STEM WITH A NATURE CENTER

Children love to collect things. Aren't they always bringing you rocks or leaves or flowers or nuts? A nature center would be a perfect place to display their treasures and give them the opportunity to observe and investigate natural items.

Getting Started
Take a plastic tub and fill it with objects from a natural area in your community. It's as simple as that! Invite the children to bring in other interesting items that they find in nature to add to your center.

Materials:
leaves, rocks, shells, pine cones, sticks, nuts, or other natural items (rotate for different seasons)

magnifying glass
clipboard, pencils, paper
ruler
field guide book (leaves, rocks, shells, etc.)

Activities:
*free exploration
*sorting
*counting
*seriating by size
*measuring
*observing with a magnifying glass
*sketching with a clip board
*identifying with a field guide book
*non-fiction writing
*PLAYING!

How about a new video about the moon?

Moon Phases Video:

https://bit.ly/drJFullMoon

Moon Phases Download Link:

https://bit.ly/drJMoonPhases

WANT AN OREO?

Here's another great idea some teachers from Nebraska shared with me years ago. You know how those two letter words are difficult for children to learn because they don’t always follow the rules (phonics rules, that is!). Well, here’s a yummy idea to help them taste better.

First, have the children brainstorm all the two letter words they can think of and write them on the board. Encourage them to look in books, look at classroom print, and so forth.

Second, give them a double stuffed Oreo cookie and show them how to open it. Hold one half in each hand. Lick the left side as you say the first letter in a word. Lick the right side as you say the second letter in the word. Then say the word. Continue with all the two letter words on the board.
*If you are in a school where food is not allowed, just pretend you have a cookie in each hand.

Third, follow up with a class book. Write individual letters on 3” circles as shown. Write the two letter word on a 4 ½” circle. Read through the book as you demonstrate how to lick your left hand and say one letter. Lick the right hand and say the other letter. Clap hands and say the word.
Hint! Remind the children that they don’t want to really lick their dirty hand. Just pretend!!!

You can also sing two letter words to the tune from “If You’re Happy and You Know It.”
If you want to spell me, say M –E.
If you want to spell me, say M –E.
It’s easy as can be when you sing and spell with me.
If you want to spell me, say M –E.


Duplo Letters and Words
Here is a photo a teacher sent demonstrating how she integrates blocks with phonics and sight words. She said she asked the parents to donate the Duplo blocks and the children thought they were "playing" instead of "learning."

And you get an "oreo" cheer for visiting my blog today. Pretend to lick your right hand. Pretend to lick your left hand. Clap them together! And that's an "oreo" cheer!

GIVE A "TOOT" FOR OLD IDEAS

I was looking through some old photos and found a few ideas I wanted to share with you today.

Good-Bye Book
Leaving a school in the middle of the year can be heart wrenching to children. Before they leave let each classmate draw a picture and write or dictate something special about them. Put their drawings together and add a class photo to make a book. It will give the child leaving a special memory they can take with them.

Chalk Board Table
Is this cool? Ms. Smalls found an old table they were going to throw away. She painted the top with chalkboard paint and let the children write special messages, draw pictures, write sight words, etc. on it. The kids LOVED it!

Stickies
You know all those seasonal sticky designs you can put on windows. What a great center activity using cookie sheets!
*The alphabet ones would be perfect for writing words.

Toot a Roo
I don't know why I got such a kick out of this idea a teacher shared, but it's right up my alley. Cut paper towel rolls in half and let children decorate them with markers and stickers. When you want to celebrate or cheer an accomplishment all the children get out their "toot a roos" and go "toot toot toot toot toot toooo!"

JUST DO IT!!!

"I don't want to do this!" Sound familiar? One teacher told her students, “I don’t want to do it either, so let’s just get it done and then we can do something fun.” 

There’s an important life lesson here. We all have to do things we don’t want to do. The best thing is to just do it and then you can focus on the things you want to do! Task initiation and delayed gratification are also characteristics of the executive function that we want to encourage. I like to use personal stories that children can relate to when teaching social behaviors. "You know, I really don't enjoy cleaning my house. However, I've learned to just get started and do it and then I can do something fun. Has that ever happened to you?"

JUST DO IT!
Here's a song to the tune of "Three Blind Mice" that might help your students "git 'er dun"!
Just do it!
Just do it!
Put on a grin
And start right in.
If there’s something you don’t want to do.
I have a little trick for you.
Just get started and soon you’ll be through.
Just do it!
Just do it!


Happie Sticks  

Write special things children can do if they finish their work early on sticks. Children can choose one at a time and do the activity.
For example: make a book, play a computer game, read a story, do a job for your teacher, play a board game, make something in the art center, etc.

You Get What You Get
Have you ever heard your students say, "I don't want that one!" Here's a tune to "The Farmer in the Dell" with a positive twist. Smile and sing and ignore the negative comments.
You get what you get.
You get what you get.
Just like in the gum machine,
You get what you get.

