It's Independence Day!: Happy Birthday America!

I hope everyone has a very patriotic and safe Fourth of July. Remember to take pride in our American heritage and spirit today and always.

God Bless America!
Land of the Free and Home of the Brave.

We're Off on An African Safari!: I'm Going on a Safari" Chant

We’re off on an African safari to meet some of our animal friends! Some of those friends include roaring lions, stomping elephants and leaping gazelles. The children were so excited to jump into a jeep,  buckle their seat belt s and go trekking through the  beautiful African Savannah (grasslands). With a “camera” in hand, they “snapped some pretty cool photos and had lots of fun, too. 

The kids went “wild” over the following language arts activity which introduces and identifies the proper names of African wildlife titled I’m Going On a Safari in a chanting format. You will find the chant at the end of this post. 

How to Make the I’m Going On a Safari Chant

Supplies Needed 

Construction Paper or Card-stock 

Glue

Laminator (optional) 

Photos of African Animals (I especially liked the photos from Cahill’s Creations on the Teacherspayteachers.com site) 

Camera Coloring Page

scissors 

Word Processing System such as Word or Pages

Printer 

hole punch 

String or curling ribbon. 

1. Type the following chant into a word processing system. Cut out with scissors and glue onto  a sheet of construction paper or card-stock.
2. Laminate the paper with chant. (optional)
3. Find pictures of safari wildlife such as lions, elephants, hyenas etc. or go to the teachers pay teachers website. You can create a free account in order to receive the free download of African Animal Photographs from Cahill’s Creations. These can be found by typing in African Animals and refining your search to free items only or by clicking on the previously typed Cahill's Creations link above. 
4. Select and print the photos onto card-stock that correspond to the bolded words. Example: print out the picture of the zebras and the acacia tree. 
5. Type out words that identify each animal or thing such as cheetah, savannah etc. using a word processing system. Cut out the words with scissors. Glue words onto the correct photos. 
6. Laminate the photos (if desired). 
7. Search the internet for a camera coloring page onto card-stock. Print the coloring page out and color as desired. 
8. Laminate the camera coloring page. (optional) 
9. Punch holes on the sides of the camera and string a small piece of string or curling ribbon through the holes. Tie off so that the camera can be worn around your neck during the chant. 

*Tip: You could turn this chant into a flannelboard by placing velcro on the back of the pieces*

How to Teach “I’m Going On a Safari” Chant

*If you place the chant on your easel, you will need tape to affix the pieces*

1. The teacher should tell the children that they are going on an African Safari. She should ask the children questions such as Do you know what a safari is? What animals do you think you will see on a safari? etc. Give the children a few minutes to answer the questions. 
2. If the children incorrectly answered the questions, the teacher should tell  them that a safari is a special trip that people go on to see the animals of the African savannah (Grasslands). She should continue by showing the children a map of Africa and tell them that the Savannah is a place that is very dry or wet, depending on the season, and where tall grass grows. She should discuss that they will learn about all the exciting animals that live there!
3. The teacher should give instructions to the students before starting the chant. She should tell the students they are going to make believe that they are taking pictures of all the animals they see on their safari. She tells them that when she say s“I snap a picture” they should place their hands in the air mimicking a camera taking a picture. She will then place “their” picture of the animal on the board. After this has been told to the children the teacher begins the chant. 
4. The teacher should place the camera around her neck and begin to chant the verses. She retells the children to mimic the camera flashing when they hear the appropriate words. 
5. As she snaps her picture, she should place the photos of the animals on her easel using tape or velcro for a flannelboard. 
6. The teacher should continue until the chant is finished and all the photos have been placed on the board.

I’m Going On a Safari 

I’m going on a safari 

my camera’s with me 

I snap a picture and what do I see

lots of tall grass of the the African savannah can’t you see. 

I’m going on a safari 

my camera’s with me 

I snap a picture and what do I see

a cheetah walking near me. 

I’m going  on a safari

my camera’s with me 

I snap a picture and what do I see 

a zebra eating by an acacia tree.

I’m going on a safari

my camera’s with me 

I snap a picture and what do I see 

an elephant with a trunk as long as can be. 

I’m going on a safari

my camera’s with me 

I snap a picture and what do I see 

a gazelle sitting happily. 

I’m going on a safari 

my camera’s with me 

I snap a picture and what do I see 

a hyena drinking thirstily. 

I’m going on safari

My camera’s with me 

I snap a picture and what do I see 

a hippopotamus yawning sleepily. 

I’m going on a safari

my camera’s with me 

I snap a picture and what do I see 

a wildebeest roaming dreamily. 

Oh Goody!: Teacher Goodie Bags with A Teacher's Gift Poem

It's in the bag! Since I am so proud of all the children, I made a little bag of goodies that would surely make any child's summer bright. I can't believe that they are all graduating. It seems like only yesterday when we welcomed the students to our classroom.

