Preparing a Lesson Part 4- Focus Activities

Before we begin talking about Focus Activities I just want to point out that as much as I would like to, I do not plan a detailed lesson for each day we do something.  I would love to do that, but it can be very time consuming and with three young children, a husband, and a household to take care of it just isn't realistic at this time.  The more prepared I am, the better our days go.

Focus Activities are to help children practice skills related to the theme of the day.  Different art activities are perfect for learning to cut, paste, draw, etc. Keep in mind that the focus is on practicing and aquiring skills not on the final product.  They should be things that children can do without too much help from an adult. 

Try to get a variety of different activities for the day. For example, with our apple theme we could do

Apple Prints

taste test different types of apples

play a matching game

measure how many apples long we are

It helps to have a list of what is needed for each activity and have it on hand before it is time to do them so no one loses interest before actually doing anything. :) 

If you've missed any part of this series you can check them out here

Part 1- Themes

Part 2- Preassessment

Part 3- Gathering Time