Dogs & DNA

Learning goal: Compare pets and stuffed animals to distinguish between living and non-living things (e.g., living things grow, reproduce and have DNA).

• Reading= I Wish My Brother Was a Dog by Carol Diggory Shields (or Chewy Louie by Howie Schneider), The Perfect Pet by Margie Palatini, Corduroy by Don Freeman and The New Puppy by Judith Tabler. Cat lovers can include Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes. Letter of the day: D is for dog and DNA.
• Art= Make pet collars and dog ear headbands. Attach faux jewel stickers on a paper collar, write your name on it, then tape it around your neck. Personalize dog ears (also cutout from paper) using crayons, circle stickers for spots, or tissue paper for fur (orange, black, brown). Staple the dog or cat ears to a strip of heavy paper that can be placed around your child’s head. Tip: Dog ear cutouts can be made by tracing your child’s shoe.
• Science: Present a variety of living and non-living things (e.g., a plant, an animal, soil, a rock and a stuffed animal). Which of these things is alive? Explain that living things eat, grow, have families (or reproduce), and have feelings (or can respond to their environment). Talk about the plant or animal you brought. What does it eat? How tall will it grow? Will it have babies or produce seeds? How does it respond to weather and other animals or humans?
• Experiment: What makes living things grow? DNA! Extract DNA from dried peas using a blender, dish soap and rubbing alcohol. See instructions. Then plant pea seeds in soil using a clear plastic cup as a container. Measure the pea plants growth over time by marking its height on a piece of butcher paper. Track your child’s growth over time as well. Explain that plants, animals and humans grow because they have DNA. Additional reading: I Know How My Cells Make Me Grow by Kate Rowan.
• Play= Build dog houses out of tables and blankets, look for a hidden dog bone or ball of yarn, and serve lunch in dog or cat bowls. Or, visit a veterinarian and learn what they do to help sick pets feel well again.
  

Fun facts: DNA day is celebrated every year on April 25 to commemorate both the discovery of its structure in 1953 (see photo of James Watson and Francis Crick above) and the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003. The sequence of the dog genome was recently published in Dec. 2007.

Caring for Earth

Learning goal: Earth provides the things that we need, such as air, water, food, fuel and building materials. The supply of these resources is limited; resources can be extended through recycling and decreased use.

• Reading= On Earth by G. Brian Karas, The Garbage Monster by Joni Sensel, Why Should I Recycle? by Jen Green, Our Big Home by Linda Glaser and The Earth and I by Frank Asch. Letter of the day= R is for reduce, reuse, recycle.
• Science= Introduce planets and resources using two kinesthetic activities. 1) Invite children to carry a ball (representing a planet) as they run around a sun. Explain that Earth is one of nine planets that circles around the sun. How many times have you circled the sun? If you’re three years old, run around the sun three times as you count aloud. 2) Talk about how we care for and clean our homes. Explain that Earth is our home too. We share our home with lots of other people, plants and animals. Explain what we can do to care for Earth and keep it clean (e.g., don’t litter, recycle, conserve energy and water, etc.). What items can be recycled? Sort metals, plastics, paper goods and glass into different grocery bags or boxes.
• Art= Make “garbage monsters” using trash from your recycle bin. Items may include brown paper grocery bags, egg cartons, toilet paper tubes, bottle caps, aluminum foil, tin cans, milk jugs, yogurt containers, plastic bottles, straws, plastic wrap, plastic utensils, paper cups and plates, magazines, newspaper comics, old socks, etc. Have staplers, tape and glue handy. Alternatively, cut out pictures from old magazines to create a collage of the things in nature that bring you joy. Include both living and non-living things, such as quiet beautiful places.
• Play= Plant a tree to beautify your world, go on a litter walk to pick up trash in your neighborhood, or play games using recycled items (e.g., spin the bottle, tin can stilt race, etc.). You could also take your kids out to a landfill ("the dump") or tour a recycling center.
  

Fun facts: The first Earth day was held on April 22, 1970. Earth is more than 4 billion years old!

Conservation tips for kids: Turn off water while brushing teeth and taking a bath. Turn off lights and TV when not in use. Draw on both sides of your paper to save the trees. Donate old clothes, toys, books and games to younger siblings or other children in need.

Clouds & Rain

Learning Goal: Weather changes from day to day. Rain is important to every living thing.

• Reading= Little Cloud by Eric Carle (or It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles G. Shaw), Umbrella by Taro Yashima, The Puddle by David McPhail, A Drop Around the World by Barbara Shaw McKinney and I Love the Rain by Margaret Park Bridges and Christine Davenier. Letter of the day= U is for umbrella.
• Science= Observe the water cycle in action with these fun activities. Boil some water to show how heat turns water into clouds (or steam). Give each child a cotton ball (representing a cloud). Place the cloud gently over a bowl of cold water (representing a lake). Watch the water travel up to fill the cloud. When it’s saturated, pick up the cloud and let it rain!
  
• Experiment= Fill several different glasses with a 1/2 c. of water. Place the cups in different areas around the house (a sunny window, a cold garage, a warm stove top, inside the refrigerator, etc.). Invite the kids to mark the changing water level over time. How long do you think it will take for the water to evaporate and join the clouds? Record your hypothesis. How did the location (or temperature) of the water affect the rate of evaporation?
  
