Preschool math and science

[wulfbourne]

Ok, I could use some help and ideas here. My church homeschool group is staring up a preschool coop. Each parent has to help out in some way, no drop off's. You either teach, assist, or help in the nursery with younger siblings. So I volunteered to teach and am now co-teaching math/science. It's once a week and the kids will be broken up into a 3 year old class and a 4/5 class. Another set of teachers will be doing ABC/Phonics/Lit activities. The basic idea is that one set of teachers does math/science with one group first while the other does the english with the other class then after a snack/break we switch and take the other group.

 

So, my oldest is only 3. I'm not really sure of what would be good for 4/5 year olds. I need to do 10 lesson plans of math & science for 3 year olds and 4/5 year olds. I had a basic one done up for 3 year olds including pre-math skills like pattern recognition, sorting by size, etc. What level would 4 & 5 year olds be at? Do you have any good resources for preschool math/science activities? I want to try and keep it as fun as possible too, I don't want to try and make preschoolers do worksheets and such. I have my meeting with my co-teacher Monday at the library and wanted to get ideas for our lesson plan before then so we can work it out fairly easily.

 

Also, I wasn't sure if I should put this here or in the curriculum board since that board is labeled k-8. :confused:

[NanceXToo]

There seem to be some good ideas here:

 

http://www.education.com/activity/preschool/math/

 

Just google "preschool math activities" and you'll find lots more!

[wulfbourne]

There seem to be some good ideas here:

 

http://www.education.com/activity/preschool/math/

 

Just google "preschool math activities" and you'll find lots more!

 

Been doing that and I'm getting a lot of great idea's. I'm mostly worried about what the ability level differences would be between the 3's and the 4/5's. I looked at like the PBSparents.org for ideas and I'm not sure I believe them. According to their early math section it's not until age 4 that kids can count to 10 or recognize and name shapes. My 3 year old has been doing that for awhile so I feel like they're underestimating kids.

[m0mmaBuck]

Magnets to Mudpies has great ideas for quick, easy science "experiments" for that age.

[Jacquelyn in NC]

I would second the Mudpies to Magnets books (there are two of them). They have wonderful ideas, along with a suggested age range for which they'd be appropriate.

 

Math: shapes and sorting games are always good for pre-school ages. You can also do number scavenger hunts (find 4 leaves, 5 twigs, 3 flowers, etc). This also gets them up and moving, which is always a plus!

[Dobela]

MudPies to Magnets is great. I also bet your library would have some great books. A teacher supply store will have lots of PreK books for teachers as well. You can look thru those for ideas. Science at that age can be as simple as Float/Doesn't Float. A friend once did a class called What Sticks to My socks. She put men's socks over the kids shoes and went for a walk in a wooded area. When they came back they looked at what stuck - then sorted, measured, looked at under a magnifying glass, and so on. The kids had a great time.

 

For math, one idea is the Cranium game Hullaboo. My preschooler loves it! It is like musical chairs but they have to sometimes end up on the purple triangle with some character on it.

 

My 3 year old, and others I know in my church class, don't all know their numbers of colors or shapes.

 

For 4/5 year olds I like the Saxon K math program. It is lots of counting stories, making shapes on geoboards, and so on.

[Guest jeni]

You can see some preschool activities here:

http://www.amazing-preschool-activities.com/preschool-science-simple.html