The goodie bags were so easy to put together too! The items were all purchased from the mecca that is Hobby Lobby. They included a kaleidoscope, magnifying glass, rings  for the girls, bugs for the boys, bubbles and colored chalk. All of the gifts were placed in a clear, cellophane bag and tied together with brightly-colored, curled ribbon.

I attached the following A Teacher's Gift poem which I re-worded from an existing poem I found on the Internet. I included all of the gifts that were found in the goody bags in the verse. The clip art sun was found on the massively marvelous free clip art site clker.com and the font used was SchoolHouse Printed A on Mac operating systems.

I have included a card I created using an incredibly cute stamper and crayons that is attached to the bag also.


The first poem is for the girls. The second poem is for the boys 

A Teacher’s Gift 

Chalk to add “color” to your summer fling. 

A magnifying glass to explore everything. 

A ring to add a little bling. 

Bubbles to play with as you dance and sing. 

and a kaleidoscope for some extra zing! 

Have a Great Summer, 

(Your name here)

A Teacher’s Gift 

Chalk to add “color” to your summer fling, 

A magnifying glass to explore everything. 

A creepy crawly for a spooky thing. 

Bubbles to play with as you dance and sing. 

and a kaleidoscope for some extra zing. 

Have a Great Summer, 

(Your name here) 

We're having bucket-loads of fun!

Hey there skater boy!

Wizardly Wonders: Four-Year--Old Graduation Name Tags

 It takes heart, courage and of course a brain for our littler pre-kindergartners to memorize all their  music and lines for the upcoming presentation of the Wizard of Oz!  It is especially important because it is their final farewell as preschoolers. They are off to elementary school and officially recognized as the "big kids".

As we prepare for graduation day, the final touches such as name tags needed to be created. I designed the following  magical name tags that will be placed on the backs of chairs for our little Broadway stars in the making!

The striking images represent key attributes/associations of the main characters in the story such as red slippers for Dorothy and an elfin mug for those squeaky voiced munchkins.

Each of the images were found at Clipart Panda. I love using this site because of its ease of use and crisp, expressive illustrations. Not to mention the price point: free!
 

 

Can you guess which image belongs to each character or thing that happened in the story? 

 

Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day! On this day think of all of the brave men and women who served to keep America free both dead and living. It's not only a three-day weekend and the "unofficial" start of summer.

What's New?: New Blog Design for Glitter and Gluesticks Forever

Glitter and Gluesticks Forever has a brand new educational-themed look. The colors have a brighter and more kid-friendly flair and the font is bolder and more vibrant. I couldn't have done it without the incredible people at The Cutest Blog On the Block.

This website contains page after page of awesome and free templates, banners and blinkies that are available for Blogger, Wordpress, Facebook and Twitter. I even grabbed the pretty and fluttery butterfly teacher blinkie shown on the right.

Let's get this new and improved blog on a roll!

How Genius!: Creating Little Genius Bags

This weekend, I stepped into my attic and shuddered at the cumbersome clutter of lesson plan boxes. It looked like a scholarly train wreck that needed a major overhaul. With the end of the year drawing near and a garbage bag in tow, I tackled that lesson plan overload with abandon. After I was finished for the day, I was left with a much scaled down array of lessons.

The rest of the clutter will have to wait until next weekend, but for some of the items in the boxes I decided to develop Little Genius Bags.

I call these Little Genius Bags because they are subject specific such as math concepts, science language arts, etc. and can be used during circle time, for transitioning, assessments and to help tutor a child who needs a little one-on-one teaching. They can simply be made by placing everyday learning activities within labeled plastic bags.

Items within my Math Little Genius Bag include:

• Shape Identification and Recognition Flashcards
• Color Identification and Recognition Flashcards featuring firetrucks 
• Foam Dice and Penguin-shaped math mats to be used for one-to-correspondence/counting activities
• Sorting Activities 
• Number Sequencing 
• Car Positional Awareness
• Dry Erase Markers

Isn't it wonderful that my downsizing journey came to be quite a positive and educational trek? So go ahead and create your very own Little Genius Bags too!

Feeling Like the Farm: Farm Feely Box

Students with enjoy this farm-tastic feely box that encourages lil' farmers in training to investigate sights found on the farm through their sense of touch and learn about  physical traits of farm animals and crops (science). It will surely also develop early language skills through identifying and verbalizing farm animal names.

