Well, I am having an inner debate. I am a HUGE planner. If you are new to my blog, you will learn that I am a person who is quite frequently described as a "Type A Personality" with everything organized and labeled to the max! I love to organize things. I love to provide a home to all trinkets in a way that is easy to decipher for anyone who enters my room. I feel anxiety when I am in the midst of a mess. Am I alone on this? =/
Get back to the topic, Courtney! Okay! Do you use themes? Do you like the idea of themed units? I enjoy creating tools to use in therapy and am currently working on baseball themed articulation and language activities. I sat down the other day and devised what could be a "plan" for themed units.
I separated them out by month and it looks like this:
September - Back to School, Pirate, Apples
October - Columbus Day, Halloween
November - Thanksgiving, Turkey, Cornucopia
December - Christmas, Snowman, Penguin
January - MLK Jr Day, Snow, Eagles
February - President's Day, Valentine's Day, Hearts, Candy
March - St. Patrick's Day, March Madness, Dr. Seuss
April - Earth Day, Butterflies, Spring, Flowers
May - Cinco de Mayo, Mother's Day
Random themes:
Food - Popcorn/French Fries/Burgers
Comics
Angry Birds
Disney/Pixar
I definitely don't have printables/activities ready for most of these, but I don't need anything dealing turkeys or snow for a while yet, so I will take it one day at a time! You know what I mean! =)
If you have other theme ideas, share them with me! I would love to hear what you are working on! If you don't use themes, do you plan out your weekly sessions or go on a whim? I know some building Principals require lesson plans to either be available or turned in. I do not have to do so, but I know if I am bored with an activity, my students likely are too! This allows for a little change up every once in a while!
Happy Monday!
I definitely use themes. Most of the teachers in my school follow the same themes, so I tend to stick with the themes they are working on rather than doing something entirely different.
ReplyDeleteInteresting! That would make things easier, I suppose! I am in a new school, so I don't know if they have "school wide themes", but that would be terrific and exciting for me if that were the case!
DeleteI should clarify...most of the preschool teachers I work with follow the same themes (they plan together). So I try to stay close to those themes. I only work with PK and K.
DeleteAh! Well, either way, that is a great idea! It allows for broad learning of topics across multiple settings! I like it!
DeleteFor the most part, I follow Kindergarten's themes. They always have one and it's easier than reinventing the wheel. I throw in my own themes sometimes, too. I love doing theme therapy...its fun, makes pulling materials easy, and it builds background knowledge!
ReplyDeleteThat is my thought on it, Jenn! I was in a MS last year, so I'm a little rusty on the theme idea, but I want to incorporate it so no one gets bored and they build knowledge of various topics! It will also give us something to talk about for those kiddos who are in the midst of the "never ending" carryover.
DeleteI love themes. I use lots of books, crafts and ipad activities. If you have an ipad you can find lots of great/inexpensive themed apps, especially for the holidays.
ReplyDeleteI was blessed to have an iPad in my previous district and will have one in the district I am entering as well. They are a fantastic tool for therapy. Great reinforcement and motivation for the students. I have found a lot of themed apps. I believe I have pirates, easter/bunny/spring, and 4th of July as of now, but I just started looking! =)
DeleteI will be doing some book themes as well. I love the books by Eric Carle, so I will likely have a theme with those!
We're trying themes at the high school level this year - should be interesting!! I may need to borrow a few of your ideas...
ReplyDeleteI struggled with themes at the middle school level! I am curious to know how this goes! Good luck!
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