Sun & Water...

Pics...

During the month of May we are learning about the numbers 9 & 10.  While it was circle time, I had the kids take turns pointing to the numbers 1-10 as we counted along...

...While the other kids counted to ten they did an action to go along with their counting.  For example, tap your shoulders...

...pat your legs.

Next, we sang the song:

"The garden has a seed.

The garden has a seed.

What does it need to grow?

Water, sun and soil."

(Sung to the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell.")

The kids pretended to grow when we sang the word "grow."

Mother Goose provided us with these weather resources at the beginning of the year...

We discussed what might happen if a seed got too much rain, or too much sun.  I placed the sun and rain weather pictures (from the photo above) on opposite ends of the room.  We lined up 10 long blocks in between them.  I asked one child at a time to choose a number mat that was turned face down...

The kids started at the sun and took that many steps (one step per block) to the rain card...

This took a lot of balance and coordination!

If the child did not reach the rain, he/she pretended to be a plant and shrivel up and die..

If the child reached the rain, the group clapped and cheered and he/she pretended to grow!  We repeated this a second time going the other way (from rain to sun).

For our next activity, we discussed what else need water other than plants.  I explained that a preschooler needs to drink six 8 ounce glasses of water every day.  We used a measuring cup and the water from our kitchen sink to measure this amount out in a pitcher.  The kids were amazed to see just how much water they need everyday!

We realized just how important it is to have our water bottles filled and accessible each and every day!

For our next activity, we checked on our cup of grass seeds.  They have sprouted!!!!  It is only day 6 here, so this was super exciting!  The kids wondered a lot as they looked at their plant.  I wonder if more grass will grow...I wonder how tall it will grow...I wonder why mine is shorter than yours...I wonder what it will look like in 5 days, 10 days, 20 days!

The kids gave their plant a little water to drink...

Then they recorded their second observation on their "Growing Gardens Observation Chart..."

We reviewed the letter Y by working on the letter Y page in our journal...

The kids dipped their finger in orange ink pads to make yams.  They added letter Y roots and completed the sentence, "The yams are..."

"The yams are under the soil."

(We also ate yams for with our lunch on this day!  Yams are so yummy when they are baked whole and then purred in a food processor!  They taste like pumpkin pudding!)

The kids also worked on a beginning sounds worksheet in their literacy workbook...

The kids also worked on addition and subtraction math problems with suns and rain drops in their math workbook...

These were our books for the day...

I loved the Parts of a Plant book!

I wasn't too fond of the Magic School Bus book.  It was a bit lengthy in my opinion, but the kids thought parts of it was pretty cool.

In the afternoon I set out a daffodil plant for the kids to touch and explore with.  We discussed the parts of a plant.

Then for snack the kids ate the different parts of a plant!  Mother Goose provided us with this fun place-mat.  I put each place-mat in a sheet protector, so they wouldn't get too messy.  I wanted to be able to wipe it clean and send it home with the kids in case they wanted to have the snack again a second time.  I also provided a small cup of Ranch dressing for the kids to dip their vegetables!  The kids had fun, and I loved that Mother Goose helped to make snack fun and healthy!

I challenged the kids to eat their snack in a pattern.  This cutie lined up his snack in a pattern...

I had a good laugh later on pertaining to this activity.  After snack we headed outside and two of the kids started eating tree leaves!  I laughed and asked them, "Why are you eating leaves?"  They so proudly replied with, "We are eating the leaves of a plant!  Just like at snack time!"  I had to explain that not all leaves can be eaten! Hahaha! :)