• Art= On blue colored paper draw an outline of your favorite shape (e.g., lamb, airplane, tree, bunny, hat or dinosaur). Then glue cotton balls inside the outlined shape to make a cloud. Fine art: Pierre-August Renoir’s The Umbrellas. Try drawing a picture of yourself holding an umbrella (or adhere a folded baking paper to represent an umbrella). Brush some watery blue paint across the top of your picture. Hold upright to let the wet paint drip down like rain.
• Play= Find shapes in the clouds outside, jump in puddles with your rain boots, catch raindrops on your tongue and do some singing in the rain. Not raining? Make your own rain with squirt bottles and play with umbrellas, or make your own boat and sail it in the bath tub.

Spring Brings Change

Learning goal: Changes in environments can be natural or influenced by humans. When the environment changes, some plants and animals survive and reproduce, and others die or move to new locations.

• Reading= Spring Is Here by Taro Gomi, The Big Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein (or The Lorax by Dr. Seuss). Letter of the day: B is for butterfly.
• Art= Glue popcorn “blossoms” to the branches of a tree. Trace or paint your arm and handprint to make the trunk and branches. Use pink popcorn to really give it that spring time look and feel. Alternatively, craft butterflies and caterpillars. Paint with a balloon to make a caterpillar. Just dip one end of the balloon in green paint and stamp circles on paper. Prepare butterfly wings by coloring coffee filters with markers. Spray with water bottle to blend the colors. Secure a clothes pin at the center.
  
• Science= Experiment with natural selection using butterflies and jelly beans. Prepare butterfly cutouts or cookies. Then fill a bowl with an edible snack that has both a desirable and an undesirable flavor or color, such as jelly beans (sweet and spicy) or cereal (fruit loops and whole-grain Cheerios). Invite each child to choose 5 items they would like to eat. Continue this process until it becomes obvious that one color or flavor is not preferred. Next, decorate the prepared butterflies with these same food items using frosting as glue. Which butterflies do you think will be eaten first? Which will last the longest? Why? Explain that animal bodies are designed to help them survive and avoid predators (i.e., not get eaten). Alternatively, use newspaper “moths” to tell the true story of how pollution almost caused the peppered moth to disappear. See activity instructions below.
• Play= Make pink popcorn balls and sing “Popcorn Popping”. Plant a butterfly garden. Or, go for a walk and look for signs of spring!

Fun facts: During the second half of the 19^th century, pollution caused by the Industrial Revolution in England caused dark soot to collect on trees. The light colored peppered moth almost disappeared when it no longer blended into its environment.

Peppered Moth Activity: Compare natural changes that occur in spring (days lengthen, trees blossom, flowers grow, caterpillars change to butterflies, etc.) to changes caused by humans (trees are cut down, homes are built, litter pollutes, etc.). Explain that changes in the environment can hurt or help living things. Cover a table or floor with clean, white paper. Spread out 30 circles made from the same white paper, and 30 circles cut from newspaper. Pretend that each child is a bird and give them 30 seconds to gather as many “moths” as they can. Count how many of each type they collected. Now pretend to pollute the paper by typing words and drawing pictures on it. Then replace the white paper with newspaper. Repeat the activity as before. How did your results differ? (The darker “moths” were now harder to find!) Tell the story of the peppered moth. Explain that pollution can influence the survival of living things. We must be careful to protect other living things.

Peanut Butter & Jelly

Learning goal: People continue inventing new ways of doing things, solving problems, and getting work done. (Consider the invention of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich!)

• Reading= The Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear by Don and Audrey Wood, Peanut Butter and Jelly by Nadine Bernard Westcott and If You Give a Moose a Muffin by Laura Numeroff. Letter of the day: J is for jam & jelly.
• Art= Trace an outline of your shoe to make a peanut shape. Fill in the shape with glue then pour smashed peanut shells over it. Remove the excess and voila! Or, paint peanuts (still in the shell) with different colors then glue on googley eyes. Display your peanut family by “planting” them in play dough.
• Science= Define the terms inventor and invention. Review some of the inventions that led up to the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Include some facts about the making of peanut butter from the peanut plant. Next, provide the kids with peanuts and some common household items (ball, straw, dice, spoon, jar). Challenge them to invent a game to play using only the peanuts and items provided. Need some help? Have a peanut hunt, play peanut jacks, or challenge friends to a peanut toss or relay. For example, carry a peanut with a spoon or blow a peanut with a straw across a finish line.
• Play= After playing peanut games with your little inventors, shell those peanuts and make homemade peanut butter! (Isn't the blender a useful invention?) Enjoy peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch. Plan a trip to the farm in May to pick strawberries.
  

Fun facts: National peanut butter and jelly day is celebrated April 2. Who do children have to thank for this?

In 1890, an unknown physician from St. Louis first invented peanut butter to provide his patients with an easy-to-digest, high protein food. And who invented sliced bread? A St. Louis baker named Gustav Papendick was the first to sell sliced bread in 1928. Interestingly, soldiers in WWII were likely the first to combine peanut butter and jelly on a sandwich. Both peanut butter and jelly were on the U.S. Military ration menus. The sandwich rose in popularity during the 1940s.