I Am Special: All About Me.

Another year of homeschooling is ahead of us. Even though Pumpkin has just turned 5 and was eligible to go to kindergarten, I decided to leave her at home for one more year. I don't think she is socially ready for it.
So...
I want to go through the most topics that are discussed in kindergarten with her. The first one is All About Me or like we stated it I Am Special: All About Me. I wanted to make an emphasis on how people are different and how they are special in their own way.

This is a sketch of our lesson plan. (The reason I am not saying "plan" because we didn't follow it step by step and went with the flow adding some extras too.)

1. Getting to know you.

learned how to introduce herself

recited her address

spelt her full name

2. My body and personal hygiene.

bath time hygiene (I took the activities from here)

video about brushing teeth

watched video about hand washing




learned some fascinating facts about bodies

read the poem Somersaults by Jack Prelutsky

read the story Big Feet Are Neat, Sometimes by Laura Hitchcock(all from Little People Big Book. All about Ourselves. (published by Time Life For Children))

3. Everyone is unique and special.

read the poem Me I Am by Jack Prelutsky

completed the funny questioner All About Me

read the story The Bear Who Wanted to Be a Bird by Adele and Chateau De Leeuw

played a silly game How Would It Feel to Be an Animal? (all from Little People Big Book. All About Ourselves.)

In addition, we found a number of books that we thought are suitable for this theme.

1. The Legend of Spookly the Square Pumpkin by Joe Troiano.

2. Something Special by David McPhail.

3. Leonore's Big Break by Susan Pearson.

4. Impatient Pamela Asks: Why Are My Feet So Huge? by Mary Koski.

5. I'm Gonna Like Me by Jamie Lee Curtis and Laura Cornell.

6. It's Hard to Be Five by Jamie Lee Curtis and Laura Cornell.

Pumpkin could really relate to this one since she turned 5 a couple of weeks ago. After reading it she completed a project which was called 5 Reasons I Like to Be 5. We went a little crazy with number 5. She traced her hands 6 times(5 for the pages + 1 for the cover) and cut them out to make a little booklet. On every page she gave a reason why she liked to be 5(opposed to 4 that made it less abstract which is still a pretty hard concept to grasp). Then, we punched a hole and tied the "hands" with a ribbon.

We discussed how the characters were different/special/unique. We made sure to mention that everybody is special just the way they are and it is important to accept them and yourself that way.

Also, Pumpkin is still working on another project: All About Me Book. I hate writing in books even if that's what they are for. I am talking here about My Book About Me by Me, Myself by Dr. Seuss and Roy Me Kie. We made something resembling it by stapling filler paper together and making a cover from recycled cardboard out of Cheerios box some colored construction paper and a ribbon. Pumpkin decorated it.

Finally, I want to let you know that of course it was not a 40 minute class. We've been working on this topic for about a week and are not finished yet. :)