Book choices for today:

Big Sarah’s Little Boots   Brenda Clark
Rabbits and Raindrops   Jim Arnosky
Mouses First Spring   Lauren Thompson
Spring Goes Squish!!   Marty Kelley
Splish, Splash, Spring   Jan Carr
A to Z Spring   Tracy Maurer

Science: (first circle)

Have a review with the children about the signs of spring. Talk about the first flowers that are usually seen in the spring. Remind the children about bulbs. Many people plant them in the fall and now we can see many of those bulb flowers growing! Highlight the rainy days and review the water cycle and clouds with the children. Discuss the use of an umbrella and how important rain boots can be. You can also talk about pussy willows as another sign of spring.

Lesson – Need a picture of a pussy willow plant and if possible, have some real pussy willows for the children to see and feel.

At the end of winter, fuzzy nubs start to appear along the branches of pussy willows. They feel like fur. These nubs are actually flowers just before they fully bloom. The soft coating of hairs help to protect these early spring bloomers from the cold. These shrubs can be found among wetlands and moist woods throughout much of North America, the orange continent on our map. The pussy willow flowers hardly look like flowers when they bloom. They have no petals or showy colors and they do not have any fragrance or flowery type of smell. The flowers are called catkins. Isn’t that a funny name?

Spring Review

Spring Art

Additional Works:

Umbrella Matching – Children can match them or play concentration with a friend. (from kidssup.com)

Raindrops 1-10 – I made these umbrellas using scrap paper, added numerals to them, and cut out the raindrops out of craft foam.

Flowers 1-10

Boots 1-20 – I found these boot cutouts and added the numbers 1-20 on them. Children place the boots in numerical order and then write the numbers on the register tape.

Umbrella Matching

Raindrop Counting 1-10

Counting 1-10

Boots 1-20 (This boy is practicing with just the teens.)

Art:

Decorate Rain Boots – Children can design their own rain boots. I just love the story Big Sarah’s Little Boots, by Brenda Clark. It goes very well with these rain boots to design. Boot pattern is from The Mailbox Magazine.

Pussy Willows – Using q-tips painted and dried gray, children can make pussy willows with brown paint or pipe cleaners for the stems. You could also do thumb print pussy willows instead of q-tips.

Tulip Flowers – Using a fork, children can make tulips.

Rain Boot – Art

Rain Boot Art (using black marker for designs and watercolor paints)

Pussy Willow Art

Flower Art

Songs/Poems:

Signs of Spring
My eyes can see it’s Spring time, it’s Spring time, it’s Spring time
My eyes can see it’s Spring time, the grass is so green.
The green grass, the flowers, the sunshine and showers
My eyes can see it’s Spring time, and I’m so glad!
My ears can hear it’s Spring time, the birds sweetly sing
The birds sing, the lambs bleat, the frogs croak, the bees buzz
My ears can hear it’s Spring time, and I’m so glad!
My body can feel it’s Spring time, it’s Spring time, it’s Spring time
My body can feel it’s Spring time, the air is so warm
The warm air, the breezes, no frost and no freezes
My body can feel it’s Spring time and I’m so glad!

Spring Song
Drip and drizzle. Drip and drizzle. Drip and drizzle.
I’ll put on my boots.
Whoosh! Wind blowing. Whoosh! Wind blowing. Whoosh wind blowing.
Sun is shining. Sun is shining., Sun is shining.
Hooray for Spring! Hooray for Spring!

Sounds of Spring
Peep peep go the frogs,
This frog is called a spring peeper.
Buzz buzz go the bees,
Their wings buzz as they fly by.
Chirp chirp go the baby birds,
They ask for a bug to eat.
Pitter patter goes the rain,
Spring rain brings spring flowers.
Achooo go the people,
Flowers make some people sneeze!

Five Umbrellas (I made umbrellas to go with this poem for the children to take turns while we say the poem)

Five umbrellas stood by the back door.
The red one went outside, then there were four.
Four umbrellas pretty as can be.
The blue one went outside, and then there were three.
Three umbrellas with nothing to do.
The green one went outside, then there were two.
Two umbrellas not having much fun.
The yellow one went outside, then there was one.
Just one umbrella alone in the hall.
The purple one went outside, and that was all!

Five Umbrellas Poem

Botany: (second circle)

Have a review about flowers and what we have learned so far. Talk to the children about what a play is. Explain to them that we often take turns acting out poems or songs at circle time. Remind them of The Hat and how they took turns to act out that story. Now we are going to act out a play that everyone will be in and act out together at the same time. It is a story about a little boy or girl who finds some seeds and decides to plant them. Go over the parts of the play with the children and choose who will be play which part.

The Seed Story

Props Needed – small hat or visor, packet of seeds (for child who finds them)
flowers (for those acting as flower, to be worn around the face, flower headbands)
drum – for the growth of flowers
sun – triangle
fan – wind and blocks
rain cloud – maracas
owl wings and ears

I made the props: sun, rain, owl, and flowers with poster board, and added a small paper plate (cutting off a bit less than half of the plate) to the back of these and the child puts their hand inside to hold them up. The flower petals are glued to a paper plate with the center cut out of it. I did end up finding some flower headbands which were great! During another school year I added some hand puppet type of felt leaves for each child-flower to wear on their hands.

Assign parts of the play to individual children. Remaining children are all flowers. If you feel you have too many flowers, have more than one child play the parts of the instruments (two triangle players, two block players, etc.)

Story – Read by the teacher while the children act out the story. Instruments are played during the story for which they represent; triangle is played while the sun goes over to shine on the seeds. Blocks are played while the wind blows. The maracas are played during the cloud raining on the seeds. At the part where the elements all cooperate over the seeds, each instrument is played until the line; “a wonderful thing happens”, at which point the drum begin to play during the growing of the seeds.

You can also have a child read the skit as the children act it out! They learn to pause at points in the play (while each element is walking over the seeds) and then pick up the reading to continue with the play.

The Seed Story

One day a child little girl (or boy) finds some seeds. So, she decides to plant them. The little girl waited and waited and waited. But the seeds do not grow so she walks away.

Feeling abandoned, the seeds remain in the ground.

The sun was watching. The sun decided it was going to help. So, the sun went and it shined and shined and shined on the seeds. But it was much too hot, so the seeds stay in the ground.

The wind was watching, and it decided to try and help. It went over to the seeds and blew and blew and blew on them. But it blew much too hard, so the seeds just stayed in the ground.

The rain was also watching, and it decided it too must try and help. So, the rain cloud went to rain on the seeds. It rained and rained and rained. But it rained too much, and so those seeds just stayed in the ground.

Now, there was a wise old owl that was watching all of this. That wise old owl knew the secret to help the seeds. So, this wise old owl flew over to those three elements; the sun, the wind, and the rain. the wise old owl told them that they needed to __________
(“cooperate”).

So, the sun, the wind, and the rain all cooperated; the sun shined, the wind blew, and the cloud rained all together over the seeds.

Then a wonderful thing happened, the seeds began to grow and grow and grow into beautiful flowers!

Props for the Play, “The Seed Story”

“The Seed Story” – Play

“The Seed Story” – Play

Bulletin Board / Wall Idea

This is a cute idea I found in ‘The Mailbox Magazine’. It is only a small picture, that looks real nice on a larger area, with all the children pictured as either a flower or bee. I just wanted to give you an idea of what it looks like.