COVID Creativity: Mini-Boxes for the Win!

Whether you’re in the classroom or remote, one of your biggest challenges is what to do when you have early finishers or mini-breaks. With the health and safety rules in place due to COVID, it's not advised to share resources between students, so it's time to get creative. 

If you are in school, make up mini-boxes of interesting, curriculum-related or fine motor building materials. Have students choose one each week to be their in-school “busy box” or go-to downtime activity. At the end of the week, students will place the mini-boxes on a table and "quarantine" them.

If you are remote or have remote students, give choices and picture models for them to make up one of their own each week to keep handy at home :) Encourage use of everyday items, such as buttons, spoons, or natural or recycled materials. This is a no-cost to low-cost solution. 

"Design" your boxes to go with science exploratory units, math lessons, or word-building and letter practice. Using materials already on-hand should keep you from spending more time out of your already-stressed schedule and once they are established, they'll be in a rotation and just require occasional tweaking :)

Some examples might be: 

1 - Grab a handful of letter tiles (Scrabble?), paper and pencil and write as many words as you can from the letters. Try alphabetical order, too :) 

2 - Make a basket of bears to put in order, make patterns, count, etc. 

3 - Program bottle tops with letters - pick one at a time and write on a dry-erase board for letter practice.

4 - Supply dice and counting bears - roll, count and write down the number for practice. 

Science kits would be fun, too! Make a box of sticks. leaves and pine cones to examine, build with, sketch, etc. I threw in stripped crayons for leaf rubbings, too.

A small magnet and some metal/non-metallic items would be a great exploratory box. Add in a bunch of large paper clips for extended chains.

If you have access to craft sticks (colored ones are even more fun!) and Velcro dots, you can make a set of attachable sticks to form shapes and letters. Just put velcro on opposite sides of opposite ends and stash them in a plastic bin - fun and learning!

Pipe cleaners and beads for beading and patterning could be another box, using things you may already have access to in the classroom. Great fine-motor work!

You could try some force and motion cars and blocks, some Playdoh for many purposes ... use what you have around to make up as many mini-boxes as you want.

Legos make a great mini-box! Grab a bunch from a larger bin and make up some minis - for fun and fine-motor play.

So many choices - you can make multiple boxes of the same items, to avoid sad faces when their favorite is taken. Make the choices extend your curriculum and keep your learners engaged, while finding time to assist all learners in completion of work. 

Everyone needs a break and some creative time, even you!

Have fun!

Winter Fun Kit - Snow Daze

If the holidays are overwhelming with toys, emotions, schedules ... try something new :) 

To take the stress away, especially when things are upside-down due to COVID, gift an “experience” to be enjoyed in the after-holiday blah time. January can be such a let-down, and with socializing restrictions in place, at-home activities are the way to go!

There are so many subscriptions and kits out there that look super interesting but just a little different from what I was picturing ... so I made my own. And, you can too! 

I ordered a few craft items from my favorite craft supplier, to make some painted craft stick snowflakes, which will be fun to paint and assemble, and not require too much help from already-stressed adults :) On my list was also some felt, buttons, pompoms, and wiggly eyes to make a tabletop put-together, take-apart snowman decorating kit for hours of fun. 

Playing indoor games together will put some smiles on your kiddos’ faces AND get them some much needed non-screen time :) Oriental Trading had a snowball bowling game and a snowman building spinner game that fit the bill, but it would be easy to put one together yourself for very little cost. :) A few giant white pompoms and some upside-down paper cups and voila! 

A recipe for a snowman treat to make, with ingredients included, will fill out the “make it” selections - so simple with wafers, frosting and candy eyes! I am including some fruit roll ups to cut up for scarves ⛄️ 

Of course, I included a few Snow-themed books, aged appropriately for the recipients of my particular box. Adding to book collections is one of my favorite things! 

Everyone LOVES to get mail, so I will give a certificate at the holidays and mail the box after the New Year! 

Someone will be having fun! ⛄️⛄️⛄️⛄️⛄️

Learning Tools: Recycled Bottlecaps

Looking for ways to do more hands-on learning? Running short on supplies with remote and hybrid learning situations? 

Make your own learning manipulatives to use at home or at school! 

Recycled plastic bottle caps are easy to gather in a short time and come in a variety of colors and sizes. They are perfect for so many different uses - in literacy, math, and even art. 

As you work on letter recognition, you and your kiddos can put together a set of upper and lowercase letters for practice. Play a matching game with them, placing the uppers over the lowers and checking them together. You can also supply a name strip with the alphabet for self-checking :) 

Write sight words on larger caps and use them to manipulate into sentences - even “silly sentences” can be lots of fun and get your little friends interested in reading and writing :) Then, have them copy the sentences down for some writing practice - good fine-motor work!

At math time, use different colored bottle caps to make patterns - ABAB, AABAAB, ABCABC. Repurpose your collection to act as counters when making up or solving addition and subtraction number stories, or practicing basic math facts. See what other uses your budding mathematicians will come up with! Maybe sorting by attributes - size, color, ...?