Items Needed to Make Farm Feely Box

Large hat box
Roll of brown paper
Animal Cutouts
Ink pads to create antiqued look
Foundation sponges
Shipping tape
X-acto knife
Glue
Assorted farm animal/fruit and vegetable plastic figurines
Stuffed animals
Fake flower
A variety of seeds (sunflower, cracked corn and soybeans)

How to Make Farm Feely Box 

1. Obtain a large hat box and cut a hole large enough for a child's hand to remove items in the box with an X-acto knife. 
2. Cover box with brown paper and tape with shipping tape. 
3. Find images of farm animals or use a paper diecuts to decorate the box. 
4. Use ink pads to create an antiqued look. To do so, dip a foundation sponge into the pad and gingerly brush over brown paper on the hat box. 
5. Glue the farm animal images onto the box with glue. 
6. Gather a variety of plastic animal /fruit and vegetable figurines, stuffed animals, a fake flower and a variety of seeds. Examples of seeds include sunflower, cracked corn and soybeans. 

How to Teach Using the Farm Feely Box

1. Before showing the children the feely box, ask them if they can name any animals or crops found on a farm. If not, give examples or oral clues such as mooing like a cow to elicit answers. 
2. Tell the children that they are going on a trip to the farm by using their sense of touch. Ask the children what they think their sense of touch is/does. After the children have answered, either explain that the sense of touch helps us discover how things feel or continue with the lesson. 
3. The teacher then places the feely box in front of the children and instructs them that they should close their eyes and pull an item out of the box . 
4. Each child closes his or her eyes and takes a turn pulling an item out of the box. 
5. After the child pulls the item out of the box, he or she should guess what the item is through their sense of touch. If the child is having trouble deciphering the object, have the other students help him or her by giving clues as to what the item is. 
6. Continue until each student has had a turn. 

Extension Activities

• Sort the items by living or non-living things (math)
• Have children describe the physical traits of the animals/crops using adjectives (descriptive language): soft, hard, bumpy etc. (language arts) 
• Using a map, chart geographic locations of states that have large amount of farms (social studies: geography) 
• Think of different foods that are made with the animals and crops in the box (science: Understanding how the raising of crops and animals affects the food chain). 
• Create a mini-farm in your sensory table using yellow yarn or construction paper as hay and animal figurines/stuffed animals (fine motor/creating imaginative play experiences/science) 
• Use plastic farm animal figurines to make animal tracks using paint. (art project)

Side View of Farm Feely Box 

Scaring Up Some Cute: Scarecrow Craft and Circletime Ideas

What's made of straw, likes to scare away crows, and wears good ole overalls? A scarecrow, that's who! A farm unit would not be complete without touching on the subject of scarecrows.

Scarecrows have been used by farmers for decades to scare away those pesky crows and other farmyard invaders. How about adding a scarecrow craft and circle time activity such as the one below to scare up some extra joy!

1. Before Reading the Scarecrow's Wedding, ask students the following questions: These questions and the following lesson invite cognitive reasoning/extracting prior knowledge of scarecrows, (math concepts) develop listening (social/emotional) and communication skills (language arts) and examines the history and use of scarecrows by farmers (Social Studies).

What is a scarecrow? 

What is a scarecrow used for?
Do you think scarecrows really work?
How would you make your own scarecrow?

2. Read The Scarecrow's Wedding by Julia Donaldson.

3. Continue by playing the Roll a Scarecrow Game by using dice in circle time. Each body part of the scarecrow is placed down after a particular number is rolled. See Roll a Scarecrow page below. Subjects: Math: One-to- one correspondence, identifying numeric amounts, Language Arts: Pre-reading using pictorial images of clothing to represent words.

Please click on the following link in order to grab your Roll a Scarecrow Game. If you are not a member of Teachers Pay Teachers, please sign up for free.

 

After creating your Roll a  Scarecrow, continue by making scarecrow crafts. The scarecrow craft comes from the following website: Aussie Pumpkin Patch. Make sure to cut out the pieces for younger children and let older preschoolers cut out just the body. Have children color the scarecrow and glue body parts on or the teacher can use thumbtacks to make a movable scarecrow.

One Singular Sensation: Mom (Happy Mother's Day Video)

Happy Mother's Day! Today's the day to call your mom, give her a hug  and a kiss and tell her how much you love her. No matter the number of miles of separation that may come between you,  a mother's love is always near.

Below is a wonderful video that showcases the power of the most beautiful word in the English or any language: mother. A word so powerful it evokes the emotions of love, tears, and longing for the woman who inspired us and gave us her heart.

I love you mama!

Peep!, Cheep! Baby Chicks Are Hatching and Aren't They Sweet?

Cheep, cheep hooray! Our baby chicks are finally beginning to hatch in the incubator. You can feel the excitement in the air as the students jump up and down with happy glee at the thought of seeing cute and cuddly babies. Stay tuned for more about our feathered friends and maybe even a pic or two...

Howdy! Cute Farm-Themed Calendar Numbers

Howdy! I just grabbed the cutest farm-themed calendar numbers from 3 Dinosaurs. This great mom blog contains tons of awesome printable preschool packs and much more on a variety of subjects. Be sure to head on over to grab your own!

