Sunshine Salad

Layer the salad with:

•     lettuce leaf (optional)
•     slice of canned pineapple
•     scoop of yellow yogurt

Eat and enjoy!

(Fun for children to make.)

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Upside-Down Cake

Upside-Down Cake (This can made in a cake pan or as muffins. You can use different canned fruit. It is so fun to make with kids.)

1.  Melt 1/4 cup of butter in a frying pan. (Cast Iron or one that can go in the oven.) (Step 1 and 2 can be done in the microwave.)

2.  Mix in 3/4 cup of brown sugar and take off the stove.

3.  Lay sliced canned pineapple on the brown sugar and butter.

4.  Mix in a bowl:

• 1 cup flour
• ½ T. baking powder

5.  Mix in another bowl:

• ½ cup oil or butter
• 3/4 cup sugar or brown sugar
• 1 t. vanilla
• 2 eggs

6.  Mix into egg mixture:  (Alternate)

• Flour mixture
• 6 T. milk

7.  Spoon batter on top of the pineapple in the frying pan. 

8.  Put the pan in the oven and bake at 350 for 30 min.

9.  Place a tray on top of the pan, then turn the cake upside down.  Can eat with Whipped Cream.

(A stable whipped cream is made by whipping 1 cup of whipping cream until it thickens.  Then add 1 T. of instant vanilla pudding, ½ t. of vanilla and 1 to 2 T. of powdered sugar.  Then whip a few seconds until thick. )

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.

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Lesson plan for Money–Penny

Money—Penny  

Objective:  Learn about pennies and how they are alike and different to other coins.

Preparations:

•     Find pictures and/or books about Abraham Lincoln and the Lincoln Memorial.
•     Trace 4 to 5 in. circles on brown paper.
•     Have pencils and scissors.
•     Have coins and some paper money.  (pennies, nickels, quarters, dimes)
•     Have word cards for these words: Money, penny, nickel, quarter, dime, and dollar.

Lesson:

• Put the word card “Money” on the table.  
• Put all the money by the word “Money”.  Read and put out the other words cards.
•  Divide the money between paper money and coins.
•  Discuss the difference and put the paper money with the “Dollar” word card. 
• Divide the coins while discussing how they are the same and different and put them with the right word card. 
• Take everything off the table except the pennies.

Use pictures or a book about pennies to discuss Abraham Lincoln and the Lincoln Memorial.  Show how there is a statue of Abraham in the Memorial and on the penny there is a small statue in the Memorial.  Show other pennies without the Memorial on the back.

Activity:

• Give each child a brown circle to cut out. 
• Then trade the scissors for a pencil to draw on the penny. 
• First draw Abraham Lincoln.  Show how to draw it in small segments.  (Draw the back and the head, then the face, then the neck and front, then the one eye, one ear and the hair.)  Accept anything they draw and encourage their efforts. 
• Next write LIBERTY along the left side, then write the year on the right side.  
• Turn it over draw the Lincoln Memorial.  (Draw a skinny rectangle at the bottom, a skinny rectangle at the top, then connect with lines or pillars, and a circle with two lines for the statue in the middle.) 
• Write USA at the top.
• ONE CENT at the bottom.

Symbols of The USA–The Bald Eagle

Symbols of The USA-The Bald Eagle

Objective: Help children understand the Bald Eagle is one of the Symbols of the United States of America.

Preparation:       

Find drawings or pictures of bald eagles from books, magazines or old calendars.

Puppet Materials Needed:

• paper lunch bags,
• white paper cut to the size of the flap of the paper bag,
• some crayons,
• scissors,
• glue,
• construction paper brown, white and yellow

Suggested books:

• An Eagle Flies High by Alice Pernick
• Eagle by Lloyd G Douglas

Lesson:

Read a book.

Discuss the eagle as a symbol of our country, while showing pictures.

• The bald eagle is a large, powerful, brown bird with a white head and tail.
• The bald eagle was chosen because it has a long life, strength, beauty and freedom.
• This majestic bird can only be found in North America.
• The word “bald” white not having no feathers.  It comes from an old word which means “white.”
• Bald Eagles live near large bodies of open water such as lakes, marshes, seacoasts and rivers, where there are plenty of fish to eat and tall trees for nesting and roosting.

