jrectangle

"Where else would my mind stay so young as with a group whose attention span is so short that I must always have a 'bag of tricks' up my sleeve?" (From the poem "Yes, I Teach Preschool")

LESSON PLAN ACTIVITY OPTIONS (JANUARY)

All my webpages are continual works in progress, so there's much more coming! You are invited to share your own themes, activities, tips, opinions, children's comments, words of inspiration, or anything else related to these webpages by e-mailing me at stormie@preschoolbystormie.com and I'll post your words with mine, giving you total credit.

SHAPE: Rectangle

From Stormie:

I have reserved my very favorite "basic shape" activities for my "SHAPES" booklet (see the "Stormie's Stuff for Teachers" section of my website).

Art Learning Center Activity: "Making Rectangles":

Hang "rectangle" pictures in the art center for suggestions, then put out various lengths of colored paper strips. Discuss rectangles in group time before the children play in the learning centers. Talk about and demonstrate the two short/two long sides. Then tell them that they can make their own rectangles today in art. You may wish to take crayons, paper strips, etc. to group time and make a sample "rectangle paper." Make it clear that they can do their papers their way.

Rhonda or Roger Rectangle: Give each child one large construction paper rectangle. Also provide collage materials for creating facial features, arms, legs, hats, etc for a take-home "Rhonda or Roger Rectangle."

Fraction Puzzles: Cut two large rectangles from several colors of posterboard. Leave one shape from each pair whole. Cut the other shape into fractions (1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/8, etc). Children place the "fraction" pieces back together atop a matching whole shape.

Rectangle Faces: Children can cover a cereal box with construction paper then draw or collage a face onto it. Those tiny one-serving cereal boxes are especially neat. Hang them on your bulletin board for a kind of 3-D effect!

Hokey Pokey: With each child standing and holding a rectangle, sing "Hokey Pokey" -- "Put your rectangle in, take your rectangle out, put your rectangle in, and shake it all around.........." Obviously, this can be done with other shapes too.

Food Project: Rectangle Snack: Give each child (or every two children) one large graham cracker. Discuss and feel its rectangular shape (with very clean hands). Have the children break their crackers into the smaller perforated rectangles and feel those shapes. Allow them to spread their crackers with peanut butter and make "rectangle sandwiches." (Because the crackers are large, and there will probably be more smaller rectangles than you need, save some of the created sandwiches for the next day.)
Science: Extension: Include the sense of smell by using several versions of grahams (cinnamon, chocolate, plain, etc). Have children mix their small rectangular crakers, then close their eyes and pick one up and smell it, trying to guess which flavor they are smelling.

Fine Motor: Provide paper rectangles in the Small Manipulatives Center along with a hole punch for children to punch holes along the four sides of the rectangles creating another rectangular shape inside the edges.

If you're also doing Community Helpers this month, here's a snack "basic shape" idea:
Let children build a house: square piece of bread (house), triangular piece of cheese (roof), carrot rounds (windows), small rectangular shaped cracker (door).

Language: Send a note home for children to bring a rectangular item or magazine picture of rectangles for Show-N-Tell.

Stormie's Games: By the way, would you like a related learning game for your classroom? I offer the "Crazy Shapes" game in the "Teaching Aids" section of "Stormie's Stuff for Teachers.

Music & Movement/Social Game:

From Susan Wray, Library Storytime Leader, Dyersburg, Tennessee:

I put masking tape on my carpet outlining the shape of a rectangle then we marched the lines while singing:

Rectangle Marching

(Tune: The Ants Go Marching)

We march along the rectangle, hoorah, hoorah,

We march along the rectangle, hoorah, hoorahWe march along the long side (march on the long side)We march on the short side (march on the short side)Until we make a rec-tang-le.(by Susan Wray)
From Susie Lampont, Missouri:
Song (Tune: London Bridges):
Two of my sides are short, short, short,
Two of my sides are long, long, long,
Two sides short and two sides long, I'm a rectangle

From Pat Stajek-Vorwerk, Jackson, New Jersey:
Fabric Shapes: My group is learning basic shapes. They enjoy using squares of fabric to make triangles, squares and rectangles.

From Jeannette Finley, Cary, North Carolina:
I taught my three year old about rectangles by letting him make a fire truck from them. This led right into the subject of Community Helpers.

From Sally Garcia in Indiana:
Poem/Fingerplay:

Ricky Rectangle
Ricky Rectangle is my name,
My four sides are not the same.
Two are short and two are long,
Come right with me and count along,
1, 2, 3, 4

~From Yutta, German School, London:
Snowman Shapes Review: In January, I like to cut out all the shapes we have covered up to that point: Two large white circles and several small black ones, an orange triangle, a black square and a black rectangle. I show all the shapes to the children and ask them what "winter thing" they think we can make out of the shapes. ("Snowman" is the answer I'm going for. The black square and rectangle become a top hat, and the orange triangle is the nose.) The children glue their shapes onto cards. It's a nice way to repeat all the shape names after the Christmas break.

Suggested Books:
From Stormie:
Rectangles, by Jennifer S. Burke
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Reminder from Stormie: If you would like to begin collecting ALL my current classroom ideas (each on a 4 x 6" index card), as well as new ones that I create, you can do so by ordering my "Activity Cards." Click here to check them out.

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