NO Bake — Awesome Bars

      Awesome Bars

1. Mash: 16 graham crackers (in plastic bag)

2. Mix:

• graham cracker crumbs
• 1 can sweetened canned milk
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 2 cups crispy rice

3. Butter paper plates or a 9×13 pan.

4. Pat mixture into pan or individual plates.

5. Sit 10 or more minutes.

6. Enjoy!

This is easy and fun to make with children because there is no baking or cooking.   Fun to do when teaching the AW as in SAW sound.

Pioneer Scones

Pioneer Scones

Make your favorite bread dough or thaw out frozen bread/roll dough.  (Look at the Grandma’s Egg Bread (Orange Rolls) and Wheat Bread recipes on this blog.)

When the dough is ready:

• Heat about a 1/2 inch of oil (expeller pressed prefered) in a heavy frying pan.  Don’t let the heat get too high and burn the oil.
• Roll the dough out and cut with a knife into about 3 x 2 inch pieces.
• Fry the dough until it is brown on both sides.
• Cool for a few minutes on a paper towel.
• Then serve with Honey Butter.   (Mix with a fork 1 cube of soft butter with about 1/2 cup of honey.)

Fun Treat!

Math Lesson Ideas for the Number 1 (One)

Math Lesson for the Number 1 (One)

Objective:  Help children recognize the number 1, the word “one”, numbers are used for counting, count 1 object, and learn to write “l” and “one”.

Preparations:

• Find an art print or picture from a calendar or magazine with good examples of “ONE”.
• Optional:  Make some die cuts of apples or something else in two different colors and 3 different sizes.
• Have some stickers.
• Write the number “l” and the word, “one” on a word card.
• Have examples of the different fonts of the printed form of 1.
• Decide on a simple book, poem or nursery rhyme that has good examples of “one”.  Possibly use, “There Was a Crooked Man”.  (Included at the end.)
• Have paper and pencil for each child.

Lesson:

• Display the word card with “l one”.  Discuss the difference between the number “1” and the word “one”.  What are words made of?  (letters)  What are numbers used for?  (counting)
• Read  a book, poem or the Nursery Rhyme.  Then discuss the examples of one thing in the reading. Discuss different body parts to see how many they have.  Do you have 1 eye?  1 nose? Etc.
• Show the picture and have each child pick out one thing in the picture.
• Show the children examples of different fonts for the number one.  Encourage them to write their l’s with a straight line like an “l”.  Have them make them in the air with their finger.
• Give each child a paper and pencil.  Have or help them write their name.  Show the word card again for “l one”.  Have them write a number “l” and a word “one”.  (If a child has a hard time writing their letters, write the word “one” with a yellow pencil and have them trace it.)  Put out stickers and have them select 1 for their paper.

Extension ideas: Possibly include some comparison or patterning activities with the die cut apples.  (small, medium, large, same, different, ABAB pattern, etc.)   Can also do a food activity with several 1 items.

Nursery Rhyme

There was a crooked man, and he went a crooked mile;
He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile:
He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse,
And they all lived together in a little crooked house.

For more educational tips and information visit www.phonicsbyspelling.com

Weather Review

 

Objective:  To review weather.

Preparation:

• Find pictures or drawings of weather in books, magazines, internet, or old calendars.
• Have crayons, pencils or markers to finish the books.
• Print the template for the weather book.  Cut into 2 pages. Use half a sheet of construction paper for the cover.
•  weather book template page 1    weather book template page 2  
• Suggested Book: Weather by Gallimard Jeunesse

Lesson:

Read the book and discuss:

• Discuss any pictures of weather. 
• Discuss what weather the children have seen.
• Review ideas from other weather lessons. 

Activity:

Help the kids make their weather book by reading and discussing each page as they work. When finished, read the book together.

Suggested Discussion questions:

• What do you wear when it’s snowy; rainy; etc. ?
• What kinds of activities can you do when it’s snowy; rainy; etc.?

 

 

 

   

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Weather: Rain and Snow

    

Weather: Rain and Snow      

Objective: Help children learn about the water cycle and how water is a part of our weather.

Preparation:

• Find drawings or pictures of rain, snow and other storms from books, magazines or old calendars.
• Collect a pan, water, a cookie sheet, and a stove or something to heat the water.
• Make word cards; evaporation, water cycle, water vapor, and condensation. 
• Have crayons, pencils or markers.
• Scraps of construction paper in white, dark blue, green and yellow.
• Print the water cycle on light blue or white paper. water-cycle-picture   If you do this activity with older children, they can write all the words.  
• Create a sample water cycle.

Suggested books:

• Cloudy with a Chance Of Meatballs by Judi Barrett
• Franklin and the Thunderstorm by Paulette Bourgeois
• What Makes it Rain? by Keith Brandt

Lesson:

Read a book then discuss water weather:

Discussion questions:

1. How do you feel when it rains?
2. Are you afraid of storms, if so why do they scare you?
3. What activities do you like to do in the rain?
4. Where do you think rain comes from?
5. What other weather has water in it?  (snow, hail)

Demonstrate “condensation” and “evaporation” by heating a small pot of water on the stove. Heat the water until you see steam.  Show the “water vapor” and “evaporation” cards.  Say, “The steam is water vapor or evaporation.”  Hold the cookie sheet above the water.  Show how the water condensate on the cookie sheet. Show the word card “condensation. Say, “If we hold this cookie sheet for a long time above the water it will start dropping rain. 

