Themes are commonly used in the early childhood classroom to teach young learners about a variety of topics while integrating content among subject areas. This allows children to make connections and apply what they learn in meaningful ways. A typical theme will usually last anywhere from around a week to a month, and throughout that theme the teacher will explore the topic area with the students and integrate subjects such as literacy, science, social studies, math, music, and art all around the chosen theme topic. Themes could be based around common topics such as pets, spring, sports, dinosaurs, ocean life etc. There are countless topics that could be utilised in the ECE classroom to capture the interest of young learners, however for the sake of this blog post we will explore the topics of 'Bugs and Insects' and 'Space' and how they could be incorporated into an interdisciplinary curriculum.
Bugs and Insects
I chose to explore the theme of 'Bugs and Insects' because it is a topic that can be used to explore a variety of concepts e.g. size, colour, abilities, habitats etc. This seems like a very natural choice of theme for the early childhood classroom as children are generally very interested in bugs and insects as they love to get eye level with new creatures and explore their worlds. It is also a theme that I have covered in my kindergarten classes with children aged both four and six years old, and it was able to captivate their interest throughout the duration of the theme and lead to some engaging and fun activities for the kids.
Within this theme there are a number of lesson topics that could be explored. When we worked on this theme with our kindergarten kids, we began by exploring the different types of bugs and identifying what makes them different. In the second week, we learnt all about the life cycles of different bugs and the kids made their own lifecycle books about a bug of their choice. This was followed by the topic of bug habitats. The kids learnt about different bug habitats and then completed an activity where they had to match different bugs to their own habitat. In the final week, we learnt about the importance of bugs and what roles bugs play in the ecosystem.
These activities were carried out in our weekly theme lessons and not as part of an interdisciplinary curriculum. However, a theme such as this one can easily be explored across a range of subjects. Here are a few examples:
Literacy - Depending on the age of the students, there are many children's books that explore the topic of bugs. For young children, 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' by Eric Carle is a great choice as it leads nicely on to the topic of the life cycle of an insect.
Science - Students could learn about the life cycles of different insects. There are many worksheets on sites such as twinkl.co.uk which allow students to cut out the pictures for each stage of the life cycle and stick it in the appropriate place. There are also differentiated worksheets for more advanced learners which allows them to actually write the stage names on to the life cycle.
Social studies - Students could learn about what some bugs do and why they are important.
Math - Students could go on an insect scavenger hunt and record the number of each insect they see on their worksheets. This could lead on to the students creating their own bar graphs to show which bugs they saw the most of around their school.
Music - There are many fun insect songs that could be sung with the students. The itsy bitsy spider is a nice one as it is easy to follow along with hand movements.
Art - Students could make various bugs using paper plates, pipe cleaners, googly eyes etc.
Lesson Idea
Objective: To consolidate what the students have learned throughout the course of the theme and encourage creativity through drawing and writing.
Activities: Depending on the age and ability of the students, the theme could finish off with the children making their own 'bug books'. They could choose a bug to write and draw about and each page could include different information about that bug e.g. page 1: Draw and label the body parts of the insect, page 2: Draw and write about the bug's habitat, page 3: Draw and label the life cycle of that bug, page 4: Fun fact(s) about their bug etc. They could also create their own 'new' bug to go in their bug books. They could follow the same stages as above, except this time they are able to use their creativity to think about what their new bug will look like (body parts) how it changes as it grows (life cycle), where we can find this bug (habitat), and they can make up their own fun 'facts' about their new interesting bug. The completed bug books could be placed around the room for the students to look through and the class could finish with a final discussion about what was the most interesting thing they learned from the bug books and which 'new' bug they would most like to see in real life.
Space
Space is another theme that is great for the early childhood classroom as it is something that young children are naturally interested in and it can also help to increase their interest in areas like science and technology. It also can ignite their curiosity and encourage children to become more creative thinkers. In addition to this, it provides an opportunity to teach children about the importance of looking after our own planet. This all makes it a great theme to incorporate into an interdisciplinary curriculum as it is so versatile and can be taken in a number of different directions.
