Dr. Seuss activities, games, crafts, lesson plans for preschool learning centers

The Cat in the Hat doffs his cap on March 2, to honor the 117th birthday of his creator Ted Geisel, better known as the beloved Dr. Seuss. To celebrate Seuss, the NEA (National Education Association) hosts "Read Across America." March is also National Reading Month and a perfect time to explore Dr. Seuss. Here are a hatful of literature-based activities to extend reading in preschool learning centers.

 Dr. Seuss is right at home in the book or library learning center. Fill your book corner with Seuss books. Emergent readers will love the pictures. Scatter some comfy pillows and any Seuss character toys. If you're like me and not into licensed characters, gather generic stuffed animals with Seussian theme: from Horton Hears a Who: elephants (Horton), birds (Daisy-headed Maisie), monkeys (Wickersham brothers), kangaroo and joey, turtles (Yertle), moose (Thidwick), cats (in silly hats), dogs (Max from the Grinch). From The Lorax; swans, bears, fish. Throw a Seuss story party (details to follow in my next post). 

For a Dr. Seuss art center, display his books: The Cat in the Hat Comes Back, Bartholomew and the Oobleck, How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Each day of Read Across America week, create Seuss-inspired artwork. Paint some of his crazy creatures at easels with brightly colored paints. Model creatures in clay or playdough. Create silly Seuss sculptures by poking recycled materials in Styrofoam blocks. But don't just model...create your own! 

To teach Dr. Seuss at the collage center, make Seuss toys from "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." Put out oddly shaped cardboard containers, egg cartons, aluminum foil and cans, plastic containers and colored fabric scraps. Students can design their own version of a Whoville Jing Tingler, Flu Flooper, Tar Tinkers, Who Hoover or Who Carnio Flunx. Make silly hats like Bartholomew Cubbins' 500! 

Bringing Dr. Seuss to music learning centers, is as easy as cut, glue, decorate! Using ideas from "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", make homemade Seuss-ical instruments. Create noise-makers like the Grinch's hated Gar Ginkers Trum Tupers Slu Slumkers Blum Bloopers Who Wompers and Zu Zitter Carzays. Encourage students to give their musical instruments silly sounding names. 

Dr. Seuss fits perfectly in dramatic play or dress up learning centers. Have students design masks of Seuss characters: Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose, Horton the elephant, Yertle the Turtle, Maisie the bird, the Wickersham monkeys, the Kangaroo and her joey.  Let children create their own Seuss creatures. Encourage kids to perform a Dr. Seuss parade like the one in his first book "And to Think I Saw It On Mulberry Street." Dress in homemade Seuss costumes, play musical instruments and show off homemade toys.

Dr. Seuss finds a play in science learning centers, using Lorax inspired life lessons. The Lorax deals with environmentalism and respect for biomes and animals on the planet. Set up an experiment on decomposition and pollution. Place different pieces of trash in zippered bags with a little water. Monitor them over time to show students how slowly trash decomposes. Students could also tend "truffula seeds" (use any flower seeds, sunflower, cosmos or daisy). Explore the food chain and animal species and habitats using these free printable habitat dioramas from First-Palette. Make Oobleck mixing liquid laundry starch and white school glue.

To teach a Dr. Seuss practical life area, use "The Cat in the Hat", "Green Eggs and Ham" and "Horton Hears a Who." These books deal with caring for others, preparing food and house cleaning. Do a Cat in the Hat tidy up relay race. Cook green eggs and ham. Care for an insect or goldfish.

Supplement with these free printable Dr. Seuss activities from Rock Your Homeschool. These are just a few of the Dr. Seuss activities to inspire a love of learning and reading in preschoolers. 

Free Printable Spider-Man Coloring Pages for Math and Reading Flashcards

Here's a lesson plan to use Spider-Man or any superhero to teach reading. Choose your favorite superhero or cartoon favorite (you can print DC or Marvel superheroes, Barbie, Disney, PBS, Looney Tunes and more). Print small 2x3 versions of coloring pages. Have children color the images and make this activity do double duty as a craft project. Attach to index cards and label. 

Write lists of associated words on the back For Spider-Man, you might use: spider, arachnid, insect, bug, super, hero, fly, web, city, save, science, villain, spin, swing, octopus, mask, sky, night. Use these flashcards to help children learn to read in fun, hands-on ways. Children might write stories of Spiderman's adventures using these words. Here are free printable superhero coloring pages and activities. 

