Small Group Lesson
Four students
I had two objectives when designing this lesson plan. I had observed many of the preschoolers struggling with their fine motor skills while cutting. They had a tendency to rip the paper with the scissors instead of making a cutting motion. My first objective was to give the preschoolers time to practice their cutting skills in a fun, engaging way.
This lesson was done near Valentine's Day and the thematic unit in the preschool classroom was friendship, kindness and love. My second objective was to get the preschoolers thinking about the beauty of friendship and working together. I also wanted them working on their representative thinking, specifically connecting their collaborative artwork to their shared friendship.
These objectives lead me to select a group of four preschoolers ages three and four, for whom I thought the lesson would be most developmentally appropriate.
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The materials I used for this lesson plan were:
Two ink pads, four pairs of scissors, four sheets of white paper with dotted-line squares or circles (plus extras), one hole puncher, one ball of yarn, hand wipes, and one garland visual.
Learning Domains
Physical domain
Social / emotional domain
Cognitive Domain
Language / Communic-ation Domain
The preschoolers will work on their fine motor skills as they cut out their artwork, stamp their hands, and manipulate hole punchers.
The preschoolers will work on regulating their emotions in the event of a mistake, allowing their artwork to become part of the group project, asking for help, and pushing themselves to try new things.
The preschoolers will work on trying new things, understanding the concept of a group project, and viewing the group art piece as a representation of their friendship.
The preschoolers will work on listening to and processing teacher directions, as well as asking for help when needed.
Methodology
Introduction
Procedure
Closing
Differentiation
“Today, we are going to be making a friendship garland.” “Who knows what a garland is?” Explain what a garland is and show a premade garland visual visual. “This garland is going to represent how beautiful and wonderful each of you are on your own and how beautiful and wonderful all of us are together.”
“First, we are going to make our handprints. Your hand is going to be a stamp. Has anyone done stamping before? How does it work?"
Remind the preschoolers: "Your hand is going to be a stamp."
"We are going to firmly press one hand into the ink pad. We are not going to press too hard or rub. What could happen if we press too hard or rub? Right, it could hurt the ink pad. Once we have inked our hands, we are going to spread our fingers like we are giving a high-five, stamp our hand on the paper, and pick it straight up. What will happen if we move our hand around? Right, the picture will be smudged.
*Demonstrate stamping*
"We are going to stamp, then wipe off our hands using one of these wipes. Okay, I have two ink pads, so we will need to take turns.”
“Now that we have all stamped, we are going to cut out our handprints. There are dotted lines on your paper. Try your best to cut on the lines, but if you can’t that is okay.”
Use hand-over-hand to help each of them punch holes as they finish.
“Look at all of your handprints, they are so beautiful! You worked so hard on these! Now, we are going to connect them to form our garland.”
Help each of the preschoolers string their handprints.
“The handprints were beautiful on their own, but they are also beautiful together, just like all of us. Look at how beautiful your friendship is!”
For increasing levels of cutting difficulty, draw dotted squares, circles, or handprint outlines on the page.
Use differing levels of hand-over-hand assistance.
Reflection
The preschoolers were excited about the activity. They listened to instructions and remembered the steps. The stamping went well, although they needed some help pressing their hands down on the ink pad and on the paper. One student got a little frustrated, but I was able to redirect them. With everyone finishing at slightly different times and my attention taken up by helping the stampers, I needed someone else to pass out the wipes.
Once we got to cutting, one student sped through and was done quickly. Another student was being very careful and taking their time. They were very concentrated and stayed focused without getting frustrated the entire time. Another student got frustrated very quickly and required most of my attention. I had to almost constantly redirect their focus from their frustration to trying again, but we avoided a meltdown and they were very proud when they finished. The last student didn’t get frustrated, but they did need some help. When I tried to help them, the frustrated student started wandering around the room and grabbing things, so I redirected their attention to cutting a piece of scrap paper. However, I used the words “cutting party,” so they threw the paper. Now I know to use different language.
When it came time to hole punch, I positioned the hole puncher and the students pressed down, which would have been a good solution except that the hole puncher was incredibly sticky. It led to some frustration until I figured out how to position my hands to more effectively help them. If I use hole punchers again, I will use a more accessible one.
The preschoolers all got excited when I called them back together at the end to string together the garland. They were proud of their hard work, loved the end product, and seemed to recognize that the garland represented their friendship.
The main problem with the activity was the waiting for other people to finish cutting. I think the activity would have been better as an art table or teacher table learning center that the teachers could then assemble and debrief during circle time.