Finding art applications is easy, too! Some friends may use them as “tiles” in a mosaic or to arrange into pictures. Others may use them as stamps or tracers with pencils to incorporate shapes into designs. They can also be glued into 3D forms as parts of sculptures, possibly using other recyclables. 

The opportunities are endless - see what your kiddos come up with! 

Have fun!

 

COVID Creativity: Singing Alternatives

In these days of COVID teaching, it’s hard to come up with ways to let kids be kids during their critical early childhood years. We know that kids learn through doing, and that songs and rhymes can help to solidify learning of things like counting and the ABCs. Restrictions on social distance and singing, in particular, have put a damper on the FUN (and learning) of circle times throughout the world.

Time to get super creative - with any energy you have left after prep, screen time and in-person precautions .... :) 

What about whisper singing through masks ... it’s fun and silly to whisper, but should keep a lid on the projection of air. Kiddos can whisper and/or mouth and act out songs, while keeping their distance, and enjoy the experience whether at home or in front of the teacher. Whisper the “Days of the Week” song, or silly face mouth your way through the “Month Macarena” - it’s all good!

For a different experience, try percussion accompaniment ... Cut up some pool noodles or recycle your cardboard paper towel rolls to make drumsticks, for drumming along with songs while mouthing the words ... the more elaborate the “game,” the more it will stick in their minds ... and probably get some giggles going! Imagine “We Can Count to 100” using drumsticks - first 10 to the right, teens in the middle, twenties to the left, etc. 

Teachers who like to use songs for mini-breaks, rethink a way to add motion without voice projection. Kids still need to “shake it out,” wherever they are learning. If possible, weather permitting, try taking your circle time or break time outdoors. Spread out and belt out a few songs, then run it off before buckling back down. 

Have fun while learning :) 💙

Note: photo is pre-COVID :)

Motion: Moving Things Without Touching

Moving objects are often pushed or pulled by hands, feet or other extensions of our bodies. We’ve used ramps and slides to speed things up and bumpy surfaces to slow things down. 

Now, try making things move without touching them! 

Show your kiddos a small, lightweight ball (the dollar store usually has ping pong balls in packs!) and talk about how they could get it to move ... without touching it! See if they can come up with pushing the ball with their own breath :) 

You will need a straw - maybe from a sippy cup or water bottle, or maybe you have disposable straws tucked away in a drawer. Then, get out some play dough or blocks (or both) to have some fun moving the ball without touching it. :) 

Roll out some skinny play dough “snakes” and encourage your friends to use them to design a maze for the ball the roll through. See what designs they can come up with! Sometimes a side-by-side play example will help to get their creative juices going. 

See what directions they can make the ball go in, and what they learn from this ... Do you have to blow softly? Is it better if you blow harder? Where does your straw need to be? Encourage them to think outside the box ... what else could you use? Would a paper towel tube work? Which works better? How else can you make air move?

We are scientists! Have fun!

Joyful Giving

Looking for a way to share the joy of giving with your kiddos? 

First, talk about finding happiness in giving, as well as receiving, and share stories of the joy that comes from gift giving. There are some great stories that will help teach this lesson - two that come to mind are A Chair For My Mother by Vera Williams and One Winter's Day by M. Christine Butler.

A Chair For My Mother tells the story of a family saving up coins in a jar after they lose everything in a fire, to save up for something special. It shows how all the little coins come together to purchase something wonderful.

In One Winter's Day, Hedgehog's nest blows away and he is left with only his hat, scarf and mittens. As the story goes on, he gifts these to other animals who need them more than he does. At the end, he is rewarded for being such a good friend. 

Then, try this: 

Send a note home that invites everyone in the class (or at home) to contribute coins for a class giving project, and explain why this is so important. Children can get very caught up in the “receiving” part of the holidays, but may need a nudge to discover the joys of “giving.”

Contributions would be up to individuals and would be private, with students each feeling a part of the project, whether with just a few coins, or more. *tip: have coins on hand for those unable to bring in from home, so that they can feel a part of things too. 

Talk with the children to decide what type of giving they would like to participate in as a class - possibilities could include food, toys, clothing, etc. Maybe even chart their answers to decide together. 

Next, choose some kind of container, and decorate it for whatever theme you want to convey to your students. If you are collecting to buy mittens or hats, you could find pictures and cover a plastic container. If your coins are going towards a toy drive, try using an actual toy for a container - maybe a small doll house or container truck :) 

Make sure there is an opening for change to fit in and to be held for as long as your drive will take. If you are in-person or hybrid, you can place the container in your classroom. If remote, choose a day/time(s) to accept secure donations each week outside of school, leading into the holidays, with proper social distancing.

When all the coins are collected, purchase and display the items purchased, so that the children can feel the happiness that comes with giving gifts - you can send out photos, have them make cards, and even write about the experience! It all helps to make this a memorable event - and inspire a lifetime of giving :) 

Have fun!

