Teddy bear Preschool

1. Teddy bear Preschool Annual themes

2. January • Winter • Penguins • Houses • The Color Box

3. Winter • In the sensory tub, we will make snowand then play with it. • We will do an experiment with ice. • We will play with winter clothes in the house center. • We will use the snow to learning measurement. • We will learn why animals hibernate in the winter. • We will make a snow cone snack…burr! • Graph: Do I want to live where it snows? • Who knows, it may snow!

4. Penguins • This week we will learn about penguins. • We will watch an educational video about how penguins live as a community and a family. • We will do a create a penguin with art materials. • We will use penguins in our math learning. • We will complete a concept web with information we have learned about penguins. • At the end of the week, we will watch Happy Feet 

5. Houses • We will complete a KWL chart. • We will build houses with blocks, legos, and lincoln logs. • We will read our house booklet. • We will make a house with sugar cubes. • We will use a list to complete a scavenger hunt. • We will make a house snack. • Graph: Which space would I like to live in…house, apartment, or a boat. • Collage things onto a house shape. • Make a room floor plan using shapes as furniture.

6. Colors • Each day we will focus on a color as outlined on the calendar. It is encouraged that each child where the color of the day so that he/she earns a ticket. • Week 1 • Blue- collage book of blue things • Orange- collage book, what 2 colors make orange • Yellow- collage book • Green- collage book, what 2 colors make green, read Go Away Big Green Monster • Pink-Read Pinkalicious, collage book, what 2 colors make pink.

7. Colors • Week 2 • Purple- collage book, what 2 colors make purple, purple cow milkshake • Black- collage book, Can we make black prediction graph & experiment • Brown- read Brown Bear Brown Bear, collage book, can we make brown experiment • White- collage book, can we make white?, read It Looks like Spilt Milk • Red-finish the color collage book, and celebrate Elmo’s 3rd birthday! • We will have an Elmo birthday party with pizza, goldfish, and special drink. We will play a game, watch an Elmo video, and read with Elmo. We will have an Elmo Show & Tell so bring Elmo books, wear Elmo, a toy, or whatever.

8. February • Tooth Time • Valentine’s Week • Classic Fairytales • Cowboys & Cowgirls • Go Texan Week

9. Tooth Time

10. Valentine’s Week • Home project: Parents and child will make a valentine box for our Valentine’s day car exchange on the 14th. • We will discuss values: sharing, caring, love, friendship, giving, respect (graphic web). • We will count, sort, and make patterns, with candy hearts. • We will make cards for our loved ones. • We will make a list of ways to love one another. • Collage on a heart shape. • List ways to share with others. • Valentine party (14th)---card exchange, watch care bears video, game and songs, and for lunch we will have heart-shaped PBJ sandwiches, friendship salad, love punch

11. President’s Day • Today we will read about George Washington and Abe Lincoln. • We will watch biographical video (s) of Washington & Lincoln. • We will read about the job of president. • We will discuss what a president does and record our ideas on a poster. • We will eat cherry pie for snack. • We will try to make a Lincoln log cabin with pretzels and peanut butter.

12. Classic Fairytales • We will read variations of the Three Bears and the Three Pigs. • We will learn about cooperation and helping with The Red Hen. • We will read about Jack & the Beanstalk and plant magic beans (jelly beans and pinto beans). We will make a prediction graph: which beans do they think will grow: jelly beans or pinto beans? • We will watch The Ugly Duckling. We will discuss how the duckling felt • We will make a cake. • Graph: our favorite classic fairytale. • The kids will get to act out the fairytales.

13. Cowboys & CowgirlsGo Texan Week • On Go Texan day (25thor the closet day), children will be asked to wear jeans, boots and a cowboy hat. (if you have them). • We will have a Texas lunch of brisket on a hotdog bun, baked beans, and fruit. • All week we eat something that symbolizes Texas…chili, chips & salsa, chicken fried steak fingers, cowboy stew, biscuits w/ honey, tacos, etc. • We will watch a video about cowboy life on a ranch. • Hopefully, we will get to go to the livestock show & petting zoo (field trip). • We will make a cowboy booklet to take home to read. • We will have horses & cowboys in the block center. • Clothing in the house center to dress up. • We will listen to cowboy music and dance.

