Observing trees: identifying the roots, trunk, branches, and leaves; feeling the trunk; comparing the trunk to our hands; looking for insects and plants on the tree, and more. |
We did a litter pick-up around the preschool and our campus. |
We ended our day outside reading Miss Sadie McGee Who Lived in a Tree. |
The kids enjoyed it so much that they asked our parent volunteer, Ms. Melisa to read it to them again. |
My "green" tree t-shirt |
Ms. Shannon let us borrow her beautiful river rocks. |
I LOVE how this friend took the instructions literally. Notice how the colors match. |
We were able to borrow a rock collection from the elementary school and Ms. Shannon let us borrow her amazing Andy Goldsworthy book. |
Rock provocation: Each child creates their own work of art and we photographed their creation. |
We then added the nature inspiration cards. |
Parent volunteer, Ms. Leslie brought in some rocks from her home. Love the mortar and pestle. She also identified where each rock was found. |
The kiddos especially enjoyed this rock, which looked like any other rock on the outside, but had beautiful white crystals that sparkled and looked like snow inside it. |
We used these two AMAZING rock books at our group times. |
After cleaning the rocks, each child got to hold a rock during the "If You Find a Rock" book reading. |
Ms. Myrna brought in a lava rock and a pumice stone. The kiddos were able to compare their weight then we did a sink or float experiment. Many of them were surprised that the pumice stone floated. |
We decided to make Earth crayons. The kiddos peeled blue and green crayons, broke them, then placed them in a small muffin tin. |
We placed them in a 200 degree oven until they were fully melted. We cooled them completely then sent them home with the kiddos the next day. |
LOVE IT!! She's got the whole world in her hands... |
I saw how Play at Home Mom LLC created their own homemade bird feeder from office supplies and items around the house and decided we'd try it. I found an office organizer at Walmart and the attachments there, as well. So far so good. |
Bird seed in, ready for the birds. |
I saw Juniper Moon Farm's suet feeder and decided to create our own Bird Nest Supply Station. We followed their guidelines of making sure the yarn was cut between 4 and 8 inches by placing rulers on the table and teaching the kiddos how to measure the yarn pieces. |
...measuring carefully... |
...filling up the suet feeder... |
...we hung it in the tree. Ready for the birds. |
Our hummingbird feeder has seen LOTS of action. |
After seeing the nature chandelier's over at Fairy Dust Teaching, I knew we needed to create one for our classroom. We gave craft wire to each child and encouraged them to string the beads up to 12 inches. Once again, a measuring activity. |
If they put more than 12 inches, they could remove some of the items. |
Carefully beading...we also had lace and feathers available for their use. |
The end result! I am thrilled BEYOND WORDS!! |
We ended our week reading "One Love" by Cedella Marley, daughter of Bob Marley. After reading it we listened to the song. |
We did pause during the story as we heard flocks of Canada geese flying overhead. |
These were some of our AMAZING books we read during the week: The Busy Tree, Our Tree Named Steve, and One Love. Not pictured is A Grand Old Tree and BIG EARTH, Little Me. |
This is one of the newest crazes in the classroom: Frigits Deluxe or as we like to call them "Magnetic Marble Maze". We continue to have AMAZING adventures... |
Thanks so much for sharing your ideas! I pinned your post, so I would remember them for next year when we study rocks and minerals at home.
ReplyDeleteThanks!! Don't you just love Pinterest so we can "pin" ideas for later??
DeleteThis is such a great post. I would like to invite you to link up this post to my Money Saving Monday Link Up so others can find this great idea. Please stop by and link up.
ReplyDeleteI hope to see you,
Thank you,
Stephanie
http://lifesallaboutlittleadventures.blogspot.com/2013/04/money-saving-monday-week-3.html
Thanks so much, Stephanie. Will do.
DeleteOur hummingbird feeder has been rocking away as well this year. There seems to be triple the number of hummingbirds around our home this year. Love your earth crayons! Thank you for linking up this week to our Hearts for Home Blog Hop!
ReplyDeleteYou're most welcome, Jill. Thanks for providing a forum for sharing.
DeleteWow! So many great ideas! I am planning to use some of them with our playschool children this summer! Thanks for sharing your post with us at Eco-Kids Tuesday! Your post is featured today! Hope to see you there!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Hannah. I will definitely be back.
DeleteWhat wonderful lessons!! I love all the rock activities. Thank you for sharing at Sharing Saturday!!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Carrie. We had lots of fun. My only regret is that we didn't get to spend more time working on/studying rocks. Next time we'll definitely devote more time to it.
Deleteelder caregiver
ReplyDeleteCaregiver Space. The work we do at The Caregiver Space stems from our commitment to ensuring caregivers feel seen, heard and most of all supported.
I love the Earth crayons. I am pinning it to Pinterest.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Brenda. The kids loved seeing how the colors combined. Thanks for sharing.
DeleteMy kids are learning about tree care in Calgary right now. They love telling me all they learned in class about nature!
ReplyDeleteI agree. It's cool how they can feel so much more connected when they can go outside and experience it up close and personal.
DeleteI am so happy reading and seeing the pictures posted above. Often our children idolize their teacher and with this activity that they have, I am pretty sure that the kids learn from it. Instilling good information is really very nice most specially that there is a visual aid to what they have discussed. They will start to learn to appreciate our nature and then will soon love it. Thanks for sharing this, Ms Barbara. -www.plantmegreen.com
ReplyDeleteBarbara, your blog is so inspiring and full of creativity!
ReplyDeleteMe and my pre-k'rs are doing the 2 Earth weeks based on this post!
Thank you so much for all the great ideas!!!
Karen, I'm honored that this post inspired you so. Don't you just love finding new ideas and trying them with your kids? I know I sure do. I'd love to see photos from your two week study. Please connect with me through our For the Children Facebook page to share. The link can be found in the top right-hand corner of my home page.
DeleteI'll sure do! :) thanks!
Delete