Activity-Paper sack puppet:

• Cover the FLAP of the paper bag with white paper.
• Draw the eyes onto the HEAD. Demonstrate how to draw eyes step by step. (1. Draw 2 half circles.  2. Make a circle in each half circle. 3. Make a dot in each circle). If you like, you can use sticker eyes.
• On yellow paper help the children draw a beak. (Make an upside-down teardrop shape with little lines for nostrils)  Have the children cut them out.
• Using brown construction paper, help the children draw wings. (Make half circles that each cover half of the paper; draw in “U’s” along the bottom edges to look like feathers.)
• Using white construction paper, help the children draw tail feathers. (An upside-down heart with an extra bump.) (Can use scraps from the wings.) Have the children cut them out.
• Have the children color and embellish their drawings. Glue the beak under the eyes. It will hang down over the BODY.
• Make sure you only put glue on top of the beak (where it touches the HEAD) so you don’t end up gluing the mouth shut.
• Glue the wings into the FLAP.
• Glue the tail on the BACK.

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The USA–Our Country

USA: OUR COUNTRY

Objective:  Learn the name of our country (USA), what our country looks like, how a map of our country looks and which state is our state.

Preparation:

• Print out map of the USA. Here is a link to a good map (USA with State Outlines)you can use:  http://www.coloringcastle.com/state_coloring_pages.html
• Have crayons.
• Find a big map of the USA and a globe.
• Books and/or pictures about our country.
• Suggested books:  Me on the Map by Joan Sweeney,  In Our Country by Susan Canizares and Daniel Morton,  America the Beautiful by Scholastic   (The following link is to Scholastic if you would like this book.)  http://store.scholastic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay_America+the+Beautiful_10311_-1_10052_10051

Lesson:

• Read a book or use pictures to talk about our country.
• Show the children big maps of the USA and point out the states and the oceans and boundaries.
• Show which state is their state and talk about it and other states they have heard of.
• Show the United States on a globe and where the children are relative to the whole world.
• Describe where places are located on a map using relative distance and direction, such as near-far, above-below and cardinal directions (north, south, east, and west).

Activity:

• Pass out printed map worksheets and crayons to children.
• Show the children the words “United States of America”. Tell them this is the name of our country but it is a very long name so we can shorten it by calling it USA. Show them how to write USA on their map.
• Show them the state they live in and tell them the name of the state. Write in the name of the state on the map. Have them color it.
• Ask them if they have been to any other states (grandma’s house in Arizona, Disneyland in California, etc.) and have the child color them.

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Amphibians

Amphibian Lesson

Objective:  Help children learn some of the traits for amphibians and compare to other animals.  (You may want to organize your amphibian theme activities into 2 lessons.)

Preparation:

• Find drawings or pictures of frogs, toads and salamanders from books, magazines or old calendars.
• Cut sheets of legal size papers in half lengthwise and accordion fold it them into 4 sections. Have crayons, pencils or markers for the children to draw with.
• Gather materials: Paper plates; Green, red and white construction paper; Watercolor paint and glue.  (Optional second day activity.  Paint the paper plate green on the first day.)
• Find a book to read about the life cycle of a frog. Some excellent books are:     Tadpole to Frog by Jan Kottke    Fantastic Frogs by Fay Robinson   The Big Wide-mouthed Frog, by Ana Martin Larranaga

Lesson:

What is an amphibian?

1. Amphibians are animals that metamorphose from a water animal to a land animal.
2. Amphibians include frogs, toads and salamanders. Show pictures and discuss differences
3. Toads have dry, warty skin, while frogs have smooth, wet skin.
4. Frogs have tiny teeth on both upper and lower jaws, while toads do not have teeth.
5. Frogs have longer hind legs than toads. So frogs jump, while toads hop.
6. Salamanders have a long body and a tail. Frogs and toads are shorter and have no tail.

Define metamorphosis and discuss.  Change of physical form

Discussion questions:

1. What information about amphibians did you like the most?
2. What are the main differences between a frog and toad?
3. What is a tadpole?
4. What other animals change or go through metamorphosis? Butterflies
5. Where does a tree frog live? In the trees of the rain forest.
6. Where does a bull frog live? In freshwater ponds, lakes and marshes.

Read a book and discuss each stage of the life cycle:

1. Eggs.
2. Tadpoles have gills, similar to fish, covered and protected by a flap of skin. As they continue to develop, their hind legs form and grow. Then their tail begins to shrink and the front legs appear.
3. Soon the gills are gone, and the tadpole begins to breathe air at the surface, with his brand new lungs.
4. Soon after transforming into froglets or toadlets, they begin life out of the water and start eating insects.

Activities:

• The Frog Life Cycle Book  Accordion fold a half sheet of legal size paper into four pages. Label each page as follows: Eggs; Tadpoles; Tadpoles with legs; Adult or Frog. Write “Frogs” on the front for the title.  Have the child draw a picture to go with each stage.  Have the child write their names on their book.
•  
• Frog Puppet  Watercolor a paper plate green and let dry. Fold plate in half and cut out four long legs and glue them in the middle of the plate. Cut a red tongue to place between the legs. For eyes cut two place half circles and two white circles these are glued on for the eyes on the front of the frog. You can make the frog rib-bit by pressing down on the folded plate.