14. march • Pets • St Pat’s week • Spring Planting • Easter

15. Pets • Graphic web- different types of pets • Vet’s office in the house center. • Read the various Harry the Dirty Dog books. • Make a Harry craft. • Play Doggy Doggy, where’s your bone? • List: What do pets need? • Collage of pets on a dog pattern. • Watch the Pound Puppies. • Show & Tell • Visit a pet store (field trip) • Graph: favorite pet

16. St Patrick’s Week • Check the black pot everyday for gold (to add to kids’ reward jars) • Games: Follow the shamrock, hide & seek leprechaun • Pot of gold math---counting gold coins, simple addition/subtraction • Sorting lucky charms and making fruit loop rainbow necklaces. • Read about Ireland, leprechauns, and other Irish tales. • Make a shamrock cake. • Green, orange, and white scavenger hunt • ABC pattern with green, white, and orange. • Try Irish foods, Irish tea, and listen to Irish music. • Watch River Dance.

17. Spring planting • Collect seeds and sort in the math center with a sorting tray. • We will pretend to plant seeds in the sensory tube. • We will plant vegetables/fruit in planters. Check & water daily. • We will make a process graph: how to plant seeds. • We will observe seeds and group them: flowers, vegetables, fruits.

18. Easter • No school on Good Friday  • Web: what is Easter? What do we do on Easter? • We will make a bunny booklet. • We will watch a bunny video to learn about the furry little critter. • Fill empty eggs w/ confetti for our Easter party on Thursday. • We will dye boiled eggs for our Egg hunt. • Egg hunt will be on Thursday (am or pm depending on weather). Parents are asked to send an Easter basket and 5 plastic eggs. • We will eat our dyed Easter eggs. • Plastic egg sorting in baskets, plastic egg ABC math, plastic egg color match, find the bunny, and Plastic egg toss into basket for tickets. • Read about bunnies, and how the Easter Bunny dyes the eggs.

19. April • Egg-citement • Moo Week • Texas our Texas • Community Helpers (2 weeks)

20. Egg-citement • We will learn the chicken dance. • The Egg Games: toss into a basket, walk w/ egg on a spoon, walk with giant plastic egg b/w our knees • We will watch a video about the process of how a baby chicken grows inside and egg, hatches, and is cared for. • We will make an egg-chick craft. • Egg ABC math • Experiment: float or sink. We will predict and record our guesses. • Eat boiled eggs. • Read about chicks and ole Humpty

21. Moo Week • Milk booklet • Painting with milk • List: why milk is good for us. • List: food/drinks made from cows • Make milkshake and eat hamburgers. • Make a cow craft. • Read about cows. • Watch a MOO-vie and educational video on internet about a dairy farm.

22. Texas Our Texas • KWL chart or web shaped like Texas • We learn the Texas pledge and the state song, Texas our Texas. • We will watch an educational video about the Lone Star State. • We learn about the symbols of Texas…longhorn, armadillo, the Texas flag, etc. • We will recognize the shape of Texas and name the major cities. • We will the Texas flag. • We will learn songs about Texas. • We will make a booklet to take home. • We will make a bluebonnet craft w/ dyed popcorn. • We will take a field trip to a patch of bluebonnets for a class picture. • On Friday, we will have chili and a Dr Pepper float (snack).

23. Community Helpers • Week 1 • Grocery store set up in the house center. Police station set up in blocks center. • The writing center will be setup like a school. • We will make a graphic web naming community helper jobs. • We will watch videos about various community jobs. • We will Curious George cartoons that focus on community. • We will math a vehicle with the community helper. • We will take a field trip around the community…to the grocery store, a restaurant, the library, and perhaps the local police precinct. • Show & tell will be on Friday! Bring a book about the a you want to do.