3 Dinosaurs Blog  (Click on Calendar Printables on the homepage)

What Teaching Means to Me

During this Teacher Appreciation Week, I've thought back on one of the reasons why I became a teacher. It's definitely not for the salary, the glory or status. It's for the impact made on a child's life.

Education is one of the defining factors of a child's success in life. Unfortunately, early childhood educators are often thought of as caregivers with educational training, instead of the earliest providers of knowledge to the youngest of children. Yes, we wipe their tears and comfort them when they are fearful, but we are teachers first and foremost. We have the ability and obligation to make their very first lessons as enriching and fulfilling as humanly possible. 

Teaching is a journey that has its ups and downs. Burn out, exasperation and weariness are stepping stones which sadly have befallen teachers through the ages. Just keep in mind that one inspiring teacher that brought a smile to your face or piqued your interest in learning. They are our heroes! 

So, when the day becomes difficult, overly hectic and you feel like giving up, tune out all your frustrations and focus on a child or (children) who have blossomed due to your expertise and care. To them you are the hero! Just imagine that one day, that student may be the history maker or teacher of tomorrow.

It's Egg-cellent: Hen Sitting on a Nest Number Recognition Math Center Game and Another Egg-citing Color Matching Game

Here's an egg-cellent math center that educates children in number recognition, one-to-one correspondence, and matching numeric amounts to their correct numerals.

Items Needed
Chicken coloring page
Markers
Egg and nest clip art
Number stickers
Copier (if needed to enlarge clip art)
Laminator (optional)

How to Make Hen Sitting on a Nest Number Recognition Game 

1. Print out a chicken coloring page. Color, if necessary. 
2. Affix number stickers to hens. 
3. Laminate hens. (optional) 
4. Print out clip art eggs and nests. Enlarge the egg and nest clip art, if needed. 
5. Laminate egg clip art and nest. (optional) 

How Child Plays in Center 

1. Child views the numbered hen sitting on her nest. 
2. After recognizing the number, the child places the correct number of eggs within the nest. Example: if the hen is labeled with a number 3 the child places 3 eggs in the nest. 
3. Child continues until all nests have been completed. 

The other game enables students to practice their color matching skills. The game is made by using an empty egg carton and placing color coding labels or magic marker dots within the egg holes. The child then places a plastic egg into the matching color egg hole (ex. place a pink egg in the pink egg hole) and so on. 

Blazin' Boards: May Farm-Themed Door Display

What's moo? Chick out our newest door display that corresponds to our fabulous farm unit! The children helped develop their fine motor and sensory exploration skills by either feather painting cheeping chicks or moo-velous cows.

Great Barns of Fire!: Tabletop Barn Made From a Cardboard Box

Barn to be wild!

close-up of scrapbook paper roof. 

Plumber's tape door close-up. 

Goodness, gracious great barns of fire! Check out this bodacious barn my crafty diva mom created for our farm unit. She was so sweet and surprised me by making it when I was was lesson planning. It's nice to have the best mom in the world, right?

The Farm-nomenal Farm: Types of Farms Learning Mat

Holy cow! Who knew there were so many kinds of farms out there? From aquaculture (fish/shellfish etc. farming) to dairy farming and everything in between. Take a look and see why farming is definitely something to crow about!

Types of Farms Learning Mat 
Subject: Science (Agricultural Science): Identifying many kinds of farms and recognizing the animals and plants which are developed/farmed there.

Items Needed to Make 
Dark blue card stock
Lime green card stock
Light green printing paper
Green marker
Glue or glue runner
Scissors
Sun and cloud sticker
Pencil to draw hill shapes
Laminator (Optional)
Laminating sheets (Optional)
Clip Art from Clker.com or a Word processing program

To Make

1. Draw 2 large hill shapes and 2 small hill shapes from light green printing paper and lime green card stock. 
2. Glue the hills onto dark blue card stock with glue or a glue runner. 
3. Use a green marker to draw small lines to create grass on the mountains. 
4. Place a cloud/sun sticker in the upper left-hand corner of your dark blue card stock. 
5. Laminate. (Optional) 
6. Find clip art for various farms such as a barn and a cow for dairy farming or a chicken and a chicken coop for poultry farming etc. Cut out clip art using scissors. 
7. Laminate. (Optional)

How to Teach with  Types of Farms Learning Mat 

1. Place the Types of Farms Learning Mat in center of circle. 
2. Tell the children that you are going to be learning about many kinds of farms. Ask the children what they think a farm is. 
3. After giving them a few moments to answer, instruct the children that a farm is a place where people called farmers grow plants and raise animals for food. 
4. Continue the lesson by identifying the many types of farms. Hold up the barn and tell the children that it is a dairy farm where milk is made. Ask them if they think a chicken or a cow helped make the milk. After the correct answer is told, place the cow next to the dairy barn. Continue with all of the animals and farming types you had printed out or until the children's attention span has waned. 

