Do you struggle to come up with lesson plans for your kindergarten class? Well, here are my lesson plans for the SECOND week of kindergarten! My post called “Kindergarten Lesson Plans, Week One” continues to be at the very top of the list of my most popular posts, so I decided to post my lesson plans for the second week as well. And depending on the how popular this post is, I will continue to post my lesson plans as I go along if there is a demand! So if you would like to see this thread continue, please let me know and pass this post along to your friends as well.
I hope that these Kindergarten Lesson Plans will be useful to you! I realize the the print on the lesson plan document is very tiny, and I apologize for that! There are live links to the web pages throughout the pdf document that will take you to the web sites that will give you more information on nearly each item listed. You can download the document, though, and read it on paper if that is easier for you. Download the lesson plan here.
I have been wanting to post my lesson plans for quite some time, but have struggled with the best means to do that without having to write out a blog post that is several chapters long and requires a few hours of reading! I do realize that the time frames that I have and your time frames will likely vary quite a bit, but I included mine so that you could see approximately how long I spend on each section.
If there is something that is unclear, please feel free to ask questions so that I can try to make it clearer! Also, I am NOT including any of my district programs that I would not choose to include on my own, given the option. (Remember, I am on a Leave of Absence this year.) So when I made lesson plans for my class, they looked a little different, considering that I had to complete certain required scripted programs and things like that. So what you are seeing is my “ideal program,” much as I used to teach it back when we had the freedom to teach as we saw fit. (Ah, those were the days!)
These lesson plans also follow my Pacing Guide that you can download on my Free Downloads page. So each concept that you see taught refers back to the Pacing Guide, and is aligned to the Common Core State Standards.
I am going to attempt to expand a little below on some of the things that might be a little unclear or need further explanation. Just in case you didn’t already figure it out, the print that is in black is the part that doesn’t change. The print in blue is the part that changes each week. All I usually do is print out one of these blank lesson plan masters with only the black print on it (I made it myself using Quark Xpress) and then fill in whatever I want to do for the week. I am giving you a generic version of this to use, just in case you want it. It will not have any specific times of day on it, though. You can download the blank lesson plan form here.
At my school, our day started at 8:15 AM. The first four weeks were half day, and then after that we went for an extended day- until 1:20 PM. I realize that most of us teach at least an extended day or a full day, so I am including plans for an extended day starting now. One year, I did teach Kindergarten for a full day, all day, right from the start of the school year. My lesson plans really weren’t very different, except that I let each activity take a bit longer! There was no rushing and pushing the children to finish each lesson so that we could get to the next thing. The children also were given a rest time in the afternoon that lasted about a half an hour. You can see my full day and half day schedules at this blog post here, if you are interested.
You may be wondering where the science is in my curriculum! I sometimes rotate my units from social studies to science and back again, so that I am focusing on one thing or another. This is more necessary when we are on a half day or extended day schedule than it is when we do FULL day, that’s for sure! But given that this schedule is only for the second week of school, I am letting myself off the hook for science just yet. We will catch up on it in good time. I think that it is more important to get the children under control and into a routine that WORKS first. I also need to teach them to write their names, hold a pencil, and squeeze out just a little glue without emptying the whole bottle. After I have accomplished all of that, THEN we will start adding in all of the cool science stuff!
One other thing that you may notice is that at the bottom of the morning lesson plan page, it says, “iPad App or Suggested Activity.” Here’s why: Last year, I had a set of 6 iPads to use, and so I got into the habit of having that last center be iPads only. However, since I realize that most of you are probably not as lucky as that, I also included a different activity that a group of children could do on their own. That way, you can pick whichever one suits your situation the best. If you have just one iPad to use, you might be able to put two children on the one iPad, and have the other children do the other activity. You would have to rotate them back and forth somehow, of course, either changing it by the day or by setting a timer and switching them half way through the center time.
We did these things every day:
We sang and danced to part of these DVD’s every single day, and drilled our numbers and shapes with the Jumpin’ Numbers and Shakin’ Shapes flash cards as well.
We drilled on the Zoo Phonics flash cards every single day as well, although I forgot to put this into my lesson plan above! I just squeezed it in somewhere every day. These are home made cards, using the Zoo Phonics font. They now have newer, cuter, updated cards with cuter artwork. But somehow, I just prefer the “classic” ones! My cards have plain old letters glued onto the back (and they are laminated) so that I can flip them over and drill on the plain letters easily when they are ready.
I read one of these Wiggles books nearly every single day! I use the puppet to help tell the story to make it more fun. I found this particular puppet on Amazon.
We also did a daily section from this book on Phonemic Awareness by Michael Heggertry every day, assuming nothing happened to prevent it. (You know what I mean!) This book is $69 and worth it! It does get boring after a while, but you will see big pay-offs in achievement.
And we used these Classroom Management Posters twice and will use them a bunch more times for the next few weeks. (The set contains more printable posters than what is shown here, though.) Read about them here at the bottom of the post.
Wiggles says:
No Fighting Any Time!
Is it a Question or a Story?
When the Bell Rings, FREEZE!
Sit Criss Cross Applesauce!
Here is what we did for Language Arts:
Here is the Rhyming Bingo Game that we played. We also used the cards for drill and practice on Friday. This set is extremely valuable to me; I use it over and over again until the children master rhyming words!
