Preschool outline: Insects and reptiles, letter W

 Samuel was excited to find this ladybug March 9 but would not get any closer to it!

I'd like to thank Eric Carle for creating my preschool lessons this week. If you never have shared one of his books with a young child in your life, go to the library or bookstore TODAY. His works are brilliant.  His trademark style of vivid collages of textured paintings is engagingly simple, inspiring children with its "Hey-I-can-do-that-too" quality. But oh, the layers!

Take The Very Hungry Caterpillar, for instance. Embedded in the story of a munching caterpillar are the concepts of change, numbers, and days of the week. The Grouchy Ladybug teaches about time, sizes and the movement of the sun. Plus it's just hilarious! We love Eric Carle around here.

I want to help my neighborhood preschool group love him, too.

Monthly theme: Animals
Weekly topic: Insects and reptiles
Letter W, number 26

Tuesday

Gathering activity: Encourage children to find different insects in The Big Bug Search, illustrated by Ian Jackson.

Rug time: Show pictures in The Butterfly Alphabet. Author Kjell B. Sandved found a complete alphabet (some letters many times over) on the wings of butterflies. Fascinating.

Talk about letter W and its sound. Ask children to raise hands when they hear W words in The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Talk about how caterpillar became a butterfly, which is an insect. Teach briefly about certain insect characteristics: antennae, six legs, three-sectioned body etc. Read The Very Quiet Cricket, which showcases many different insects. Count number of legs on each. Ask children to pay close attention to how the artwork of these two books is similar. Do they think the same person made both books? Yes!

Teach about Eric Carle and his art style. Tell children we're going to make art just like his. Finger-paint. Get messy! Show children how to make texture with finger swirls or the tines of a fork. Tell children we will set paintings aside to make our collages next time.

Outdoor time: search for insects and their habitats.

Closing story: The Grouchy Ladybug

Thursday

Gathering activity: Roll play dough into long ropes (worms) and form into letter W.

Workbook time writing W, 2 and 6.

Teach about reptiles. Read The Mixed-Up Chameleon, by Eric Carle. In this story a chameleon wishes he had the traits of the different animals he sees at the zoo. He ends with antlers, fins and flamingo feet. What a mess!

Brainstorm as a group what would be a funny animal. Together cut our previously painted papers into the animal's features. Or, children can make individual projects.

Music: "Five Little Speckled Frogs," "Baby Bumblebee," and -- if I can find it -- a Sesame Street song I remember from my childhood with Bert bemoaning what would happen without the letter W. A waffle would be just ...

Review alphabet, noting that there are 26 letters, our number for the week.

Outdoor activity: I thought it would be fun to have the children form letters on the lawn with their bodies, and I'll take pictures. I wish I'd thought of this sooner, as this is my last time doing preschool, and I certainly won't have time to do all 26 letters. But I'm excited to at least do each child's initial.

Closing stories: The Very Clumsy Click Beetle and The Very Lonely Firefly by Eric Carle.

I didn't ever form a written outline the last time I taught preschool, and boy did I falter. Lesson learned. 

One fun thing worth passing on is to read Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh. We mixed paint colors together like in the story. Ahead of time (read: while the children did a puzzle in the other room), I used a white crayon on white paper and drew three simple mouse shapes, like the cover of the book. Then the children painted with water colors to "discover" the mice.