Kiddo Cooking - Make Some Applesauce

Every year, around the holidays, we try to cook with the kiddos. Applesauce has become a favorite, as it is (almost) universally yummy to all, and kids LOVE to chop.

Making applesauce together can be a fun, and educational, thing to do as a group or even remotely, with supervision. However, or wherever, you are learning this year, group projects are great for building community ... and for fun cross-curricular work. 

When you make applesauce, you can do math when you count up how many apples you have, or look at patterns with different apple colors. You can write together about the experience and read lots of great books about apples. Cut the apple in half to examine the seeds, stem, flesh and skin - like a scientist!

And ....

Share the spirit of Thanksgiving by cooking and sharing with others - it is the greatest lesson for your kiddos. 

If you’re comfortable sharing the cooking process these days, you can start your kiddos off with peeled apples or show them how to work an apple-peeler-corer device, if you have access to one. That’s always a big hit! In the past, we’ve had students bring in a washed apple in a plastic ziplock, if they are able - do what makes you comfortable. 

Children as young as preschool can dice apples from slices with a plastic knife, as long as there is proper supervision. You don’t want any knife-dueling to break out :) Chopping is a great fine motor exercise, and gets the “helper hand” involved to hold things steady. 

Scooping the chopped apples into a group crockpot (on low), with a little water, will get your room smelling delicious! If you have cohorts, some could do this at home and then contribute - or refrigerate and do it on consecutive days with different cohorts. A variety of apples, sweet to tart, makes a nice flavor with just a pinch of cinnamon added to taste. Turn up to high and cook for a few hours (or take home overnight) - then mash up into a fine pulp. I use an immersion blender, but you can do this with whatever you have on hand. Have small containers on hand to give each helper a way to take and share the fruits of their labor. 

If a shared dish is not feeling comfortable, try having each student put their diced apples in a small container with a little water and a drop of lemon or orange juice to help with freshness. When they get home, send directions to transfer to a microwave safe mug or dish and microwave for a few minutes until soft enough to mash with a small fork.  

Encourage your students to share this dish with some family members, in the spirit of Thanksgiving. 

While you’re waiting for your end results, engage your students in a craft! Make a holiday placemat with a traced handprint turkey in the middle, and fall color strips of construction paper to snip and arrange in patterns around the border. 

Or try a Thankful card - help your students spell out things they are thankful for on a folded card to bring home to families. It’s a great time to remind ourselves of the special things we might take for granted - family members, special foods, pets, etc. 

Parents - you can do this at home, too! Your kids will love helping and take great pride when their dish is shared on the holiday table :) 

Have fun!

Explore your world: Me On The Map

The book Me On The Map has so many great lessons within its pages. First, it’s a beginner book about maps and geography. As you turn each page, the world gets a little bigger, moving from a room in a house through a town, state, country ... all the way to a spot on the Earth! Then, it solidifies those concepts by tracing them backwards, through beautifully drawn maps, coming back to the room where it starts.

 It is a perfect book for showing students how big the world is, and where they fit in on our planet Earth. It also shows cool, simple maps, opposite pictures of the places that are being mapped. Each time I read it, I see something new in the pictures and maps. (You can find read-aloud versions on YouTube, if getting to a library or bookstore isn’t an option right now.) 

As an extension, try mapping your classroom or playground area. Talk about symbols and shapes that represent objects. Kiddos love to draw and read maps, and would be delighted to try to make a map of their own room or house!

Written by Joan Sweeney and illustrated by Annette Cable, this Me book was followed by Me and My Place in Space and Me and My Family Tree, each with their own ways of helping children see where they come from or fit in - in the bigger world. Learning about the planets in our solar system and how families are made up are the bonus lessons here!

When you’ve read these, check out other Me books by Joan Sweeney and Annette Cable - they each teach something new :) 

Have fun!

Start with a Craft!

Looking for a way to get your school days off to a good start? Want to do some fun crafts but your materials are limited due to remote/hybrid learning situations?

Consider beginning your day with a simple craft to push those fine-motor skills and get some conversation going for social-emotional growth between classmates, wherever they are learning :) 

Follow your class' interests, or the seasonal calendar, to determine what craft themes to explore... Halloween has just passed, and Thanksgiving is looming. Leaves are what's happening in nature, so just look around for inspiration. 

Keep supplies to a minimum, especially in these days of hybrid and remote teaching, and try to repurpose everyday recyclables or handy items. Have kiddos save cereal boxes and magazines at home, and prep families with a note to start a bin for cardboard and paper scraps, as well as safety scissors and glue sticks. (Be ready to supplement if these items are not easily accessible at home.) 

Then, try these tasks:

Stencils: 

• Have children draw a shape on the flip side (inside) of a cardboard food box - cereal, fruit snacks, pasta - and cut it out. Try this with simple leaf shapes for starters :) They can get shape making practice and cutting practice with this - both great fine-motor activities!
• Save the stencils for another day and use them to trace with pencils or colored pencils. The kiddos can color them in and draw in details of the leaves for a pretty picture.
• Then, use magazines to find fall colors in ads and pictures, and use the same stencils to trace and cut out leaves to glue on another paper, making a collage.
• Trace leaves on sturdy paper or even more cardboard, cut out, and use paint or markers to color. Then, find some yarn or string to make a leaf hanging or mobile.

