Welcome! If this is your first time here, I am sharing lessons I teach my 5-year-old each month. Each week I choose two books, have two discussions and we create two crafts that go along with one character trait. I use a variety of resources online to put together the lesson plans. Enjoy!
Respect
Read: The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle
Discuss: Why do you think the ladybug is grouchy? Do you think it’s okay to talk to others the way the ladybug does? Are the other animals grouchy? What happens at the end?
Make: We made these adorable ladybug projects (scroll down to see it once you click the link) and discussed what made us grouchy. My oldest reponded that she is grouchy when the ice cream truck comes to our street and mama is out of money.
Read: Trashy Town by Andrea Zimmerman
Discuss: What is recycling? Do we recycle in our home? Where else might we see recycling? Why is it important to recycle?
Make: Here’s a basic cut, sort and paste Earth Day activity my daughter did. Last year we made an awesome torn art paper collage in the shape of the earth. There are also fun recipes for cookies and cupcakes to celebrate Earth Day. Are you ready to head over to Pinterest now?
Responsibility
Read: You Can Count on Me
Discuss: What are the ways your child shows responsibility like the children in the book? Do they help care for your pet? Do they help set the table for dinner? I believe children need certain tasks around the house to do that are simply part of their responsibilty as a member in the household and not necessarily consider chores.
Make/Do: Read the short stories about Roy the Responsible Rabbit online.
Read: Berenstein Bears and The Trouble With Chores
Discuss: What is a chore? What kind of chores did Brother and Sister Bear do? This is when we started discusses the kinds of chores our daughter would be responsible for and what kind of allowance she would receive. We also discussed those daily tasks like making your bed and brushing your teeth that she is expected to do without being compensated for!
Make: Together we picked out this chore chart. She does not have to do them every day but is responsible for completed at least five in the week. I laminated it so that we can reuse the chart by marking it with a dry erase marker each week. Pay day is on Sundays. I am not sure how we will handle the money just yet. I love the idea of a spend, save and give jar but we are not there yet.
Self-Esteem
Read: I Believe in You by Marianne Richmond
Discuss: Just like the mama believed in her daughter in the book, we discussed all the things that I believe in my daughter! We talked about trying our best but that sometimes even our best will not feel like enough and that it’s okay because practice makes progress (not perfect!)
Make: A self-portrait. We pulled out simple paper, pencil and crayons and created self-portraits together. I talked about things I liked about my physical attributes like my hair and my skin and then I pointed out what I liked about myself on the inside—character traits. I helped my daughter do the same when talking about herself.
Read: The Way I Feel by Janan Cain
Discuss: This is a great book to practice asking questions. Before reading the book, have your child preview the pages and ask questions. During the reading, stop and encourage your child to ask questions. There are some feelings words they may not have the vocabulary for yet in this book. Help them understand the feelings by giving your own examples of what they represent. After you’ve read the book, as a few more questions, helping your child make a connection to what they’ve read. Did you ever feel frightened like the child in the book? Asking questions before, during and after reading is a great strategy for strengthening reading comprehension.
Make: We completed this picture someone created to go along with the book, The Way I Feel. Emotion cards are an excellent way to discuss feelings, we love our set of Todd Parr Feeling cards.
Trust
Read: How Could You? by Nancy Loewen
I liked the examples in this book but it was pretty long. We read it over several days. It reminded me of the hit show, What Would You Do?There
Discuss: Trust is an important topic to discuss with children. Especially preschoolers who are starting to learn about lying and telling the truth. For this discussion, I used examples in our own life.
Make/Do: We had a family movie night and watched The Jungle Book. There are several examples of trust in this movie. The Man Cub felt he couldn’t trust anyone until he met Baloo. If you don’t have time to watch the entire movie, show this YouTube clip of the Python singing Trust in Me. Other life lessons taught in this timeless movie are illustrated here. Thanks Disney!
Read: The Empty Pot by Demi
Discuss: My daughter needed help figuring out that the children in this story all cheated to win the contest of growing the best flower in the town! She didn’t realize why the little boy’s pot was empty. It is a fantastic story of being honest. The emperor wanted to find an heir he could trust so he gave all the children in the land seeds to grow flowers. The winner would take over the kingdom. However, the children didn’t know he tricked them and gave them seeds that would not grow. The emperor found his heir, a trustworthy little boy who was honest and showed up the last day of the competition with an empty pot!
Make: Using large pieces of paper, we pulled out paints and created beautiful pots filled with Spring Flowers.