Activity Plan

Name of the School: Çankaya Nesibe Aydın Anaokulu

Name of the Teacher: Hatice Büyüközmen

Number of the Children: 15

Name of the Activity: My Unique Matryoshka!

Type of the Activity: Language and Math integrated Art Activity/ Whole Group Activity/
Indoor Activity

Age of Children: 48-60 months

Gains and Indicators:

Cognitive Development:

Gain 5: Nesne veya varlıkları gözlemler.

(Indicators: Nesne/varlığın adını söyler, Nesne/varlığın rengini söyler, Nesne/varlığın şeklini

söyler, Nesne/varlığın büyüklüğünü söyler.)

Language Development:

Gain 10: Görsel materyalleri okur.

(Indicators: Görsel materyalleri inceler. Görsel materyalleri açıklar. Görsel materyallerle

ilgili sorulara cevap verir.)

Gain 8: Dinlediklerini/izlediklerini çeşitli yollarla ifade eder.

(Indicators: Dinledikleri/izledikleri ile ilgili sorulara cevap verir. Dinlediklerini/izlediklerini

başkalarına anlatır. Dinlediklerini/izlediklerini resim yoluyla sergiler.)

Motor Development:

Gain 4: Küçük kas kullanımı gerektiren hareketleri yapar.

(Indicators: Kalemi doğru tutar. Kalem kontrolünü sağlar. Çizgileri istenilen nitelikte çizer.)

Words: Matryoshka doll

Concepts: Geometric Shapes: Edge, Corner

Materials: Canva story book called "My Unique Matryoshka", Paper matryoshka doll
sample, colored crayons, Matryoshka doll design worksheet and YouTube music video.

Learning Process

Children have their breakfast in the dining room at breakfast time until 9.15.
Meanwhile, the teacher was making preparations for the activity she would execute with
children. For example, the teacher opens the story book she prepared with Canva on the smart
board and arranges the tables and chairs in the classroom to be suitable for reading time. The
teacher hides the material she brought for the activity process in a place in the classroom
where children can easily find it by looking for it. In addition, she removes other classroom
materials such as toys, puzzles or blocks that may distract children and puts them on the
shelves.

When the children return to the classroom from dining room, the teacher says as
follows in order to both attract the children's attention and provide them to move a little
before the activity process:

"Kids, I can't find the material I brought for the activity I planned to execute with you today.
I'm sure I brought it to the classroom, but I think I forgot where I put it. The material I
brought was a blond-haired doll (matryoshka doll) made of paper and with a red flowered
dress. Could you please look for it in the classroom for me?" While saying these, the teacher
conveys to the children that she is worried and sad with her facial expressions, thus making it
easier for the children to understand the teacher's situation.

The teacher gives time for the children to find the

material in the classroom. When the children find the
material, the teacher gives the children the opportunity to
examine the material, ask questions about the material
and share their ideas.
 After the children examine the material for a while and share their ideas, the teacher
conveys both the material and the word "matryoshka" to the children as follows:

"Kids, matryoshka is a traditional doll made in Russia. These dolls, unlike the dolls you have,
are made of a hard material such as wood, and the dolls usually wear traditional Russian
clothes. Moreover, inside the bigger doll there are four smaller matryoshka dolls. They have
different sizes (the teacher shows the paper made matryoshka dolls brought with her).
Children are given the opportunity to talk about the traditional dress, shape, colors and sizes
of the matryoshka doll. Then the teacher says to the children:

Kids, today I brought you a storybook about matryoshka dolls. This story is also about
Peter the Elder, a toy designer in Russia. In the story, Peter will tell you about his place of
residence, his job, and the matryoshka dolls that are a part of his culture. Also, he needs your
help, so let's not keep him waiting any longer and start reading our story. With the following
nursery rhyme, both the activity process and the story process begin:

Şimdi sandalyelerimize oturalım

İlginç bir kitap okuyalım

Hep birlikte sorular sorup konuşalım!

With this nursery rhyme, the children go to their tables and the teacher opens the story
book on the smart board. All children in the class should be able to see the storybook clearly
and easily.

