I often get asked about lesson plans or curriculum that I use in my preschool classroom but I have been teaching for such a long time now that I don’t actually use a formal curriculum or write a lesson plan out. One thing I do use (and have used for years) to supplement my unwritten curriculum is Scholastic classroom magazines for kids.
Scholastic is always updating and improving their choices in classroom magazines and one of their latest publications is”My Big World with Clifford.” This edition of their classroom magazines is simply wonderful. Every issue is filled with simple text, big pictures, and easy to understand facts about real life and real things young children can relate to and talk about…
I love how every child gets to have their own copy of the classroom magazine to read in the classroom and to take home. In the classroom, we always read through the magazine together as a whole group. This particular issue talked about planting a bean and gave simple instructions on how you could plant your own bean in a cup. Every issue leads to something hands-on we can do (some I come up with and some are in the magazine) in the classroom as a followup to our large group reading experience…
When reading together as a large group, we use our Clifford magazine to notice the numbers on each page and the color coded boxes to help us stay together and promote discussion about what is happening in each picture…
On the last page of each of our magazines is usually some sort of writing exercise that extends the discussion we have been having in our large group. We always walk through the directions and the steps to how to complete the last page as a large group…
And then the children go off to complete the exercise on their own…
The publications of “My Big World with Clifford” comes in sets and Mrs. Courtney and I sort them out when they arrive in the mail. We introduce one set of the magazines to our students each week. We order enough sets so each of our students can have a set of their own…
And with each new magazine we read, we always extend our reading into our classroom experiences…
What will grow?
Look for Ladybugs
A Week of March Weather
Links to Grow On…
Scholastic “Our Big World” magazine
Scholastic News and Features (Check out the “Earth Day Everyday” Video)
Disclosure: Scholastic sent me a few sets of “Our Big World with Clifford” magazine to use in my preschool classroom. How I use them and the activities we extend the reading are completely my own ideas. Although Scholastic sent me a few of these magazines, I do order my own sets each year as well. I think they are terrific!