Paper tearing:

• Make a large shape on paper - circular like a pumpkin or an apple. Find orange or red paper to tear into small pieces - tearing is another great fine-motor exercise! Glue on to cover the whole shape. Trim paper around to complete and hang :) 
• Make a series of large feather shapes on paper and cut them out. Trace a shoe on brown paper, or white paper and color brown. Tear other colors to cover feathers and assemble a turkey. Use markers or crayons to add details.
• Cut fall colored paper (either construction paper or magazine paper) in strips and tear into pieces. Draw a tree trunk with brown or black crayons and use the pieces to create a picture of a fall tree.
• Think about things in nature and Thanksgiving foods - torn paper can be used to make everything from acorns to corn on the cob :) Use the same processes to trace, cut and assemble - giving your students lots of practice!

Use your imagination to come up with other projects, remembering that some kiddos may not have access to lots of art supplies at home :)

Have fun!

Thankful Project: Building Community

 

Whether your kiddos are in-person, remote or hybrid, they are all part of your classroom community. As Thanksgiving approaches, it’s a good time to work on building community through a shared project. 

Creating a visual display in which each member of the class has a part can be a great unifying group effort. The focus could be a big turkey or a class cornucopia - the important thing to do is to get the whole class involved!

Send home construction paper shapes - feathers for a turkey or fruits for a cornucopia - for each child/family to decorate. Make sure to send good directions, letting them know that they can be creative in what materials they use and really personalize their pieces. It might help to send a photo of a finished project, so that they get the idea. 

Parents could tell what they are thankful for about their child or students could express what they themselves are thankful for! Giving a deadline over a span of time allows them to work as they can, and feel less pressure. 

Each one that comes in is combined to form a shared project, while celebrating each individual student! Make sure all kiddos are represented in this - build them up by building up their community!

Have fun! 

Block Challenge!

Blocks are a great creative tool for open-ended play. 

Kiddos will spend time making castles, houses, roads, furniture...all kinds of things! They try out things like balance and structure, learning and adapting through their own mistakes, developing perseverance and design skills along the way :) 

 Another way to use blocks is to set them up as a solo (or paired) activity to copy a design. Students will use analytical and visual skills in order to choose the blocks that are pictured, and put them together to make a copy of a particular structure.                                                            

Your kiddos will have to accomplish a multi-layered task to do this. It takes analysis, planning, and fine motor skills to accomplish. There are many skills involved - not just how to assemble them and balance them correctly. It also takes focus and patience to recreate even the simplest of these structures.

 

First, make structures - some easy, some harder - and photograph them. Print them out in a large photo format and encase them in a plastic sheet, or share this as an activity on an iPad or other tech. 

Leave a basket of blocks, including the ones they will need and others, nearby and let the building begin! 

Have fun!

 

Playing Restaurant: Social Skills and Language Building

There is no better vehicle for developing language and social skills than an authentic play experience. Children love to act out familiar scenes, take on roles that are interesting to them, and interact in pretend play scenarios. Playing “restaurant” or “diner” or even just at-home eating can be a great time to practice those skills with little or no adult intervention. For those with little or no dining-out experience, this is also a way to gain knowledge of an unknown situation. 

You don’t need a lot to get started :) A simple play set is great, but you can also work with cast-off kitchen pieces and recycled containers - your kiddos will take over whatever you make available. Just make sure they’re clean and unbreakable, for safety reasons. 

If you have access to a pretend play kitchen area, your students can work with that, but a simple disposable plastic tub, turned over with Sharpie details was embraced by our friends as a cooktop :) 

This post - Make Your Own Toys!  - is all about making your own set from things you have at home :) Kiddos will work with whatever they find ... and a healthy dose of imagination! 

 

For “dining out,” don’t forget an order pad for students to role play and take down all their customers’ food orders!  Small friends may draw or make little marks, while older kiddos will get excited to try out their spelling tricks! 

Making a menu board or some menus might be another fun writing exercise. Invented spelling and drawn pictures, or illustrations cut from magazines, will complete this task :) 

Social skills such as taking turns and sharing supplies will get lots of practice, as different roles are taken on. Push in to work on specific vocabulary and language skills with those who would benefit from intervention, but sit back to observe the natural conversations that may emerge. 

Have fun!! 

 

“Creepy Math” with Crawly Manipulatives

 

Math is magical when you do it with fun, touchable objects in the classroom or at home. Seasonal things like plastic spiders and pumpkin erasers are fun, but so are simple things like bottlecaps or buttons. It’s all about the sensory element and interest factor 🕷

“Hide” the objects in a wrapped tissue box to make them extra special ~ there’s something about reaching in and grabbing that makes it spine-tingly fun! 

