SPRING! A time of renewal and warmth (March 18-22)

UPDATED - 3/18/14
South Texas had a pretty interesting winter this year, and we are really looking forward to Spring! Our grass will begin to turn more green and the leaves on the trees will grow back. It gets warmer outside and outside games are more fun! We welcome the birds singing in the trees, begin to see our butterfly friends around, and flowers bloom and smell wonderful. Ahh, Spring!

To begin this lesson, it is a great idea to head outside and play a game of I Spy. Try to find pretty birds, flowers, bird nests, butterflies, etc. Make it a fun game and provide flower stickers for correct answers!

LETTER C c:

C is for Colorful! Trace the letter on the worksheet and talk about the letter C words! Letter C Worksheet




SITE WORDS:

It is time to begin learning to READ! Really, they can do it. We begin with basic "site words" that are common and easy. For the next few weeks we will work on getting them to recognize their own names. Their names are the most important words of all! Young children are so proud when they are able to spot their names.

This week begin by taking a picture of each of their smiling faces. Print the pictures.
Next freehand some flowers on colorful construction paper OR you can print some out HERE. 
Cut the pictures out and tape them in the center of a flower.

Print their names above or below their face on the flower.

Hang these up near your Circle Time area. Every morning, talk about their names. Ask them to point to their name on their flower. What letter does their name start with? On Thursday, remove their picture from the flower and see if they can still recognize their name. Remind them of the first letter of their name to help them along.



SCIENCE

Growing Seeds (Lima Beans)

All plants grow from seeds! There are many different shapes, sizes and colors of seeds. We even eat some kinds of seeds. We can eat sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, black eyed peas, lima beans, green peas, sesame seeds. These are all examples of something we eat that can grow if we plant them in dirt.

A seed will grow into a plant if you plant it in dirt and provide water and sunlight. Sunlight is like food for plants! We are going to grow a plant of our own! We won't even need any dirt!

Materials Needed:

Lima Beans
Paper Towels

Gallon Size Zipper Bags


Soak the dried lima beans over night to help speed the growth process. The faster they see results, the easier to keep them engaged in this!

Place the pre-soaked beans in a bowl. Provide paper towels and a water source.
Write the children's names on a baggie. Display them on the table and see if they can recognize theirs. Explain that sometimes seeds will sprout with water and no dirt. Let's see if we can make that happen!

Have the kiddos place the paper towels in the bowl of water so that they are saturated. Place at least 2 saturated towels inside the baggie all spread out. Then ask them to count out 2 lima beans and place them in the bags on top of the wet towels. Seal up the baggies. Tape the bags to a window where the kids can check them easily all week.

After about 24 hours you should be able to see some sprouting! Each day you should see some growth. After around 7-8 days, there will be a green plant with a leaf in their bag. Beyond this time, the plants may begin to mold.




COMMUNITY

Gardners (Landscapers)

A Gardner is a person whose job is to take care of lawns and gardens. Gardners sometimes work for people who own a home and they take care of their yard for them. Other Gardners work at a school, a zoo, a park or even around roads to take care of the grass and flowers there. These people are good at taking care of plants and helping them grow big and beautiful!

MATH

Flower Counting

Print the blank counting grid HERE and the numbered flowers printable HERE.  Write the numbers 1 through 5 along the left side of the grid. You will need multiple copies of the numbered flowers. Cut out the numbered flowers. (You could also use foam flowers from a craft store or flower stickers)

Give a grid to each child and place the numbered flowers randomly on the table. Direct the kids to place the 1 flower numbered with a 1 next to the 1 on the grid. Then they should place a number 1 and a number 2 flower on the number 2 row on the grid. Complete this through number 5.



When done with foam flowers

Less Than & More Than

Print the worksheet from Education.com HERE. This worksheet has less than and more than in a butterfly theme.
 




ART

Handprint Flowers

Materials Needed:
Pink, Red, Yellow, etc finger paint
Construction Paper
Stem & Leaves Template (here)

Print 1 stem and leaves set for each flower. Cut them out.

Ask the kids to glue the stem and leaves to their piece of contruction paper.

Dip the kid's hands in one color of paint. Make sure their hand is open faced and flat. Have them make a print of their hand at the top of the stem. You can stop here, but it turns out really pretty if you do multiple separate prints for 1 flower.


Multiple Prints

One Print

MOTOR SKILLS

Yarn Weaving

Provide each child with a metal cooling rack (for baking) and some lengths of yarn. Instruct them to weave the yarn through the rack.

