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This study was created by Linda Jones. Thank you Linda for allowing me to share all your hard work with everyone!! We all appreciate it a lot! : -) This unit study was designed for use with PKers but can be used with Early Elementary Age students as well. Have fun! Week 1 - Schedule Note: Sometimes kids don’t know where to begin, when cleaning up a mess. So it helps to have some sort of check-off list to help them find a starting point. For this, make a clean-up pocket chart. Categorize the things that need to be cleaned up, such as toys in toy box, books on shelves, trash in trash can, clothes in hamper, dishes in kitchen, etc. Take pictures of each item and print on cardstock. (I am working on some computer graphics of different things that need cleaned up) Laminate to make it more durable. To make the pockets, I cut clear plastic squares slightly wider than the pictures, but not as tall, and laminated them to a poster board. Then I cut slits along the tops of the plastic squares forming pockets to allow the cards to be inserted. The pictures are still visible through the plastic. The child then looks at the chart to determine what items to clean up first. When they are done cleaning an item, the picture can be removed and put in a separate pocket for storage. When it’s time to clean the room, order the cards with the things that need cleaned the most at the top, and the things that are the smallest messes at the bottom. Or have your child put a card in when they get out a toy to play with, so that they have a reminder to put it away later, or whatever you think works best for your child. Use it throughout the month. This is only a visual tool to help them find a starting point, and divide the job into separate sections that are easier to accomplish, rather than just giving a generalized job of cleaning up. When they are old enough, they can look at the room, and decide which cards to put at the top, and which to put at the bottom. Younger children will need someone older to order the cards for them. This pocket chart is used later in the unit study. Poetry and Songs: Note: Sing this song when it’s time to clean things up, throughout the month. Clean Up Song (via Kristine Johnson on Sonlight Preschool List) Sing to the tune of “Shortenin’ Bread” Short activity: They Didn’t Use Their Heads by Jo Ann Stover Read several pages a day this week and discuss them. Longer books and activities:
Monday:
Have two measuring cups that are identical in size on a tray, with a kitchen towel, and a timer. Set the timer for 5 minutes. Fill one up to the top with water. Practice pouring from one measuring cup to the other. Use the towel to wipe up spills. When the timer goes off, empty the water in the sink, wipe the cups dry with the towel, and put everything away in a specific place. Each time she wants to play with these things, she has to follow the instructions above. Tuesday:
Use the measuring cups, tray and timer from the previous day. Set the timer for 5 minutes. Fill one cup with dry lima beans. Practice pouring the beans from one measuring cup to the other. If any spill, have her pick them up and put them back in the cup. When the timer goes off, have her empty the lima beans into a container, and put everything away in a specific place. Each time she wants to play with these things, she has to follow the instructions above. Wednesday:
Use the measuring cups, tray and timer from the previous day. Set the timer for 5 minutes. Fill one cup with elbow macaroni. Practice pouring the macaroni from one measuring cup to the other. If any spills, have her pick them up and put them back in the cup. When the timer goes off, have her empty the macaroni into a container and seal, and put everything away in a specific place. Each time she wants to play with these things, she has to follow the instructions above. Thursday:
Use the measuring cups, tray and timer from the previous day. Set the timer for 5 minutes. Fill one cup up with colored rice. Practice pouring rice from one cup to another. If any spills, have her pick it up and put it back in the cup. When the timer goes off, have her pour the rice into a container and put everything away in a specific place. Each time she wants to play with these things, she has to follow the instructions above. Friday: Tracy’s Mess by Elise Petersen Use the measuring cups, tray and timer from the previous day. Set the timer for 5 minutes. Fill one cup up with colored sand. Practice pouring rice from one cup to another. If any spills, use the small hand vacuum to clean it up. When the timer goes off, have her pour the rice into a container and put everything away in a specific place. Each time she wants to play with these things, she has to follow the instructions above. Activity to do sometime during the week: Go down the cleaning supplies in the Grocery store, or discount store and talk about how people use all kinds of things to clean. Show her the brooms and scrub brushes, feather dusters, ironing boards, etc. Talk about how people keep things clean in their homes because it helps them to be healthy, it helps them to find things, and it makes people feel happier when they are in clean places.