24. Community Helpers • Week 2 • We will set up a café in the house center, a library in the library, and a post office in the writing center. • We will collect, sort, and collage pictures of jobs. • We will make a booklet: What do you want to be when you grow up. • Show & tell will be on Friday! Bring a book about the a you want to do. • On Friday we will celebrate Dr Seuss! Show & Tell---bring your favorite Dr Seuss book or a character stuffed toy. Wear clothing with the characters if you have it. We will eat Green eggs (boiled), ham, gold fish, and a a special drink. We will watch a movie or Cat in the Hat cartoons.

25. Mother’s Day week • We will make a special card for the ladies in our life (mama, granny). • We will read about mama and grandma. • We will make a chart about the many things that mama does for us. • We will make goody bags to give to our mama (include our card, coupons, etc). • We will watch videos and read about animal mamas as well. • We will pretend to be mama or grandma in the house center. • We will bath our babies in the water tub (sensory).

26. Ocean • What’s in the ocean? KWL chart • We will watch the Blue Planet video to learn about the ocean of animals. • We will use ocean cards to count animals 1-25. We will put the cards in numerical order. • We will play with ocean animals in the sensory center. • One-to-one correspondence with animals counters. • We will make a wave bottle. • We will patterns with colored goldfish. • We will make a Rainbow Fish after reading The Rainbow Fish. • We will an ocean collage on blue paper. • Graph: I like ____. (ocean animals) • We will watch Curious George video about the ocean.

27. Whales & Dolphins • Watch video about Shamu. • Watch video about Dolphins. • T-chart or Venn diagram: the differences between whales and dolphins. • Play with whales/dolphins in sensory tube. • Play game: Shamu, Shamu where’s your fish? • Read books about the different types of whales. • Whale mobile with hanger. • Watch dolphin movie after snack (Friday)

28. Beach/Summer • Memorial day---no school  • We will observe a variety of beach treasures in the science center. • We will make a starfish using sandpaper. • We will play with beach toys as well as measuring tools in the sand tub. • We will make a list of what we see at the beach (pictures included). • We will make patterns with starfish cards. • We sort shells into sorting tray, and size shells from small to large. • We will write our letters in sand. • Graph: What do I like to do at the beach. • Waterplay day will be on Friday! Bring your suit, watershoes, and a towel. • We will watch Nemo after snack (Friday)

29. Pirates AHOY • Graphic web: What we know about pirates. What we want to know. • Make a Jolly Roger flag. • Make a treasure map. • Counting with pirate treasure. Sorting the jewels into sorting tray. • Treasure in the sensory tub. • Creature a treasure chest with a box. • Read about pirates. • Pirate lunch (Friday) • Watch Curious George cartoon about pirates.

30. Patriotism • Watch a video about patriotism (opening activity) • Web: patriotic symbols w/ pictures. • Watch a video about the Star-Spangled banner and learn the lyrics to the national anthem. • List: What are the differences b/w the American and Texas flags? • Circle our letters in the lyrics of the Star-Spangled Banner. • American memory games • Make an American flag. • Count the stars on the American flag. • Make an American patriotic symbols booklet. • Flag Day picnic (Fri)---we will wear patriotic colors or a flag on our shirt. We will eat patriotic foods, say the pledge and sing the national anthem.

31. Dinosaurs • KWL: What are dinosaurs? • Venn D: How are dinosaurs different than the animals we see today? • We will play with dinos in the block center and the sand tub. • Measure dino foot print with a pattern. • Graph (w/ pictures): plant vs. meat eaters • Dino-egg race (watermelon) • Graph: my favorite dino • Watch Land Before Time (Fri) after snack.