You can teach how to use tally marks for counting by pulling each item out and simply tallying first, one by one, showing how to cross at 5. Then switch to grabbing handfuls, tallying and comparing. So many early math skills here ... practice forming the numbers while you’re at it! 🕸

  

Making tens and counting can be done with seasonal ten-frames, seasonal objects - or both! These were found out there on the internet but they would be easy enough to make on your own. Giving kiddos the visual of ten in the ten-frame allows for simple counting and “how many more to ten?” It also begins to set up fact families, as your friends can count to see which numbers go together to make 10. 

Empower your math learners to make up their own spider stories (number stories or word problems) by verbally providing an example or two. “There were three spiders in the web, two more came ... how many altogether?” Let them take it from there and bring back the tally marks to pull it all together :)

Have fun! 🕷🕸🕷🕸🕷

Halloween 2020 Fun!

Looking for alternatives or add-on activities this Halloween? 2020 and COVID-19 have presented us with new challenges - and lots of folks are looking for creative ways to still have fun. Here’s a few ... 

Scavenger Hunt

Search out some scary or not-so-scary Halloween images on Google and make your own neighborhood scavenger hunt. Or go around and snap actual photos to make it even more personal :) Put them into a document and let your kiddos check them off when they see them - they’ll love it even more if there’s a clipboard involved! 

(Try this Clipboard hack: use a binder paper clip (the kind you squeeze) with a piece of cardboard or something sturdy to hold your paper.)

Here are some images I found easily by just Googling :)

BINGO

Use those same images to make BINGO boards - copy and move a few around each time - do doubles if you need to :) Your kiddos will love to play this again and again so make copies! It’s great for visual discrimination and matching skills, too!

Trick or Treat Treasure Hunt

If trick or treating isn’t on your agenda, try a Treasure Hunt style event, using images glued onto envelopes with treats or tricks inside. Hide in the yard similar to an Easter Egg hunt, and let your littles hunt for goodies! You can make it as easy or hard as you want ... grab and go, search for specific scary pictures (find all the ghosts, find all the skeletons), check off finds on a list .... whatever your group goes for :)

Have fun!! 🕸🕷🦇👻🎃💀

 

We Are Scientists: Learning with Leaves 🍁

Nature is a great equalizer - all students can be a part of a shared activity when the subject is something that they can all access, like leaves. 

Go on a nature hunt or ask students to bring in interesting leaves, pine cones, twigs, etc. Build a collection in a series of small tubs to allow for social distancing, but shared experiences. 

Sort and Match

For matching and sorting, look for a set of leaf ID cards on the internet, or have students help make a set :) Look for simple pictures that display size, shape and color. 

Sorting Mats with boxes (large construction paper, draw on boxes and maybe laminate) offer a focal point for slowing down observation to really look at samples, and a way to divide up leaves by similarities and differences. Seeing up close that all leaves are not the same may lead to closer inspection of the trees they come from :)

Scientific Observation

Encourage students to look carefully at the parts of leaf, and to try to draw what they see. Magnifying glasses are a great tool to introduce here. When they get close up “like a real scientist” and take a look, they may notice the veins and stems - don’t forget to look for nibble spots where insects and small animals may have feasted. 

Make Patterns

Use clear contact paper or packing tape to cover leaves, in order to make a group of leaves for forming patterns. Model a few simple patterns and see where they take it! 

Tracing and cutting leaf shapes from card stock or construction paper would work, too :) 

 

Remote Learners

If you have remote learners, encourage them to fill their own basket at home with natural finds. As an alternative, have a basket of samples bagged to take home outside your classroom. If available, send small magnifiers and sorting sheets to complete the experience.

Leaf Art

There are so many ways to explore leaves through art. For a list of Art applications see this post : We Like Leaves!

Have fun! 🍁🍂

Make Your Own Pumpkin Patch

It’s hard to make a plan these days for traditions like pumpkin picking! Just getting through each day is a lot, but if you’re thinking about it .... Some schools have arranged for farms to come by, some are doing virtual visits, some are coming up with other creative ideas! If your class is hybrid, it’s time-challenging to do anything together, but teachers are making it work, as best as they can :)

Having the whole class contribute to a project is one way to build community amongst the various sections of the class. In the past, when challenged by schedules or transportation/budget issues, we made our own pumpkin patch on the school property. This might work for this crazy year, too! 

Ask families and community members to contribute any item(s) they are able ... hay bales, corn stalks, scarecrow decorations, milk crates, clothing for a scarecrow, etc. They could drop it off in a specified area outdoors, so some may come before school, some after school, and some at drop off or pickup times. Put all the pieces together and let the children come up with a plan - and execute it. Since we had a few classes participating in ours, it was done bit by bit, which would work this year, if cohorts/remote is your model. 

  

Groups could also make a giant leaf pile and use it to stuff a scarecrow’s body, so he could sit-up :) Add a pumpkin or plastic jack-o-lantern for a head and think about a silly hat for your guy! Our kiddos had so much fun doing this, that we dumped him out and started over with the next group :) Why not even make more, if you get more clothes? 