For Marvel comics printables from Captain America Civil War including Iron Man, Avengers, check out Pic Gifs.  I've linked to Spider-Man but search the bar for any free printable Marvel or DC superhero coloring pages. Coloring-Book.info has more free printable Spider-Man coloring pages. Use the search bar for to find any free superhero printables for Superman, Flash, Thor, Captain America and more. Disney Family has free printable Avengers Captain America Civil War crafts. 

KidZone has free printable spider lesson plans. Learn about spiders with these games, crafts, puzzles. math activities, songs and stories, writing prompts, science worksheets and diagrams and reading lesson plans too. 

Free Printable Fantasy and Fairy Craft Activities

I'm personally very fond of fairies, sprites, nymphs, nyads, dryads, pixies and all manner of wee folk who live in the forest.  Here are dozens of free printable fairy craft activities to use in fantasy literature, art and social studies lesson plans.

Start with Rainbow Magic fairy stories created by a collection of authors writing under the pseudonym "Daisy Meadows." Rainbow Magic is illustrated by Georgie Ripper. There are several dozen Rainbow Magic fairy stories. Here are free printable Rainbow Magic fairy crafts.

Here are free printable coloring pages of fairies from literature such as Shakespeare. There are old school Tinker Bell images and pictures of the Blue Fairy from Pinocchio. Here are more free printable fairy princess crafts and Medieval fantasy crafts with fairies. Here are free printable Barbie Fairytopia coloring pages. And you can't let an article about fairy crafts go to print without a nod to the greatest fairy of all Tinker Bell! No, don't get mad Tink, because the best is always saved for last! Here are free printable Tinker Bell and the Fairies of Pixie Hollow coloring pages.

Print a whole booklet of Tinker Bell, Barbie Fairytopia and Rainbow Magic activities to occupy a sick child or pass the time on a family car trip. Pack her a "Care-y Fairy Package," including printable booklet, crayons or markets, stickers, scissors, glue sticker and pencil. For extra fun, add some glitter (fairy gurus often refer to this as "pixie dust.") By the way, June 24 is Fairy Day!

DIY Scrabble/ Boggle Letter Dice for Word Games

To make your own Scrabble or Boggle dice, you'll need 12 dice: Recycle die from old games with lost pieces. Look for old dice games like Kismet or Yahtzee at garage sales. Ask a handy man to cut small dice cubes from scrap wood. Dice can be purchased at almost any store for under $2).

Permanent markers

Blank stickers (round or square white stickers are best)

Note pad

small pencils

watch or timer

small box

To make Scrabble/Boggle dice

Affix a sticker to each of the six sides of the die.

Label each die side with a different letter. With 12 dice times six sides you will have room for 72 letters. Since some letters are more popular, label dice this way. It makes no difference where on the dice you put which letters, Just be sure to get this many letters in.

  -four times each, letters: A, E, I, O, U, R, S, T, L, N

  -three times each letters: B, C, D, F, G, H, M, P

  -one time each, letters: J, K, Q, V, W, X, Y, Z

  -dictionary to check spelling

Make Classroom Reading Games Using Cartoons and Comic Strips

Years ago, I made a file folder game that has traveled with me to elementary, middle school, special education, adult education and homeschool classrooms. This language arts- reading game uses cartoons, comic strips and graphic novels. I call this game Cartoon Cut-Ups. 

  Each student is given an envelope containing the individual frames of one cartoon strip. I use the colored comics from the Sunday cartoons in the newspaper. Each comic strip have six to eight frames. The object of the game is to reassemble the mixed up cartoon frames back in their original order so that the cartoon makes sense. Graphic novels work well also, but generally have more frames. Assembling a graphic novel cartoon will be more challenging.

  Cartoon Cut-Ups challenges a student skills in looking for details, sequencing, ordering and classifying. Cartoon Cut-Ups helps students explore and understand, plot, dialog, time progression, if-then relationships, contextual clues, drawing conclusions, making inferences and predicting character behavior. Higher order thinking skills practiced include analysis, application and synthesis.

  When choosing a comic strip to use for this reading game, look for cartoon that show plot progression at various levels of comprehension. Look for comic strips in which the plot progression can be traced from frame to frame. Many cartoons rely not only on dialog to carry the plot, but picture or context clues. Characters' facial expressions help identify the plot, also.

