On The Farm

A farm is a very educational place! There are plenty of interesting animals to learn about, plants that grow, cool jobs, and dirt! All kids (well, most kids) love dirt! We are going to explore the happenings on a basic farm in this fun week full of lessons!

Farm Animal Flashcards!

CIRCLE TIME

Print out the flashcards above. Talk about a farm. A farm is a place where people called Farmers work their land raising different animals, such as cows and chickens, for food and also grow their own fruits and vegetables. They get up very early in the morning to begin working and they work very hard. All of their animals have to be fed and their living areas cleaned. Then the farmers have to milk the cows, collect the eggs from the chickens, and shear the wool from the sheep. Their plants must also be attended to. They have to water them amd pick the ripe fruits and vegetables when they become available. Often the farmers make their own furniture, tools, and clothing also! They are very busy.

What kinds of sounds do these animals make? Show them the flashcards and have them make the animal sounds!




LETTER:   Y  y for Yard

Y is for YES, YUM, YIPPEE, and YARD. Farms have Yards, Houses have Yards, even Schools have Yards.

Print the color sheet http://learning-years.com/coloring-pages/letters-numbers/ABC-123_coloring-030.htm

Talk about the sound that Y makes. Trace the letter with your finger, then with a crayon. Color the yard!






READING

Learning about LONG VOWELS can be tricky! This week we will continue to learn what happens when we add the "e" to the end of "short a" words. Review:

On Starfall.com: LONG vowel sounds! This week do the Long A lesson and story 
http://www.starfall.com/n/level-a/learn-to-read/load.htm?f

On readingbear.org: also work on the long A sound, which is usually made by adding an E to the end of a word
http://www.readingbear.org/Presentation.aspx?PresentationID=68&Part=1


Activity

Index Card Book:  Add to your book this week by creating words that sound one way with a short vowel and no "e" on the then that will change to long vowels when we add the "e". Use words like "cap", "wad", "mad", "bath", "man", and "tap". Read the words without the silent e, then find out how the word changes when we add the silent e.



SCIENCE

Butter Making!

How is butter made? Or a better question is, how was butter made by farmers a long time ago? They made it in a butter churn. A butter churn was a big jug with a huge pole that agitated or mixed up the milk. You would pour the fresh cow's milk into the jug, close the lid with the pole sticking out, and push and pull the pole up and down really quickly. This motion causes the fat in the milk to stick together. After a while, all the fat will be stuck together and that is what we call butter!

Materials Needed:

Baby Food Jars with Lids
Whipping Cream (full fat)

Pour whipping cream into the jars so that they are about half full. Place the lids on the jars TIGHTLY! Have everyone shake the jars as hard and fast as they can. More than likely they will tire out before the process is done. It might be a good idea to only provide 1 jar for every 2 or 3 children so they can take turns. After roughly 15 minutes, you will have butter! (see the Music section for the "making butter boogie") For better flavor, add a little table salt to it.

**Save the butter for the cooking activity later!

ACTIVITY

Act Like Farm Animals

This is fun and easy! Gather the children and tell them to act like a cow! Allow them to do this for a minute or 2 and then act like pigs! Continue on with this activity as long as they are interested.



COMMUNITY

Farmers

Farmers are very hard workers! They are up really early and go to bed late. There are many different kinds of farmers. Some produce crops, or fruits and vegetables. Some raise animals such as cows, sheep or pigs. Most of the fruit, vegetables and meats that we eat are grown and raised by farmers. Their crops can also be used to make our clothing, paper, and many other things. Farmers are very important people!




MATH

Math Mats

Print these math mats from Prekinders.com! They are really cute. Provide some white and yellow playdough and have the kiddos make baby chicks to put in the farm yard. The number of chicks they should make is listed on each mat. For a tougher challenge, mix the mats up so they aren't in numeric order.

http://www.prekinders.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/farm-counting-mats.pdf






Farm Animal Patterning

Print this pack from havefunteaching.com. This is a terrific patterning lesson using very cute farm images.

http://havefunteaching.com/worksheets/themes/farm-worksheets/farm-sequencing-activity.pdf







ACTIVITY

Mommy animal and Baby animal Matching

Mommy & Baby Matching Cards

You can print the above cards and use for a few different games!

You could play a basic Memory game where you mix them up and turn them face down on the table. Have each child take a turn turning over the cards 2 at a time to try to match a mommy to a baby. Once they have found a match, remove those cards.

You can print out enough copies for each child and cut them out. Mix them up and have the kids make matches on the table. You could even have them glue them to a piece of construction paper in pairs.

You could even just hold up a picture of a mommy animal and have the kids find the matching baby.