Of course, our scarecrow needed a name, so that became another task ... coming up with and writing down suggestions, and reviewing them all to vote for our favorite! Spelling, writing, charting results ... all kinds of skills there! 

Our pumpkin patch became a place to read stories, observe nature, find natural treasures, and, ultimately, find a small pumpkin on Halloween. One class decided to supply their own, bringing a small pumpkin to share in the patch, while another class chipped in and got minis and painted them up as an activity after “picking” them outdoors. A hybrid class could pick a few with each cohort, and have remote learners stop by after hours for their own, then use markers or paints to decorate them all together, but apart :) 

Tip: Make sure that a volunteer only puts out the pumpkins as needed, so no friendly neighborhood critters grab them for snacks :) 

Have fun! 

We are Scientists: Pumpkin Exploration

There is nothing like hands-on experience for really learning and remembering about a topic. Pumpkins are a great subject for diving into and learning about in a multi-disciplinary way! 

Measuring is a fun way to start out .... try it with non-standard units of measure that you can compare to other objects. You can use something flexible like a rope or length of yarn to see how much it takes to go all the way around the pumpkin. You can also see how tall the pumpkin is this way, or use blocks or connecting cubes to get your answer. Hands on measuring and comparing are great math activities :) 

Talk about how your pumpkin grew and where it came from. Show photos of the stages of growth - from a seed to a sprout and changing colors - there are great non- fiction (and fiction) books that highlight this. You can find videos of pumpkins growing and even virtual pumpkin patch visits! 

Cut into your pumpkin for some slimy, hands-on fun next! I like to make a cut in the top and also cut out a “window” in the side, to make it easier to see in and reach in - the hole on the top offers more light.   

Lots of kiddos love to reach in and pull out all the pulp and seeds. Use as many of your five senses as possible - to see, smell, touch and maybe even taste seeds or pumpkin products. Run a hand around the outside and count up the ribs - or try guessing and counting as a fun predictive activity. For those with sensory differences, try for a little exposure at a time to the pulp in order to get them more comfortable with the squishy feeling. 

In-class learners can go back again and again to see and explore ...  remote learners may benefit from leaving a basket of baggies with pulp and seeds outside for them to pick up after school hours. Planning ahead can have all students on the same page with this activity. (If you’re up for it, watching it rot over a few days is also interesting.) 

Playing with sealed bags of “pumpkin guts” can be a fun counting activity - make sure there is pulp and seeds and have students mush around and count the numbers of seeds inside. 

Using a variety of gourds and small and large pumpkins can also be a fun sink or float activity. Introduce some other classroom items - maybe a pumpkin eraser, or some plastic scoops - and guess whether things will sink or float. Then, take turns testing out your theories. Your little scientists will love it! 

Have fun! 

Learning and Blending Sounds with Movement

When learning sounds or how to blend sounds to read, adding movement activities can help for increasing focus and solidifying the learning. 

There are lots of programs with motions that connect letters to sounds - if you have access to one or can find one on YouTube, it’s a great way to help your child(ren) make connections between sounds and letters. If not, consider making up one of your own!

As a next step, blending across your fingers (touch each one as you make a sound) or up/down your arm (chop each sound at a different point on your arm) are great ways to start with helping beginners understand the art of blending sounds together to make words.

Sometimes it helps to add objects and hand movements to understand blending. For CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words, grab three objects and touch each one as you say a sound - blending as you go. “B-A-T bat.” 

For even more movement, use some painters tape or sticky notes to make letter spots on the floor or go outdoors with some chalk. Make letter circles or squares to hop onto or into, to blend and make words. Think of a word, then jump from letter to letter to make it! Once you turn it into a game, and practice it, they will start to play it on their own. 

Keep it simple to start! Begin with one vowel and a few consonants within reach of each other and take turns building words. Kiddos love an example and then freedom to make their own choices. Even “nonsense words” can count - if the sounds are right! Give guidance as needed :) 

Have fun!

Social Distancing with Small World Play

Looking for ways to incorporate interactive play in these days of separation and caution? Playing in pairs can still work with some social distancing hacks :) Use plexiglass or other sturdy see-through materials to set up stations to do paired small-world play! 

Kiddos LOVE to build with all sorts of materials and to make “worlds” where small figures or animals can play. Offer interesting materials, like chucks of wood, twigs, shells, small rocks, glass florist stones, etc. and watch as they construct interesting landscapes. Keeping small tubs to house natural elements spurs children to gather and bring in interesting pieces to add to the bins. Using the plexiglass to separate but bump up against each others’ “worlds” will help build excitement, seeing what their partners are adding and constructing with. Conversations and interactions can still occur, with proper social distancing :) 

Don’t feel trapped by tables either! Use your sneeze guard materials on the floor, with some “tummy time” play, using the same ideas. You will be amazed at how focused some friends will be and able to stay within your social distancing guidelines :) No plexiglass? No problem .... Take those old chart stands, or make a stand from some PVC pipes, and securely drape some sheer shower curtains to divide some space. 

