Genetics Lesson Plan

     I was so excited to see some very creative ideas on my Curriculum Challenge Contest. The winning idea was "GENETICS", submitted by Traci Matheson.  Thank you Traci. Below you will find the lesson plan I quickly put together for my preschooler using this theme. In my opinion, I think a lesson plan should consist of: 2-3 art/craft projects, a writing practice sheet, a social/emotional discussion, a physical exercise activity, and a snack/cooking project.

     Genetics is obviously a very complicated subject, but I believe any concept can be simplified for young children.

     DISCUSSION - I explained to Marley about the word "genes" and how it is different from "jeans." That took a while to straighten out, and I couldn't help but smile when she said "My pants make my eyes brown!" LOL Eventually, she understood that it was different.  I think it helped that I tugged on my skin and said the "genes" are inside our bodies and I pretended to talk to my genes.
Example: "Hey genes! What color did you make my eyes? Oh! You made my eyes brown! Thank you genes. I like my brown eyes." I asked her to repeat this about herself.
Marley thought it was hilarious that we were talking to our bodies. I also like the idea of teaching my girls that I am happy with the way I look, and I am grateful.

      EYE COLOR PROJECT - After the basic concept is explained, we did our first assignment.  I printed out blue and brown eyes, and I cut them out.  I drew four circles on a white sheet of paper representing our family members. I gave Marley some glue and the eyes, and told her to glue the right colors on our faces. (Reading names practice and exercising fine motor skills.)

     FINGERPRINT PROJECT - Another project we did this week was fingerprinting. I explained that our genes give each of us different fingerprints.  I made sure she understood that her fingerprints are very special because no one else has her fingerprints. She liked it. I found a simple fingerprint chart on the Scholastic website.  Fingerprinting was fun!

     XY CHROMOSOME PROJECT - Our 3rd assignment was a lesson on how our genes tell our bodies if we will be a girl or a boy.  I didn't go into chromosomes, but I told her a girl's genes is XX and a boy's genes is XY.  I printed out boy and girl shapes and wrote X-Y combinations on her paper and let her glue down the appropriate shape to the letters. After showing her the two examples, she had it down and even asked for another worksheet to keep gluing boys and girls.

    WRITING - This was a perfect transition into our writing practice.  We focused on Xs and Ys this week.  I love using this Printing Practice website, because I can customize the worksheets.

     EXERCISE - In the afternoons we played tag but with a twist.  We picked pieces of paper out of a hat indicating, blue eyes, brown eyes, blond hair, or brown hair.  Whatever you chose you needed to tag a person with that trait. It was a very fun exercise.

     SNACK PROJECT - I haven't done our snack project this week yet, but I plan to do this one tomorrow with Twizzlers and mini-marshmallows to form a double helix.  Before I start the project I will do a simple explanation about DNA and genes, and I will show Marley a picture of a double helix.  Then we will make one with our treats! Make sure to count out each marshmallow (more counting practice!).

     "Genetics" was a fabulous idea for a preschool lesson plan. Not many preschoolers are exposed to these concepts, but we had a great time and I felt it was a great way to reiterate to my girl that her genes make her unique and special.  It turned out to be a wonderful lesson on self-esteem and confidence and acceptance of people with different genes.

We Are Thankful

     I am a little apprehensive to teach the Pilgrim-Native American story. I remember as a child thinking it all sounded kind of cheesy. Once I was old enough to research the actual origin on my own, I was disappointed to find that the actual friendly-feast was not at all like the Thanksgiving feast we were taught about in school. And don't even get me started on the betrayal and horrible crimes against humanity that followed between those "friends".  I'll get off my soapbox now. ;)
   
     Preschoolers need simplicity, so I found a cute story read aloud on YouTube.  "The Story of Thanksgiving".  This book refers to Pilgrims and Native Americans, the Mayflower, and the feast. It gives a basic account of the event. But does not go too much in depth. For M's age, I thought it was perfect for the purposes of learning why, when, and how.
     However, I like to focus this holiday more on being grateful for what we have and thanking our Heavenly Father for those things.

Here are a few of the Thanksgiving activities we did this week:

TURKEY HANDPRINTS - How cute are these handprints? As you can see, my 1 year old did not like the paint. But I love that smudgy little turkey so much! It really displays how difficult and funny it was trying to get her tiny hand to open up.

TURKEY HANDPRINT POEM

PAPER TURKEY - I cut out all the basic pieces. I had M help by cutting the fringe part of the feathers. She loves cutting, so she was very excited to do this part. She glued it all together herself.

Very proud of her Paper Turkey

PUMPKIN PANCAKES - These turned out SO delicious! Breakfast for dinner on Thanksgiving Eve sounds great to me.