Other Uses for the Types of Farms Learning Mat 

Play dough Mat: Have the children create sheep, cows, pigs and other farm animals using play dough. 

Math Mat: Use a die and have the children roll it. Have them count the dots and place the amount indicated on the die such as rolling a five and putting five chips on the mat. This helps foster one-to one correspondence skills. 

Positional Awareness Mat: Early math skills are developed through placing farm animal figurines or shapes on top of the hills, next to the hills, by the barn etc. 

Hay You! Straw to Meet You!: Creating Haystacks/Straw Out of Cardboard Boxes!

We're Down On the Farm during our latest unit! Since we're hog wild about anything related to agriculture and the country life,  I decided to create some good old-fashioned hay stacks to liven up our farmer's market dramatic play center. These haystacks are so life -like they would surely make even Old Farmer McDonald smile. See the following directions to create these haystacks that will have your children searching for a needle in the proverbial haystack too!

Items Needed

2 small cardboard boxes (I used the boxes that our hand soap came in.) 

Yellow acrylic paint 

Glue or glue runners 

Yellow card stock 

Fiskars crimping tool (Available at craft stores)

Scissors to cut various papers 

Yellow yarn

Yellow construction paper 

Light tan crayon (I used Crayola Crayon's Tumbleweed.)

Tan yarn 

To Make Haystacks

1. Paint haystacks with yellow acrylic paint. Let dry. 
2. Use Fiskars crimping tool to crimp small pieces of yellow card stock. 
3. Cut crimped card stock pieces into long strips with scissors. 
4. Glue crimped card stock onto sides of box with glue or glue runners. 
5. When finished with previous step, glue yellow yarn on random areas of the box horizontally to create a three-dimensional look. 
6. Tear yellow construction paper into strips and glue in a desired pattern onto your box. 
7. Draw zig-zag patterns on desired areas of the box to develop a more rustic haystack. 
8. Glue tan yarn in a cross shape around the entire box to finish your haystack. 

What Haystacks Teach Children About Farm Life 

Science: That hay is a crop that farmers grow and is used on the farm as feed for animals and for gardening purposes. Describe early methods of hay production and harvesting. 

Language Arts: Teaches children words such as bales, harvesting, hay loft, fodder (animal feed) and other hay-related vocabulary. 

Social Studies: Talk about the importance of hay in early American farm life and how it shaped life on the farm. 

Math: Talk about the "bale" form of measurement. 

Dramatic Play: (Language Arts/Role playing): Children create imaginative play experiences while using farm-related language. 

Gross Motor: Students pick up and stack hay barrels. 

Global Wording: Earth Vocabulary Word Match

What's the word? While many early childhood educators like to create a word wall of terms used during their lessons to help reinforce print awareness, (words give objects meaning), and recognition of important vocabulary words on a subject, I like to design a more interactive kind of learning.

The following lesson is dedicated to helping the children identify environmentally-based language through a teacher-directed vocabulary game. See below to hear and see the good word!

 Earth Vocabulary Word Match (Subject: Language Arts: Identifying environmentally-based vocabulary words through oral definitions and print awareness)

Items Needed to Make 
DLTK Word Wall Images (Idea for this word wall came from Leanne Guenther of DLTK) (See DLTK Earth Day Word Wall for images and other unique learning experiences)
White Cardstock
Scissors
Glue or glue runner
Colorful cardstock to back vocabulary definitions
Word processing program to type out defintions
Computer paper to print out word wall defintions
Laminator and lamination sheets (optional)

To Make

1. Print out DLTK Word Wall Images onto white cardstock. 
2. Cut out word wall images into strips with scissors. 
3. Laminate for extra sturdiness. (optional) 
4. Type out word wall definitions using a word processing system and print out. 
5. Cut word wall definitions into strips and glue onto colorful cardstock using glue or a glue runner. 
6. Laminate. (optional) 

To Play

1. During circle, explain to the children they are going to learn special words about the earth  called vocabulary words. Explain to the children that vocabulary words are words that help us speak about and learn different things. Then tell the children that after they hear the vocabulary word they are going to tell you the definition of the word. Explain that the definition of a word is what it means. Give examples such as a dog is an animal with fur who barks. 
2. Place three of the DLTK Word Wall Image Strips in the middle of your circle. 
3. Read the names of the word wall images you placed in circle. Make sure to point to each letter of the word to reinforce print awareness. 
4. Read a definition for one of the word wall cards you had placed within your circle. 
5. After you have read the definition, ask your students which word the definition matches. Example: What picture/word is the definition we are talking about? 
6. Continue with each one of your DLTK Word Strip images/vocabulary word strips following the previous steps. 

An Ocean of Truth: Ocean Water Pollution Experiment

Did you know that we can only drink 1% of the earth's water? The rest of the water is entirely too salty for human consumption. This is one of the major reasons we need to protect and guard this precious, life-sustaining natural resource with great care.