32. The food Groups • We will play, investigate, and try a variety of foods. • We will go to the grocery store or a farmer’s market for a field trip. • We collage pictures of the food groups onto a huge cardboard plate. • We will collect a variety of wrappers and boxes from home to use in our house center. • Our house center will once again become a grocery store. • We will watch educational videos about how food is made in factories and processing plants. • We will pickle cucumbers. • We will use our senses to investigate an orange and a potato. • We use potatoes to make prints. • Graph: we will divide food pictures into healthy and not-healthy. • We will taste a bread/grain, 3 types of cereal, and 3 vegetables then decide which we like best. • Show & Tell: bring your favorite food item (or a picture of it). • Everyday we will try a new food for lunch and snack.

33. Symbols of America • We will be closed on the 4th Happy 4th Teddy Bear friends! • Read about Lady Liberty. Watch an educational video. • Make a red, white, and blue (ABC pattern) hand wreathe. • Watch a video about bald eagles. • Make a cascade of stars mobile. • Freedom Day picnic will be on the eve of July 4th. Please wear patriotic clothing  • We will make red, white, blue bracelets. • We will count American money! • We will read books about the patriotic symbols…flag, liberty bell, lady liberty, etc.

34. Bears • Graphic webs: let’s name stories that have bears in them. • We about bears in fiction & non-fictional books • Web: the different kinds of bears • Act out the story of the 3 Bears. • Learn about positions with our Teddy bear…up, on, above, below, etc. • We will sort gummie bears & make patterns. • We will sing & act out the cool bear hunt (Dr Jean). • We will watch a video of the Bear Hunt • Graph: What type of Teddy graham we like best • Teddy Bear picnic (on Teddy bear picnic day) • We will predict what colored animals come next in Brown Bear Brown Bear • We will make predictions w/ sentence strips for the book: Polar Bear Polar Bear • Watch and read Bearstein bears. • We will make a bear ear headband

35. Ants • KWL: What do we know about ants? • Label parts of the ant. • Observe the ant farm in the science center. • Make ants on a log for snack. • Read books about ants. • Act the song When the Ants Go Marching in. • Make an ant craft with egg carton. • Watch Ants movie on Friday.

36. Butterflies • Read The Hungry Caterpillar. • Act out the story using props. • Watch The Hungry Caterpillar (video). • Make a butterfly with coffee filter and pipe cleaner. • Butterfly number order book. • Poster of the butterfly life cycle in the science center. • Make a Hungry Caterpillar booklet to take home. • List: What is your favorite thing the hungry caterpillar ate?

37. Zoo-topia • Get zoo maps (Laminate) and place in science center along with plastic zoo animals. • Make picture list of zoo animals. • Look at the local zoo website to make a list of which animals they want to see the most on the field trip. Make a pictorial scavenger hunt list for the kids to use on the field trip. • Watch Curious George video (zoo theme). • Graph: zoo vs marine animals. • Read monkey stories and eat a monkey snack. • Play monkey see monkey do. • Act like animals with the Greg & Steve CD. • Try foods that Zoo animals like to eat. Make a list of what they like.

38. August • Weather • Transportation • Our 5 Senses • All About Me

39. weather • Look @ pictures on internet & books about various types of weather. • Read about tornado as well as thunder & lightening. • Practice tornado drill. • Make a tornado bottle. • We will conduct a cloud experiment. • We will make a cloud picture with cotton balls. • We will go over lightening & thunder safety. • Visit the weather museum if possible. • Watch the weather channel to learn weather words. • Put up weather posters in the science center. • Weather chart everyday at circle time.