MAKING PUMPKIN PANCAKES

Quarterly Progress

I will be doing an assessment of what M has learned every 3 months. One of the things I love about homeschooling is the ability to do self-paced work and to focus on the things that I (as her parent) feel are important.  However, I would like to see if she is somewhat keeping up with the average educational standards.

BASIC PRESCHOOL SUBJECTS:

• Letters and Phonics
• Colors and Shapes
• Vocabulary
• Numbers and Counting
• Drawing and Cutting
• Sharing and Socialization

Letters and Phonics. M is not catching onto the phonics to well yet. I've noticed when I go over naming letters, she gets easily distracted and seems very disinterested in naming letters. She does know several letters and their sounds, but she dislikes it so much that she always tries to change the subject.  We have been using the BOB Books. I like the BOB Books because they are very short simple stories and the set is easy to transport anywhere.  M is for sure a "sight reader." She can read several of them on her own, but she is memorizing words instead of letters and sounds. I am still very proud of her progress. My 3.5 year old is reading! It's pretty cool.  Hopefully the phonics thing will fall into place later on. We will keep working on it. CLICK HERE to see a video of my girl reading.

Colors and Shapes. Nailed it! She knows her colors and all the basic shapes.  I think I will step it up and start teaching her the more difficult shapes like trapezoid and rhombus. She enjoys colors very much.  She seems to be very visual and artistic. Pictures and colors keep her attention much better than letters and numbers.

Vocabulary. Confession: M watches a lot of movies. I grew up watching television all the time so it is so difficult for me to turn it off. But I've noticed that her vocabulary has grown so much from watching movies.  Sometimes I ask her how she learned a word and she will tell me what movie it is from. Aside from that, 3 year olds are still building their vocabulary by asking "What's that?" everywhere they go. I find it is very important to answer those questions as much as possible. Even when in a hurry or at an inconvenient time, keep in mind that these questions are learning impulses. Your child wants to learn and expand their knowledge of the world. I try my best to stop what I am doing and look M in the eye and answer her questions and even start a discussion regarding the subject.  I honestly believe by just carrying on a dialogue with your child, you are feeding their desire to learn and increasing their brain capacity.

Numbers and Counting.  Again, M does not like looking at letters or numbers, so identifying numbers has been a struggle.  I still can't tell if she doesn't know them or if she is just much more interested in hands on activities. She can count to about 20 without help, but when distracted by something else in the room, she will make 2-3 mistakes. I try to include counting in everything we do. "How many green beans should I put on your plate?" Then I ask her to count them as I place them on her plate.  She is good about pointing her finger at objects while counting. This skill helps preschoolers make the conceptual connection between the numbers and objects.

Drawing and Cutting.  This is M's favorite thing to do. I think I usually find a daily activity that involves something creative for her to do. Painting, coloring, drawing, and tracing all help develop that writing grasp that is needed for literature purposes.  Most preschoolers love scissors and cutting things...which can be a disaster if not monitored. (I had 1 inch bangs at 3 years old) Haha! M can cut along a pattern pretty well. When there is a project to do with glue and cutting she is very focused and will sit silently and cut and glue for at least a half hour. NOTE: It is so important to have a comfortable, kids-sized pair of scissors that easily open and shut.  There is no reason to make the activity difficult or frustrating for the child.

Sharing and Socialization.  M excels in the area! She adores everyone and is not shy.  She makes friends easily with kids of all ages. I just adore that kids this age can randomly meet peers and not even know their names but still.. "That's my friend, mommy!" We should really follow our kids' example when it comes to making friends.  

She is normally pretty good at sharing. Of course this usually depends on the appeal of the toy. ;) When kids are playing together, I think it is important for the parents to observe closely to see how they are interacting together. I like to let M play with friends with minimal mom intervention. However, I have found that when I do step in and take her aside and explain to her how better to handle her situation, she does listen to me and I feel she learned something very important. I like to focus on the Golden Rule. I want M to be able to see things from the perspectives of others. I mean, really, isn't this the best way to make a difference in the world? By raising our kids to respect and care for each other.

CREATIVE CURRICULUM CHALLENGE

Educational activities can be found anywhere and regarding everything! Let's put it to the test...

Challenge me to create a lesson plan using A THEME OF YOUR CHOICE!
Post your idea for a subject/theme in the comments of this post. You may enter as many ideas as you like. I will choose the most creative idea submitted and create a preschool lesson plan about the subject.
The winning idea will be announced the day before Thanksgiving, and the lesson plan will be posted during the first week of December.
Get those clever ideas flowing! I look forward to seeing your entries. :)

Prehistoric Play

     We get a lot of packages at our house. A lot. So we always have plenty of boxes and packaging paper.  We received some just yesterday and I wanted to do a project with it, but what?

CAVE DRAWINGS!

