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"Where else would I eat a soiled piece of candy from a grimy little hand, and not become ill?"(From the poem "Yes, I Teach Preschool" by Dorothy Law Nolte) (Sent to me from Donna Larson)

LESSON PLAN ACTIVITY OPTIONS (OCTOBER)

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.

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

From Stormie:

Art Learning Center Activity: Collage: "It's A Square World":

Provide paper, paste, and squares of all sizes, colors, and textures. A neat thing to do beforehand is to fold a square in half, then on the fold, cut out another square, leaving the first one as a frame. Cut several of these and mix them in with the other squares made available to the children during this free choice activity. To display, put the title: "It's A Square World" at the top of the bulletin board, then hang the children's papers beneath it.

When doing creative collages such as this one, hang "suggestions" in the art center. For example, in this case, you might hang framed pictures to give the children ideas as to what can be done with those miniature paper frames, or hang pictures of abstract art that has squares in it. But what the children create is totally their choice. I also personally love doing dictation: asking the children individually, "Tell me about your paper." I then print their EXACT words at the bottom of their work. You can get some real cute answers.

Eye-Hand Coordination: Playdoh Squares: Provide children with small posterboard squares. Show them how to hold a square on a flattened piece of playdoh then cut around it with a plastic knife or craft stick.

Shape Tracing: Sandy Squares: Draw 2-3 squares on paper (for each child) then have them paint glue around the edges of the squares (tracing the shape of the square with the brush). They then sprinkle colored sand atop the glue.

Extension: Add facial features, arms, and legs for a "Sandy or Sam, the Square."

Size Discrimination: Square Mobiles: Provide a mixture of three sizes of black squares. Children choose one of each size to decorate then glue them to a wide orange ribbon strip. Hang the ribbons from the ceiling. (You will need to remind children to place glue on the ribbon where they wish to stick their squares rather than putting the glue on the back of the square).

Snack: Review circles and squares by having rounds of cheese on square crackers or square pieces of cheese on round crakers.

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

Gross Motor: Square Squat Game: Tape large shapes to a bare floor -- mostly squares (I like to cut shapes from newspapers for this since they have to be thrown away afterwards.) Also, you may have to move your classroom tables in order to create enough space for this game. Instruct the children that you are going to play music as they walk around the shapes. When the music stops, they are to "squat" on a square.

Here's a variation to the above from Shelli Smith, in Utah:

I buy those cheap plastic tablecloths (the ones you buy for kid's birthday parties) and cut out the desired shapes. They are reusable and can be used on carpeting since newsprint could leave blank ink marks behind.

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

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

Square Walking

(Tune: Farmer In the Dell)

We walk along the squareWe walk along the squareFour straight linesAll the same sizeWe walk along the square. (by Susan Wray)

From Susie Lampont, Missouri:
Song (Tune: London Bridges):
My four sides are all the same, all the same, all the same,
My four sides are all the same, I'm a square.

Here's an absolutely fabulous idea from Susan Dean, in Long Valley, New Jersey that practices fine motor (tearing, gluing) and eye-hand coordination skills and would also fit into Creative Drama:
Squareheads: Last year to go along with squares (my shape for October) and the book Squarehead, I had the children place small mosaic squares (little pieces of paper cut into squares) around a square I had traced on paper. They then ripped paper to create facial features. Each one was so unique and the children pretended to be the main character while holding up their finished artwork.

From Michelle Cearley:
Mobiles: I provided small, medium, and large sized squares to the children who glued big yellow eyes to the big squares, medium yellow eyes to the medium-sized squares and small yellow eyes to the small-sized squares. I then hung the "square mobiles" from the ceiling. The children love them, and they also make great Halloween-related decorations.

Here's a cute little poem from Sally Garcia, Licensed Family Childcare Provider, Richmond, Indiana:

Sammy Square
Sammy Square is my name
My four sides are all the same
Turn me around, I don't care
I'm always the same, I'm Sammy Square!

Favorite Books:
From Stormie:
*What Is a Square? by Rebecca Kai Dotlich & Maria Ferrari: This is a cute book of "squares," in rhymes and pictures.
*Squarehead, by Harriet Ziefert, Todd McKie, Illustrator: This is a neat story about George who has a square head and lives in a square house and even has square pets. It also gets into the subject of how it's ok to be different.
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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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