High Scope
Plan Do Review Ideas


Note: I taught High/Scope during the 1999-00 & 2000-01 school years. I no longer teach High/Scope.

*All of these ideas can be used for either planning or recall.*
It is helpful to have a color and symbol to represent each center in your classroom.


Area Cards: Have the children place a counter (bear counter, dinosaur counter, etc.) on an area card where they plan to work or where they did work.
Some ideas for thematic items to place on area cards:

Size Sorting: Give each child one of three sizes of bear family counters. Pass three sizes of cups around to each child. Have them put their bear in the appropriate cup, then plan or recall.

Baby Birds: Place a Hula-Hoop on the floor and tell the children to pretend they are baby birds and the Hula-Hoop is the nest. When you call out a center, the children who plan to go to that center are to get in the "nest."

Bird Nest: Give each child a plastic bird egg. Pass a nest around the group. Each child will add their egg to the nest as they plan or recall.

Bug Box: Give each child a bug manipulative. Pass a bug box around the group, and have each child put their bug in the bug box as they plan or recall.

Spider Soup: As the children plan or recall, they add a plastic spider ring to a pot and stir it up.

Christmas Bells: Make a chart with numbers assigned to each center. The children will pass around a jingle bell, and ring it the correct number of times (according to the center they will work in.)

Circus Ring: Put a Hula Hoop on the floor and pretend it is a circus ring. Call on each child to jump in the ring, do a trick, and then announce the center they plan to work in.

Car Planning Board: Make a planning board with each center on the mat and draw roads going to each center. Give each child a small toy car. Let them drive their car on the road to the center where they plan to work (or recall.)

Playing Teacher: Call on a child to tell their plan or recall. Then, let them choose someone else by pointing, calling their name, and asking "What's your plan?" or "What did you do today?"

Construction Worker: Each child stacks a block onto the building as they plan or recall. (Variation: Make a mat with a different colored house for each center. The children build their blocks on the house the same color of the center where they want to work. When the group is finished, count and compare to see which house is the largest.)

Post Office: Draw each center's symbol on an envelope. Each child will have a letter (folded paper with their name on it). As they plan, they will put it in the envelope of the center where they plan to work.

Pick-Up Trucks: Give each child a wooden cube. Drive a truck to each child in turn and as they plan or recall, have them load a cube onto the truck.

Train: Children line up behind teachers and pretend to be a train. The train moves around to each area, and the children who plan to work at that area may get off the train.

Bead Train: The children each get a bead. As they plan or recall, have them line their bead (or train car) behind the engine.

Air Traffic Control: The teacher will use a walkie talkie and pretend to be an air traffic controller. The children will pretend to be an airplane and tell air traffic control which center they plan to land in. After they have planned, the "planes" are clear for take-off to fly to their center.

Farm Animal Sounds: Make a planning chart with a different farm animal representing each center. The children will choose their center and imitate the animal sound that matches that center. Then they will tell their plan or recall.

Magic Wand (recall): When the teacher starts the music and waves the magic wand, each child will go to an area where they worked. They must be in that area when the music stops. Each child will tell what they did in that area.

Jack and the Beanstalk: Make large leaves with craft foam, felt or construction paper. Mark each one with the symbol or color of each center. The children will "climb" the beanstalk until they get to the leaf of the center where they plan to work.

Seashells: Place 4 shells on the table with a bead under one. The child who guesses which shell the bead is under will be the next to plan or recall.

Picnic Baskets: Pass around a mini basket. Have each child put either a plastic ant or plastic fruit in the basket as they plan or recall.

Dog Bowl: Cut a piece of paper in a circle shape to look like a dog bowl. Use a bone stamp to stamp several bones in the "bowl" or draw little pieces of dog food. Have the children choose a color crayon matching their center, and color in one of the bones or dog food. This center chart could be used several days.

Mud Puddles: Place construction paper "mud puddles" on the floor in a line (like Hop Scotch) with a small object representing each center on each puddle. Let the children take turns hopping through the mud puddles, stopping at the center where they want to work. Ask them what they plan to do at that center.

Mud Puddle (Hula Hoop): Place the hula hoop ("mud puddle") on the floor. Encourage the children to jump in the mud puddle as you call out their center. Ask them what they plan to do at that center.

Flashlight: Darken the room. The children use a flashlight to spotlight the center where they plan to work or did work.

Binoculars: The children use real binoculars or binoculars made from cardboard tubes. They look for the center where they plan to work.

Telescope: Using a paper towel roll as a telescope, the children look for the center where they plan to work or did work.

Alarm Clock: The children pretend they are sleeping. The teacher rings the bell to "wake up" each child one by one and asks for his or her plan (or they recall.)

Bottle: The children take turns spinning the bottle. When the bottle stops, the child it is pointing to is the next to plan or recall.

Playing Cards: The teacher "deals" each child one playing card. The child who gets the Joker plans or recalls first. The teacher draws a card from the deck. The child whose card has the matching number is the next to plan or recall.

Bean Bag: Each child makes a plan or recalls, then tosses the bean bag to a friend so that he or she can may plan or recall.

Puppet: The children use a puppet to tell the class what they plan to do or did at work time.

Walkie Talkie: Using a wood block as a pretend walkie talkie have the children talk on it to plan or recall.

Instruments: Assign a center to each instrument (ex. drums=blocks, bells=housekeeping, shakers=art). Have the children play the instrument of the center they plan to go to and let the other children try to guess the center.

Paper Bags: Give each child a paper bag and have them collect one object they will use or did use at work time. Ask the children how they will use that object.

Ball: Children toss a ball to one another. Whoever catches the ball is the next to plan or recall.

Stuffed Animals: One by one, the children talk to a stuffed animal and tell it what they plan to do or did at work time.