Activity: Help children learn about the water cycle by making a water cycle collage picture.  (Tearing paper is a skill that most children have to be taught.)

• Give each child a sheet of light blue or white water cycle picture paper.
• Tear dark blue paper big enough to fill half of the bottom part of the paper to look like the ocean. Have the children glue it on their paper by the word “ocean”.
• Tear a sun shape of yellow. Have the children glue it by the word “sun” above the ocean. Talk about how the sun heats the water and causes it to evaporate. Help them write “sun” on the sun.
• Tear a piece of white paper and have the children shade it with gray with the side of a crayon to look like a rain cloud. Have the children glue it on their paper opposite the sun by the words, “rain cloud”. (Explain how the droplets of water vapor come together and cool to make a cloud and when they get too heavy they condensate on bits of dust and begin to fall to the earth as snow or rain depending on how cold they are.)
• Have the children draw the rain coming from the cloud by the word, “rain” below the cloud. Discuss the ways the rain helps all living things and all the benefits of rain and storms.
• Tear a piece of green or brown paper to look like a slope of land coming down to meet the ocean. Have the children glue it next to the ocean piece of paper by the word “land”.
• Tear a strip of blue paper to look like a river. Have the children glue it on the slope of land by the word, “river”. Talk about the collection of rain into rivers, lakes and oceans
• Read all the words on the picture together.

Check out our website: http://www.phonicsbyspelling.com/

Symbols of The USA–The Statue of Liberty

 

The Statue of Liberty

Objective: To introduce children to The Statue of Liberty as a symbol of USA promise of freedom. 

Preparation:

• Find drawings or pictures of The Statue of Liberty from books, magazines or old calendars.
• Have green crayons, pencils or markers and paper for the children.  (Print,”The Statue of Liberty” on the paper.)
• Suggested book:   The Statue of Liberty by Lucille Recht Penner

Lesson:

• Read the book then discuss while showing pictures:
• The Statue of Liberty is one of the most recognizable symbols of the United States in the world. For many visitors traveling by sea in days gone by, the statue located on Liberty Island, in New York harbor, was their first glimpse of America.
• The statue symbolizes liberty and democracy.
• The Statue of Liberty is a huge sculpture that is located on Liberty Island in New York Harbor. This monument was a gift to the USA from the people of France.
• Liberty was designed by the French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi. The hollow copper statue was built in France – it was finished in July, 1884.  It was brought to the USA in 350 pieces on a French ship.  The statue was reassembled in the USA and was completed on October 28, 1886.
• Liberty’s right hand holds a torch that is a symbol of liberty. There are 354 steps inside the statue and its pedestal. There are 25 viewing windows in the crown. The seven rays of Liberty’s crown symbolize the seven seas and seven continents of the world. Liberty holds a tablet in her left hand that reads “July 4, 1776” (in Roman numerals).
• This is the poem that is mounted on the base of the statue.  Emma Lazarus wrote it.

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
with conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
a mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame,
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
with silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Discussion questions:

• What is liberty?  — the power of choice.
• What is a symbol? —  something visible that by association or convention represents something else that is invisible.
• What are some other symbols of our country? — The Flag, Eagle, etc.

Activities:

• Draw the statue. Give each child a paper and a green pencil or crayon. Help the children draw the statue one step at a time. Wait to start each step until all children have completed the previous step.
• Pictures of the kids: Take each child one at a time. Wrap a green sheet around the child and attach at shoulder. Have them wear a Statue of Liberty headband (you can get them from Liberty Tax or have them make one). Give them a flashlight to hold in their left hand. In their right hand give them a small poster board with “July 4th 1776” written on it. Have them pose like the Statue of Liberty and take a picture.

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Word Cards for Attention!

Word Cards

Using word cards to introduce every subject helps children know where the lesson is headed.  It helps them stay with you.  Even if the children you are teaching don’t read yet, a word card helps them learn to read plus it gets and keeps their attention.

It is often said that when teaching or giving a speech, tell them  what you’re going to tell them, then tell them, then tell them what you have told them.  This is especially true of young children.  Here are some tips for using word cards:

•  Use a word card to bring them back to the subject.   
• A word card can be used in fun, possibly silly, ways.
• Keeping the word cards down to 1 or 2 per lesson will help children stay focused.
• Vary how the word cards is used.
• Word cards can also help at home to keep children on task and focused.

Have fun using word cards to increase learning for the children in your life.  We would love feedback on how you have successfully used Word Cards.

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Teach Sharing (A How To)

Sharing!

Children love to share if they are invited to share and not forced to share.  Also, never reward a child that takes a toy by making the child that had the toy share.

When a child takes a toy away from another child, the toy should be given back to the child that had the toy.  Even if the child is a toddler, they shouldn’t take the toy away from anyone else.  After the toy is given back then the child is coached to ask for a turn with the toy.  The child with the toy is invited to share the toy when they are finished.  You can say something like; “Sam would like a turn when you are finished.”  In 1 or 2 minutes if they haven’t given the other person a turn.  Then remind them that the other child would like a turn.  The younger a child learns to share the better.

Here are tips for helping children share:

• Encourage the use of polite words like “please” and “thank you”.
• Never force a child to share. 
• Never let a child keep a toy they have taken from another child. 
• Always make them give it back.  Even if the child is older.  
• Teach children to use words to ask for something.

Teaching children to share this way will help them learn patience, how to ask for what they want, and learn to love sharing.

Enjoy the little ones in your life.