Groundhog Day: Real or Make-Believe?

Fiction or nonfiction? Real or make-believe? Fact or fantasy? These are all phrases for an important early learning concept: Could this really happen? And what better time to encourage child thought about make-believe events versus real-life occurrences than Groundhog Day!  

You can introduce your child (or children) to this key idea by asking him or her to look at books you have in your home, classroom, or during a trip to the local library. Use books to begin the conversation, “Could this really happen?” We like to encourage children to sort books into 2 piles: “It Can Happen” and “It Can Not Happen.”

This book can happen.

This book is pretend. There is a talking bear.

After this, you can introduce your child (or children) to Groundhog Day. Tell the story of the little creature, Punxsutawney Phil. We encourage you to use the name, Punxsutawney, as our experience tells us that young children often delight in saying unusual multisyllabic words. Practice this with them and watch the joy when they share this name with others!

Discuss that a real groundhog will come out of its hole. Ask children if the groundhog can really tell us what the weather might be for the next several weeks. Some children may have valid reasons for answering yes. We encourage you to accept any reasoning. The key component is for children to verbalize support for a position. It is important to remember that children should learn to give reasons for what they think.

As you look forward to the big day, have children make their own groundhog, popping out of a hole. Use a cup for the groundhog burrow. I use white cups for snowy areas and brown cups for other spots. You can cover the cup with brown paper from a recycled bag as shown below.

Cover any disposable cup to make it brown or white.

Give children an outline of a groundhog or have them draw one of their own.

Children can draw their own animal or you can help them.

Cut out the animal. Next, poke a hole in the bottom of the cup and tape the groundhog to a craft stick or pencil. Your child can move the groundhog up and down to peek out of its hole. Remember, this is a valuable opportunity for children to experience the concept of up and down or in and out.

The groundhog is in its hole.

The groundhog is out of its hole. It is up.

Encourage verbal skills by asking children to explain Groundhog Day as they show their art creation. You can add to the fun by reading and rereading the following poem:

February Second

What animal gives us the weather report,

Right there from his snowy winter fort?

He wiggles his nose up from the ground,

And looks at the scenery all around.

If his shadow he suddenly sees,

Into his burrow this fellow flees.

Then snowy, icy winter stays,

For 42 more freezing days.

But if this creature runs about,

Then “Spring is here!” we all can shout!

Yes, the groundhog is legendary,

For weather advice in February!

Thinking Creatively With Macaroni!

While we certainly want children to have and use concrete skills like knowing color words or numerals, we also hope they think creatively and problem solve. One of the ways we can encourage and celebrate creative thought is to let children play with sorting. They will surprise you with their thinking.

I like to take out the macaroni that we dyed together (see last week's post) and ask children how they would like to sort it. Usually I show how to sort by color and then I ask them to think of different ways.

The child took the curly macaroni in hand. 

I encourage children to describe what they are doing to encourage expressive language and use of important school language like "in a line" or "first," "next," and so on.

This preschooler used directions words and phrases like "in a line" and "use them all."

While encouraging school language, we can also celebrate unique ways of sorting. This child thought about shape.

Notice that the child is still sorting using shape. He is also talking about the idea of "below."

Finally, the shell macaroni shapes are added to the sort.

When finished with shape sorting, the child was asked to think about a different way to sort the macaroni. This is important. We should encourage children to consider new ways of thinking. When asked to sort in "Bennett's way" (use children's names for added motivation!), look at what this young child did:

The child wanted to make "groups."

Notice the idea of numeracy in these groups. One straight macaroni, one curly macaroni, and two shells are used in each group. He described his color choices of as he picked matching shells and yellow curly macaroni.

This is a wonderful example of personal creative thought. We need to encourage and celebrate this type of unique sorting!

Make a Math, Language, and Critical Thought Manipulative: Color Macaroni!

Last week we talked about the importance of knowing and using color words. This is necessary for both expressive (saying) and receptive (hearing) preschool language skills. There are so many meaningful and fun activities you can do with colored macaroni that we thought it important to share our favorite techniques with you.  Remember, this isn’t just about you, as the adult, making a cheap manipulative, but it’s about modeling for children that we don’t always need expensive tools. We can make them!

Parents can take children to the grocery store to look at the boxes of pasta. Discuss the different shapes. Teachers can cut out advertisements showing various pasta shapes and bring these in to show the class. Discuss the shapes children find interesting and tell them you will try to buy them. You can even make a list together, a great interactive writing lesson that shows children the power of writing!

Be sure to add white vinegar, food coloring, and zip-loc bags to your list.  Bring all the ingredients and show children just how these simple household supplies can create meaningful learning tools.

Pour about 3 tablespoons of white vinegar into a baggie.  Then have your young helpers decide on a color. We suggest guiding them to the primary colors first. Then using information and activities from last week’s activity, encourage children to mix the primary colors to create green, orange, and purple.

Ask children to help you find various macaroni shapes.

 Shake the bags and allow to dry a bit.

Then place the contents of each bag on wax paper to air dry.

When finished, show children the wonderful and easy learning tools they helped create!

 Check back next week for macaroni lessons!