The following article from the website, Ducksters.com, has an ocean's worth of informative and interesting information that can be easily geared to a preschool audience. Please click on the following link in order to view: Water Pollution

I created the following experiment to teach my students about the seriousness of water pollution on our environment, our marine food supply, and our economy.

Subject: Science (Ecology): Understanding and identifying reasons why and how oceans and natural waterways are becoming polluted by both natural and man-made wastes.


Things You Will Need For The Ocean of Truth Ocean Water Pollution Experiment 
Large, Unbreakable Rectangular Container
Clean Water
Small amount of unbrewed coffee (waste from construction sites and natural disasters (volcanoes etc.)
Yellow food coloring (Animal waste)
Green food coloring (Pesticides/Fertilizers)
Black acrylic paint (Oil spill)
Plastic bottles, paper, tin cans etc (Litter)
Globe


How to Teach Students With The Ocean of Truth Water Pollution Experiment

1. Begin the lesson by showing the children a globe. Explain to them that water is very special and should not be wasted because we can drink only a small amount of the earth's water. Point to various oceans and explain that much of the water cannot be drunk because it is too salty. Continue the lesson, by asking the children if they know what the word water pollution means. Have the children voice their opinions over this new vocabulary word and then tell them what the word means. Water pollution is when we or animals make the water dirty by the things we use such as fertilizers to help make our plants grow, oil that spills into the ocean from ships, throwing garbage into the water and animals going to the bathroom in the water. Go on to explain that when we get our water dirty, the fish cannot get enough air to breath and die, we cannot drink or swim in the water, people and animals can get sick, etc. Also remember to tell the children that all water (including the water that we drink) can become polluted. 
2. Tell the children that you are going to show them what polluted water looks like. 
3. Start the experiment by showing the students fresh clean "ocean" water. Previously, you had filled a large, unbreakable rectangular container with water. 
4. First, show the children what happens when animals go to the bathroom in the water (Yellow food coloring). 
5. Next, put in the green food coloring which depicts the pesticides and fertilizers that we use to help our plants grow. 
6. Put in a small amount of unbrewed coffee. This shows the children that the silt from construction sites and natural disasters such as volcanoes also leaves its mark on the ocean.
7. Lastly, scatter in plastic bottles, paper, tin cans and other items which humans use on a daily basis and carelessly throw in the water. Explain to students that when they throw things in the water they are littering. Due to the huge environmental issues we are facing, it is now against the law to litter and you will need to pay money (aka a fine) if you are caught doing this. 

Extension Activities: Brainstorm ideas about ways that we can stop pollution. Some ways we can stop pollution is by throwing our garbage in garbage bins or recycling, not using pesticides or fertilizers, and making sure to properly dispose of hazardous wastes such as household chemicals. 

Go on a class litter walk in your neighborhood. Use garbage bags and wear gloves when picking up litter. (Older students should perform this activity.) 

Snuggle In Your Blankie! My Mother's Gorgeous Blanket For Project Linus

Everyone remembers the lovable, blanket toting character Linus from our favorite Peanuts cartoons whose quirky charm and sweetness touched our hearts every time. Well did you know that you too can touch the hearts of hundreds of traumatized and ill children with the gift of warmth and comfort?

Head on over to Project Linus to find out how to volunteer your time or create a fluffy quilt for a child in need of a little TLC. Each one of these blankets are given to children in hospitals and schools across the country in times of crisis.

My mother is one of the hundreds of women who have given back with their sewing skills by quilting one of these textile sensations. My mom painstakingly stitched and appliqued each one of the bodacious bunnies with extra care in hope that this blanket would soothe away a child's fears and tears and reassure them of a better tomorrow.

Look below at the adorable masterpiece designed using scraps of fabric, thread and most importantly love.

A Woman of the World: Creating a Paper Mache Globe

Since a recently deflated blow-up globe situation occured during an overly rambunctious play time session, I have wanted to buy another globe. Instead of spending the buckaroos, I decided to create one using an old map, a balloon, newspaper strips, an old map, paper mache paste and good old-fashioned paint. Below you will find a link to the paper mache recipe on DLTK.com and directions to make this stunning sphere.

Things Needed to Make Globe 

Newspaper Strips
Paper Mache Paste from DLTK.com (Link: How to Make Paper Mache Paste)
Blown-up Balloon
Electric Fan
Small Pin
Blue Paint
Old Map
Watered-down Glue

How to Make

1. Blow up a balloon.
2. Make paper mache paste from DLTK.com
3. Cut or rip strips of newspaper and gently dip strips in the paper mache paste. Make sure there is only a small amount of paste on the strips. Otherwise, your newspaper strips may rip and tear. 
4. Place strips on balloon and smooth down any bumps from paste with your palms and fingers. 
5. Continue this process until the entire balloon is covered in newspaper strips
6. After you are finished, place the balloon in front of a fan and turn every few hours to make sure it dries evenly. 
7. After the paper mache covering has dried, pop the balloon with a small pin. 
8. You will be left with the paper mache shell which you will paint blue. 
9. After your paint has dried, use a watered - down glue mixture to place the continents you previously cut out from an old map on the balloon. Put a thin layer of watered-down glue on top of the continents to seal your globe. 
10. Let the globe dry and show it to your students. 