The pages of the story book prepared with Canva are as follows:
 In order to attract children's attention to matryoshka dolls before the story begins, the
teacher shows children examples of matryoshka dolls designed using popular culture. The
children talked about these sample matryoshkas for a while. The aim here is to enable
children to find something of themselves in matryoshka dolls (their cartoon characters or
heroes) and to see different designs other than traditional examples. Children also practice
counting by counting the matryoshka dolls here.
 On this page, children observe examples of old and traditional toys through the
images of the toys designed by Peter, and share their ideas, comments, and questions about
these toys. Children are also encouraged to compare (similarities or differences) these toys
with their own toys. (An example of a male matryoshka has also been added to the visuals for
gender equality. The teacher shows this doll and emphasizes that matryoshka dolls can also
be male.)
 Through this page, the teacher conveys the concepts of "edge and corner" to the
children as follows:

"Kids, the lines surrounding the objects and showing the end part of the objects are
called “edge”. These lines, called edges, exist in many objects, for example, on the tables in
our classroom, on the smart board or in our books (the teacher shows the edges of these
objects to the children). A circle does not have an edge because its beginning and ending
point is not clear. We call the places where the edges of geometric shapes such as triangles
and squares meet as corners (the teacher also conveys the concept of “corner” with the
objects in the classroom). Since a circle does not have an edge, it does not have a corner."
The teacher also emphasizes the red line surrounding the shapes in the story, providing
children to reinforce these two concepts.
 On this page, the teacher gives the children the opportunity to interpret Peter's design
(before reading the page) by using the "feedback" technique, which is one of the teaching
methods. Here, the teacher supports children's comments with questions such as "what do you
think of this design?", "what shapes do you see?", "what colors were used" or "are there all
the shapes the child wants?"
 Here too, the teacher similarly draws the children's attention to the missing geometric
shapes and the use of color. Children also give feedback to this design in terms of these
features. In addition, children count the shapes together to find out how many triangle and
square shapes are used in the design. The teacher helps in this process if necessary.

When the story ends, the teacher allows the children to move with the song "Zıpla!"
from the YouTube channel "Bam Bam Tam", which she also used in her previous activity, in
order to enable the children to move and to motivate them for the process of designing the
matryoshka doll. Teacher:
"Kids, Peter needs our help, so let's move a little and gain energy before we start designing
our matryoshka dolls. Remember, moving will be good for our body, so it will be easier for
us to design matryoshka dolls," she says and opens a musical movement video on the smart
board.

The music video: https://youtu.be/2M2iNC_5L2I

After the children move accompanied by the video, the teacher enables the children
to return to their tables with the following nursery rhyme:

Çok yorulduk dinlenelim

Boya kalemlerimizi alıp

Masalarımıza geçelim

Peter’e yardım edelim!

When the children take their crayons (they are

in their pencil case) and move on to their tables, the
teacher gives each child, in turn, worksheets with
matryoshka doll painting patterns. The teacher
reminds the children that they should use shapes such
as squares, triangles and circles when designing
matryoshka dolls. She also says that they are free to
use colors and design patterns. In addition, the faces
of the matryoshka dolls are left blank so that children
can design their own faces, and children can reflect
the emotions they want in their matryoshka dolls.
Also, during this process, the teacher reminds the
children about how to hold the pencil and how to draw
geometric shapes by taking their edges and corners into consideration. The teacher observes
the children for a while and if she notices that the children have difficulty in transferring
geometric shapes to paper, she supports the children on how to draw geometric shapes step
by step through the smart board, using the "Task analysis" teaching method. When necessary,
the teacher supports children in holding the pencil correctly, using the "physical help"
teaching technique. She puts the pencil in the children's hands in the correct position and
moves their hands so that they draw the lines correctly while the children hold the pencil. The
teacher does this only for children who are having great difficulty and gives them the
opportunity to continue their work on their own.

When the children's matryoshka designs are finished, the teacher gives the children
the opportunity to talk about their matryoshka designs. Children explain their work to their
friends about the colors they use, geometric shapes and other different features of their
matryoshka. Meanwhile, the teacher takes notes on the children's conversations. After all the
children talk about their matryoshka designs, the teacher writes the names of the children one
by one on the worksheets and takes the works from the children, telling them that she will
send them by courier to Peter. During this process, the teacher thanks the children for helping
Peter and for their efforts. After the evaluation process, the teacher will write the notes taken
during the children's conversations on the back of the worksheets.

When the activity process ends, the assessment process begins with the following
nursery rhyme:

Çok yorulduk dinlenelim

Sorular sorup dinleyelim

Matruşka bebekleri hakkındaaa

Neler öğrenmişiz görelim!

Assessment

Descriptive Questions:
In which country was the story set?

What was the name of the story's main character?

Affective Questions:

Did you have difficulty designing the matryoshka doll? Why?

Was there anything in the story that surprised/excited you?

Questions Related to Gains:

Cognitive Development:

Gain 5: Nesne veya varlıkları gözlemler.

What was the name of Russian traditional dolls?

What geometric shapes did Peter need to use for the design in the story?

Language Development:

Gain 10: Görsel materyalleri okur.

What were Peter's designs like? What colors and shapes did he use?

Which shape has no corner or edge?

