Pre-Kindergarten Teaching Center
Theme-based learning for preschoolers
Here is everything you need to teach each week's issue.
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Teach students important fire safety tips.
National Standard
Science (NSES)
Personal health
Goal
Students will learn about ways to stay safe from fire.
Objective
Students will be able to identify items that are not safe for children to use.
Link
Let students play fire safety games.
Literature Connection
• The Fire, by Annette Griessman and David Clemesha
• Fire Engine Man, by Andrea Zimmerman
• Ready Freddie: Getting Ready for Fires, by Earl Hicks Jr.
• Stop Drop and Roll, by Margery Cuyler
A Poem to Share
Fire Smart
“Fire! Fire!”
Someone shouts.
What should you do?
Get out! Get out!
Smoke will go up,
So drop to the floor.
Use your hands and knees
To crawl to the door.
Outside remember
The place you should be
To meet with the rest
Of your family.
—Marie E. Cecchini
Before Reading
Practice Safety Procedures: Conduct a fire drill in your classroom to make sure all children know what to do during a fire or other emergency. Ask: Why might it be important to be a good listener during a fire drill?
Background Information
Fire safety experts at the Home Safety Council recommend these fire safety tips:
• Families should draw floor plans of their homes and yards, marking two ways out of each room and an outdoor meeting area. They should practice carrying out their escape plans twice a year.
• In case of fire and smoke, people should crawl out of the building, staying close to the floor where the air is cooler and cleaner.
• Once out of a burning building, people should stay out. A family should have an outdoor meeting place. Every member of the family should go immediately to that place.
• Smoke alarms should be installed on every level of a building. They are the most effective early warning devices available.
• Smoke alarms should be tested once a month. The batteries should be changed once a year.
During Reading
Make Connections: Point to the picture that indicates that people should never go back into a burning building. Ask: Why is it important to stay out of a burning building once you have left it?
After Reading
Think Critically: Explain that it is important to have at least two ways out of every room in case there is a fire. Ask: Why is it important to know two ways out of a room?
Language Arts Extension: Invite children to take turns dialing 9-1-1 on a play phone. Pretend to be the 9-1-1 dispatcher. Guide children in giving their street addresses and other useful information that will help the fire department respond more quickly.
Social Studies Extension: Guide children in a review of pages 2 and 3. Ask them to describe how the pictures show people being safe. Show children pictures of things that might become hot enough to create a fire or cause burns (irons, toasters, heaters) and pictures of things that would not start a fire. Laminate the pictures, and place them in a learning center. Invite children to sort the pictures into two piles: “Things that burn” and “Things that are safe.”
Kinesthetic Extension: Help your students remember some fire safety rules by reciting them while acting them out. Demonstrate stop, drop, and roll; stay low and go; and get out, stay out. Then invite children to repeat the phrases and mimic your actions.
Adaptation: To make practicing the rule “stay low and go” more concrete, obtain a few old bedsheets and jump ropes. Tie the ropes to two tables, and pull them tight. Drape the sheets over the ropes. Invite children to crawl beneath the sheets, which represent smoke.
Engage students in a lesson about the season of fall.
National Standard
Science (NSES)
Characteristics of organisms
Goal
Students will learn about things that happen in fall.
Objective
Students will match items of like colors.
Link
Find additional ideas on teaching about fall.
Literature Connection
• The Autumn Marathon, by Dawn Desjardins
• Fall Is Not Easy, by Marty Kelley
• The Fall of Freddie the Leaf: A Story of Life for All Ages, by Leo Buscaglia
• Fall Leaves Fall! by Zoe Hall
• I Know It’s Autumn, by Eileen Spinelli
• Mouse’s First Fall, by Lauren Thompson
• When Autumn Falls, by Kelli Nidey
A Poem to Share
Changes
Squirrels collect brown acorns.
Chipmunks burrow in.
Wild geese honk overhead.
Leaves party in the wind.
I button up my sweater.
It’s warm against my skin.
Nighttime comes so quickly.
Autumn’s here again.
—Marie E. Cecchini
Before Reading
Set the Stage: Explain that in many parts of the world, fall is a time of change. Fall is also called autumn. Ask: What things change in the fall? What kinds of things might people do in the fall?