ART/CRAFT

ART-Yarn Collage

Materials Needed:
Construction Paper

Lots of strips of yarn in multiple colors
Glue (white school glue works best)

This is an art project so there is no real goal! You can explain that we are using yarn because it is like the fiber farmers weave from Sheep's wool. (That is how we are tying it in to the farm theme) Allow the kids to pull whichever and however many pieces of yarn that they want and glue them to the paper. They could make a pattern, but more likely it will look like a big pile of mulit-colored spaghetti when they are done. Free art expression is a great thing for their little minds and is also great for their fine motor skills.





CRAFT - Hand Print Sheep

Crafts are generally more goal oriented. They are trying to reproduce something, but in their own way.

Materials Needed:
Black Paper

White Paper

White Chalk

White Cotton Balls
Glue

Begin by using white chalk to trace each kid's hand onto the black paper. Make sure their fingers are spread out wide! Cut them out.

Give the kids their handprint, a piece of white paper, a pile of cotton balls and glue. Ask them to glue their hand print to the paper. Show them that their thumb will be the head of the sheep and their fingers are the legs. You can even draw a little face on the thumb to help them see it! For even more fun, use googly eyes.

Next have the kids glue cotton to the body of their sheep. When they are done and dried, hang them up around the room.

BOOKS

On Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/House-That-Built-Barefoot-Paperback/dp/1846860512/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1369326597&sr=1-3&keywords=the+house+that+jack+built

This is a fun, repetetive rhyming book that is a delight to read!




On Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Barnyard-Banter-Denise-Fleming/dp/0805087788/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1369326682&sr=1-1&keywords=barnyard+banter

A really fun and interactive book  in which everyone can have fun making farm animal sounds!



MUSIC


Making Butter Boogie!

You can sing this while making the butter in the Science lesson!

Shake it UP, shake it DOWN
Shake it, shake it all around
Shake it HIGH, shake it LOW
Shake it, shake it to and fro
Shake it over, shake it under
And pretty soon, you will have BUTTER


Old MacDonald Had A Farm

A classic! Find it HERE. The link has the lyrics, the music to download and even a video! Have fun

COOKING

Farm Foods!

The idea here is to have a few items that people on farms can grow and make themselves!

Ingredients:

Bread (homemade is best, but not always feasible)

Butter (the stuff you made in the Science lesson)

Strawberries, apples or other fruit from a farm

Eggs

Milk

You might want to schedule this for breakfast time! Talk about how all of these things come from the farm. The farmers make their own bread using flour, salt, etc. You know how to make butter! Strawberries, apples, and other fruits are grown on farms. Eggs come from chickens. Milk comes from cows.

In order to get them involved, allow them to butter the toast and use plastic butter knives to cut strawberries. Serve the kids some scrambled eggs and a glass of milk also! A full farm-made meal.

(You could also serve bacon or sausage and talk about how it comes from pigs if you feel comfortable opening that can of worms!

Easter Celebration!

This week (as with the other Religion based holidays) we will marry the religious aspect and the Easter Bunny to have a fun and joyous week! It is important to remember, as we color pictures of the Easter Bunny and search for eggs, the reason why the Easter season is filled with joy and hope as we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

After Jesus died on the cross His friends were very sad. They took Jesus' body and lovingly placed it in a tomb. A big rock was rolled in front of the door to the tomb. Guards were placed outside the tomb to make sure no one would steal the body. Listen carefully as I read the rest of the story from God's Word, the Bible:

Read Matthew 28:1-10

Print the Jesus Has Risen color sheet HERE.

As the kids color their paper, tell them about the real reason for Easter. Explain to them that it may be fun to get candy and dye colorful eggs, but in reality, Easter reminds us that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. Three days after He died and was laid to rest, He miraculously rose from the dead. After Jesus rose from the dead, He appeared and spoke to His followers. Jesus spent forty days with His followers, and before He went back to Heaven, He told them that He would return. One day, Jesus will come back!

LETTER: E e for Easter and Egg

Print the worksheet. Trace the letter with fingers, then with a crayon. Talk about the sound the letter E makes. It is one of the letters that has 2 sounds. Ee and Eh. Easter has the ee sound and Egg has the eh sound.

http://easytoddlercrafts.com/images/the_letter_e_is_for_egg.jpg

SITE WORDS - NAMES

To continue with the Name Recognition lesson, this week we will do a really fun activity.

Use 1 index card per child. Print their name on their card, using small print and spread it across the card. Take some of those round, multi colored stickers that they sell for adding prices to yard sale items and print the alphabet, one letter per sticker. There should be 1-2 sheets of these stickers per child. If the child's name has multiple of the same letter, make sure they have all the letters they will need to make their name. You don't have to inlcude ALL the letters of the alphabet, just make sure there are several that they won't need. The idea is to get them to recognize the letters in their name.

Ask them to find the letters written on the card on the stickers and place the correct sticker on top of the corresponding letter on the card. When done, talk with each child about the sounds the letters in their names make and how they work together to make their name. Each morning, place their name card on the floor in the circle time spot where you want them to sit. Have them find their name and sit by it each day.

