Recently we read about dairy foods.
We have been learning about nutrition. We have learned about fruits and vegetables. We also know that it is important to eat foods from the four food groups to grow healthy. We can’t eat only vegetables. Today we will start to talk about the dairy food group. It is also called the milk group. The foods that belong in the dairy food group are foods that are made from milk. Where does milk come from? A cow.
Continue reading “Dairy Group”
This past week we looked at vegetables. We discovered that when we eat vegetables, we are eating a part of the plant. We discuss many things that allow the children to make a connection between what they see and eat and its parts. We talk about it like this…
Continue reading “Vegetables”
Today we think about fruit and how to identify them as compared to vegetables. Why do we call these fruits? How do we know that they are a fruit? A fruit is the part of a flowering plant. In our pumpkin story, the flower shriveled up and then a fruit, the pumpkin, began to grow in its place, do you remember that? If it has seeds – it is a fruit! How do you explain it to the children, though. My “Science 24” lap card tells how…
Continue reading “Fruit Group”
Every month is filled with many activities. While one child might be working on the activity of the Morning Circle lesson, others find their interest on the shelves in many different forms. It is always good to have your activity trays neatly organized and available. I like shelving that allows the children easy access so they can see the activities, and I organize them according to their category.
Continue reading “Classroom Activities”
I like to be prepared as much as possible for upcoming unit studies. A few weeks before the next month comes along, I think about any new activities as well as older ones and get started on prepping for those now. Today I am thinking about next month and know that the next continent we will talk about is Africa. I also know the season will be changing and need to plan for that.
Continue reading “Planning Ahead…”
We looked at another group of vertebrates that we will talk about this month: reptiles.
Turtles, lizards, snakes and crocodilians are all reptiles. What is it about these animals that make them reptiles? Many reptiles are nocturnal. Reptiles are cold-blooded. Can we remember what that means? All reptiles have lungs and breathe air like you and me. Their skin is covered with dry scales. Most reptiles lay eggs on the ground. As soon as a reptile hatches from its egg, it can take care of itself. They are not like mammal babies, who need a parent to take care of them.
Continue reading “Reptiles and Trees”
In preparing for the upcoming school year, I realized I needed to update the work calendar I made two years ago. I saw this work in another classroom of the school I was working at and thought it was a such neat way for children to work with a calendar rather than just filling in a blank paper one.
I went out right away to gather supplies to make one for the children to begin using. I needed small tiles which I found at a hardware store. A large piece of felt from a craft store along with colored card stock paper. I also needed a white puff paint type of pen. Then I made the calendar and brought it into the classroom. The children really enjoy working with this new material. They especially like working with on the calendar with a friend. After a child or the children fill in the blank spaces on the felt calendar including the days of the week, they still will fill out a paper one. If you’d like, you can provide a little container of small stickers or a stamp so that it can be placed on the day it is in during that month.
Continue reading “Calendar Work”
I have been busy reorganizing my reading program and getting it ready for the new school year. There are three reasons for me doing this. One is because the shelf space at the school I will begin working at is limited so I needed to condense the many boxes somehow. The second reason is because it will be an older group of children and I realized I may need to provide more than one set of say, sentences to work with. Some of my things are very old and so a making them again has felt great! Another reason is
because I have been doing some Dyslexia Tutoring and I wanted to incorporate some of the ideas from those lessons. I think they could prove to be helpful and enhance the reading program.
Continue reading “Reading Program”
Spring is just around the corner! It is such a nice time of the year and there is such a variety of unit studies that are commonly talked abut during this season. Baby animals, flowers, insects, gardens, and worms are just some of them. I think I will highlight some ideas for insects for this post, only not include butterflies
Continue reading “Signs of Spring”
Spring is a great time to talk about rainbows with the children. There is more rain during this time of the year and chances of seeing a rainbow are pretty good if you live in an area with rainy spring days. Most children enjoy rainbow anything, so you can include a variety of activities for them as you learn about rainbows together.
Continue reading “Rainbows”