  

  To make Cartoon Cut-Ups, you will need:

  -one blank manila file folder

  -assorted comic strips, cartoons and graphic novels

  -scissors

  -small envelopes

  -small round or square stickers

  -gallon sized zipper bag

  -stapler

  -laminating materials or contact paper

  -dark marker

  Procedure:

  -Rule off 12 large squares on the inside of file folder, and outline them in dark marker. Number each square inside 1-12.

  -Laminate the file and the uncut comic strip.

  -Affix a sticker to the back of each cartoon frame and label the stickers in order. This way, students       can self-check    their work, correct any errors and have immediate feedback.

  -Cut comic strips apart along the frame lines.

  -Place individual comic strip pieces in unsealed envelope and label with name and difficulty level.

  -Gather all cartoon envelopes into zippered bag. Leaving bag open staple one side to inside of file folder, below the       zipper area. Seal bag.

  -Label outside of folder with game name. Write directions on the back.

Free Printable Dr Seuss Coloring Pages, Crafts, Activities

Celebrate 'Read Across America' and Dr. Seuss's birthday March 2, with free printable Dr.Seuss coloring pages, lessons, crafts, puzzles, games and activities.  Dr. Seuss coloring pages include the Grinch, the Lorax, the Sneetches, The Cat in the Hat, Horton and more Seuss friends.Homeschool Share has many free printable Dr. Seuss worksheets, coloring pages and activities.

Free printable Greek mythology, Percy Jackson and the Oympians

If you love Percy Jackson books, you'll want these free printable Greek mythology coloring pages. FantasyJr. has twelve free printable Greco-Roman coloring pages of the Olympians.  Karen's Whimsey has dozens of free printable mythology and Ancient Greece coloring pages. Color the Olympians, gods and goddesses, heroes, mythological monsters, beasts and creatures. Color free printable famous works of art featuring the Greek pantheon, Satyrs, Circe, the Sirens, Odysseus and many more characters from Greek mythology. Print coloring pages from ancient Rome, as well gods in Roman mythology.Coloring.ws has a complete free printable Greek mythology coloring pages on the Olympians of Ancient Greece. This site also contains free printable maps of Greece.

Tomie DePaola Christmas Kids Literature Activities

Christmas Kids Books--Have a Tomie DePaola Holiday Looking for the best Christmas stories and holiday books for children? Then have yourself a Tomie DePaola Christmas! Tomie DePaola is a one of the world's best-loved illustrator-authors in children's literature. Tomie DePaola admits that he loves Christmas and it shows in the holiday magic he imbues in his stories and art. Here's the definitive Tomie DePaola Christmas stories collection. Included are Advent books, too: Advent is the Catholic season of preparation leading up to Christmas and Tomie DePaola books indulge that spirit of anticipation. He's done a nice series on saints' feast day that fall in Advent.

"The Lady of Guadalupe" Hands-down best retelling of the story of Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Amercias, whose feast day, is December 12).

"The Legend of the Poinsettia" With no gift to offer the Bambino at Midnight mass, a little girl brings some flowers growing by the wayside, and a miracle occurs. It's similar to story in The Gift, by Aselin Debison

"The Night of Las Posadas" Posadas are parties celebrated during Advent in Mexico beginning nine days before Christmas as an Advent novena. They are similar to passion plays.

"Tomie DePaola's Make-Your-Own Christmas Cards" Tomie teaches you how to use your own artistic skill to make lovely holiday greeting cards.

"Get Dressed, Santa" Uh-oh, is Santa too tired to deliver the gifts this Christmas. Little children will love to help wake the sleepy elf. .

"Country Angel Christmas" Tomie DePaola specializes in angels. They peek out of every corner of his stories and nothing says Christmas like angels.

"Hark! A Christmas Sampler" Here's a delightful collection of Christmas songs, stories and fun from the Christmas man himself. Oh and there are Tomie DePaola Christmas recipes---there must always be recipes!

"Baby's First Christmas" Certain little grandchildren this author knows may find this in their stockings-shhh, don't tell.

"Tomie DePaola's Book of Christmas Carols" Here are all your favorite holiday tunes illustrated by Tomie DePaola

"The Night Before Christmas" Here is Clement C. Moore's timeless classic, DePaola style.

