome suggestions, Beth! Thank you. Stay tuned for Letter “I” next week!
Sounds like you have a lot of fun games planned. I’d find a book that focuses on G for each day of the week, or reread the gorilla book each day focusing on something new. Be sure to do a lesson (can be with playdough or shaving cream or word cards) in which they differentiate between the soft g and the hard g and how certain letters have to follow g to make it soft. Go on a “g” hunt when you are out and about…do we see more capital g’s or lower case g’s. There are all kinds of songs about words on youtube, you could search for some on “g”. I am a huge fan of pbskids and sesame street online. There are tons of alphabet games on there and Grover is one of the characters.
People still do a lot of the “letter” of the week learning, but early childhood educators do not suggest you take 26 weeks to cover the alphabet because sometimes a girl just needs a “y” or a “t” and shouldn’t have to wait 20 something weeks to get there. Try integrating some letters as you introduce them…like do c and k the same week so you can tell how they are alike and different, or b and d for the same reasons.
And write write write with anything…paints, shaving cream, play dough, beads. Use “storykit” app and other apps that help them write stories digitally and then playback and have them try to write it out. Even if they are not writing full words then let’s see what sounds they do record and that will help you know what they are hearing and where to go next.
What a treasure trove of ideas, Jennifer! Thank you!!
Haven, what a wonderful lesson plan! I don’t know that you need to add anything, but if you run out of activies Beth and Jennifer suggestions especially YouTube songs, geography, and goofy word game are really good. I might use glue in some way, you could even incorporate it with a getting ready for Kindergarten activity, such as squeezing white school glue on Wax paper and folding it over the dots to so they can see how it spreads and you only use a little glue or how to make a simple glue kind of like Jennifer’s gum suggestion. Also, I have a great Glacier Gak (made with glue) recipe on pinned my FunwithKiddos board on Pinterest. Goodness we could get really crafty since it getting warm and talk about glaciers and freeze some plastic toys in a bowl and make a glacier and let them see how long it melts.
The Glacier Gak sounds GREAT! Thank you, Keely!