40. Transportation • Web---use poster to create web of types of transportation • Webs for vehicles---cars, trucks, boats, airplanes • Block center---types of transportation to play with & a road rug • Water tub- boats • List---why we need transportation? • Graph---my favorite types of transportation • Snack---wagon w/ fruit, pretzels, grahams • Make a truck out of boxes and other materials

41. Our 5 Senses • Web: 5 senses. List what our senses are for and what we do with them. • Mon- Eyes are for seeing and looking. Play “I spy” & list what our eyes do for us. • Tu- Mouth/tongue is used for tasting food. We will taste a variety of foods and liquids. We will graph which we prefer: salty or sweet. We will play a game: food or not food (make a t-graph on carpet w/ tape and labels. Use real items) • W- We use our nose to smell. Why do we need to smell? Discussion & record answers. Graph odors: yum or yuck! • Th- We use our ears for hearing/listening. We will listen to audio noises and guess what makes that noise. We will listen to a story on Cd. We will listen to Animal Action/Freeze songs and follow directions. Play Simon says. • F- We will use our hands and feet to touch/feel. We will feel fabrics, plastic, hard/rough surfaces. We will use sandpaper in our art center w/ other materials. • We will do a sensory exploration with a piece of fruit (Orange/apple/watermelon)

42. All About Me • Start of a new school year! • We will use this week to get our new friends acquainted with our group. • We will introduce ourselves • We will play games • listen to stories • have a show & tell • create a booklet about our selves to share with our friends • We will go over rules and procedures as well as the schedule • Graph: favorite colors, our hair/eye color, girls and boys in our group. • We will practice writing our name and recognize our name around the room. • Play: I spy ____’s name.

43. September • Birthdays • Teddy Bear Week • My Body • Farm animals

44. Happy Birthday • Labor day we will be closed  • We will make a birthday graph to hang in writing center. • We will create a birthday cake (on paper) and put candles and decorations. • We will sing Happy birthday and listen to the song sung id different languages on You Tube • We will count with candles, sort them by color, and make patterns • We will make birthday hats • We will wrap presents and decorate gift bags • We will make birthday cards

45. Teddy Bear Week • Monday is Teddy Bear Day so bring your teddy bear for our teddy bear party at snack time. • We will sort bears by size and color • We will read, watch, and listen to stories about Teddy bears. Bring books, videos, or CDs to share with your friends • We will sing the Teddy Bear song and do the actions • We will play Teddy Bear games with our bears • We will write a story and draw pictures about our bear • Teddy bear craft • Make teddy bear snack w/ cookie cutters

46. My Body • We will use a diagram of a human body & posters to label the parts of our body. • Posters will be on display in the science center. • Body puzzle • Art- create ourselves through materials on a paper cut out. • Take pictures of our bodies and guess who it is. • Graph: hair/eye colors • Library: books about people, skin colors, disabilities, etc • Clothes in the pretend center • Trace our body to decorate at home and display at school after show & tell • Trace our hands and make foot prints on white board paper • Paint with our fingers

47. Down on the Farm • Intro: Listen/watch song “Old McDonald” on You Tube. • Field trip to a farm to learn about the animals, farm chores, etc. • We will look at books of farm animals, farm tools/machines, and farmers • We will act and make noises like farm animals • Will act out Farmer & the Dell. • We will a farm animal-related movie. • We will play with farm animals in the block center and create a farm with blocks • We will write a story about farm animals • Graph: favorite farm animals • We will discuss/list foods that come the farm. (picture labels)

48. October • Fire safety • Apples • Pumpkins • Halloween

49. Fire Safety • Watch video(s) about a fire truck/station • Library: books about fire trucks, Dalmatians, fire fighters, fire safety • Create a fire truck with a shoe box and materials • Fire truck snack: grahams, etc. • Stop, drop, and roll practice • Field trip to a fire station • Graph: touch (safe) & don’t touch (danger) • Create a exit plan of the school on poster board • Practice fire drill • Go through kitchen and bathroom and discuss the dangers of each

50. Appl-licious • Intro: Look at different types of apples. • Cut them in half and taste them. • Graph which apple they like best • Apple games: toss, bowling, walk w/ apple b/w lego, relay • Apple patterns (cut outs) on sentence strip • Apple correspondence (cutouts on folded paper) numbers 1-5 • Read about Johnny Appleseed • Use apple seeds collected & put them in science center • Apple booklet • Taste a variety of apple products and graph favorite • Apple snack every day of the week • Apple jack necklaces