Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Witches, Ghosts & Mummies

Learning Goal: I have feelings. I can talk about them with my family and friends.
  • Reading= Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson, There's a Nightmare in My Closet by Mercer Mayer and Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. Letter of the day= W is for witch.
  • Art= Make 4 handprint ghosts using white finger paint on black paper. Complete by adhering googley eyes to upside down handprints, and adding mouths expressing different emotions. Fine art: The Scream by Edward Munch. Demonstrate how to draw different feelings on a face (sad, happy, mad and scared). For inspiration look at the simple illustrations in The Feelings Book by Todd Park.
  • Music= Sing "If you’re happy (scared, mad, sad, tired) and you know it make a face". Practice making different faces in a mirror. Talk about things that make you feel better when you're unhappy or frightened. See how easy it is to change a frown into a smile!
  • Science= Experiment with dry ice (CO2) for some witchy magic. 1) Melt dry ice and an ice cube on two different plates. One leaves a puddle and the other turns into an invisible gas! 2) Put dry ice and a little warm water in a Halloween balloon. Watch the balloon quickly expand! 3) Taste some apple juice before and after adding dry ice. The dry ice turns the juice into sparkling cider! 4) Add dry ice to soapy water for instant bubble mania. Pop the bubbles to release the fog!
  • Play= Wrap candies in a roll of toilet tissue and you're ready to play the mummy wrap. Wrap tissue around a body part until a prize is found. Tear the paper and pass the roll to the next player. Continue until all the prizes have been unrolled and you have a group of mini mummies. Make mummy face pizzas out of English muffins, string cheese and olive slices for eyes.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Properties of a Pumpkin

Learning Goal: Pumpkins have properties that we can describe or measure, including size, weight, shape and color.
  • Reading= Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman, It’s a Fruit, It’s a Vegetable, It’s a Pumpkin by Allan Fowler and Five Little Pumpkins by Iris Van Rynbach. Letter of the day= P is for pumpkin.
  • Science= Experiment with different ways of measuring things. Gather pumpkins and squashes of different sizes. Line them up in order from biggest to smallest. Measure their width with a measuring tape. Weigh them on a scale. Try using a homemade scale (a broomstick with a bucket taped to each end). Finally, trace your feet on a piece of paper and cut them out. Use the paper feet to measure how many “feet” tall you are.
  • Art= Paint faces on mini pumpkins. Or, bake a favorite pumpkin food (e.g., pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie, pumpkin soup). Point out the measuring instruments used to follow the recipe.
  • Music= Move to music with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C Minor. Pretend you're ghosts, witches or bats flying through the air. Boo, Boo, Boo!
  • Play= Roll large pumpkins from one side of a room to the other. Or, roll like pumpkins yourself as you sing “Five Little Pumpkins”.
Fun fact: Pumpkins can grow to weigh more than 1,200 pounds!

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Rocks & Volcanoes

Learning goal: Land is made of rocks and soils. The surface of the earth changes due to slow processes (erosion) and rapid processes (volcanic eruptions).
  • Reading= A Gift from the Sea by Kate Banks, Stone Soup retold by Heather Forrest and Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig. Letter of the day: V is for volcano.
  • Science= Many rocks come from volcanoes that erupted a long time ago (called igneous rocks). Make your own volcano erupt using baking soda and vinegar (see instructions below). Explain that land is made of rocks and soils and the shape of the land changes over time. Begin an erosion experiment by building a large "mountain" made of soil (2-3 feet tall) in your backyard. Take measurements of the mountain's height and width once per week for a few months. What factors caused erosion?
  • Art= Melt crayon wax on warm rocks to make a colorful design. Heat smooth rocks in the oven for 30 min. at 250 degrees. Remove paper from old Crayola crayons and press crayons to the rock. Melt and swirl orange and red colors together for a rock that looks like hot lava. Alternatively, do sand art using colored sand from a craft supply store. Simply use a funnel to fill a clear bottle with layers of sand in a variety of colors. (This activity can also be used to discuss sedimentary rock formation.)
  • Play= Make stone soup for lunch, start a rock collection, or visit a natural history museum to discover a variety of rocks and minerals.
Fun facts: Rocks are classified into three categories based on how they were formed: igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic. View photos of rocks at an online gallery.

Instructions= Build a model of a volcano from play dough. (This is a great way to use up old play dough that is discolored and a little dry.) Insert a small container at the top of the volcano; drip a small amount of dishwashing soap into the bottom of it. Next, give your child two small cups. In the first cup, dissolve 1T baking soda into 2T water and add yellow food coloring. In the second cup, mix 2T vinegar with red food coloring. Combine the two solutions by pouring them into your volcano. A rapid explosion of bubbly orange lava will result. Kids will want to do this again and again, so be prepared!

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Leaves Fall Down

Learning Goal: Leaves change color and fall down from the trees in autumn time.
  • Reading= A Tree Is Nice by Janice May Udry, Fall Leaves Fall! by Zoe Hall and Why Do Leaves Change Color? by Betsy Maestro. Letter of the day= L is for leaf.
  • Science= Go for a nature walk and gather a variety of leaves. Compare them to a group of leaves previously gathered by a parent. Allow children to match up the leaves. Examine the leaves closely with a magnifying glass to make some comparisons. Make leaf rubbings to show the different shapes and vein patterns of the leaves.
  • Art= Glue leaves on paper and decorate to create a variety of creatures (butterflies, bugs, birds, fish, turkeys, etc.). Or, die-cut coffee filters in the shape of large leaves. Use medicine droppers to drop colored water (made with food coloring) onto the filter to make a beautiful design. Hang the leaves in a window as a sun catcher.
  • Music= Move to music with Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 17 in G. Pretend to be leaves hanging in the trees, floating in the breeze, falling to the ground. (We jumped off the couch onto the floor!)
  • Play= Rake leaves and jump into the piles! Or, use socks as “leaves”. Stand under a laundry basket as your mom drops the pile of socks onto your head. Pretend to be trees and drop your sock leaves. Gather the socks into a pile and jump!