Preschool Year Two Planning

For our second year of homeschooling, we're keeping most of the themes and order the same, but there are some differences.  One of the factors in my scheduling is the holidays of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter.  I like to have specific themes during the weeks before of during those holidays.  Everything else, I tried to keep in the same order; although some of the themes have been renamed.  And, just as a reminder, this article explains why I'm not teaching the letters in ABC order. The bold themes are new this year.  Under each theme, I've listed all the printables I've made for it.  Other printables can be found by clicking on the "printables" tab.

2015-2016 Lesson Plans

a is for apples (so classic)
          - wormy apples
         - thematic pictures: apples

m is for milk (farm)
          - milk taste test
          - cow poem beginning reader

t is for trees (life cycle, autumn)

s is for seeds (types, food)
          - seed matching game
          - seeds coloring page
          - thematic pictures: seeds

i is for insects (bug life cycles)
         - insect matching game
         - bug sorting
         - jars for bug counting
         - thematic pictures: insects

r is for rain (color, light, and rainbows)
         -  rainbow colors spelling
         - rain words spelling worksheets

f is for fire (safety, prevention)
          - fireman 3-part cards
          - firetruck roll and cover

d is for duck (pond)
          - turtle roll and cover
          - frog hop race
          - turtle counting
          - ducks number line
          - duck pond letters game

e is for eggs (frog and butterfly life cycle)
         - metamorphosis roll and cover game

o is for ocean (coral reef)
         - Finding Nemo matching game

u is for universe (solar system)
          - roll and cover game
          - scale model
          - picture matching/bingo
          - space count and clip
          - space picture matching/bingo

h is for harvest (Thanksgiving week)
         - Thanksgiving spelling activity

c is for cookie (Christmas, cocoa, coffee)
         - cocoa shop words
         - cookie addition
         - Christmas cooking graphing

b is for baby (human life cycle)
          - mammals busy bag
          - mammals mini match cards
          - Bethlehem game

n is for night
          - Nocturnal Animals poster
         - pillow shape matching

k is for king (3 Kings, presents)
          - counting jewels game

g is for giraffe (African Savannah)
          - safari spelling words
          - giraffe measuring

Vv is for vehicles (cars/trucks)

l is for laundry (clothes/washing/folding/sewing)
         - even and odd socks
         - laundry sorting
         - sock matching
        - thematic pictures: laundry

Ww is for winter (arctic)
         - marshmallow counting game

J is for Jungle (rain forest)
        - making teen numbers

Pp is for penguins (antarctic)
          - measuring
         - food chain
         - transportation sorting

Yy is for yarn (fiber/sources)
         - yarn color matching
         - yarn worksheets (set 1)
         - yarn worksheets (set 2)

T is for T-Rex (dinosaurs)
         - dino bone measuring
         - paleontologist anchor chart
         - dinosaur skulls toob matching

L is for Lollipops (candy, tooth-brushing)
         - colored graphing worksheet
         - roll and cover game
         - lollipop matching game
         - rainbow candy patterns
         - candy shop words

M is for Monster (math)
          - monster math game
         - monster word sorting
         - monster size sorting
         - monster roll and cover game
         - monster (set 1)
         - monster (set 2)
         - monster (set 3)

F is for Food (health, shopping, recipes)
           - groceries count and clip
           - grocery worksheets (set 1)
           - grocery worksheets (set 2)

D is for Desert (American West)
         - desert mini matches cards
         - cattle drive roll and cover game
         - desert animals 3-part cards

R is for Resurrection (Easter week)
          - resurrection spelling words
          - resurrection opposites
         - color gradient matching

I is for Idaho (mountain habitat)
          - 3-part cards
          - hungry bear roll and count game
          - camping worksheets (set 1)
          - camping worksheets (set 2)
          - camping worksheets (set 3)

N is for Nest (birds)
         - backyard birds 3-part cards (Safari toob)

A is for America (overview)
         - North American Animals 3-part cards (Safari toob)
         - venn diagram sorting
         - river animal 3-part cards (Safari toob)
        - American History 3-part cards
        - American Inventions 3-part cards
        - themed wall decorations

E is for Earth (continents, oceans, maps)
           - regions of Asia

H is for Hat (Dr Seuss)

G is for Garden (plants, bees)
         - flower to hive pollen transfer
         - beehive counting by 10's
         - bees and letter B game
         - hexagons and beehive worksheets

B is for Body (health, hand-washing, body systems)

X Marks the Spot (pirates)
         - roll and cover game
         - picture matching/bingo
         - count and clip
         - counting treasure
         - treasure maps
         - pirate picture matching/bingo

q is for questions (child-directed)

z is for zoo (animal families, habitats)
          -  Zoo poster
          - roll and cover game
          - animal matching game
         - animal homes game

j is for juggle (circus)
          - roll and cover game
         - juggling CVC words
         - picture matching/bingo
         - circus picture matching/bingo

Q is for Quilt (patterns, sewing)
          - pattern busy bag
         - quilt squares busy bag

(Bold Themes are new for this year)

The 2014-2015 lesson plans can be found here.

Last year, I organized the materials in several different places.  The printed worksheets and folder games were in two binders, the "busy bags," game pieces, and "work box" materials were in a small plastic crate and homemade mini-files.  The books were in another location and the "hands on" stuff was in another.  Worst of all, I didn't have a master list to tell me what I had, so a lot of our materials went untouched all year.  What a waste!

I started this year by buying six more binders and several packages of zippered binder sheets (here).  I spread my themes out into the eight binders, adding a zippered page to each unit.  The pouch now holds all the laminated pieces that used to be housed in the crate.  I also added an "inventory" sheet to each unit.  The inventory lists all the pages contained in the binder, the laminated materials in the pocket, and the hands-on parts that are stored in another box.  It's not a perfect system but perhaps it will help me stay better organized throughout the school year.

So, what about you?  How do you organize your homeschool printables?