Week 2 - Schedule Poetry and Songs: Throughout the week: Visit Messy Place! on the web. Short activity:
Longer books and activities: Monday:
Activities to teach about cleaning up from food preparation: Let her help bake some cookies. (Don’t use any sharp utensils like knives for this activity, if you are letting her wash up afterwards. Also, pick a simple and quick recipe to make, as the longer it takes to make, the more likely it will be to loose their attention.) Have her help clean up afterwards before she can eat any. (If you wash dishes by hand let her wash the dishes, and you rinse and dry them. (I always rinse everything out as I am working, so things are easily washed afterwards. This way any washing that she does will be enough.) Have a tea party (or a picnic) with the cookies afterwards. (Be sure to have her help put everything away when done) Tuesday:
Activities to teach about making surfaces look clean: Spill some water on a table, and let her wipe it up with a cloth. Use the Write-on/Wipe-off board and markers, and wipe it clean afterwards with the eraser. Practice using a spray bottle to spray on windows and then wiping it off. (plain water is okay) Wednesday:
More activities to teach about making surfaces look clean: Spray little spots of shaving cream or colored foam soap in different places around the room. Let her use a towel to clean up the spots. Let her help dust with a swiffer duster. Sprinkle some corn starch or baby powder on a table so that she can practice cleaning it up with the duster. Thursday:
Activities to teach about cleaning floors: Sweep the bathroom floor. Let her help, even if it is only pretend. Or let her hold the dustpan. Mop the bathroom floor with the string mop afterwards.. Let her have a toy mop to help mop the floor. Every time she plays with it, she has to put it away when she is done or she can’t play with it. Friday:
More floor cleaning activities: Practice vacuuming things up with the small hand held vacuum cleaner. My kids liked to vacuum up baking soda sprinkled on the carpets. That way they could see where they had vacuumed. Let her play with the toy vacuum cleaner afterwards. Every time she plays with it, she has to put it away when she is done, or she can’t play with it. Pretend to be a vacuum cleaner when cleaning up toys. Make vacuum cleaner sounds, and sucking sounds when you pick up a toy. Activity to do sometime during the week: If possible, visit a friend’s home, who keeps their house clean. Talk about how keeping the home clean is something that everybody should want to do. Make patterns for her to copy with the lacing beads. Notice patterns in toys. For example, there are different kinds of blocks (Lego’s, Lincoln Logs, etc.) but they are all blocks. There are different kinds of dress-up clothes (cowboy hats, crowns, butterfly wings, etc., but they are all dress-up clothes). There are different kinds of balls (tennis balls, beach balls, rubber balls, etc., but they are all balls). Categorize the toys according to the pocket chart pictures, so that they know what types of toys go with which cards. Pattern recognition is a part of cleaning abilities. Week 3 - Schedule Poetry and Songs: Visit Remembering on the web. Short activity: Glenna’s Seeds by Nancy Edwards Throughout the week, read several pages of what people did to be kind and discuss them. Also talk about how neat all the houses on the block are. Longer books and activities: Monday:
Pretend to be busy buzzing bees when cleaning up. Buzz and pretend to fly around, picking up toys and putting them away where they belong. Tuesday:
Pretend to be cleaning Kangaroos. Put on aprons with a large front pocket. Fill it with toys that need put away, and then hop to the place to put them away. (Or pretend to be Tiger, and bounce the toys away) Wednesday:
Play the music box clean up game. Use a short song on a music tape that she is familiar with so that she knows how long the song will last. Thursday:
Use a flashlight or laser light to highlight the things for her to put away. Let her take turns directing us for which things to put away. Friday: The messy rabbit by Ruth Nivola Pretend to be a vacuum cleaner, making a vacuum sound, and using hands to pick toys up and put them away. Activities to do sometime during the week: Sometime during the week: go to the Library, and talk about how they keep the Library clean. Books (and toys if they have them) have to be put away on the shelves nicely, and someone dusts and vacuums and throws out the trash. Talk about how people try to keep things clean because it makes things easier for everyone. If all the books get scattered, and messed up, then there wouldn’t be books to borrow from the library. Play with some pattern blocks. Talk about how things have to be put in a specific way for them to make pictures. Talk about how keeping things clean is a way to make patterns. Week 4 - Schedule Poetry and Songs: Throughout the week: Little Folk Nursery Rhymes Felt set “Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush” and/or try it online at Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush. Short activity:
Longer books and activities: Monday:
Take a picture of the toy room with everything put away where it belongs. Blow it up to 8x10 size. Let her compare the way the room looks with the picture, and see if she can see what’s different. Then fix it so that it looks like the picture. Keep the picture handy for future use. (May be necessary to update it when new toys are added, if they are visible) Play stop sign clean up. Make a red stop sign and a green go sign out of poster board, with a paint stick for a handle. Tell her that when you hold the stop sign up, she has to freeze, until the stop sign is put down. Yell stop, when putting the stop sign. Then she can start moving and picking up toys when you yell go, and put up the green go sign. Tuesday: Ernie’s big mess by Sarah Roberts Pretend to be airplanes that drop the toys where they belong for clean up time. Set a timer and try to beat the clock. Wednesday:
Pretend to be elephants, carrying toys with our long trunks to be put away. Make lots of elephant sounds. It might help to play jungle sounds in the background. Thursday:
Pretend to be bunnies hopping to get carrots and take them to their homes. Have a carrot snack afterwards. (carrots that still have the tops on) Friday:
Make a “magic wand” and wave it over each toy that she needs to put away. (A wand that plays music, such as the Elmo music wand is ideal) Pretend that she’s the magic to make the toys put themselves away. Activities to do sometime during the week: Sometime during the week: Visit some other business, such as a bank, a restaurant, and talk about how they keep it clean for people. Talk about how nice it is to be in a clean place. (If you’re adventurous, you might consider going someplace that isn’t clean, such as a park with trash, and picking up trash to make it cleaner.) Coloring page of Cinderella and her mice friends cleaning. |
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