Background Information
• In fall, in some parts of the country, leaves change color and fall off the trees.
• Trees that lose their leaves are called deciduous trees.
• Trees that do not lose their leaves are called coniferous trees.
• In many places, fall is a time of harvest. In fall, fruits and vegetables that farmers planted in the spring are ready to be picked and eaten. Apples, pumpkins, and corn are some foods that are harvested in fall.
• People in some places wear light jackets and sweaters in the fall because the air is cooler.
• During the fall, animals such as squirrels, bears, chipmunks, and mice gather food for the winter. Some animals eat a lot of food in the fall to prepare for a long, deep winter sleep.
During Reading
Compare and Contrast: Invite children to point to photos in the issue that show things they have done or seen in the fall. Compare and contrast the experiences
children have in common.
After Reading
Think Critically: Remind children that fall is one of four seasons. The other seasons are winter, spring, and summer. Ask: Which season do you think is most colorful? Why?
Science Extension: Invite children to observe a tree from a classroom window. Have each child draw a picture of it. Repeat the activity every week. As time passes, discuss with children what has changed and what has stayed the same. If there are no deciduous trees in your area or none visible from your classroom windows, conduct the same activity using pictures of a tree during different seasons of the year.
Sorting Extension: Gather a large number of fallen leaves, and place them in a learning center. Invite children to sort the leaves by color, shape, size, or other
characteristics. For an added challenge, ask children to count the leaves.
Art Extension: Collect some fallen leaves. Then cut two pieces of waxed paper for each child. Have each child place one piece on top of a few sheets of newspaper. Then help him or her place leaves on the waxed paper. Cover the leaves with the second sheet of waxed paper and another sheet of newspaper. Next press a warm iron over the newspaper to seal the leaves between the waxed paper sheets. Invite children to use their preserved leaves as place mats or window decorations.
Teach children descriptive words using a pumpkin theme.
National Standard
Science (NSES)
Characteristics of organisms
Goal
Students will learn that pumpkins come in different shapes and sizes.
Objective
Students will be able to identify the two pumpkins in each row that are alike.
Link
Find more pumpkin-themed activities and lessons.
Literature Connection
• It’s Pumpkin Time! by Zoe Hall
• Pumpkin Pumpkin, by Jeanne Titherington
• Pumpkin Soup, by Helen Cooper
• The Runaway Pumpkin, by Kevin Lewis
• Too Many Pumpkins, by Linda White
A Poem to Share
Choosing
Look! Look! Pumpkins!
Covering the ground.
Some are tall, some are short,
Some are fat and round.
Which one shall I pick,
From the long green vine?
I think this tiny orange one
Will be mine.
—Marie E. Cecchini
Before Reading
Build Prior Knowledge: Display a pumpkin and some pumpkin seeds. Invite children to share what they already know about pumpkins. Ask: Have you ever eaten anything made from pumpkin? What did it taste like? In what other ways have you used a pumpkin?
Background Information
• Pumpkins are a type of squash. Other types of squash include butternut squash and zucchini.
• Most pumpkins are orange, but some are white, yellow, red, or other colors.
• Pumpkins grow on vines. Ask children to think of other plants that grow on vines. Possible answers include grapes, tomatoes, and watermelons.
• Most pumpkins weigh between 15 and 30 pounds, but some varieties can grow to weigh 200 pounds or more.
• Pumpkins are about 90 percent water.
• The states that produce the most pumpkins are Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and California.
• Most of a pumpkin can be used as food. The seeds can be dried and eaten as a snack. The pulp can be used for pie, bread, soup, pudding, and other pumpkin recipes. Even the pumpkin flower is edible.
During Reading
Make Connections: Ask: What kinds of foods can be made from pumpkins? What other fruits can be made into other foods?
After Reading
Think Critically: Explain that farmers need a lot of space to grow pumpkins. Ask: If you wanted to grow pumpkins of your own, where would be a good place to do so? Why?
Science Extension: Supply small groups of children with plastic spoons, cups, plates, and bowls. Cut out the top of a large pumpkin. Then invite children to explore what they find inside the pumpkin using their utensils. Note: Be aware of allergies.
