Thematic units set up in our cube shelf have been working out really nicely to help me plan a few fun hands-on activities for the week (see our weekly themes on Instagram @RunLoveLearn)
The kids pick each theme. This has been extremely helpful in increasing their engagement level
I try not to buy anything specific for our theme unless there is an item I feel we will get lots of use out of. The things I find at the Dollar Tree and Target Dollar Spot get lots of good use in our cubbies.
Categories: Creative Play/Drama, Math, Writing/Fine Motor skills, Reading, Literacy, Social Studies, Science, Character
Creative play = open-ended toys, art supplies, or dress-up items related to the theme.
Math: Here I collect items related to our theme that we use for counting, measuring, comparing, patterning, estimating, adding, subtracting or sorting. I use our wooden puzzle numbers that go up to 20 here in different ways as well as our wooden tracing board (one of my favorite Target Dollar Spot finds). I also often add a ten frame to display numbers or practice adding and subtracting.
Social Studies: Most often this includes learning about someone who has made significant contributions to the field we are looking at with an effort on my part to teach about people of color and women who may not be celebrated in mainstream schooling.
Science: In our cubby shelf this generally means reading about scientists or scientific concepts. In action it may mean making predictions, observations, and/or conducting experiments or demonstrations I have found on YouTube.
Literacy: At this time this includes phonics games, and de-codeable books at my kids’ beginning reading level. Many of our phonics word games include photo cards that are very versatile to make games out of.
Writing: In this section I provide different writing surfaces and utensils such as dry erase boards, clip boards, chalk, pencils, markers, and notebooks. I include drawing activities in here and letter formation practice resources such as play dough mats and formation cards. I also often use finger puppets and our felt puppet theaters (from Target's Dollar Spot) to help them plan before they write. There is usually a mentor text demonstrating fiction and non-fiction writing about the topic. Blank books are often here as well.
Character: books that teach about kindness, hard work, persistence, and other values
Reading: In this cube I grab any of the books that we have related to our theme (between the books from my classroom teaching days, gifts from loved ones, and my Amazon book sprees, we have a good amount. I also go to the library about once a week to get books related to our topic). In addition, I look for read-alouds of stories on YouTube and Epic.
For more details about the units check out the blog page tab of this website
I find this method fun for myself and for the kids to set up. They enjoy helping me look through their rooms for books and toys that fit our theme. The hardest part for me is when I know we own a book on the topic but I can’t find it, and also putting the items back in the correct place once the theme is over 😆. Check out the Blog page on this website for weekly updates and details on each unit.