When we covered this theme with my 4-5 year old class, we listened to quite a few songs to help familiarize the kids with the names of the different planets. We also explored the sizes of the different planets and their order from the sun. We then made our own solar system and the kids each made their own rockets that they could 'fly' past the planets. If this theme were incorporated into an interdisciplinary curriculum, it may look something like this:
Phonics - Children could identify the initial sounds of the planets and match the letter to the corresponding planet. Depending on the age and level of the students, children could be asked to identify the number of syllables in each of the planet names and categorize them based on their syllable number.
Science - This would be a good theme to use to explain the concept of gravity. With younger children, this could be as simple as allowing the children to explore how different objects fall to the ground when they are dropped. For slightly older kids, the idea of air resistance could also be explored through fun activities such as the 'parachute egg drop experiment'. https://www.science-sparks.com/gravity-and-air-resistance/
Social studies - This is a great opportunity to discuss why we need to look after our planet and the things we can do to protect it. Students could learn about recycling and categorize different recyclable and nonrecyclable objects.
Math - Students could learn about star constellations which could lead on to a lesson about different shapes. There is a fun 'shapes constellations' activity on teacherspayteachers.com which could be used as a way to teach different shapes and then perhaps the students could make their own shape constellations in an art activity to follow https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Constellation-Cards-Shape-Construction-4290983?st=fdd2911c17be7109bb313ab34d069c0a
Music - There are some great songs to help teach the names of the planets. One of my favourites is this one from Hopscotch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCxjuDePdCI
Art - As mentioned above, students could follow on from Math by making their own shape constellations. They could use black paper as the background and glitter to make the stars sparkle. Students could also do an activity similar to what I did with my 4-5 year old class. We used paint and shaving cream to make a marbled planet effect (see instructions here: https://iheartcraftythings.com/preschool-space-craft-marbled-planets.html ), and twinkl.co.uk had some great planet templates that were made to scale, so we traced them onto card to make sure our planets were the right size in relation to each other. After the planets had dried, we hung them from string and later made our own rockets out of toilet role and aluminium foil, and we 'flew' them through our solar system. https://twokidsandacoupon.com/2020/03/recycled-toilet-paper-roll-rocket-craft.html
Lesson idea
Objective: To familiarize students with the order of the planets from the sun and encourage students to think about the size and colours of the different planets by creating a space diorama.
Activities: Students could be given a box which they will paint black to give the effect of outer space. They could also decorate with glitter to make it seem like there are shiny stars on the black background. Students could be given balls (we used Styrofoam balls) of different sizes which they must paint to make them look like the different planets. Before and during the task, the teacher can elicit from the students the sizes of the planets and which colours they could use to make the balls look most like that planet. This project will take more than one lesson, as they will have to wait for all the planets to dry before they can attach them to their dioramas. They could be attached so that they are dangling down from the top of the box, or they could be attached to the inside of the box. When assembling the diorama, the teacher can keep eliciting the order of the planets from the sun using a mnemonic (e.g. My Very Excited Mother Just Served Us Noodles) or by playing a solar system song (this Pinkfong solar system song helped my kids remember the order of the planets fairly quickly https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IKRLSwjwyk ). When complete, the kids will now have their own mini solar system that they can take home and share with their family.
Overall, teaching themes should be fun for the students and offer plenty of opportunities for exploration, play, and questions. Also, with a little planning and consideration, it should be possible to find a way of teaching a theme across a range of subjects in a way that allows students to make connections between concepts and build on existing knowledge.
References:
Fun Preschool Education Themes - Stay at Home Educator. (n.d.). Stay At Home Educator. Retrieved February 6, 2022, from https://stayathomeeducator.com/preschool-themes/
Preschool Themes. (n.d.). The Preschool Professor. Retrieved February 6, 2022, from http://www.the-preschool-professor.com/preschool-themes.html
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