Gain 8: Dinlediklerini/izlediklerini çeşitli yollarla ifade eder.

What colors and shapes did you use in your matryoshka designs?

What other kinds of patterns did you draw in your matryoshka designs?

Motor Development:

Gain 4: Küçük kas kullanımı gerektiren hareketleri yapar.

In the Learning Process.

Questions Related to Daily Life:

If you were a toy designer, what kind of toys would you make?

What objects around you have or do not have corners and edges?
 Parent Involvement

“Communicating”

The teacher sends a message a parent on email and says:

Dear Ms. Buse,

This week, within the scope of our "old toys and children plays" topic, we introduce
"matryoshka" dolls, which are an important part of Russian culture, with the children.
During the activity, we read a story about the matryoshka doll with the children and did an
art activity. In addition, during the learning process, children had the opportunity to
remember geometric shapes such as square, triangle and circle, they recognized two
concepts that are important for mathematics "corner and edge", and they executed an art
activity using all the information they learned. İlker participated quite actively in the story
reading process. He answered questions, shared his thoughts and asked questions. He also
learned the concepts of "corner and edge" and could easily give examples. His
communication with his friends during the learning process was also quite good. He helps
his friends when necessary, answers their questions or asks them questions. On the other
hand, I noticed that İlker had difficulty transferring geometric shapes or patterns in his mind
to paper during his art activity. He especially has difficulty holding the pencil correctly and
painting lines without blurring them. However, I believe that he can easily overcome this
difficulty with small line drawing/line and pencil holding exercises at home. Therefore, in
order to talk face to face about this issue and to receive your opinions and suggestions, I
would like you to inform me about your availability at the latest by Monday, November 27, at
17.00, in order to meet face to face at the school on Tuesday, November 28.
 Adaptation

(The attention span of the “child with learning difficulties” in our class is quite short. This
child can be easily affected by external stimuli during activities. In addition, this child has
difficulty understanding sentences and following the instructions given. He lags behind his
peers in activity processes and has difficulty finding solutions to the problems he encounters.
In addition, children with learning disabilities are weaker than their peers in balance,
flexibility, speed and endurance.)

For Language Activity Process:

During the story reading process, the teacher changes the tone of voice in order to
attract the attention of the child with learning difficulties and to maintain his attention
through the activity process, making the reading process more fun and interesting. In
addition, since children with learning difficulties can often hesitate to participate in language
activities, the teacher especially offers this child the opportunity to ask questions, make
comments and share his thoughts.

For example:

"Ali, how did you find the matryoshka dolls? Is there anything that caught your attention in
the story? What do you think about Peter's designs? Could there be something missing in the
designs?"

The teacher listens to the child patiently and with interest in order not to discourage
the child from speaking and expressing himself. As an active listener, the teacher gives
answers to the child when necessary, so that the child's communication initiative is improved.

While conveying the concepts of "edge and corner" to children, the teacher should use
repetition for this child. The teacher can increase the examples she gives in order to make the
concepts more concrete for the child. In addition, during this process, the teacher gives the
child the opportunity to touch the corners and edges of the objects in the classroom in order
to enable the child to better internalize these concepts. Thus, the child goes through a learning
process that supports the sense of sight and hearing with the sense of touch, and thus learning
becomes more permanent.

Moreover, in order to attract the child's attention more during the story process, the
teacher selects images for the matryoshka dolls using cartoon characters that this child likes
and attracts his attention. Thus, the child can feel more belonging to the activity process.

For Math and Art Activity Process:

Since children will use geometric shapes such as squares, triangles and circles in their
designs during the art activity, small samples of these geometric shapes can be presented to
the child so that the child can observe these shapes closely and transfer them to his design
easily. If the other children in the class want sample shapes, it is offered to them as well, or
the shape samples of the child with learning difficulties are given to the other children in the
class after a while.

The worksheet for the child with learning difficulties should be made easier if
necessary. For this, the teacher can add some important details of the matryoshka doll, such
as her/his face or certain details on her/his clothes. In this way, the child is prevented from
forgetting these details and the worksheet becomes more clear for the child.

The teacher should appreciate the effort of the child with learning difficulties
throughout the activity process and should give him supportive feedback. The teacher also
should ensure that the child is aware of his learning progress by giving feedback to the child
as soon as she observes him. The child should be compared with his own development, not
with his classmates.

For example:

"Ali, do you see that you used to have difficulty in drawing, but now you have improved a
lot, you have come a long way as a result of the effort you have put in!"
 In addition, when necessary, the teacher uses the "physical help" teaching method to
provide direct support so that the child can hold the pencil correctly and make the designs
properly. This support ends when it is observed that the child can continue on his own, and
the child is given the opportunity to continue on his own.