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Lesson 1: Early Preschool (Ages 2 1/2 - 3) Getting to Know You Lesson Series

Project: LEAD | Curriculum | Resources | Workshops | Activities | About Us

Ages 2 1/2 - 3

Teachers:Barbara Geary, Sara Conway, Joy Evansgetting to know you #1
Project Children L.E.A.D. Director:Dr. Vincenne Revilla Beltran
Subject Area: Diversity
Grade level: Early Preschool (Ages 2 1/2 - 3)
Length of Lesson: 60 minutes

I. Objective

  1. Foster familiarity with people different from us.

  2. Understanding causal relations.

  3. Stimulate sensory pleasure.

  4. Tactile and visual exploration.

II. Pennsylvania Department of Education Indicators

  1. Education Indicators

54. Children are provided varied opportunities to use simple tools to observe objects and scientific phenomena.

2.63 Children are provided varied learning opportunities that foster positive identity and an emerging sense of self and others.

64. A sense of community is developed within the classroom so each child feels accepted and gains a sense of belonging.

75. Children are provided varied opportunities and materials to build their understanding of diversity in culture, family structure, ability, language, age, and gender in non-stereotypical ways.

75. Children are provided many and varied open-ended opportunities and materials to express themselves creatively through music, drama, dance, and two-and three-dimensional art.

III. High Scope Key Experiences

  1. Social Relations

  2. Language and Literacy

  3. Logic

  4. Creative Representation

IV. Materials

  1. Water table

  2. Variety of ice cubes prepared with people-colored paints.

  3. White finger paint paper

  4. Large white mural paper

  5. Variety of paint and brushes

  6. Book - Grandmother's Garden by John Archambault

  7. Circles with the children's name on them for sitting on at circle time.

VI. Procedure

1. Activity One

At circle time we will find our small circles with our names on them with the help of the teacher and sit on these for our story, "Grandma's Garden." We will discuss the story. We will end circle time with the song "Friends Are Like Flowers."

Friends are flowers, beautiful flowers, friends are like flowers in the garden of life. Some are a daisy, some are a rose, some are a dandelion. You can be what you are I'll be what I am we will be friends in the garden of life.

2. Activity Two

Place white paper in the bottom of the water table. Give the children the ice cubes. This is an open-ended activity in which the children can push the ice cubes around and watch as the colors emerge, run, and blend on paper. Use any opportunity for incidental teaching about skin color through the children's own self-examination and comparisons. Have them compare ice cubes to their own skin and skin of others. Give them words for shades: lighter, darker, etc.

3. The children will paint as a group on a large white piece of mural paper.

After it dries we will cut out a large butterfly or another shape. We will display it where everyone can see it often. The caption under the painting will read "When we work together something beautiful happens." As we pass we will read the caption and discuss it.

VII. Evaluation

The children enjoyed the ice cube activity. It produced a great deal of language.

The children discussed the colors of the paint as it melted. The teacher facilitated the language used to compare the colors to our skin colors.

Suggestions for additions to centers

  • Blocks - Multicultural block people
  • Dramatic Play - Multicultural dolls
  • Manipulatives - Matching game of many types of faces. Multicultural lacing card
  • Art - Multicultural paints and paper
  • Reading - Grandmother's Garden by John Archambalt
  • Sand and Water Table - Multicultural block people
  • Science - Discovery tubes