SCIENCE

Make A Naked Egg!

This is a crazy experiment and they won't really understand what is happening, but it is super cool and its an egg so what the heck?

Materials Needed:

Clear Jar

White Vinegar

Egg

Show the egg to the kids. See? It is just a regular old egg. Tell them you are going to "dissolve" the shell away. Carefully place the egg in the jar. Add vinegar to the jar so that the egg is completely covered.  You should immediately see bubbles form on the surface of the egg. The chemical process has begun!  Each day a layer of foam will collect at the top of the jar. Once per day, drain the vinegar out of the jar and replace, always making sure to cover the egg with the vinegar. During this process, allow the kids to observe the changes that are happening to the egg. Generally within about 2-3 days the shell will have completely dissolved and you will be able to see the yolk through the rubbery layer left behind. You can allow the kids to check it out, but be carefull because the only thing left holding the egg together is the very thin membrane.



MATH

Easter Egg Addition!

Purchase a set of those plastic Easter Eggs. Pull them apart. On the bigger side, print simple addition problems such as 1+1= and 1+2=. I like to use shapes instead of numbers at this stage. For this, draw 1 dot, a plus sign, 1 dot and and equal sign. On the smaller side print the answer. For the answers, always use the number itself. Make a bunch of these with several different simple problems on them. Place all the problems in one bowl and the answers in another bowl. Go through the problems discussing what the answer should be. Ask the kids to search through the answer bowl to place the correct answers with their corresponding problems.

For a more advanced version, give each child 4 or 5 problem sides and 4 or 5 answer sides and have them put them together themselves. Check their work when they are done and reward them for the correct answers and talk about the wrong answers. Allow them to make corrections as needed.

Easter Memory Game

I found this very cool FREE printable at Modern Parents Messy Kids! Print out 2 pages of the template and cut out the pictures. The kids will be matching different colored bunnies. Use just like any memory game!
http://s1133.photobucket.com/user/modernparentsmessykids/media/MPMKHalloween/Eastermemorygame_edited-11.jpg.html

ART/CRAFT

Tissue Paper Eggs

http://www.artistshelpingchildren.org/kidscraftsactivitiesblog/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/easter-egg-card-template.png

Print out the above Easter Egg template. Provide pretty colored squares of tissue paper and glue sticks. Allow the kids to glue the colored paper to their eggs to make beautiful works of Easter art!

Bunny Ears & Tails

There is a very cute template and instructions on DLTK's site HERE. That is how to make the ears.

To make the tail, draw a tail shape (basically a fluffy cloud) on a piece of white construction paper. Give the kids some glue and cotton balls and have them cover their tail in the cotton. When dry, you can tape them to their pants or tie a loose ribbon around their waist to hold them on.

MUSIC

Peter Cottontail (when they are wearing their bunny ears and tails, sing this cute song and hop around the room!)

 

 

 

Here comes Peter Cottontail
Hoppin' down the bunny trail,
Hippity hoppity, Easter's on its way
Bringin' ev'ry girl and boy
A basketful of Easter joy
Things to make your Easter Bright and gay

Oh! Here' comes Peter Cottontail
Hoppin' down the bunny trail
Hippity hoppity Happy Easter Day
Look at him hop and listen to him say,
"Try to do the things you should"
Maybe if you're extra good
He'll roll lots of Easter eggs your way
You'll wake up on Easter morning
And you'll know that he was there
When you find those choc'late bunnies
That he's hiding ev´rywhere,
Oh! Here' comes Peter Cottontail
Hoppin' down the bunny trail
Hippity hoppity Happy Easter Day.


5 Lil Easter Bunnies

5 little Easter bunnies
standing at the door
One boils the eggs and then there were 4

(keep counting down with the same lyrics)

1 little Easter bunny,
what can you say?
He hides the eggs for a happy Easter day!



MOTOR SKILLS

Paper Cutting

For this activity, be sure to provide some toddler safety scissors for the kids.

Print out the scissor skills template HERE. Allow the kids to practice cutting the straight lines.

BOOKS

Bunny Poem

This is not a book, but it is a fun little poem to read this week!
http://www.classroomfreebies.com/2012/04/bunny-poem.html


 
On Amazon -



A great book about the true meaning of Easter!



COOKING

Egg Salad on Crackers

Boil a few eggs ahead of time. Put them in a bog bowl and allow the kiddos to mash them with forks. Add some mayonnaise and pickle relish (or how ever you wish to make it) and let them mix it all up.

Give them some crackers and spoons and show them how to top their crackers with their mixture. Yum!

