On Monday we learned about Jupiter! I asked the kids how they think Jupiter looks different from other planets. They noticed the "stripes" right away. I explained that Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system and is made almost entirely of gases and liquids. It has stripes and a system of dusty rings around it.
We looked at all of our solar system cutouts and found ones that have yellow in them (yellow is the color we are learning about this month).
I asked the kids to find yellow things in the room...
We discussed the different shades of yellow...
One child pointed to Jupiter on our theme poster. We sang...
"Jupiter is very big,
Very big, very big.
Jupiter is very big,
Bigger than Earth!"
(Sung to the tune of "Mary Had a Little Lamb.")
We pointed to different planets and inserted the word "big" or "small" in the song, and compared each planet to the size of Earth.
I asked the kids what they think makes a planet or moon shine in the night sky. Most of them knew already that it was the sunlight reflecting, but some still needed a visual. We turned off the lights and set out a ball and a flashlight. I invited the kids to explore shining the light on the ball.
Then we placed a mirror in the equation and tried to bounce the light from the mirror to the ball to try to make the ball "shine."
Lastly, we placed a small toy between the mirror and the ball. We discussed how we could see the shadow of the small ball (Earth) on the big ball when we did this! This explains why we sometimes only see a portion of the moon reflecting the sun's light! I have to admit though, only the older kids really understood this. The younger kids were more excited to just play with the flashlight (understandably though.)
For our next activity we reviewed the letter R for planet rings! We sat in a circle (ring) and passed around our hand-on letter R! The kids traced the uppercase and lowercase R with their fingers. We also brainstormed words that start with the /r/ sound.
The kids love looking at pictures in our Lakeshore alphabet box. They always try to list all of the words they think will be in the box before looking...
I asked the kids to compare and contrast the planets. How do they look the same? How do they look different? I gave each child a Space Matching game sheet and asked them to explore the room for things that are the same colors as the planets.
The yellow marble was the same color as Venus...
This book had a matching picture of Earth...
I asked the kids to cut out their planet cards and place them face-up on the floor. I secretly chose a card and gave the kids clues about the planet I was thinking of.
For example: The planet I am thinking of...
-does not have rings. (We turned all the planets with rings over.)
- is blue. (We turned all the planets that are not blue over.)
-starts with the letter E. (We turned all the planets that do not start with E over.)
We were left with EARTH!
We played a few rounds of this game! The older kids really enjoyed it. Then we played classic Memory with the cards. Both young and old, we all love Memory!
I asked the kids how many moons they think Jupiter has. Jupiter has 67 moons, the most of all 8 planets! We counted all the way to 67!!! Then I placed our Jupiter cutout on the floor and I asked the kids to place Legos around the planet to represent moons. The kids wanted to use all of the Lego's. They were determined to get to a "100," and then "1 Million!" I asked them how we could count them all. They said it would be best if we stacked them while we counted.
We counted and stacked 100 Legos! The kids were SO EXCITED! They had even more "moons," but we stopped after we reached 100 because our tower became really tipsy.
A few volunteers completed math story problems with our moon balancing game provided from Mother Goose Time. There are four different questions of varying levels. I tried to choose the right problem for each child at their right developmental level.
At the end I challenged the kids to think of their own math story problem.
This cutie made up 9 + 2 = 11!
R is for Rings! We headed outside and played with our Hula Hoops and bracelets! I asked the kids to be creative with their Hula Hoop and think of many different ways they can be played with.
"Monster truck wheels!"
"A whale's mouth!"
We worked on patterns in our math workbook.
I worked one-on-one with the kids on a story about Jupiter in their literacy workbook.
"It was hot."
"I land on Jupiter. I saw aliens. I shook their hands."
I explained that Jupiter has a Great Red Spot that is a giant, spinning storm in its atmosphere. It is like a hurricane on Earth, but it is much larger. Jupiter's Great Red Spot is more than twice the size of Earth! Winds inside this storm reach speeds of about 270 miles per hour!
I taped a large circle shape on the floor. I asked the kids to be spinning storms inside of it as they danced to the Mother Goose CD.
Our book for the day! This was a good one!
We headed outside right after nap time and had a BLAST at our COSMIC CARNIVAL!!!!
I really wanted to have this the last week of March as a "Grand Finale" to our space unit, but the weather forecast told me Monday would be the last possible day where we could be outside without hands and mittens for a few hours.
We brought out the cash register, play money, and I bought carnival tickets at the dollar store...
Planetball!
Which ball will fit? Which ball will not fit?
Comet Balls or Shooting Stars!
Can you ring a comet?
Comet balls were fun to throw from the ball end or swing around from the tail end...
Planet rings!
Stomp rocket!
Walk like an alien!
Planet Ring Toss!
Astronaut Tunnel Crawl!
Toss the Moon Rock Shapes!
Anti-Gravity Bounce House!
Nerf Alien Shootout!
Come get your carnival food at our new Step 2 grill!
Instead of prizes, I bought ROCKET BALLOONS!!!! You pump air into the balloon and instead of tying it, you let it go. The balloon flies high into the air and makes a squeaking sound!
They are super fun!
If I could be a kid again, I would want to come to Sweet Smiles Daycare everyday!
ReplyDeleteI wish I was a kid myself!!! Thank you!
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