"The Friendly Beasts" This is a very satisfying retelling of the Welsh song and legend of the night the angels talked. Tomie DePaola's famous sheep figure heavily, but so do his other endearing animals.

"Merry Christmas, Strega Nona" Big Anthony goofs again-or does he? Can he really put one the Buon Natalia feast with no magic at Christmas?

"My First Christmas" This one is perfect for the wee ones' first holiday storybook.

"The Family Christmas Tree Book" Christmas deserve a family photo album, don't they? Here are holiday memories of Christmas trees past.

"The Legend of Old Befana" La Befana is the Italian equivalent to Russia's Baboushka, a woman too busy to stop for the baby Jesus and His guests.

"The Clown of God" Here's a haunting gestalt Medieval French tale of sacrifice and devotion.

"The Christmas Pageant" Tomie DePaola tells the nativity story.

"Sing Pierrot, Sing!" Okay, so perhaps not a Christmas story, but surely the old Italienne Comedie belongs with Christmas? Who can resist Harlequin and Columbine?

"An Early American Christmas" What was Christmas like for Jamestown pilgrims in a strange new world?

"Santa's Crash-Bang Christmas" Here's a very silly, noisy story that the littlest ones will love! "The Popcorn Book" This is not a Christmas book as such, but references are made to the holiday favorite popcorn balls and popcorn strung on Christmas trees. And popcorn and Christmas go together like Rudolph and red noses.

"Christmas Remembered" This is a tender, touching collection of holiday memories.

"Angels, Angels Everywhere" Tomie's angel shtick shows up again. His friendly cherubs crop up in the funniest places and remind us that angels are watching. That's much more comforting that Elf on a Shelf, don't you think.

"Guess Who's Coming for Santa's Dinner?" Poor Santa, he just wants to relax. But what do you do when Mama Santa invites all the relatives over for Christmas dinner? Children love imagining what Santa's relatives might be like.

Tomie has also written several lovely children's literature books for Jewish Chanukah. He's been illustrating books since 1965. Tomie originally published with Harcourt, Brace, Jovanvich, and now writes for G.P.Putnam's Sons, with many of his series books being published by Simon and Schuster. Some holiday children's literature books are published by Holiday House. This author and her children were privileged to meet Tomie DePaola in Muskegon, Michigan in 1993. Their autographed copy of "Strega Nona's Christmas" is a read each year. The oldest two children, now 27 and 25, remember it fondly and now there are grandchildren to pass it on to. Why not read a Tomie DePaola each night of Advent until Christmas and make your own memories. 

Free Printable Educational Board Games, Card Games

Card games and board games are excellent teaching tools. Card games can be created to teach content area and subject matter in lesson plans Card games help students memorize information. Here are free printable educational card games, playing cards, flashcards, dominoes and Memory games to use as lesson plans. 

The Kidz Page has free printable educational card games, word games, flashcards, math games, sudoku games and lots of other educational learning games. They are brightly colored, cheerful games. Activity Village has free printable educational cards games, deck of cards for learning games, Memory games and more. 

Free Printable File Folder Games

 Hello my Omschooligans! Games and craft projects make excellent lesson plans. Making learning games as craft projects is a perfect way to extend activities. And one of the simplest and easiest games to make are file folder games. Here are lesson plans to teach reading with file folder games. Students can learn just about any subject using file folder games to reinforce content and practice skills. Here are free printable file folders games online. Besides reading, teach math, reading, spelling, grammar, phonics, science, social studies and more. Print games for all ages and ability levels: preschool, kindergarten, elementary, special needs, middle school. Use for homeschool, too.

File Folder Fun has over 100 free printable file folder games in content areas across the curriculum. Search by age, grade level, theme and subject. File folder themes include animals, foods, flowers, weather, ocean life, circus. Themes teach math, reading, science, social studies, phonics, spelling, math,

ELA (English Language Arts) history, music and other preschool and elementary school subjects. Click the games you want. The click "download." And voila, a screen appears with game background, pieces, cards, all materials you need, free.

Play to Learn Preschool has a free downloadable pack of 10 free printable filefolder games for math, English, reading, writing, spelling, science, social studies and more. Games can be used with varied ages. Click the game you want. The print, cut out and and assemble. Or better still, print in black and white. Have students color, cut and paste and assemble. You get two activities--craft, lesson plan and game--all in one!