One group I had a few years ago “designed” a Winter Olympics setup - I could see something like this applied to a partitioned play area, geared to individual-but-together play. Little friends like to just construct landscapes with no particular end, so let them create :) 

Play is definitely tricky these days, but try ....

And, have fun!

Remote Learning: Reading Aloud Tips

In a remote learning model, as in any type of teaching, you have to make choices about best practices for teaching reading. 

Live read alouds can be a wonderful way to connect with your students, modeling reading fluency and how a good reader thinks ... as long as all are engaged :) 

Take the time when doing live read alouds to set norms, just as you would in a face to face classroom. Make sure all of your little ones are ready to settle in :) 

Try these tips to set up ...

• Start with a simple but calming movement activity before settling in -  a few yoga poses or a shake-it-out settling activity 
• Have a “cuddle toy” that each child has on stand-by next to their workspace for keeping their hands occupied during reading time. (Might cause a stir at first but will become a commonplace tool)
• Express “Get comfy” directions and give a short wait time before launching into your story 
• Consider having reading time as “tummy time” depending on how flexible your students’ tech is - this can help with focus for some and for developing core strength 
• Use frequent question or recap breaks to stay on task - just like you would in person :) 
• Try to engage each child by using names when talking and mentioning things in the story. Avoid putting them on the spot but rather invite them to share when appropriate :)

If live reading isn’t feasible, consider using Zoom, YouTube, or another program to save your stories to be listened to independently, but build in the suggestions above. Building in short breaks for thinking about questions keeps your students engaged and encourages them to think about what the story is all about, aiding in their comprehension. 

By recording, you also give the children the ability to revisit a story several times, which promotes deeper thinking and allows them to become more familiar with story elements - win, win! 

Have fun! 

Social Emotional Learning with Karma Wilson’s Bear books

SEL (Social-Emotional Learning) is a big topic these days, with all that is going on in our world. Anxieties are at an all-time high, even with the little ones. Opening up discussions about feelings can get an assist from reading an applicable story. Extend Social-Emotional Learning through thoughtful literature choices, giving children a way to identify feelings and relate them to happenings in their own lives.  

Help kiddos deal with BIG feelings that they might have - read Karma Wilson's Bear books with them. These stories are beautifully simple, and the illustrations, by Jane Chapman, are SO appealing to the kiddos, and draw them right in.   

These Bear books shine a light on one topic at a time, using the familiar Bear and friends characters, and tackle things like making a new friend, not feeling good, feeling scared, and other relatable issues.

When Bear expresses his feelings, pause and invite your students to share their own feelings ... “Does anything make you scared? What do you think is scary? What do you do when you’re scared? What COULD you do?” Opening up these topics lays the groundwork for future discussions or interventions, by establishing common reference points that you can refer back to when those big feelings emerge at a later time, in your class or at home. 

Act out some scenes with your kiddos to really solidify the learning - have them make faces that reflect feelings. Play a guessing game where friends guess how a friend is feeling by their facial expressions. Use emoji cards (super easy to make!) to give ideas :) 

Have fun while exploring feelings!

Remote Learning: Building Community

While your class may not be in-person, or only partially in-person, it’s still made up of people - little people :) 

One of the biggest concerns with remote learning is that students are feeling disconnected and aren't getting the benefits of being in a group. This is where consciously using Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) can help to make the kiddos feel part of things by building bridges between on-line, hybrid and in- person learners. Aside from targeting these feelings with good literature choices and class discussions, what else can you do?

Think about ways to build community amongst your students, in order to promote togetherness and belonging!

Use photos!

• Distribute class pics to be kept at home or in school (or both)! Have students send in a photo and put them together grid style (with permissions, of course) to be kept on display for reference during lessons, or anytime. 
• Make class graphs a part of your day! Use those same pictures, individually mounted on index cards or magnets (business card magnets are the best!!) to build bar graphs that tie in with a daily question, or that relate to whatever lessons you are engaged in. This "polling" method gives everyone a voice from time to time and allows them talking points based on commonalities - or even differences!

Consider pen pals within your class!

• Have your class send artwork/pictures/letters between class members to strengthen bonds. You might even want to switch partners every so often, to mix it up!     
• A roving paper class pet or something like Flat Stanley can be fun - each member of the class would take a turn having a visit and writing/drawing about it, and forward to the next, if it's doable :)      

Socializing is important for cohesiveness! 

• Try to make a point of holding a Social Zoom on a regular basis, including all in the class. No lessons - just a fun activity to have them interact. Maybe show and tell or a game to play - or just taking turns telling something that's going on :)
• Have a silly theme day from time to time - crazy hair, hat, socks, PJs - make it attainable for all :) Teachers - for those who forget on crazy hat day - keep a roll of aluminum foil handy - turn it into a Hershey’s kiss hat! 

Keep the class bonding, learning and belonging - it's so important!

Have fun!!

We Are Scientists: Simple Machines

Every little one likes to move things - it’s part of being a “little scientist”! One of the first science topics that we always work (play) with in early childhood (and up through the grades) is force and motion. 

