May I Borrow Your Thoughts?
Posted by Kim Murphy on 24 Nov 2009 | Posted in: Classroom Routines, Planning and Curriculum, Preschool, The Mailbox
I’m hunched over a grid, sweat furrows my brow, and my brain aches with the agony of indecision. What could possibly be causing this intense stress and concentration? Why, I’m trying to decide what themes to put in next year’s issues of The Mailbox® magazine preschool edition! I’m only making the process sound stressful to garner your sympathy. I actually enjoy it very much. It’s a bit like a puzzle—one that’s much more fun than crossword or Sudoku puzzles. (Those make me want to smack my head against a nice solid object.)
While I’m working on this theme plan, I inevitably spend my time trying to get inside your brain. I can spend an eternity wondering. Would you prefer a unit on flowers or butterflies? Or would you perhaps like a unit on ponds or oceans or eggs? The questions and themes are endless! So I’m going to take a minute to ask you: what themes would you enjoy seeing in the magazine?
Thanks for the help!
Kim
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I think we need to point our preschoolers to a better future for them to live in. We need to teach them to go green. Remind them to recycle. What to make out of things at home. Be $$ minded. Make a better environment for them to live in. Bring back creativity. I love to sit and create with little minds. Watching them be free with their expressions. Let them learn to be aware of things around them. Not things in the electronic world. Computers in the class room can do more damage then paint with a paint brush.
More activities with lower case letters, more science and math, cooking items with no sugar, no nuts or anything that could be associated with nuts! Thank you~
I sure could use help with math and science ideas for the letters of the alphabet, colors, numbers, and shapes.
also any ideas for the more unusal letters like Q, X, Y, U, and Z
Hi, What a fabulous resource thank you. I love teaching my pre-k class about famous artists, art styles and composers. I would love some simple ideas to introduce them to a variety of art and music styles. There are many wonderful books about artists and composers written for children. A resource list of books would be great also.
Our school has been working very hard on giving back to the community. Fresh ideas for organic gardening, staying green, helping others and giving back to the community would be fabulous. Also, learning about other countries not just the typically found countries in the majority of curriculum books or resources would be great. I would like to teach the children about countries that they may not have knowledge of.
Any of the Todd Parr books would be super cute too!
Island/Reggae theme instead of typical Beach theme…
I have tons of ideas today don’t I?
I would love to see some type of Fairy and Woodland next Fall. I think the kids are open to it with all the new Tinkerbell stuff out there and it’s such a neat tie-in to Earth and there are so many neat directions you could take it.
Soooo many art ideas: I tried this theme in my classroom this year and we tied yarn around pinecones- it was such a hit from 2-4 years old !! I purchased kits from etsy but pinecones from home would be neat too!
LOOVE the idea of a wolf theme!
Love the Fairy Tale themes- please do the storytime book around “Each Peach Pear Plum” — such a fun book for Pre-K!
How about traditional Fairy Tales from around the world theme for around MLK Jr day or around World peace Day…
I’ll buy you forever, I’ll read you for always
As long as I’m teaching, The Mailbox It’ll be…
I would love to see themes on: pond life, rocks & minerals, food pyramid & nutrition, focus on various authors & illustrators, the environment and being “green”, and simple machines. Also, weather unit and manners.
Lots of good suggestions have already been listed above.
I would add a request for units on animals preparing for winter, in addition to hibernating. I find plenty of books and teaching materials for bears hibernating, but it would be nice to also expose the children to how small mammals, snakes, lizards, birds and other forest animals cope with cold weather-migration, collecting food, etc. My preschoolers and I really enjoy the units on animals, science and nature the best! Spiders and insects seem to be their favorites.
How about a unit on wolves and their place in the animal world?
I would also utilize a cowboy/western unit and a medieval castle unit at the preschool level. We built a cardboard castle for our back to school unit this fall and everyone really enjoyed it. Any ideas for including 2-3 basic woodworking projects for 4-5s in our curriculum would be good too. Keep the great ideas coming.
I would love electricity, simple machines, and rocks for Prek-K level. A simple water cycle book would be nice for that level too.
I would love to see a theme on immigration and Ellis Island. I teach 3rd grade, and it is difficult to find books and other age-appropriate materials. This is an important part of American history, but it’s hard to teach when there isn’t much available. Thanks for considering!!!
I would like to see a theme based on rocks or minerals for a preschool level age. Or maybe a theme on living versus non-living things.
An all about me theme that is more “hands on” for the children with emphasis on the five senses and different activities or crafts for each sense would be awesome!
