Leaves!

On Tuesday we learned all about leaves!

First I asked the kids if leaves are all the same shape or not.  We also discussed if one plant could make more than one shape of leaf, or if they are all the same shape on one plant.  I purchased this AWESOME shape set from Fang Ge at TPT.  I printed them myself and laminated them.

 During circle time I placed the shapes face down and attached a green leaf to each one.  The kids took turns choosing a leaf, and identifying what shape was on the back.  We discussed if we have ever seen a leaf that looked similar to that shape or not.

 For our song we sang:

"One leaf, two leaves,

three leaves, four.

Five leaves, six leaves, seven leaves, MORE!"

(Sung to the tune of "One Potato, Two Potatoes.")

I placed the leaves from our earlier activity on the floor.  I wrote a letter of the back of each leaf.  I asked one child at a time to step on one leaf at a time as we sang the song.  Then that child revealed the letter on the back of the leaf they landed on at the end of the song.

 For our first activity, we played with our pattern blocks that Mother Goose provided for us this month. 

 I encouraged the kids to draw a plant stem down the center of their paper.  The kids rolled a die and drew that many leaves on their stem by tracing a pattern block of their choice.  They rolled the die a second time, and drew that many more leaves.  They added their two numbers together to create an addition problem. 

 After our math activity, I gave the kids the opportunity to just play with the blocks and create what they wanted.  B made a "baby."

 N made a "girl."

 J made a "monster!"

 Before we began our art activity, I showed the kids these photos of a bean plant that Mother Goose provided for us.  I asked the kids to name parts of the plant that they knew. 

 I showed the kids the supplies Mother Goose provided for us.  We explored the materials and the kids shared their ideas of how each item could be used to make a bean plant.

Bean Seed - Seed

Yarn - Roots

Green Paper - Stem and Leaves

Pink Tissue Paper - Flower

Green Straw - Green Beans

 This project was A LOT of work, but so much fun!  The kids were so proud of themselves!

 I love that Mother Goose also provided labels for the kids to place on their bean plant creation! 

 For our next activity the kids worked on the number nine page in their journal.  They traced our hands-on letter Y to make the trunk and branches of a tree.

 They tore green paper (leftover from our bean plant craft) to make nine leaves on their letter Y tree.

 They completed the sentence, "The tree has _9_ leaves."

 Before we headed outside I showed the kids this science experiment card Mother Goose provided us.  I love these science cards because they show pictures and encourage the kids to read the steps to the experiment.  I asked the kids the following questions: How could we hurt a plant?  How could we help a plant?  How do plants help us?   These questions sparked a big discussion.

We headed outside and I wrapped two portions of two different plants (a Lilac bush, and a Hosta plant) with a clear produce bag.  I tied it tightly with a twisty tie.  We will watch for signs of life as the condensation inside the bag builds up.  Hopefully, we will gather enough liquid to measure a reasonable amount!  By 5pm we could already see condensation building up inside the bag attached to the Hosta plant!

Next, I explained that leaves absorb the sunlight and use it to make energy that fuels the plant.  We played a "Catch the Sun" game!  We pretended a ball was the sunlight and our hands were leaves.  The kids found a partner and practice tossing the "sun" to each other.  If the child caught the "sun" (ball) with their "leaves" (hands), he/she pretended to grow!

We also checked briefly on our Little Sprout Houses!  The seeds have swelled a bit, but nothing has sprouted yet.

I asked the kids to gently collect leaves from the yard.  I wanted to see how many different kinds we could find.  This turned into quite the scavenger hunt!

The kids debated over these plants.  A few of the kids thought these were not leaves, because they were long and looked like "Big grass."

We found a HUGE quantity of of these small things attached to the leaves of our Silver Maple tree.  The kids thought they were caterpillar eggs.  I Googled it, but unfortunately, I was not able to come up with a definitive answer as to what they are called.  Maybe galls?  Can anybody help me out with these?

A few of the kids also thought the seeds of the Maple tree were leaves.  I explained that these are just seeds.

The kids found and compared a dead leaf to a living leaf.

"An almost dead leaf..."

The kids were super amazed with the size of our rhubarb plant leaves!

There was a hole in the leaf, and the kids thought all the holes were because of caterpillars eating their way through.

We brought a lot of our leaves inside to look at more closely.  We will leave the leaves out overnight and see how they change over time.

This was our book for the day.  It is a great book about apple trees!  I may have to purchase this one!

After nap time the kids worked on a connect-the-dots with numerals 1-20 in their math workbook.

 They also completed a story sentence in their literacy workbook.

We were working in the garden and head a noise.  Under the leaves we saw...

"We saw a little worm." 

 We checked on our plants in colored water experiment.  The celery has changed colors, but the flowers have not changed very much at all.

 We can see a tint of red at the base of the carnations.

 I set out this Lakeshore Learning activity for the kids to explore with.  This is a pretty cool set.  It has seeds and leaves that are preserved in plastic.  The kids had fun looking at them with a magnifying glass and finding the matching the pieces to each set of real-life photos!

 They could match up the parts of different plants...