It’s Quite Jarring!: Ecology/Ecosystem Discovery Jars

It’s okay to be an eco-geek with this engaging, woodsy Ecology/Ecosystem Discovery Jar which allows a child to engage in scientific discovery and questioning, view items found in his or her local environment such as twigs, rocks and leaves, and create a mini-ecosystem within a small, contained area. 

Ideas for Ecology/Ecosystem Discovery Jars include a beach scene complete with shells, sand and driftwood, a desert with cactus and sand, and a forest with forest dwelling flowers, leaves etc. You could even add small, plastic animal figurines found in craft stores to the jars for extra pizazz.  

*Please make sure when collecting items for these jars that the items you are choosing from are freely available to you (many arboretums and gardens do not want their flowers/tree specimens taken from park grounds even if they are found on the ground. Most importantly, never touch mushrooms or any plant that may be poisonous to children or pets!*

*Remember to seal the lid of the jar with clear shipping tape so that the more adventurous of your students does not try to take the forest home with them!*

So grab a plastic jar (s), such as the one found at the Dollar Tree, to design your very own miniature woodland, prairie or beach or desert. 

Extension: This activity would be wonderful for an eco-based craft or at your science center! You could have your students go on a short field trip around your neighborhood or school park to gather the natural beauties for the jars. 

In circle time, you could discuss the different textures, sizes, colors and shapes of the items and ask why the students' think these plants live in the area. 

Extra rocks could be painted and given as paper weight gifts to parents for Earth Day!

Stiff, fir leave branches could be used as "paintbrushes" at your easel area. 

Rocking Those Rocks!: Geology Dramatic Play Center

My class is really going to be digging the newest dramatic play center I've created during our Earth/Environment unit: A Geologists Office.

Dramatic play is not just play, but a journey that helps foster children's use of scientific thinking such as cause and effect and scientific language, critical thinking skills, early communication (language arts) and social skills such as turn taking, mathematical concepts (more/less etc.), imaginative thought and insight into our community and occupational roles (social studies).

Our little geologists will delve into the rocky world of geology by:

• examining rock types
• using magnifying glasses to take a closer look at items such as fossils and shark's teeth,
• feel recreated fossils made from a hardened clay
• try on dinosaur mitts and view toy dinosaurs
• See a paper mache dinosaur bone/egg (paleontology is a form of geology) 
• Type on a make believe computer created from a small box that was painted black and a screen made from an old calendar. 

Other items that will appear in the center include pieces of bark, pine cones, and other items that relate to the earth due to the ecological/Arbor Day influence of our unit. 

Remember to explain to students what a geologist is before having them play within the center so they can better understand and create role-playing situations based on this scientific career. 

In my next post, I will explain how to create an Ecology Discovery Jar!

What In the World!?: Learning About What's Inside the Earth and Model of Our Moon/Earth Orbit

The children are becoming more worldly about the Earth, the colossal planet we call home. A simple and unique way to teach children about the anatomy of the earth is by creating a simple cross section using a coloring page template or a Cricut Machine diecut from the Stand and Salute cartridge.

Subject: Science: To show that the earth is a living entity, not just a floating ball of matter in outer space and to identify the earth's layers.

The Earth consists of 4 parts: the Crust, Mantle, Outer Core and Inner Core. Make sure to write down some easy facts which preschoolers will comprehend about each of the earth's layers. The information I gathered  was from the following websites:

http://www.kidsgeo.com/geology-for-kids/0020-crust-mantel-core.php

http://easyscienceforkids.com/all-about-earths-layers/

This video from Make Me Genius gives even the littlest children insight into this cosmic complexity by likening the earth's layers to that of a hard-boiled egg. 

The What In the World! Earth Cross-Section

Materials

Earth Template (Double trace this so that you will have a front and back cover)

Red, yellow, orange and brown scrapbook or construction paper

Glue

Scissors 

Word processing system to create titles 

Pinking shears (Fancy scissors that create the tooth-like design on titles) 

Brads or a stapler to create the book-style, cross-section earth 

To Make: 

1. Print out an earth template from Internet by using a coloring page, drawing by hand or using a diecut machine such as Stand and Salute by Cricut cartridge. 
2. Assemble diecut pieces using glue or a glue tape runner (if used Stand and Salute cartridge).
3. If tracing by using a coloring page or hand-drawn template, trace earth twice and cut out using scissors. 
4. Using the back section of your earth, trace and cut out a piece of red scrapbook paper of equal size as the shape of the earth. 
5. Glue the red scrapbook paper to the back section of your earth. This will represent the 1st layer of the earth: The crust. 
6. Continue to create smaller circles which represent the mantle (orange paper), inner and outer core (yellow and brown) out of scrapbook paper to create a stacked circle design. 
7. Glue each layer of paper on top of each other using glue. 
8. Using a word processing system, create titles for each layer of the earth. 
9. For a decorative touch, use pinking shears to give a tooth-like design to your hand-cut titles and glue titles to appropriate areas. 
10. Use brads or a stapler to finish your book-style, cross section earth. 

