December Guidelines

Guidelines for Preschool Learning Experiences
Month: December Theme: Transportation: Things That Go!

English Language Arts
Observe and use appropriate ways of interacting in a group-taking turns listening/talking, ask question/listen for answers, gain the floor in appropriate ways. Communicate personal experiences or interests. (Children’s experiences taking different types of transportation.) Listen to, identify, and manipulate language sounds to develop auditory discrimination and phonemic awareness. Relate themes and information in books to personal experiences. Generate questions and gather information to answer their questions in various ways.
Mathematics
Connect many kinds/quantities of concrete objects and actions to numbers. Explore and describe a wide variety or concrete objects by their attributes. Investigate and identify materials of various shapes, using appropriate language. (Building trains, cars, planes with carious materials.) Organize and draw conclusions from facts they have collected.
Science & Technology/Engineering
Make predictions about changes in materials or objects based on past experiences. Record observations and share ideas through simple forms of representation such as drawings. Identify the characteristics of local weather based on first-hand experiences (snow, sleet, frozen rain, cold air) Explore and identify simple machines such as ramps, pulleys, gears, wheels, and levers through play experiences (constructions planes, trains ect.)
History & Social Science
Identify and describe cause and effect as they relate to personal experiences and age-appropriate stories. Construct and describe simple maps of their immediate neighborhood. Discuss classroom responsibilities in daily activities. Observe and discuss the various kinds of work people do inside and outside their homes. Observe some U.S. national holidays and discuss why and how we celebrate them.
Health Education
Build body awareness, strength and coordination through locomotion activities. Discuss various aids and accommodations used by people for the activities of daily life. Strengthen hand grasp and flexibility. Use thumb/forefinger in pincer grasp. Practice independence and self-help skill. (Putting on their own hats, gloves, jackets.) Talk about some basic ways they can keep their environment clean and take care of it.
Arts
Express themselves freely through movement. Sing a variety of songs within children’s vocal range, independently and with others. Listen to storytellers and watch puppet shows. Use dramatic play, costumes, and props to pretend to be someone else. Explore a variety of age-appropriate materials and media to create two and three dimensional work. Use basic shapes and forms of different sizes to create artwork.