     Before beginning our lesson on prehistoric people. We started out by watching Encino Man. I know, odd choice. But it is a movie I am familiar with, so I fast forwarded through a few parts of mature content and pointed out moments of educational value throughout the film. M actually really enjoyed it.  She kept laughing and saying,"That cave man is so silly!" Funny enough, the movie also taught her the value of a bath and brushing our teeth. ;)  You could also watch Ice Age or The Croods, to relate to the lesson.

     After the movie, I went over what a paleontologist does and how we can't learn about prehistoric people without fossils and other evidence in the ground.  I showed her a chart of common cave symbols and we started making our own cave drawings. I taped the paper up on the wall and we each had a paintbrush and some paints.  

     After we finished painting, I explained that cave drawings usually tell a story. So I helped her create a story from the drawings we made.  Here is her story:

     Once upon a time there was a girl who had a pet duck and she was playing. Then a water monster came out of the water and scared her. It started to rain. Then a boy wanted to be the girl's friend, so he saved her. The boy killed the water monster and the sun came out. The boy and girl went back in the cave and played with toys. The end.

   
We then made some Salt Dough together to make fossils.  It is a fun and easy sensory activity that allows preschoolers to be heavily involved. We used mini toy dinosaurs and leaves to make our fossils. (You can also use large plastic animals and do footprint fossils.)

     I wish I had mixed more food coloring into my water before mixing, but other than that, the fossils turned out great. M learned about prehistoric evidence and prehistoric people while enjoying these super fun activities. I love hearing her try to say "paleontologist." And yes, sometimes our activities are so fun that we forget to change out of penguin pajamas. ;)

Service Project - Count Your Blessings

     BLESSING BAGS. We have all seen people on corners asking for help due to their bad circumstances.  I'm pretty sure we have all wanted to help somehow, but didn't really want to hand over cash (which I think is fine!). I've handed over cash before, but I prefer to give something I know will be helpful like a water bottle or a banana. A friend of mine shared this idea on FB, and I loved it so much that I knew it would be a great homeschool project for me and my daughter Marley. The blessing bags are filled with useful hygiene products and snacks, and are ready to go in your car for when you come across someone you feel prompted to help. And if you never feel the need to give them out, its also great emergency preparedness for your car!

     We made our field trip out to the dollar store and went through the aisles picking out things we wanted to put in the blessing bags. While walking through the store, I explained the project to Marley and we discussed how some people do not have homes or food, and its nice to help them sometimes because Heavenly Father wants his children to care for each other. She recalled the time when her dad gave a homeless man the shoes off his own feet because the man needed shoes. She was excited to tell me "Daddy gave the man his shoes, because he doesn't have a home like us." Today she also pointed out to me that if someone doesn't have a home, they can't have a Christmas tree! She loves her Christmas tree. Making her aware of people in need was a cherished lesson.

     When we got home we laid out all the supplies on the table and lined up our empty Ziploc Bags. Marley did all the packing, I just kept handing her the bags and told her how many of each product to put in the bag. (Counting practice applied!) I felt like each item we placed in the bag was a reminder of how many small blessings we have. Literally counting our blessings. Marley was very happy to do most of the work herself. Independence is a wonderful thing to a 3 year old. We made 6 blessing bags. All the supplies were around $35 and we had a few items left over.

     

          Once the bags were filled, I asked her what message we should put inside the bag for the people. I gave her 4 or 5 options and she picked "Heavenly Father Loves You." I printed out the messages and cut a strip for each bag. We read the words together. (Reading practice!) She also placed the messages in the bags. Afterward I rearranged the bags to make them efficiently placed and pretty, but she doesn't need to know that. ;)

     This was an enriching project and perfect for this time of year. I feel like we both had a memorable and sweet experience putting these together and I look forward to handing them out with Marley in the car. I am thankful for all of my blessings! Pay it forward.

     

Ballet Class 2013

     One of my promises to my husband when agreeing to homeschool was to make sure our children participate in recreational social activities. Of course! Those are the things I will look forward to the most.  This year I picked ballet for M.  She was thrilled to go to each class, made lots of friends, and had a darling little recital on the last day of class.  She is very comfortable with other kids and makes friends easily. She also was very good at being patient waiting for her turn and following the teacher's instructions. So far so good! She had so much fun and ran into class on her tippy toes each time.

     Here are two out of hundreds of photos I took. And yes, I cried a bit. I'm such a sap and since I am a dancer, seeing my daughter passe and saute just made my heart glow! And as theatrical tradition goes, my husband brought M some flowers after the performance. She felt very special and could not stop smiling and talking. It was one of those mornings you wish you could re-live over and over. Priceless.
     I truly believe education in performing arts stimulates parts of the brain that are so important. Creativity, confidence, and artistic perception all enhance other skills in life.  She also became more physically coordinated and came home talking about growing healthy and strong. Loved it! I plan to always involve some sort of artistic activity for each theme we discuss. These are the things that make the world beautiful!