If laminated, this can be used in the Science Center or as an individual lesson. 

Moon Earth Orbit Model

I also found a wonderful way to show children how the earth revolves around the sun and the moon revolves around the earth through the teacherspayteachers.com site entitled Space Model of Moon Earth Orbit. You will have to sign-up for free in order to download. 

Space Model of Moon Earth Orbit by Melissa Iglesias (Her website is moretime2teach.blogspot.com). Please click on the following link to download this awesome model. 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Space-Model-of-Earth-Moons-orbit-565681

I'd also like to wish everyone a very Happy Easter! 

How are You Feeling?: Baby-themed Feely Box

The children really “felt” what it was like to be a baby by examining items such as pacifiers, teething rings, sippy cups and bottles used by our littlest cuties on a daily basis. 

The children reached inside the box with their eyes tightly closed and guessed what the baby item was by their sense of touch (science: identifying items through sense of touch) during morning circle. 

Other subjects we explored included social studies: understanding items used in the daily lives of babies and language arts: identifying and recognizing baby objects by name. 

Most of the items were purchased from The Dollar Tree, except for the piece of cardboard which was gotten from an old cardboard box. 

Items Needed 

• Plastic Bin Available from Dollar Tree 
• Hole Punch 
• Plastic zip ties or strong string to attach cardboard top 
• Baby items such as socks, pacifiers, spoons, dishes etc. 
• Scissors to cut a large enough hole in cardboard for children to reach in box. 
• Clear shipping tape to make the box top sturdier.

How to Make 

1. Buy baby items and place within the plastic bin.
2. Cut a box top from a cardboard box to fit your bin. 
3. Cut a hole large enough for children’s hands to reach into with fingers. 
4. Use a hole punch to punch holes in side of plastic bin and cardboard lid. Make sure that they line up properly.
5. Attach zip ties or sting to hold top of box onto feely box bin. 
6. Use clear shipping tape to stabilize and strengthen feely box top. 

See Below for the finished project!

Dynamo Diapers!: Absorbency Experiment Using Diapers During Our Babies Unit

Usually we all want to ditch those dirty, smelly diapers, but not today. My students observed several absorbent and non-absorbent items today in order to learn about absorbency.

They soaked up the knowledge quickly and by the end of the lesson were able to recognize items which sucked in the water (absorbent) and repelled the water (non-absorbent or waterproof).

I started the lesson by showing the children a diaper and asking them what diapers are used for. Several excitedly said it "holds pee and poop!" which is definitely the correct answer. I then explained to them that when a child is not potty trained they use the diaper as underwear and changed when wet. The diaper is made out of a special material which "absorbs" or sucks in the urine to keep it away from the baby's skin until it is time for it to be changed. I then had the children feel a clean wet diaper which had been dipped into a bowl of lukewarm water in order to explain the theory.

Beforehand, I laid out several items which were absorbent: washcloth, sponge and paper and a few items which were non-absorbent (did not suck up the water): a smock, counter bear, plastic baby spoon and my skin as an example.

We then tested and felt each one of the items. We learned that the sponge, paper and washcloth "sucked up" or absorbed the water and the smock, counter bear, plastic baby spoon and my skin did not absorb the water (stayed on the surface of the item instead of being sucked into it or absorbed).

The children were fascinated by this simple scientific process which prompted scientific questioning and cognition, cause and effect, and an introduction to new new scientific vocabulary.

Extension: Ask students if they think birds feathers are absorbent or non-absorbent. Answer: Birds feathers are waterproof (aka water stays on the surface and are therefore non-absorbent). The reason for this phenomenon is due to the fact that birds feathers are a form of insulation which wicks away the cold dampness of pond water from the fowl's skin. You could also graph the results of this experiment on a chart (math: charting results through use of a graph).

What you will need for this Experiment

• Bowl of lukewarm water
• 2 Trays or large paper plates (one for absorbent items and one for non/absorbent items) 
• Absorbent items such as a washcloth, sponge and paper
• Non-Absorbent items such as a smock, counter bear, plastic baby spoon, sandwich bag etc. 

Continue the experiment using ideas from above. (I re-created this experiment at home so some of the items are different than those explained previously in the post).