I Am Special!

I started planning our lessons in July while completing my first practicum course. I got a lot of inspiration from the seasoned and new teachers there, each with their own perspective to planning out each day's lessons. I decided to follow similar themes and a similar pattern of introducing each letter of the alphabet, because it was important to me that our curriculum at home still have a strong literacy background. Furthermore, we were implementing one theme that wouldn't be found at most preschools: bible study. I found much of this material on Pinterest, and while I was there I let myself get carried away with other fun ideas for the majority of the rest of the "fall semester" as well.
For our first week, the theme was back-to-school and I am special. If I were a classroom teacher, this would be a week where I would spend time introducing the children to our routines, schedule, classroom environment, and school procedures (such as riding the bus) but very little of this applied to us in homeschool. However, I do have an older child who I take off the bus in the afternoons and I thought that learning about school in general would be fun. After all, what preschooler doesn't love to sing "The Wheels on the Bus?" We also substituted the classic "getting to know you" activities with activities that celebrated the children I know and love. In our case, these lessons and activities supported the important idea that they are "fearfully and wonderfully made" and quite simply, that they are special children of God.
Here are the highlights from the lesson: "I Am Special!"
We listened to "The Butterfly Song" which can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jA1hARCmzo (I love using FREE resources like YouTube to enhance our activities).
Then, we made these completely free, DIY "I Am Special" books.

The materials we used were all things that we already had at home. 

The lined storytelling paper was a cast off from a teacher friend of mine. Her class switched to using "ice cream paper" in compliance with their curriculum, but for my precious preschoolers just seeing the format of these lines would be sufficient for now. I folded the paper in half so that one side was all lines and the other side was blank space to illustrate with one line underneath. I then helped the kids to glue the middle shut so they wouldn't get confused which side was to be used. 

We put together 6 pieces of paper and punched two holes on the left hand side using a triple hole punch. This was very fun for the kids but they had to be careful of their fingers! 

(Sorry this image is upside down!)

We then practiced folding in halves again as we measured two equal pieces of scrap ribbon to bind the books together. I helped to tie simple knots in each.

On the front cover, we used a hand print for each child's cover art. When I was making our first day of school crafts, we used a handprint and there was plenty of paint left, so I thought 'why not make extra for future handprint crafts!?' It worked out beautifully. The boys glued their handprints on after I helped them cut a square around them, hand-over-hand. 

We took a break for snack, and while the boys enjoyed a quick pick-me-up, I quickly went through each book and wrote one line of description beneath each blank space for illustration. After snack, the kids were given markers to illustrate each description.

Look at that cutie self-portrait.

There are many cheap or low-cost freebie printable all-about-me books out there. However, I liked this one because it repurposed materials that we already had available (no wasting ink or paper) and I could make up my own page themes. The prompts I used on each page were...

"This is me!"

"Here's my family."

"This is my home."

"These are my favorite things."

"This is my favorite activity." 

and "I am special because..."

On the opposite side (I should mention, when the book is open faced, the lines should be on the left, and illustration on the right with the description prompts underneath) I then wrote the narration of what each child described as they drew. 

He helped me to write this... ;) 

The finished product turned out looking super cute!

The boys loved reading their stories and sharing them with daddy and grandma. On the back I wrote "I am God's Special Child!!" to really drive home the underlying message of this activity each time they finish their special book.

We also made another craft after reading Psalm 23. What better way to know God loves you then to hear about Jesus, the Good Shepherd? :)

I had this cute little circle-on-a-stick fan from our local latch-on event during World Breastfeeding Week. It said "I'm A Fan of Breastfeeding!" Really adorable. But, as summer dwindled and I wasn't using it much as a fan...I thought it would make a cute mirror craft to teach the boys that they are fearfully and wonderfully made. This is a concept that extends beyond the quality of religion or moral compass. I want them to know that to care for their body is to respect it. It can be applied to everything from eating veggies and brushing teeth to abstaining from drug use as adolescents. It's something very near and dear to my heart. I also have been talking with my 3.5 year old about safe and unsafe touch. We discuss never keeping secrets. Knowing that he is fearfully and wonderfully made helps him to understand why this is so important. 

He loves the little rhyme I tell him. I'm really not sure where it comes from, but I heard it on "The Office" and I'm sure I could Google it to find out the true source, maybe someone could tell me! ;)

The No Secrets Rhyme

(Author Unknown?)

Secrets, secrets

Are no fun

Secrets, secrets

Hurt someone

*Applause*

We traced the fan and worked together to cut out a piece of construction paper the same size for the back and then a piece of tin foil the same size for the front. I had originally planned to simply glue each of the materials to the fan itself but David said to me, "no mama, we can't cover over those beautiful breastfeeding babies!!" Quick change of plans, and a third piece of oak tag (I used an old manila file folder, because repurposing again) was inserted in the middle of the construction paper and foil, then glued to together around the stick. We added stickers that were $1 at my favorite craft store and then wrote "I am fearfully and wonderfully made!" on the back, with the words "I am God's Special Child" across the top of the 'mirror' side.

During circle time (or any time!) now if I see that one of my sweet children needs a reminder to behave like the special child they are, it's a quick way to get back on track by asking them to have a look in the mirror.

That's all for that lesson. 

-Sarah