Simple machines make great playthings for experimenting with movement and force. You can find them everywhere in your home, classroom, or schoolyard. The six simple machines are the wheel and axle, the lever, the inclined plane, the pulley, the screw, and the wedge, although the latter three are actually just extensions or combinations of the first three.

For this post, we'll focus on the first three :)

The Wheel and Axle 

Experiment with moving carts or wheelbarrows to get some idea of moving objects with and without the benefit of wheels. 

An easy thing to find might be some old or new luggage pieces. Luggage with wheels is very common these days, but also find a suitcase with no wheels for some experimentation. With your child, load each with some blocks or something with some weight (same in each) and try to pull/push them. Look for play cars or trucks that have removable wheels in your collection. Try to move them on a flat surface or even on an inclined one, without wheels and then with - your little scientist will be able to make all their own predictions and conclusions on this one! There are many LEGO wheel and rod pieces - again, try to move with and without wheels, for fun. 

The Lever

We see examples of levers every day - a seesaw in the playground is a lever. Kitchen tongs are levers. 

Your scientist(s) can make their own simple lever with objects in your home or classroom. Look for a glue stick or other cylindrical object and a popsicle stick, and make a simple seesaw. Take it a step further and design a catapult lever - the easiest way is to tape on a plastic spoon and use it to hold a lightweight object. Push down on the opposing end and your object will be airborne!

The Inclined Plane 

Children will see inclined planes in ramps, slides, and rollercoasters - all things that start high and go down on an incline. They are also part of working scissors, knives, and doorstops - they are designed to have a wedge shape to start with a slim side and get wider, like an inclined plane. 

To experiment, start with moving a toy car on a flat surface and see how far it can go. Have other elements laying around nearby and ask - How can we make it go faster?  Your child may decide to make a toy car move faster or farther by elevating one end of the road/block by propping it higher and making their very own inclined plane. By making a hypothesis and proposing a test, they are using the Scientific Method!!

Have fun!!

Book Choice: Expanding Equity

There are so many great, diverse books for children that can be introduced into your home or classroom library, enhancing your selection, making it more multi-cultural and more equitable. By showing characters of all races, creeds, and family and home situations, you are including all in your home or classroom, and making sure that your children are seeing that the world is full of wonderful diversity. Showing characters with physical challenges, or including characters who might have unseen differences, opens up great conversations and normalizes varied situations.

A short list of favorites doesn't even begin to touch on some fabulous new and old titles. Use this as a jumping off point, but keep adding to your own list - it's so important! 

Some books to look for ....

 

The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson (2018)

This book doesn’t leave you at how people are different but rather reminds us that when we reach out and take the first steps, people meet us half way.

 

This Is How We Do It by Matt Lamothe (2017)  

One day in the lives of seven kids from Iran, Russia, Peru, India, Japan, Uganda, and Italy. Highlights differences and sameness about their schools, homes, dress, food, play, etc.

 

La Princesa and the Pea by Susan Middleton Elya (2017) 

This is a great retelling of the familiar fairy tale, with up to date illustrations by Juana Martinez-Neal. Check out the glossary of Spanish terms up front before reading.  So great for native Spanish speakers to celebrate their native tongue. Look for other books of this type - familiar stories with different languages and cultures featured.

 

Jabari Jumps by Gaia Cornwall (2017)  

This beautiful, simple book is very relatable for all children – the main character is working up courage to jump off the diving board.  Looking for books that show characters of all colors helps students see themselves in books.

 

The Bad Seed by Jory John (2017)  

The cool, graphic illustrations show the Bad Seed (the "bad" kid) and how it got to be bad … you will start to feel sorry for the bad one and root for it to go good.  Shows a kid version of trauma, and trying to find good in what can sometimes be a tough world … the right book for a certain situation.  Great for helping students develop empathy.  

 

The Diwali Gift  by Shweta Chopra and Shuchi Mehta (2015) 

The characters get a gift from one’s grandmother, Dadima, to celebrate the Hindu Festival of Lights, Diwali. Explains some traditions of a Diwali celebration – may help some students make connections to their holiday, which may not be a holiday all know about. Definitely read the glossary in the back for definitions first. 

 

All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold and Suzanne Kaufman (2018)  

This story is told in its pictures and has to be looked at closer than just the words on the page. Pictures depict children of all races, religions, etc. working and playing together in a school environment. 

Whoever You Are by Mem Fox (1997) 

This is a sweet, classic book which celebrates the similarities among people, instead of differences. 

 

The Sneetches by Dr. Seuss (1961) 

This book has an important message for any/all marginalized groups. 

 

The Family Book by Todd Parr (2003)  

All kinds of family groups are shown in this inclusive book. This books shows us that no matter what size or shape your family is, it is a great family for you. 

 

The Paperbag Princess by Robert Munsch (1992)  

The Princess saves the prince and then figures out she’s better alone - flips the gender stereotype.

Do this important work to celebrate diversity! 

And, as always, have fun doing it!