Counters in a Bag: The teacher puts colored dinosaurs and bears in a bag. The children draw one out and peek at it without letting anyone see. The teacher then call out an animal (Ex. "red bear") and the person with that item will plan or recall.

String a Bead: As each child plans or recalls, he or she strings a bead onto a shoelace. After everyone has planned/recalled, count the beads together and see how many there are of each color. (Variation: Assign a different color bead for each center.)

Microphone: Use a block as a microphone. The children will announce where they plan to go or where they went today.

I Spy a Center: The children will play "I Spy" by describing what they plan to do or did at a center. Example, "I spy a center where you can build a castle." [blocks]

I Spy a Symbol: The teacher calls out clues about a child's symbol. For example, "I spy something that is yellow and shines in the sky at night." The child with the [star] symbol will plan or recall.

Clothing: The teacher asks, "Who has buttons (zippers, snaps, etc.) on their shirt (pants, dress, etc.)?" Those children wearing that type of clothing will plan or recall. (Variations: "Who is wearing sweatpants, jeans, etc.?" or "Who is wearing green, red, etc.?")

Camera: Children look through a play camera at the center they plan to work or did work. They "take a picture" of it, then tell their plan or recall.

Hula-Hoops: Everyone holds a hula hoop marked in one place with a small piece of colored tape. The group chants, "Acka backa soda cracker, Acka backa boo, [Josh] chose the [block] center, How about you?" As they chant, the group turns the hoop through their hands. Stop rotating at the end of the chant. Whoever has their hand nearest the tape is the next to plan.

Lego Add-On: Give each child 3 Legos. Pick one child to put their Legos together. Have them pass their creation to the next child to add on their Legos. As they add their Legos, they will plan or recall their center.

Puzzle: Use a puzzle with about the same amount of pieces as children in your group. Each child adds a piece to the puzzle as they plan or recall.

Hopscotch: Use foam squares for the hopscotch mats. Each child hops down the path and stops on the square that contains the name and symbols of the area where that child plans to work. (Variation: Children could also leave their names or symbols on the square.)

Tape Recorder: Record the children telling their plan on a tape recorder. At recall, playback the tape so the children can listen to the plans they made and discuss whether they followed their plan or made changes.

TV Show: The children will put their head in a cardboard TV set and tell their plan or recall.

Collection Box: Collect something from each area of the room. Then have the children pick out the object that belongs in the center they want to work in or already worked in.

Bring One Back: Have each child go to the center where he worked or plans to work. They will choose one object from that center and bring it back to the table. Encourage them to tell how they plan to use that object or recall how they used it.

Unifix Cubes: Assign each color Unifix cube to a center. Have the children choose the color cube matching the center they want to work in. Each child will hook their cube onto a cube "train" as they plan or recall.

Stepping Stones: Set out a small block for each center on the floor. Put an area card beside each block. Have the children pretend to cross the river by walking on the stepping stones. Don't let the alligators get you! When they get to the block that represents their center, they will stop and tell their plan.

Blocks/ Shape Matching: Make a chart with different shapes of blocks. Color each block shape to match the different centers. The children will look at the chart and choose a block shape that matches the center where they plan to go.

Name Cards: Draw each child's name from a stack of cards. When the children recognize their names, they will plan or recall.

Telephone: The children take turns calling home (dialing their home phone number) on the telephone and telling someone what they plan to do or did at work time. (Variation: practice dialing "911".)

More Telephone: Pretend to dial a child's phone number on the phone, calling out the numbers. If the child recognizes their phone number, they will plan or recall, using the phone to talk.

Shapes: Place attribute blocks in a bag. Have the children draw out a shape and plan or recall. Encourage the children to identify the shapes.

Numbers: Give each child a piece of paper with a number on it. Call out numbers at random. The child with that number is the next to plan or recall.

Letters: Give each child a sticky note with a letter written on it. Call out a letter. The child with that letter is the next to plan or recall.

Alphabet Soup: Let each child choose a plastic letter from a pile. Encourage them to identify the letter, then put it in a pot and stir it up to make alphabet soup. As they put their letters in the pot, they will plan or recall their center.

Beginning Letters: The teacher calls out a letter and the children whose names begin with that letter will plan or recall.

Pattern: Show the children a chart with a pattern. The children will take turns choosing the next piece to continue the pattern, then plan or recall.

Sequencing: Give each child a different cutout, color, number, or shape. Show a chart with each item in a row. Then have the children follow the sequence to figure out who will plan or recall next.

Circle the Letter: Write letters on a dry erase board. Have a child circle the letter you call out, then plan or recall. (Variation: Do the same with numbers, shapes, colors.)

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom: Use the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Storytelling Tree. Give each child a letter. Have the children identify their letter, tell their plan, then put the letter on the tree.

Planning Form: The children fill in a planning form. Ex. "Today, I would like to work in the ______ area. I am going to ________." The teacher will fill in the child's response. To recall, read the sentences on the form which were written at planning time. Have the children draw a picture of what they did at work time.

Another Planning Form: Give the children a sheet of paper. Have them write their name on it. They may use the area cards to copy the name of the center where they worked, or the teacher can write it for them. Then they will draw a picture of something they used at the center.

Planning Chart: Give each child a planning chart (paper divided into several "boxes" with each center labeled in a box). Let them choose a sticker and place it on the sheet in the box of the area where they plan to work. At recall, show the children each planning sheet and ask whom it belongs to. Ask the children what they did at their center.

Map: The children place a mini sticker on a map of the classroom in the area they went to. Have them tell what they did there. Count and compare the number of children who went to each area on the map.

Graph: The children put a small sticker on an area graph. Have them tell what they did at their center. Compare and count the number of children going to each center.


© K. Cox 2004-06
www.prekinders.com
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