Little Detectives (Problem Solving)

Teaching little minds how to solve problems is a big deal. They often say "I can't" before they even try. Being a problem solver is a huge step towards independence! For preschoolers, solving mysteries sounds like a lot of fun, so we will use that term to help get them engaged in these lessons.

Circle Time Activity:  To begin this lesson, talk to the kids about solving mysteries. What is a mystery? A mystery is when you find something that you do not have an explanation for. To solve a mystery, you must investigate or find out about the mystery, ask questions, look for clues, and try to solve the problem. When they come across a problem and they aren't sure what to do, what next? Cry? Ask for help? Try to see what might work (investigate)? 

Mark 2 lines on the floor using masking tape. Make the lines about 1 foot apart. Crumple up a piece of paper and place it inside the lines. Tell the children to solve the mystery of how to make the paper move to the outside of the line without touching it. Let them investigate or try to think of ways to accomplish this. Before they try something, ask them to tell you about it or ask you questions. Guide them and give them some examples of your own, if necessary. If they try something and it does not work, make sure to encourage them to try another way. Once the task has been accomplished, discuss the process of solving the problem. They should feel proud that they were able to work through and solve the mystery!



LETTER: M m

M is for Mystery! Color the letter M coloring page. Trace the letter with your finger and then with a crayon. Also help them work through the letter M sound worksheet.

M Sounds                             Letter M Traceable

SCIENCE

Mystery Bag

Use a small bag which is thin but isn't see through. Collect some basic items that could be guessed by this age group pretty easily. These items could be a plate, diaper, toy car, duplo block, stuffed animal, hanger, etc.

Without them being able to see, place 1 item in the bag and close up the top. Pass it around to each child and ask them to feel it and try to guess what it is, but do not say it yet. Once each child has had a chance to feel it, see if anyone knows what it is. If they do, let them guess and show it to them if they are right. If they do not know what is in the Mystery Bag, discuss how they can figure it out without opening the bag. Ask questions: is it hard or soft, is it heavy or light, if you thump it does it make a sound, does it have a smell? Work through each item until all items have been guessed correctly.

MOTOR SKILLS

Size Sorting

Provide a large bowl with beans, rice and salt mixed together. Give the children a spoon, a strainer and a colander and ask them to figure out how to sort the items into 3 smaller bowls. Watch how they process through the mystery! If they need a hint, give them one. Once they have completed the task, talk about why and how the different sifters worked for the different sized items.

CRAFT

Puzzle Craft

You can use coloring book pictures, pictures from magazines, photographs of people, etc
Cut a picture into multiple pieces to make a puzzle.
In order to solve the mystery of what the picture is, they will have to solve the puzzle!
Give the pieces to a child and have them put it back together and glue it to a piece of construction paper. When they have figured out what the picture is, they need to tell you. They should get a sticker for solving their mystery!

 

 

MATH

Memory Game

If you have the game Memory, you can use that. Or you can make one of your own! DLTK has printable memory cards that you can customize! Since St. Patrick's Day is this weekend, you can use these:  http://dltk-cards.com/memory/memoryfinish.asp

If you want to create your own, use this link: http://dltk-cards.com/memory/memory1.asp

 

 

Same & Different

Use these worksheets to talk about things that are the same and things that are different:  http://www.kidslearningstation.com/same-different/worksheets/same-shapes-color.pdf

http://www.kidslearningstation.com/same-different/worksheets/different-shapes-color.pdf

 

 

COMMUNITY

Detectives

 

Detectives are special police officers who solve mysterious crimes. They find clues, like pieces of a puzzle, and put them all together to find out what happened. When they solve a crime, the person who did the crime will get punished.

 

 

GAMES

There are some really cool online problem solving games available on PBSkids.org. Check them out HERE.

 

 

MUSIC

Mystery Bag

Mystery Bag, Mystery Bag

What is inside the Mystery Bag?

Little Joe

Find this on Songdrops.com!  It is a really cute song about a little boy who comes home to find his caterpillar missing. Solve the mystery of where he went!  http://www.songdrops.com/funny-kids-songs-for-children/little-joe.html

 

 

BOOKS

 

A story about a boy who is afraid to go to the playground because of a bully. Find out how he solves this problem!

Available on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/King-Playground-Phyllis-Reynolds-Naylor/dp/0689718020/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1362166710&sr=1-1&keywords=king+of+the+playground

 

 

 

    Find out how this man solves his pesky problem!

Available on Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/Caps-Sale-Peddler-Monkeys-Business/dp/B008Q3ID5W/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1362166839&sr=1-2&keywords=caps+for+sale

COOKING

Mystery Snack

This one isn't really about cooking. Place any snack you wish into the Mystery Bag. Describe it to the kids and let them solve the mystery! When they figure it out, they can eat it.

 

 

 

BONUS!

St. Patrick's Day Craft

DLTK has a really easy and fun Shamrock Craft HERE. It comes with a fun song too!