This is a very calming excercise which requires patience and fine motor skill!

BOOKS

  on Amazon! http://www.amazon.com/Its-Spring-Susan-Swan/dp/0761313451/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1362597891&sr=1-1&keywords=its+spring%21

The excitement of spring is in the air as a boy explores the world around him.

DLTK's website has a fun printable book all about Spring HERE. Print, assemble and read with your class!

CRAFT

Signs of Spring Collage

Cut out pictures of flowers, birds, baby animals, green and leafy trees, Easter eggs, butterflies, four leaf clovers, dandelions, etc from magazines. Provide each child with a piece of construction paper or provide 1 large piece of paper if you want to do a full class project.

Place the different pictures on the table and ask the kids to glue their favorites to the paper. Once done, talk about the pictures and how they show the signs of spring!

COOKING

Ice Cream Sundaes

Ingredients:
Ice Cream Flavor of Choice
Chocolate Sauce
Sprinkles
Whip Cream

Place a scoop of ice cream in a small bowl. Provide the toppings in small bowls with a spoon and allow the kids to create their own sundaes! Lots of fun and super yummy.

Weather and Seasons (Jan 21-25)

We have talked about winter and cold weather, now we should step it up and discuss all the seasons and the basic weather that goes with them! This lesson will go hand in hand with your daily calendar discussions!

In South Texas the seasons are a little fuzzy. What I mean is, we really only have 2 seasons, hot and cold. I think it is important for our kiddos to understand what is happening in the rest of the country and to try to pinpoint the various seasons here as best we can!



SPRING:
Spring is when it begins to get warmer outside, snow on the ground will melt away. The flowers will begin to grow again and the leaves on the trees will begin to show up. You will hear birds singing much more! It rains often in the spring to help the flowers and trees grow. Easter, Memorial Day and Mother's Day are in spring.

SUMMER:
In the summer the weather is warm or hot. You can go swimming, go to the park, go on vacation, and go to the beach during the summer. We wear shorts and tank tops and sandals to help keep us cool. It is fun to eat ice cream and popsicles. The flowers are pretty, the grass and trees are green and the birds have lots of fun playing.  Independance Day and Father's Day are in summer.

FALL:
Fall is when the weather becomes cooler. The leaves on the trees begin to change color and fall off the trees. Flowers will begin to disappear and the grass will start to turn brown. The birds are now storing food for the winter.  Labor Day, Halloween and Thanksgiving are in fall.

WINTER:
Winter is the coldest part of the year. The trees will not have any leaves on them. There are no flowers. The grass will be brown. The birds will be sleeping or have flown to a place that is warmer for them. We get to drink hot chocolate to keep us warm. We wear long sleeved shirts and pants, and even coats, hats and mittens to keep us warm. Christmas, New Year and Valentine's Day are in winter.


SEASON MATCHING

Print out the cards and cut out the pieces at the bottom. I suggest doing two seasons at a time so you don't overwhelm the kiddos. Pick 2 that are opposites, like summer and winter. To make it harder, pick 2 that are close, like spring and summer. Lay out the cards and give them the pictures. Ask them to decide where each picture falls in the seasons. Talk about their answers.

If you are having trouble printing the above matching activity, you can print the below worksheets and use them in the same way. Cut out each item and have the children match them by placing them together. I am working on the link for the matching activity now...
http://www.tlsbooks.com/allkindsofweather.pdf
http://www.education.com/files/95001_95100/95099/weather-wear-matching.pdf



WEATHER CHART

If your calendar does not have a weather piece, this chart can be used with your daily circle time discussions. Cut out a large circle, you can use a paper plate!  Either draw or cut out and paste on the 2 lines to bi-sect the circle, making 4 equal parts. Use a brad to attach the arrow so that you can easily point the arrow at the weather of the day. Attach the 4 different types of weather using a picture and the word in each of the 4 spaces. We do not use the snow, since we only rarely get any here. I used wind instead, since we do have some very windy days! Make it work for your class!