Cindy's Autistic Support has free printable math file folder games. Use to teach counting, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division file folder games. You can make individual games for each math fact (times table) family.

Stitching Hearts WW offers an assortment of free printable file folder games to download, print, color and assemble. 

To make file folder games:

Print game board and glue to inside of file folder. Write instructions on outside. Laminate or cover with contact paper. Make a spinner by drawing a circle. Divide like a pie. Label segments with game advancement options. Place paperclip on paper fastener (brad). Poke fastener through center of circle. Spin paper clip.

Store game cards or pieces in zippered plastic bag or envelope stapled to folder. File folder games store upright in filing cabinet or drawer. Get extra craft project mileage from free printable file folder games by assigning students make them. They can practice cutting, pasting, assembling and following directions. 

Free Printable Cut and Color Booklets

Educator Jonathon Holt says children learn best when they are actively involved. So here are free printable mini books, miniature coloring books and preschool activity booklets for children to color. Subjects in mini books include letters, words, seasons, animals, science, Bible, holidays and lots more. These coloring books make excellent preschool lesson plans for classroom and homeschool lessons for ages 4-7 years old. These free printable activity booklets are especially good for special needs children. To print coloring books, visit DLTK-Teach. This page lists all the themes for free printable mini books and activity booklets. 

Free Printable Kevin Henkes Lesson Plans

Kevin Henkes has given the world of children's literature some wonderfully endearing stories. Most Kevin Henkes kids' books feature anthropomorphic mice facing typical issues that children face. Beloved Kevin Henkes characters include Sheila Rae the Brave, Chrysanthemum, Julius, Owen, Lilly, Chester, Wemberly and Wendell. His kids' book "Kitten's First Full Moon," won the coveted and prestigious Caldecott book medal for best illustrations in children's literature.

If you like this lovable children's literature author, you will want to visit his website and explore thefree printable Kevin Henkes book activities he's made based on some of his beloved characters. The website has free printable word games, puzzles and coloring pages. These are useful for summer enrichment activities, day care fun, children's literature lesson plans and homeschooling activities. Or parents might want to print them just for fun at home.

Kevin Henkes' publisher, Harper Collins has put some of the free printable activities on their website. You might like the free printable activity book for "Lilly's Big Day" Lilly eagerly awaits the best day of her life, being a flower girl in a wedding. She encounters the usual fears and drama. This activity book would be great follow-up or preparation for any event that your child is anticipating. Bibliotherapy, or problem-solving using literature is especially therapeutic for young or special needs children who struggle to find their own voice. Seeing a funny little mouse experience similar events and feelings is tremendously reassuring.

Lilly is the same mouse who so charmed with her purple plastic purse in the book of the same name. Scroll down the page here for all the Lilly and Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse printables Teaching Heart has free printable "Wemberly Worried" and "Chrysanthemum" activities. There are lesson plans from the Kevin Henkes book "Owen" too. Read these books your kids, parents, and you'll see why everyone loves them so.

Free Printable Curious George Lesson Plans

Free Printable Curious George Lesson Plans and Party Activities Here are free printable spelling, reading, math and writing lessons, plus coloring pages all about our favorite little monkey, Curious George! These free printable activities are based on the original vintage Curious George books from my childhood, by H.A.Rey Margaret Rey! You can even print an entire Curious George party planner with decorations, invitations, coloring, crafts, games and activities,too! Click here

Free Printable City of Ember Lesson Activities

The "City of Ember" book series, by Jeanne DuPrau, (2003) is a science-fiction post-apocalyptic fantasy series loved by students and educators alike. Many elementary, intermediate and middle schools are incorporating City of Ember books into their classroom curriculum. With the release of a movie version students can read and study the books and follow up with the film version for comparison. Here are free printable City of Ember book activities, movie study guides and lesson plans.

The series chronologically is City of Ember, People of Sparks, Prophet of Yonwood and Diamond of Darkhold. Not all have been made into film so there are movie study guides only for City of Ember. But there are book activities for all books. Here are free printable lesson plans for teaching the City of Ember book series. Lesson Planet is a pay site with some free book activities to print. Here arefree printable City of Ember lesson plans. Scholastic also charges for many of their printables. But here is a City of Ember book discussion guide to print free. 

