About Me Theme Class Books
For our About Me theme week in PreK lesson plans I started out over planning the number of books we would read. I forgot to think about the amount of time it would take to share our About Me bags and to read our two class books. My lesson plans at the end of this post are updated to mostly cover only what we had time for in class this week.
I found the template pages for the School Shoes book from rubber boots and elf shoes. We created our school shoes last week for our bulletin board. I took the students’ shoe photos for the lift a flap book as well. I waited to share it until this week, partly due to the time to get it put together and partly to get a student back to school who had been out for a few days.
We read both the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom class book and the School Shoes book at circle time. Then I put them in the library for students to read again and again.
About Me Theme and Letter F Cutting Practice
To assess the cutting skills of my students at the beginning of the year, my assistant had each student try out this cutting center. Students chose scissors and the cutting strip they preferred. Strips were either letter F related or About Me related. After cutting they could choose to paste the pieces onto a construction paper strip to take home or just put their cutting into the bin provided. Students also counted how many strips they had cut.
Potato Head Spin and Build
A popular center this week was the Mr. Potato Head spin and build activity. This is great fine motor practice. When students are remembering to use the spinner they practice taking turns and following directions. We also talked this week about having each of these body parts ourselves.
About Me Theme Easel Activities
Our Potato Head felt activity on the easel was nearly always busy this week. Students created some very interesting creatures with the pieces, including what looked like a rabbit with very large ears (made from the two hat choices.)
On the other side of the easel I put out the family magnets. I think the photo above was the least amount of magnets ever on the board. Students generally covered the entire board. Towards the end of the week a few started to sort the pieces, so these may get some more time next week for further exploration. The family magnets came from this set on TPT; I think the store offered them at one point to try out before purchasing the whole set.
About Me Theme and Letter F Literacy Centers
PreK students tend to love dot markers. In PreK we start to learn to dot with a purpose instead of just dotting every spot. The dot marker sheet above required my students to only dot the letter F as well as anything that starts with the F sound. Since this is the first time we did this type of dot marker activity I put out picture cards that matched the pictures that they should dot. You can find the Alphabet Letter and Sound Search dot marker set in my TPT shop.
Before I created some letter tile sets of my own, I discovered a set of body part words to use during the About Me theme. The letter tiles are in a container I purchased at a craft store that I think is meant to be used for jewelry findings. I added little stickers with the letter in each section since sometimes the letters get turned upside down, making it difficult to find what you are looking for. We use the alphabet song as a tool to help students find the tiles in this container. I sing the song and have them point to each letter until we stop at the letter they are searching for. We also do this with our letter stamps container as well.
You will noticed that many of the letter activities shown have the letter F, while activities like the letter tiles involve many letters. I choose to have a letter that we focus upon each week, but we also have many activities that involve all the letters. We also spiral back after we get through a handful of letters to review those we have already done.
Poke Pin and Science Center
The poke pin activity above utilizes a q-tip painting page since this is the first time we have gotten this type of activity out. The q-tip page has fewer times to poke to be successful in finishing than some of the pages we will get out later in the year when they have more stamina. You can find the set of q tip painting at 1+1+1=1.
For our About Me science center we studied our fingerprints. I somehow managed to miss getting the magnifying glass on the table when I took my photo. You can find the printable at Making Learning Fun. The site used to have a printable that said “God Made Me Special”, but they now have this one. This was another very popular center during the week, with some students making several pages of fingerprints. It helped to have a sample sheet on the table so students knew to just use fingertips and where to put the fingerprints.
About Me Theme and Letter F Writing Center
My PreK students already started creating things for each other in our writing center. I put out a bunch of writing paper in various colors, along with our family words and body part words. Just a few students were ready to use the words, but most students who chose this center were able to at least write their own name when finished. We also ask that students write the name of the person they are giving a paper to as well.
The name cards are also at the writing center for practice with dry erase or to be used to figure out how to spell a friend’s name. I also put out letters T and F cards in both capital and lowercase. I will add the letter cards each week so that students can continue to practice the letters we have already worked on during the year.
Letter F Sensory Bin
The sensory bin this week was relatively mess free. I simply picked a bunch of items from our supplies that start with F. There are also some matching cards with pictures of items that started with F in the bin. Items include a plastic farm, a farmer, a frog, a fox, flowers, feathers, fence pieces, and some alphabet letter Fs. Putting everything back in the correct bin is probably what will take the most time with this bin.
Circle Time for About Me Theme
During circle times we focused upon the Bible theme of God Made Me, using the Cross Connection for Early Learners lesson. Books and other items we used this week are shown below with Amazon affiliate links if you are interested in getting them for yourself.
My students also enjoyed several songs during circle time, including “Proud to be Me” by Signing Time!
Free Printable About Me Lesson Plan for PreK
My About Me lesson plan for PreK, which includes links for everything I did, can be found here:
About Me Theme PreK Lesson Plan
A blank lesson plan form that you can use for yourself, along with two more plans, is available in my Teachers Pay Teachers shop.