I am looking for ideas to do a theme on pets this year in the spring and what kinds of learning activities, crafts, and dramatic play ideas would work with that.
How about a Kids can cook theme with emphasis on making nutritional choices and snacks versus the cookies, and sugary items.
Thanks for asking!
Kristy
This is my tenth year of teaching/directing a small preschool and the theme boxes I need the most help with are February and March. What about healthy foods/exercise, love/friendships or pond, insects/Eric Carle. I really have a hard time finding or creating activities to go with forest animals. For either fall or spring. (Besides bears). I also always struggle with making 3D people for different activities, for example cowboys, wise men and shepherds. Besides clothespins, paper tubes and chenille sticks, what else is there? We like to make these for take home crafts but also in the block area or on the train/road table.
Traditional nursery rhymes activities are harder to find these days too. I think that’s it! Love this resource so much! Thanks for asking.
I would also like to see a unit on fairy tales to supplement what I already have. Nocturnal animals and booklets for Pilgrims/Native Americans would be nice as well. Thanks for all you do!
Arctic Animals (book suggestion: Arctic Fives Arrive by Elinor Pinczes)
New Books highlight issue (focus on books released in 2009-2010)
Eric Carle in Science Curriculum (using books like A House for Hermit Crab, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Grouchy Ladybug, etc.)
We did a mini-theme on Knights and Dragons around the book The Knight and The Dragon. The kids really got into it, even my kids that do not usually choose dramtic play. I would love to see more ideas on that theme.
Love the forest animal theme idea suggested by Monica. I am doing Night Tree in December and want to tie in forest animals and avoid some of the Santa/presents hype for the first couple weeks. I then do pond and forest iagain in the spring. I find lots of frogs, fish and even turtle, but little on forest animals.
I would like to see more 2nd grade math pages. I love the magazine and it is such a great help, but I see more 3rd grade math pages. I would really like more double digit adding and subtracting with regrouping and more story problem pages. Thanks so much! Thanks for all you do!
I have many boys in my two JK/SK classrooms! I would like them to investigate a dinosaur theme and explore an outer space theme. I know the girls will enjoy these themes too.
WE are always hunting appropriate books on our country’s history (Pilgrams, Indians, Presidents, Betsy Ross, etc., Black history.) We’re using our school library and local libraries, but its time for some fresh books to cover these units for our young ones. That would certainly be wonderful!
I would like to see frogs, plants, bees. If you are going to do cooking is it possible to have recipes where you cook things in an electric skillet. We do not have access to an oven. I’ve done cakes in Dixie cups, but was hoping there were other things to cook.
I would like to see something on eggs, we always do a unit on that in the spring and try and hatch chicken eggs. I also agree with the other comments on fairy tales, forest animals, thematic recipes etc. How about ocean animals also. I know I will use whatever you decide. Thanks again!
Great question. I love your little booklets. If you would do them covering the themes of: nocturnal animals, general topic of the sun, moon, stars, and planets, wants and needs, trade and barter, 100 days, animals that hibernate, weather conditions, friendship, and night and day. Thanks. Love your magazine.
I also would like some ideas for fairy tales - We have “Mother Goose” come to visit our pre-school in the spring. So we plan this year to have a week or two of fairy tales to go along with her visit.
And I also think the idea for Forest Animals is great.
Our children always enjoy making the little books you print up.
Thank you for helping!!
Monica and Sharon
I have a great ideas on the fairytale theme. I sort of took from here and there and compiled them together. Our first 6 weeks of kIndergarten is all based around fairytales.
The 1998-1999 Yearbook has a great kingdom theme, Scholastic puts out a great Cooking book to go along with each letter of the alphabet.
I would like to see a fairy tale theme. We are trying this for the first time this year, and we have found a few ideas interspersed throughout various Mailbox books. It would be wonderful to find many ideas in one article.
Another unit I would like to see is Animals of the Forest (deer, skunk, moose, raccoon, etc…)
Thanks for asking your readers!
I would like to see what you’d come up for a pets unit. Caring for pets, craft ideas, bulletin board ideas, etc.
I would love to have recipes to go along with themes. I am trying to “cook” with my Kindergarten students once a month. The children love our cooking days. There is a great deal of oral language, measurement, and trying new things. The ideas you give are always helpful!
That’s a great question! I would love to see a general, all-season food theme! I feel like there are always plenty of seasonal themes for all four seasons and for the most popularly celebrated holidays, but fewer options for those in-between times, or for big seasonal holidays that not everyone in every class celebrates. As is often heard, you always have to eat! So let them have cake I say!