Preparing a Lesson Part 1- Themes

I have been brainstorming as to what I want to accomplish this year as far as preschool goes.  It is my 4 year olds last year before kindergarten and my 2 year old will turn 3 in September so the majority of the school year I will have two preschoolers in the house. 

Lesson Planning was the hardest thing I did during my pursuit to getting a degree in preschool education.  I thought I would share, piece by piece some things that may be helpful to others whether you are working in a public preschool setting or working with your own children.  I won't be focusing on every aspect that you would have in a public preschool, but some main things I do as I work on preparing to do stuff with my own children.

First, I like to pick themes to focus on.  One beauty of doing preschool with my children is that I get to do topics that I couldn't do in a public setting, for example I plan on doing a theme about Jesus Christ at Christmas time.

When picking a theme avoid topics that are too broad.  Community Helpers is way to broad to do in a day, however, try doing mail carriers and you are set.  If the topic is too abstract, in other words if the child can't be taught through using their senses it probably isn't appropriate.  I think this is the hardest thing for me and I'll be honest, sometimes I choose topics, like holidays or religious themes anyway, but it does make it harder.  Another issue you may run into is choosing a them that the child has no experience with.  If it isn't applicable to a child  the age you are trying to teach then don't bother.

Is the theme interesting?  Is it meaningful?  Is it something the children are regularly involved with now?  Will studying this theme help children gain a greater understanding of it?  Can this topic be taught through direct experience?  Ask yourself these questions before going any further.  The answer to all should be "YES"!

I have been thinking about September and what topics I want to cover.  Here are a few of my ideas:

apples

bakers

caterpillars

elephants

ears

As I mentioned above sometimes I don't follow these rules perfectly, but I definitely keep them in mind and believe me, when I don't it is much harder to figure out how to teach new concepts to my children.

I hope this was useful to someone out there.  Stay tune for Part 2...