Whew! It's been a hot minute but here we are!

Glove Gardens

This post is simply to share the success of our "glove gardens" from the "In a Garden" unit.

Preparation:

     Materials include one glove and 5 cotton balls per child. Also crucial parts of this long-term activity are the SEEDS! In our glove gardens are cosmos (1), hollyhock (2), green pea (3), sunflower (4), and carrot (5). I chose a combination of flowers and vegetable seeds in order to get a greater diversity of sprout time, sprout type, and examples of what people grow!

Process:

    Beforehand, label each glove with the child's name and label each finger with a number. As a whole group, we looked at the seed types that we had to plant in each finger. We made predictions ("best guesses") about how long it would take to see sprouts, where we should put the gardens, how often we should water them. Let them be a part of the decision-making process!

     Then, we sat at our tables and I gave out the gloves. They picked one cotton ball and stuffed one in each finger, which tests and works fine motor skills. Then they went into centers and I was able to work one-on-one to help them drop the seeds in the corresponding finger spots and apply the first water sprays (there's those fine motor skills again!). After all seeds have been placed and watered, I clothespinned the gloves to the blinds on our large classroom window for access to sunlight. After all glove gardens have been placed by the window, I watered them with 3-5 squirts from a mini water bottle sprayer each day and we watched them sprout and grow!

     *Be prepared for some anomalies! One green pea seed got moldy and actually turned red and one seed had a gnat trapped inside the finger spot with it that died there and so we saw it every time we checked that particular seed. However, just about all seeds ended up sprouting, so I was very pleased with them overall!

     *I also left the seed packets (with the number labels) displayed on our front whiteboard for reference. My kids asked me multiple times which seeds were in which spots, so this was a way for me to remember and for them to be able to find the answer by investigation!


P.S. I used these glove gardens as part of our Mother's Day cards/gifts as a twist on the always adorable potted plant! The seeds from the finger spots are easily transferable if anyone at home wanted to keep their garden growing in the ground! Just stapled and glued onto cardstock for stability :)

Happy growing!

Stay safe and sweet, y'all.

Winter Wonder-lessons!

January means penguins!

     We're buckling down to the heart of winter, and to relate our cold weather to the world around us, our class studied "polar animals" in January!

Notice the lack of the word, "Arctic"

     Now before I even started planning, I knew I had to make sure we (me, the kids, and the parents) all knew that our topic was the more general term of POLAR animals, as opposed to the more specific term "ARCTIC animals". Any time one searches or even thinks about animals that live in cold climates, penguins are going to be at or near the top of that list. However, what some might not realize is the fact that cold weather (i.e. Emperor) penguins only inhabit the SOUTH pole, or Antarctica. Therefore penguins cannot be classified as ARCTIC, or North Pole, animals.

Literally complete opposite sides of the Earth. 

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     With that technicality covered, I'd like to share some activities from our unit on Polar animals! We focused on polar bears, arctic hares and foxes, walruses, and penguins!

Handprint Polar Bears!

     These came out so adorable! We make white handprints on black construction paper (I drew the eyes, mouth, ears, and paws with a permanent marker after they were dry), then the kids cut the handprints out and glued them on gray paper. With the polar bears glued down, I used a big stamp to make the "p" and "b," then they wrote the letters to fill it in before they drew the snow around their polar bears.  I made this into a two day activity with day one being handprints and day two being cutting, gluing, and stamping/drawing.

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Arctic Hare and Fox Hop Game & Flip Sticks

     These went along with a game we played that is called "Arctic Fox & Hares Hop" which is just light "Red Light, Green Light". One person stands alone and is called the fox, and everyone else is a hare. The hares try to hop as far and quietly as they can  before the fox turns around!

     If the fox turns around and sees any hare still moving, then that hare must go back to the beginning and start over. The first hare to reach the fox and touch him/her becomes the fox and the game starts over with the new fox. We played the way where everyone gets at least one turn by saying if a hare reaches the fox and he/she has already had a turn being the fox, then the winning hare must choose a different hare (who hasn't had a turn being the fox) to be the new fox.

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     The flip sticks that we did illustrate a more academic aspect of these animals. Each side of the stick has the same picture, but one side is left white, while the other side is colored grey or brown or a mix. This shows how the animals have summer and winter coats that change color to help them blend in with the season.

Two different sticks to show the difference between each side.

     We colored one of each animal (and left the other white) and glued them onto popsicle sticks! That way students can quickly flip between the two different sides of each animal's stick.

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"P" Belly Penguins!

     

     I had so much fun with this activity! I love penguins and penguins things in the classroom so I saved the best for the last week! 

     We started with the belly. I simply drew the bubbles in the "P" design and wrote the word underneath. The students used q-tips and orange paint to dot each bubble and trace the letters to spell "penguin." When that dried, they cut out the belly, and glued it on the (already cut out) black penguin body. Then we attached the (already cut out) head, beak, eyes, feet and wings. The kids loved putting their wings in silly positions!

Our "colony"  :)

That's all for January!



Be safe & sweet, y'all!