MATH

Raindrop Counting and Sequencing:
Cut out the 10 numbered rain drops. The second page will be where the children will place their drops. Begin by counting the numbered rain drops with the kids. Make sure they can see the numbers on them. Once you have counted them, ask the children to tell you which number comes first. You can give the numbered drops to the kids to place on the second page if they are ready for that, or you can hold them while you do this. When a child has given you the correct answer, let that child place the drop in its place on the second page. Go through each of the numbers. If they get any out of order, you can use your fingers to count and discover which number should actually come next.   raindrop sequencing sheets

 

 

 

GROSS MOTOR

Tornado in a Bottle

Make one of these for each child! Use a 2 liter bottle or use an individual water sized bottle, whichever you want. Clean out and fill with water. Add blue food coloring or glitter. Screw the caps on really well! You can even use duct tape to make sure they won't open. Talk to the kids about what a tornado is. Tornadoes are really fast wind which swirls around and around in a circle. They cause what is called a "vortex" or a tornado. Allow the children to spin around and around in circles. Be careful that they do not make themselves sick! Now demonstrate the vortex you can make with the bottle. Swirl the bottle around and around until they can see the tornado! Let them try to make one too.




SCIENCE

Rain Cloud in a Jar

In order to demonstrate how rain falls from the sky, we will use this really fun experiment.

Materials:

Glass Jar

Blue Food Color

Shaving Cream

Fill the jar with water to about an inch from the top. Squirt shaving cream on top of the water. Explain to the kiddos that they should pretend that the water is the air and the shaving cream are clouds up in the sky. Clouds are made up of water. Remember when we talked about steam rising up? Water can become vapor, which is like steam, and rise up into the sky. The water in the sky becomes clouds. When these clouds become really heavy and full of water, rain falls. Demonstrate this by squirting some blue food color onto the top of the shaving cream. The color will soak through the "clouds" and drip down into the water, or sky.

Wind in a Cup

Materials:
Large, clear cups

Tissue paper, shredded up

Straws
Tape

Make one of these for each child. Shred up some tissue paper. Put it in the cup. Place a straw in the cup and then tape over the top to make a lid. Have the kids blow into the straw in the cups to make wind. They will be able to see the effects of wind on the shredded paper! This is a really fun activity! Discuss how the wind blows the trees, the grass and the flowers.

ART

Rainbows

Materials Needed:

Coffee Filters

Markers

Q tips

Talk about rainbows and how they are made up of the colors red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. Show the kids a picture of a rainbow. Rainbows are formed when rain drops shine through sunlight.

Tape the coffee filters to a larger piece of paper. Draw a rainbow in the correct colors on the coffee filters. Give the children a small container of water and a Qtip. Allow them to dip the Qtip in the water and then let water drip onto the rainow. The colors will spread! The end result is very pretty. Hang these around the room for the week.

 FINE MOTOR

Match the Seasons

Use this Seasons worksheet from Education.com. They will trace a line that connects the weather to the season.

CRAFT

Cloud Craft

There are 2 really fun crafts you can do with clouds! Pick the one that works best for your class. These are fun to hang from the ceiling (if you can!)

#1 - Cotton Ball Clouds

Cut out the cloud template. Provide cotton balls and a glue stick and let the kiddos make theirs as fluffy as they wish!

#2 - Puffy Paint Clouds
Cut out the cloud template OR just print it on paper. Make the puffy paint and allow the kids to paint as they like!

Directions for Puffy Paint:
1 TBSP self-rising flour
1 TBSP salt
Food coloring (blue)

Combine the flour and salt. Drop 3-4 drops of food coloring into it and add about 1-3 TBSP of water to make a smooth paste.

**Once done painting, microwave the painting for around 30 seconds or until the paint puffs up and is dry.

COMMUNITY

Meteorologist

Meteorologists are the scientists who study the weather and predict (make an informed guess) what the weather will be like a few days from now. These scientists examine the wind, rain, and temperatures and report to everyone what they think will happen. People can make plans to be outside if it will be sunny and warm or plans to stay inside if it will be rainy and cold.

MUSIC

Mr. Sun  Lyrics and Sound!

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Come again another day

Little _______ wants to play

Rain, Rain Go Away!

COOKING

Mud Pies

Ingredients:
Instant chocolate pudding
Oreo cookies
Milk
Gummy worms

Mix instant chocolate pudding according to the directions on the package. The children help add the “dirt” (pudding mix) and “rain” (milk) to make “mud.” To make this part extra fun, I punch holes in a styrofoam bowl and when the children pour the milk into the bowl it drips like rain into the mixing bowl. The children help mix the mud with a spoon. Put 2 Oreos in a ziplock bag for each child to crush. Put the crushed Oreos in a clear punch cup, add a gummy worm and 3-4 spoonfuls of pudding.

LETTER J j

J is for Jacket! We wear jackets when it is cold outside. Have the kids trace the letter with their finger. Then allow them to color it in. Talk about which Jackets are the same in the picture.

http://www.kidsunder7.com/2011/07/letter-j-worksheets.html