Make a Preschool Lesson Plan
Teaching preschoolers is a special challenge. They are full of energy, and their attention spans are relatively short. The great thing about teaching preschoolers is that they have a natural curiosity about their world and an enthusiasm for learning and exploring new things. Creating a lesson plan for preschoolers is no more difficult than for any grade; you just have to keep the students' ages in mind and look for activities that catch and hold their attention.
Instructions
1. Consider your students carefully. Preschoolers are in a transitional age, and their abilities can vary widely, even in a small group. Some four-year-olds are already reading, while others cannot identify all the letters of the alphabet correctly yet. While choosing activities, keep in mind your students' skill levels.
2. Choose a topic, and narrow it down. It's better to focus the lesson on a specific concept than spread it too thinly by trying to fit too much into it. If you must cover a lot in your topic, you can always break it up into several different lesson plans to create a unit.
3. Identify the goals and objectives of your lesson. This will help you focus on the desired outcomes of the lesson as you plan it. A goal is what you want your lesson to teach the children overall, while objectives are specific, measurable outcomes of the lesson.
4. Find a variety of activities to achieve your goals. Look through educational websites and resources for activities designed to engage young children. Alternate activities involving sitting, listening and discussing with activities that give the preschoolers the opportunity to move around, sing, talk or do hands-on work. Preschoolers don't sit well for lectures and long, drawn-out stories, so look for things that are more interactive to keep them involved.
5. List your activities in a logical order for presenting the material. You may wish to begin with a discussion question or a story to introduce the topic, then move on to a game or craft that illustrates the things you want them to learn. Then, break each activity down into step-by-step instructions. Consistently drive home the lesson by repeating the concepts and vocabulary words you want them to learn in each step.
6. Estimate the time each activity will take, and plan additional activities in case the lesson goes more quickly than you expected. Plan a brief review for the end of the lesson to go over key concepts again with the students.
7. Go through your plans, and make a list of supplies and materials you will need for your lessons.
8. Plan an assessment to evaluate how each student grasped the concept. In most grades, assessments take the form of tests or reports, but for preschoolers, evaluation may be simply a craft project or a worksheet sent home as homework.
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