Birds

Birds

Objective: Children will learn the characteristics of birds and compare with other animals.
Preparation:

• Find drawings or pictures of birds and other types of animals from books, magazines or old calendars.
• Make word cards for the words, Birds, Animals, Yes, and No.
• Gather the following materials:

• Pine cone
• Paper plate
• Butter knife
• Smooth peanut butter
• Birdseed
• Ribbon or yarn
• Scissors

• Suggested books:
  • Are You My Mother? By P.D. Eastman.
  • The Hungry Hummingbird by April Pulley Sayre.
  • Birds by Carolyn MacLulich

Lesson:
Read a book then discuss the characteristics of birds while showing pictures.

Characteristics of birds:

• All birds are warm-blooded.
• Have feathers.  (Only birds have feathers.)
• Have wings.
• Lay eggs.
• Have 2 legs.
• Have a beak.
• Have no teeth.

Activities:

Play the Yes and No game with pictures of different animals.  “Is this a bird?” Then place the animal on the yes or no pile.  This gives an opportunity to discuss characteristics of different animals.

Make a bird feeder:

1. Cut a long length of yarn to hang the bird feeder.
2. Put a piece of tape on the yarn with the child’s name on it.
3. Tie the yarn in a knot around the pine cone near the top.
4. Tie a knot in the end of the yarn so it can be hung up outside.
5. Use the butter knife to get a large clump of peanut butter on the paper plate.
6. Use the knife to spread peanut butter inside the pine cone and around the edges.
7. Put birdseed on a plate.
8. Roll the pine cone in the birdseed that is on the plate.
9. Hang the bird feeder on a tree.

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Mammals

Mammals    

Objective: Children will learn the characteristics of mammals and how they compare to other animals. 
Preparation:

• Find drawings or pictures of mammals and other types of animals from books, internet, magazines or old calendars.

• Make word cards for the words, Mammals, Animals, Yes, and No.

• Have paper and crayons.

• Suggested books:

  • Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae
  • The Hat by Jan Brett

Lesson:
Read the book(s) then discuss while showing pictures.
Discuss the characteristics of mammals

• All mammals are warm-blooded.

• Most young are born alive.

• They have hair or fur on their bodies.

• Every mammal is a vertebrate. 

• All mammals have lungs to breathe air.

• Mammals feed milk to their babies.

Activities:

Play the Yes and No game with pictures of different animals.  “Is this a mammal?” Then place the animal on the yes or no pile.  (This gives an opportunity to discuss characteristics of different animals.)

Have children draw their favorite mammal.  Write the name of the mammal on the picture.   

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Review Consonant Letter Sounds

       Review Letter Sounds

Objective:  Children will recognize the Consonant Capital and Lowercase (small) letters and their sounds.  (This lesson can be taught 4 times; once for each group of letter consonant sounds.   bhlft, prmnk, cdsgj, qvwyz)

Preparations:

• Have magnet letters or other letters for matching.  (Capital and Small Letters)
• Be prepared to listen to the Phonics By Spelling sounds to be reviewed. https://www.phonicsbyspelling.com/
• Be prepared to use the pictures for each sound and the Sound Cards for each sound.  https://www.phonicsbyspelling.com/
• Have cards or magnet letters with capital and small letters for matching.  (These can be made on the computer, printed on cardstock, then cut.)
• Copy worksheet for the letters to be reviewed. letter review lthbf    letter review prmnk    letter review cdsgj     letter review qvwyz

Lesson:

• Play the songs for each of the sounds to be reviewed.  
• Give each child one or more Sound Cards (spellings for each sound) including the sounds to be reviewed.  Say a sound then have the children give you the sound card that goes with each sound. 
• Use magnet letters or cards with capital and small letters to match the capitals with their small letter.  Talk about if they look more alike or if they look different.
• Make words by writing or using magnet letters.  You pick a vowel and a consonant to be reviewed.  Let children pick another consonant and see if you can make a word or just make some fun sounds.  Or you can have a child pick a vowel and another child pick a consonant then you pick another consonant that makes a word.   Sound out the words together.  

Activity:

• Show the children the worksheet.  Have them help decide which capital letters go with which small letters.
• Give a worksheet to each child.  Have them match the letters and write their name.
• Say what each picture is and ask what letter sound it starts with.  Review how to make the letter on your sample worksheet, and then have each child write the letter on their worksheet.   Continue until finished.
• All worksheets need to be done with a teacher and they need to be done right.  Never use a worksheet to test the children.  Use them as a learning experience.  They are a great hands-on continuation of the lesson.
• It is fun to have them write a simple word on the back and draw a picture, such as sad.