Please, please understand that the weekly lesson plan below is ONLY for the sake of demonstration to show how I might fill out my lesson plan form.    

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Weekly Lesson Plans
Date: October ??????
	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Theme(s)	Letter D	Fire Safety	Number 3	Color Black	Little Miss Muffet
Learning Center Changes	*Play Kitchen- Dustcloth *Fine Motor-Dime Rubbings *Art-Drawing with scented markers	*Play Kitchen-Turned into fire station for rest of week *Blocks-Will ask at morning Grouptime, "I wonder if anyone can build a firetruck with the blocks this morning?"	*Play Kitchen-Specially marked placemats in fire station kitchen for children to set 3 place settings (matching dinnerware to placemat shapes) *Library-Flannel story pieces for "Goldilocks & the 3 Bears"	*Mini-Music Appreciation-Play Classical music during Free Choice Play *Art-Black collages	*Fine Motor-Spider web weaving *Science-Book about spiders *Pre-Math-Spider match game *Art-Spiders from collage materials
Large Motor Focus	Throw ball through diamond-shaped hole	Take turns climbing playground ladder like firefighter	Take turns throwing & catching football 3 times with a partner	Obstacle Course that includes monthly focus (throw/catch)	Take walk & look for spider webs
Special Projects	Lang/Art-Glue dots & paper diamonds on a D	Fine Motor-"Smoke" chalk rubbings for "Get Low & Go" take-home paper	Page 3 of our number books	Science-Drop water onto black marker created shapes & watch what happens (colors are revealed)	Food Project-Mix cottage cheese & fruit for our snack. Discuss "curds & whey"
Group Time Activities	*Social Games-"Duck, Duck, Goose" & Donut Game *Music-Dance to sound of drum *Story-Have You Seen My Duckling? by Nancy Tafuri	*Fingerplay-Ten Brave Firefighters *Practice "Get Low & Go" & "Stop, Drop, & Roll"	*Music-Three Little Pigs (Greg & Steve) *Fingerplay-Three Brown Walnuts	*Color review-"Brown Bear, Brown Bear" *Everyone find something black in our classroom & bring it to Group Time	*Action Song-"There's a Spider On the Floor" *Creative Drama-Act out "Little Miss Muffet" *Story-Spider's First Day At School" by Robert Kraus
Other	*Use doilies with snack *Greetings and good-byes in Italian this week	In-House Field Trip-Firefighters Bob & Ali to visit us with firetruck		Today we celebrate Joey's birthday	Show-N-Tell (if time)
Skills Practiced Today	*Gross Motor-Throwing *Fine Motor-Dusting, drawing *Language-Letter recognition & phonics *Social-Group participation, Play real life roles	*Social-Be able to accept changes in routine, Learn new info for betterment of self *Gross Motor-Climb *Language-Participate in group discussion, Skill of listening *Thinking-Relate ideas logically	*Thinking-Number recognition & counting, Group objects by size, Matching *Language-Listeing & following directions, Arrange flannel pieces to tell a story *Social-Wait a turn *Gross Motor-Catch & throw	*Thinking-Recognize color, Be creative in using imagination *Gross Motor Obstacle Course-Catch, Throw, Crawl, Skip, Jump *Language-Speak in sentences	*Fine Motor-Weaving *Gross Motor-Walking *Science-Explore environment to learn new information *Thinking-Matching *Language-Identify rhyming words, Show interest in books & reading *Social-Act out new roles

Very Important Note From Stormie:
    I continually get asked to please create on-line weekly and/or daily lesson plans.  I just can't do that, and here's why: I was taught to always plan activities according to the needs of the children in my group.  For example, maybe the children in my care need more work with small manipulatives than what the above plan calls for, so I might add more fine motor activities into my day.  Or, perhaps I need to focus on their gross motor skills, so I might do large muscle activities during indoor group time as well as outdoors.  And, just because the letter Dd is the focus for Monday in the above plan, that doesn't mean I should never mention it again.  Quite the contrary.  I should review Dd (as well as other themes) often, and when applicable to any given situation.  The same goes for the number "3."  So many variables come into play that aren't seen on a set of written plans.  Therefore, planning specific activities for specific weeks and/or days for other teachers' classrooms just goes against all I believe in.  I hope you understand, respect my decision, and will still be a fan of my website.  I simply don't want to mislead anyone into thinking that "one size fits all" when it comes to lesson plans for preschoolers.  The goal with my website has been and always will be to present you with optional monthly themes and activities but leave it up to you as to when and how to use them.
    On a related note, I have worked in various types of programs using various methods of planning, but given my choice, I prefer planning around "themes" (as I was taught).  Of course, there's always someone out there ready to criticize one method over another.  I'm not about to put down other teaching methods, but I can at least state why I like my favorite.  Themes give a sense of direction from which to channel activities.  I do go into the classoom with plans in hand.  But, I'm very adamant about being flexible and allowing the children to steer those plans based on their developmental needs and desires.  However, I was also taught that children need limits, and they need direction, and because they are only 4 years old, they need a guide -- that's me.  As the "big adult," I'm not better, but hopefully, I'm smarter and wiser.  It's my responsibility, as the adult, to create an environment that will allow them to freely discover, explore, experiment, create, and most of all, learn from their world.  I've been in this world longer than they have, and it's my job to introduce them to it.  Themes allow me to do that.