This free printable lesson plans kit includes story maps, worksheets, book activities, character webs, comprehension questions, movie study guides, vocabulary, grammar, symbolism, cause and effect, analysis and application questions, synthesis and evaluation questions, book activities, games, reading response rubrics, charts, quizzes and more. The City of Ember books are a dystopian series that tells of a people that has suffered depletion. They've gone underground, to re-emerge at a given time in the future. City of Ember is Orwellian science fiction, reminiscent of 1984, Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins. Use book activities and movie study guides for units on science fiction.

Free Printable Disney Lesson Plans

Free Printable Disney Lesson Plans: Spelling, Math, Reading
Want to spark some fun in learning? Why not print some of these free printable Disney lessons? Learn math, story problems, money, time, spelling and reading with Disney cartoon friends! Free printable Disney lesson plans. 

Reading Response Activities from Bloom's Taxonomy

. Here are ways to help students engage with books. Use these for Readers Workshop and reading group response activities. Teach interactive ELA (English language arts) literature-based activities. Book activities are hands-on, multi-sensory, cross-curricular Montessori-style.

Book club. Use these DIY Summer Reading Camp program printables from Education.com. Kids organize the reading club, choose books, think up response activities and host events. Serve snacks.

Book party. When the reading group completes a book, have a party to celebrate! Serve snacks and foods mentioned in the book. Make crafts. Host a coffee shop in the classroom, like adult book clubs. Kids will love being very grown-up.

Group reading incentives. Get involved with Pizza Hut Book-It program (homeschoolers, you can participate, too). Have a pizza party after completing reading goals. Reward reading by giving books as prizes.

Fundraise while reading. Each completed book or hour of reading donates money to a chosen charity. This give-back is a great way to incent reading while teaching kids that they don't always need to get prizes. Reading is reward enough. Helping others while doing it is even better. Check out the One More Story program. It raises money for RIF Reading is Fundamental.

Readers theater, Students read stories in chorale format. Readers must use voice, inflection, projection and emphasis as if they were on stage, but there's no acting and they're seated.

Puppet show. Make book character puppets. Have kids retell story. Or let them write their own stories using homemade puppets. High school and middle school students can create a puppet show to put on for elementary students. They'll love re-reading favorite books from childhood.

Radio play. Invent a student radio station (WRDR, BOOK, READ). Using reader's theater techniques, dramatize story. Create sound effects. Add fake commercials related to book. A Moby Dick radio play might feature Whale-B-Gone" spray or Happy Hunter's Harpoons. Present on local or school radio station.

Book to film. Students fill roles as director, properties, scenery. Make character costumes. Create sets. Design props. Do stage make-up and special effects. Act out story. Film the production. Upload book-based films and skits to Youtube. Present to students.

Literature based music videos. Take the playlist selected and create a book-based music video. Select images from free online photo sharing sites. Draw images from the story. Or best of all, have students take their own photos and use these. Make into a slideshow using Windows Media Player. Create presentations with Microsoft Powerpoint.

Preschool Learning Centers: How to structure

The best lesson plans include learning centers with lots of interactives, hands-on activities. Preschool, special needs, gen ed and even homeschool students benefit from learning centers. Here's a simple guide to set up learning centers with inexpensive, recycled, repurposed materials. 

1) Set up cross-curricular learning centers based on units being studied. Include math, science, social studies, literature and technology. 

2)  Each center should include a shelf or basket of books related to unit. Social studies units include books on countries and cultures. DK--Dorling Kindersley makes excellent science reference books and field guides to use in science learning centers. 

3) Manipulatives: Fill learning centers with a variety of hands-on games, crafts, Montessori type flashcards and learning sets appropriate to unit. Science centers include STEM diagrams, charts, experiments and activities. Literature units might include paper dolls and dioramas. Fills social studies learning centers with maps, globes and artefacts. Math centers should have measurement, counting, operations and other math lesson plans. 

4) Preschool centers: There are 4-6 basic learning centers in a preschool classroom. Dramatic play, practical life (house), building, science and gross motor. 

5) Tasks: List tasks to complete in each of the learning centers, according to age. Preschool and young special needs students may just explore with middle school students will have activities to complete. Keep them as open-ended as possible to address HOTS (higher order thinking skills). Also, make lesson plans self-checking for immediate feedback.