Mathematics Extension: Obtain several pumpkins of different sizes or pictures of pumpkins. Place the pumpkins in a learning center. Invite children to place the
pumpkins in order from smallest to largest.
Art Extension: Place several different varieties of apples in a basket. Invite children to count them, sort them by color, or place them in size order. Remind children not to eat these apples, because they have been handled by many people.
Language Arts/Mathematics Extension: Make a no-bake pumpkin pie that the whole class can enjoy. Encourage children to help you prepare two boxes of
vanilla pudding mix. Add one can of canned pumpkin. Stir in brown sugar, and spices to taste. Pour the mixture into a pie crust. Let it chill in a refrigerator, until set. Invite children to try their pie. Note: Be aware of allergies.
Engage children in a lesson about nocturnal animals.
National Standard
Science (NSES)
Characteristics of organisms
Goal
Students will learn about several animals that are active at night.
Objective
Students will be able to count the night animals in each row.
Link
Make nocturnal animal crafts.
Literature Connection
• Raccoon Tune, by Nancy Shaw
• Sam and the Firefly, by P. D. Eastman
• The Sleepy Owl, by Marcus Pfister
• There’s an Opossum in My Backyard, by Gary Bogue
• Where Are the Night Animals? by Mary Ann Frasera
A Poem to Share
Raccoon Bandits
A raccoon wears a black mask
Of fur around his face.
His sharp teeth and his long claws
Keep enemies in place.
Raccoons are nocturnal.
They wander in the night.
When they go out to look for food
They need their good eyesight.
A raccoon has a habitat,
Or place that it calls home.
It lives in marshes, swamps, and woods.
It’s where it likes to roam.
—Deborah Garmon
Before Reading
Activate Prior Knowledge: Invite children to think of things that happen at night. Ask: You may be asleep at night, but is there anyone who is awake?
How might you know?
Background Information
• Animals that are active at night are nocturnal.
• Owls use their strong eyesight to help them hunt in almost pitch-black settings.
• Raccoons have black-and-white ringed tails and black “masks” around their eyes. Raccoons eat both plants and animals. Most raccoons dip their food in water
as if washing it before they eat. Scientists are not sure why raccoons do that.
• Moths are flying insects with large wings. They have thick, fuzzy bodies and antennae. Moths use a proboscis (straw-like mouthpart) to suck up their food.
• Bats use sonar to find their food. They give off a high-frequency noise and listen for the noise to bounce off their prey.
• Fireflies are a type of beetle. Their bodies create a substance called luciferin that, when mixed with oxygen, creates a glow.
• Skunks eat both plants and animals. They use a foul-smelling scent as a defense against enemies.
During Reading
Think Critically: Explain that some animals rest during the day and are active at night. Ask: What kinds of things might nocturnal animals be doing when they are out at night?
After Reading
Making Connections: Explain that nocturnal animals must be able to do things in the dark. Ask: What might help them see, move, and do other things in the dark?
Science Extension: Create a night-animal center in your room. Add stuffed animals to represent the animals featured in the issue. Invite each child to select an
animal and say one fact about it.
Language Arts Extension:
Explain that bat begins with the letter b. Make a template of the letter b. Have each child trace the letter onto a piece of paper. As a group, think of other words that start with the letter b, such as ball, boy, and bear. Kinesthetic Extension: Explain that bats use their sense of hearing to find food. Invite a few children to an area that is clear of obstructions. Remind the children who are watching to be quiet listeners. Blindfold one child, and tell the others in the small group to move about the space. When the blindfolded child says “echo,” the others must then repeat “echo.” The blindfolded child should use only his or her sense of hearing to find the other children, tapping each one he or she finds.
Adaptation: Reinforce action words by playing a game using words related to what nocturnal animals do. Have students line up and follow you around the room. Call out an action word, such as fly, and perform the action. Students should mimic the action and repeat the word. Use other action words, such as grab, swoop, and hear.
Pre-Kindergarten Teaching Centers, 2011-12
Print your November Teacher's Guide PDF here.
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Print your October Teacher's Guide PDF here.
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Print your September Teacher's Guide PDF here.
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