May Celebration

I'm back and it feels good! After a roller skating trick with my 11 year old nephew went horribly wrong, I wound up with a broken left wrist, a broken right elbow and a sprained right wrist! I am very happy to announce that all casts are off and I'm back to blogging. Scroll through and check out some cool blog posts for Spring.





Spring is a green EXPLOSION!  Hip Hip Hooray for Flower Power!

  Start off your Spring unit by reading and discussing the book Busy in the Garden by George Shannon.  This book is part of the I Can Read Book series.

 

Bird Journals: It's Spring! The birds are returning and having baby birds! Make color copies of pictures of different types of birds and tack them all over the ceiling and walls. The more pictures you can use the better. Bring in binoculars, bird identification books and pillows and let your students do a little "bird watching." Have students draw and write about their "observations" in their Bird Journals or Discovery Journals.

 

 

Calendar Count: Exploring Numbers to 30 - For this Math activity purchase (or make) a large bulletin board type calendar and some calendar numbers shapes numbers 1-30. Mix up the calendar number cards and the station is ready! Students put the cards in numerical order on the blank calendar. They say the numbers in order. Extension: Have students lay out the number cards in order from 1-30.  Use inexpensive jelly bracelets from the Dollar Store to loop every other number shape.  Now you can visually see counting by 2s.  Every third number looped shows counting by 3s. Or 5s, etc.



 Parts of a Flower: This simple project helps students identify the parts of a plant. Give each student a large piece of  blue construction paper or butcher paper. Students take an orange square of construction paper and trim the edges off to make it a circle. They glue the square onto the blue paper. Students rip yellow paper scraps into the petals of a sunflower and glue around the orange circle. Have students use real sunflower seeds or they can use their fingertips dipped in brown paint  for the "seeds" in the middle of the orange circle.  They rip and glue a green stem and leaves out of paper. Students draw brown roots at the bottom of the stem and finish by labeling the corrects parts of the flower.

Studying Magpies: Nature gives us so much to observe and record during the Spring months. The students at Rowland Hall Beginning School in Salt Lake City, Utah discovered a magpie building a nest in a tree right on the school grounds.  They used the ongoing observation of the magpies to draw, photograph, write about, talk about and thoroughly immerse themselves in the study of the magpie and her nest. It was a topic that had a strong and natural connection to the students and their school. They also used materials from nature to assemble their own "nest" creations.  

My First Story Folder: Writing on Self Selected Topics - Give your students some inspiration for their beginning story writing. Make a picture file for the students by finding and pasting interesting pictures inside a file folder. On the other side of the folder, write words or story starters that would generate writing ideas. Students choose a folder and write a simple story.

 

 

Spring Poetry: Students use the letters in the word S-P-R-I-N-G to write an individual or group poem.



Flower Power: April Showers bring May flowers, so set up a flower making station in your Arts & Crafts area. Choose a number of "cut and paste" flower projects for students to complete. Set out paints, dot markers and collage materials. Students use teacher provided patterns and/or their imaginations to create a colorful garden full of whimsical flowers, right in the classroom! 

 

 

 



Flower Shop: Turn your dramatic play area into a flower shop filled with fun and spring flowers. Collect or buy a variety of artificial flowers and place them in the area designated as "The Flower Shop." Dollar stores and craft stores usually have quite an extensive selection of flowers. Add the following to the dramatic play area: florist foam, plastic flower pots, a toy cash register, coins, paper, pencils and crayons. Students make a large sign for the shop listing prices for goods and services. Students take turns being customers or shopkeepers. Customers choose someone to send flowers to, purchase flower arrangements, write cards and pay the cashier. Shopkeepers arrange and deliver flowers, as well as run the cash register. There are a lot of skills integrated into this learning activity including Math, Writing, Literacy and Social Interaction skills.