I put the cards into a zip lock bag with a dark piece of construction paper in the very front of it. Then I pull out the top of the card and show just the top, and have them brainstorm what picture might be hidden underneath. We discuss all of the possible correct answers, and then I reveal the correct answer. We play the bingo game the same way- they just find the correct answer and cover it up!
We played Ring the Bell on Tuesday to practice letters and numbers. You can read about it here on last week’s blog.
We played Zoo Phonics Bingo on Wednesday, using cards I made myself with the Zoo Phonics font. I say the sound, and the children make the motion and say the sound back at me. Then they try to find that letter on their board. I ask them if they know the letter name, etc.
On Thursday, we took our entry level writing assessment for our Kindergarten portfolios. You can find out all about our portfolio assessment and download the papers that go with it here.
And on Friday, we practiced rhyming words again, using the rhyming cards set that I mentioned above. We just didn’t play bingo this time. 
Here is what we did for Math:
We worked on patterning with Unifix cubes on Monday. Yes, I know it’s not in the Common Core anymore, but I still think that it is a good skill to know! And last year, at least, my district was still testing on it. The masters for this activity are free on this blog here.
On Tuesday, I gave the children paper plates with numbers on them and had them try to count out the correct number of objects onto each plate. We do this a lot, changing the manipulatives with whatever unit we are working on. So they will count plastic farm animals if we are studying the farm, pumpkin counters if we our theme is Halloween, etc. I gave the children pom poms and tweezers to use to pick up the items so that they could work on improving their fine motor skills, too!
We practiced sorting objects on Wednesday. I have found that giving each child a placemat to work on gives each child a nice little workspace and keeps their things apart from the next child’s objects. This is particularly important when you wind up with seven children in each group like I did last year! (There were 28 in my class.)
On Thursday, we practiced writing the numbers one and two, and practiced drawing squares and circles.
This is what we did for Art:
On Monday, we did the Helper Bear’s shirt. You can download the project and read more details about it on this blog post here. Each day, I pick a new (laminated) shirt with a child’s name on it and clip it to the bear. The child that gets picked is my helper for the day!
On Tuesday, we made birthday crowns. We save these crowns all year and give them back to the children to wear on their birthday! I ordered blank, white crowns from DiscountSchoolSupply.com, and let the children paint them with their Colorations Glitter Paint. Then they glued on rhinestones (also from DiscountSchoolSupply.com) when it was dry, and then added a Happy Birthday sticker that I printed out myself.
On Wednesday and Thursday, we started our Round Is a Pancake book. We made this book as part of our study of shapes. I have never offered it for sale because the text is an exact copy of the copyrighted text from the book Round Is a Pancake by Joan Sullivan Baranski (or at least the first section of the book.) (I think I forgot to mention in the lesson plan master that we read this book as well… oops.) Okay, I confess: I usually take the books for the day that I want to read and pile them up front by my teacher chair and just make sure that I read them. So they don’t always get written down on my plan.
So what I did is change the text a little bit so that I could post it for you here free! So now, instead of saying “Round is a Pancake,” is says, “A pancake is a circle…” and so on. It’s probably better that way anyhow!
We do not do a rotation on Fridays, due to the fact that we get interrupted by a trip to the library. So since we are not working in small groups, I usually try not to have them work on little booklets on days like that. It’s just harder to pass all the books out and get them each to the right person, etc. So we did our calendar for September on Friday instead. You will find the project and directions at this blog post here. We always decorate a calendar for each month of the year, and this is our first one!
This is what we did for our Learning Centers:
The fourth table in our rotation is usually done independently, although sometimes there are volunteers there! (I have a three hour aide that helps me all morning, thank GOD in heaven! And there is usually a parent volunteer as well, that I usually put at the art table. If there is another person, then I cancel the independent centers and have that person give an actual LESSON, LOL! Wow, imagine that!
Anyhow, last year I had a small group set of six iPads. There were seven or eight kids per group, but a couple of kids can share an iPad together if they have a headphone splitter. So I usually gave the kids the iPads, because it was SO easy and they loved it! The iPad app that I gave them each day is listed above on that lesson plan.
I also am giving you another idea of what I used to do with my kids BEFORE I was blessed enough to get so many wonderful iPads. So here we go!
Monday:
Play with our Fine Motor Skills Kit. Read about it here.
Tuesday: Gelboards and Alphabet Magnets
Then on Wednesday, we put the correct number of straws into Icee cups, plus we did some other fun matching sets activities. You can see them at this blog post here. It shows the modification of using them for the numbers from 11-30, but we only went from 0-10.
On Thursday, I had a volunteer helper take them outside for Motor Development (P.E.) in small groups. I had her inflate rocket balloons and let the kids chase them down. They LOVED this, of course! It’s a favorite activity! (This picture is from later in the year when it was cooler.)
As for the rest of our activities, you will just have to read about them on the lesson plan master above! Just download it and it is FILLED with links to each and every activity, song, and book!
My lesson plans are my best intention for the week…. but things happen and things get in the way! So here and there, an activity doesn’t happen because someone might have wet their pants… someone was crying because of an incident on the playground that had to be discussed and handled… a bird flew into the room and I had to try to get it out of a window… a bug went crawling across the room and the group of children all started screaming and that was the end of my lesson… etc., etc., etc.! Oh, the little joys of teaching are without number, and are a whole lot like trying to “mother” 28 (or more) children all at once!
Okay, caught you yawning! 
I hope it is not too late in the year for you to take advantage of these lesson plans!
– Heidi
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