RALPH THE RAG AND MY QUIET FRIENDS

You know, I really miss being in the classroom. O.K., I don’t miss everything, but I sure miss having fun with the kids. They were my best audience and I loved coming up with tricks to capture their interest. One of my favorites was Ralph the Rag. I took an old towel and knotted it at the top and used it like a puppet to focus the children’s attention. I would let Ralph sit on my hand and say:

This is my buddy Ralph the Rag. Let’s see if you can do everything that Ralph does. (I’d lean Ralph one way and wait for them to follow. Then I’d lean Ralph the other way. I’d shake his head, move him backwards, etc. Then I’d have Ralph stand up. The children would follow along as I made him turn around, jump, and so forth. I always ended by having Ralph sit quietly back in my hand.)

If the children didn’t follow along with Ralph or if they kept talking I’d pretend to cry and be Ralph. “The boys and girls aren’t listening to me so I’m just going to go away.” They’d say, “No, Ralph. We’ll be quiet and listen to you. Don’t go away.”

It was fun and it worked for a week or so.

Quiet Friends
Another trick I used was the Quiet Family. I placed some little toy figures in a lunchbox and said “I have some little friends that would like to visit our class. However, the friends have teeny tiny ears so you’ll have to use teeny tiny voices today.” The class would agree to this and I would open the lunch box and take out the friends. If someone got too loud I could count on another classmate to say, “Shhh! Remember our friends and their little ears!”

Puppet
Cut the top and bottom off a food box, insert the puppet on your hand, and then let the puppet pop out the box and sing a song, talk about an event, or say a rhyme.
                           

Note!   The children might know a puppet isn’t real when you put it on your hand, but they’ll want to pretend and play along.

BLAST FROM THE PAST

Note!  Here are some awesome ideas that teachers shared with me in Louisville ten years ago!


Brain Dough
Call play dough “brain dough” when using it to reinforce skills (like make objects that start with a sound, make an animal you are studying, create geometric shapes, etc.).


Counting Hands
Fill surgical gloves with rice and tie at the bottom. Children will enjoy using these to count and work out simple math problems.


Pat Gusoff
Pat shared more good ideas than I could use in a dozen blogs. She’s a teacher of 4-5 year olds at Temple Trager Early Childhood Center and she is passionate about helping children sing, dance, explore, and express!!! Check out some of her amazing HANDS ON learning fun!

Personal Puzzles
Ask each family to send in a picture of their child the dimensions of 4 duplo blocks. Use clear packing tape and add the child’s number and name to other sides of the blocks. Save puzzles in individual berry baskets.

Scoop and Match
Foam letters, trays, and measuring cups from the dollar store.

Say It and Spell It

Yard Sale Teepee for Buddy Reading

5 Little Turkeys to Retell

Shower Curtain Bean Bag Toss

Unifix Cubes and Feather Fun

Shower Curtain Rings with Ribbon

NATIONAL YOUNG READERS WEEK

Monday, November 9 to Friday, November 13 is NATIONAL YOUNG READERS WEEK.

As educators, we understand the importance of being able to read, but it’s equally important that children ENJOY reading. Teachers need to be sales people and SELL their students on reading.

I remember visiting a kindergarten classroom one day and the children eagerly came up to me with books that they wanted to read to me. I looked at the teacher and said, “I am so impressed! Your students are wonderful readers!” The teacher smiled and said so all could hear, “My children have discovered how much fun it is to read and they just want to read all the time!!!” That’s what you call good brainwashing!!!

Another teacher said that when a child first opened a book and had that “Ah-ha” moment of “I CAN READ!” she would shut the door, climb up on the table, and do the happy reading dance. “Josie can read! Josie can read!”

Unfortunately, testing and standards have overshadowed some of the JOY of reading. But, you can do something about it this week!

*Invite your students to discuss WHY it is important to read. Emphasize that learning to read really does make you smarter and happier.

*Discuss why you LIKE to read. Let children complete this sentence: I like to read because…

*Have children ask their parents how reading helps them do their job.

Let children interview family members, friends, and school helpers about reading. They might want to ask the following:
*Why do you like to read?
*When do you like to read?
*Where do you like to read?
*What do you like to read?
Compare results.

Persuasive Posters
Divide children into small groups and challenge them to make posters to encourage others to read. Hang these around the school.

DEAR (Drop Everything And Read)
This is a perfect day to yell “DEAR” and let children read what they want and where they want in the classroom. 

 

Step Into a Book
Children can take off their shoe and trace around their foot on construction paper. After cutting it out they can decorate it and use it as a bookmark.

*Let children do rubbings of the bottoms of their shoes and use these for bookmarks.

 

Envelope Bookmark
Cut off the corner of an envelope as shown. Children can decorate it and then use it on the corner of a book to save their spot.

 

 

*Hint! Let them mark their favorite picture or page they’d like to read to classmates.
 

*Mark a vocabulary word or other detail in the book.