School Language and Inquiry: Color Words

We know how important it is for our young children to identify colors. It is one of those school language skills that can confuse children if they begin kindergarten not being able to identify blue, red, green, etc. Think about it - teachers say, “Sit at the red table. Stand on the green square.” If children are not able to identify colors, it can set them up for early confusion. They may be mislabeled as poor students or behavior problems when the real issue they didn’t understand color words. This is why academic language (or school language) is necessary for children to learn. 

You can use color identification as more then memorization; this skill can lead to inquiry and scientific thought, too. So let’s delve into the many opportunities color provides us!

One fun way to encourage color knowledge is to let children explore. Give them paints and have them plop blobs of the primary colors: red, blue, and yellow on a paper.  Develop expressive language by talking about the colors. Have children look for other objects that match these colors. Be sure to use the color words when looking and discussing these objects.

This child looks for red, blue, and yellow letters.  

You may even encourage children to look through books for pictures of red, blue, or yellow items. This encourages all those Concept of Print components like holding the book right side up, turning pages correctly, or looking at the page on the left before the page on the right.  Be sure to discuss this with your child (or small group of children) as you do this. Model and talk about looking at a book by saying, “We can look for red things by holding the book like this.” Show how to hold the book. “We can look for blue things on this page first.” Point to the left page. “We can turn one page at a time to look for yellow things.” Demonstrate how to turn pages. It sounds simple, but children often don’t know and we forget to show them!  

Children can begin to think about sorting colors. This encourages higher order thinking skills. Sort anything: blocks, crayons, pieces of clay, or even letters. We like sorting as it encourages creative thought!

There are many ways to sort objects. This child sorts by color.

A wonderful way to go beyond the identification of colors is to encourage scientific inquiry. Ask children to predict (or hypothesize) what will happen when colors are mixed together. This is the beginning of science exploration! Let children find out for themselves and rejoice in their discoveries. This can be as simple as letting them mix paint on a paper as shown below:

 

Stay tuned for more January fun with colors. We’ll show you how to continue to develop creative thought!

Holiday Art Geometry!

Holiday time is a wonderful opportunity to intersect geometry and art. This week we share two fun ways to teach and reinforce geometric shapes. The key is oral expression. So, get children talking about their work!

Painting Geometry:

First paint a large green triangle on a paper. 

Talk about the shape and ask children to find other shapes that look like a triangle in your classroom, on the playground, or in the home. Give children green paintbrushes and ask them to fill in the green triangle.

After it dries, suggest they paint red circles or other shapes on the tree. Again, discuss the shapes and ask children to verbalize. For an added touch, I like to have children use a straw to create a string of lights. Dilute paint with water and then put a dab on the tree. Have children use a straw to blow the paint around. There will be lots of giggles and excitement!

Shape Tree:

You can also glue a geometric tree scene. Cut several sizes of green triangles. I cut out squares and rectangles to look like gifts, too. 

Ask children to layer the triangles from small to large. This is good practice with key math vocabulary.  Have children glue the triangles. Later add the gifts as you discuss the shapes.

This project can become a winter scene, too. Skip the gifts and glue cotton balls to the trees. As you do this, talk about circles and spheres. The finished product is a winter wonderland of geometry!

Happy Holiday Art! 

Art = Science and Oral Language Skills

Many of you likely made the famous “hand” turkeys but did you know handprints can be used to make many other animals, too?  As you do this art project, remember the key is in the conversation. You can teach and reinforce color words along with direction words as children make their caribou (or reindeer) masterpieces.

Begin by showing children a picture of a reindeer or caribou. For interested children, you may want to point out that reindeer are smaller caribou. They live with people. For curious children, you can even introduce the word domesticated. You can talk about dogs, cats, or cows as domesticated animals. Ask children to think about animals that are wild animals like squirrels, bears, seals, and caribou!  You can show children this drawing of a reindeer:

 

Tell children they are going to make a reindeer (or caribou) head. Have them clench their fist as shown:

Ask children what color the reindeer’s face could be. This child chose purple:

Paint the part of the hand as shown above. Have the child put his/her hand down on the paper. Emphasize the word, “down. “

Then have children make the antlers. Talk about these structures that appear on caribou and reindeer. Ask children to choose a color and paint the hand:

Emphasize to children to put their hand “above” the head.

Let the paint dry. Then ask children to paint the eyes and nose on the face.  See if children can point to the place where these facial features should be before painting.

When finished, have children describe the sequential steps in creating their pictures. See if they use appropriate color words and proper direction vocabulary such as down, on, and above.  Also ask children to talk about the differences between caribou and reindeer. The key is the conversation! 

Squishy Squash Exploration

Squash exploration is a perfect integration of science, art, fine motor skills, and school readiness skills. Try squishin’ some squash to excite young children.  And holiday time is the perfect time to turn preschoolers into food scientists.

Bring in several types of squash. Still have pumpkins around? Add them to the table or ask them to recall what they remember about cleaning their pumpkins.  This will help activate background knowledge, an important school readiness skill. 

 

Write words like seeds, pulp, and skin. 

 

Ask them to look at types of squash you have in your classroom or home. You can encourage families to visit the local market to look at different types of squash on display. Some families may even use their mobile phones to take photos of this squash exploration. 

 

Ask children to predict what the squash will look like when cut open. Either write class predictions on a chart or have each child draw a picture of what they think they will see. You can also encourage children to talk about and/or draw what they think the similarities and differences of each squash will be once cut open.

Encourage children to handle the squash. Ask them to use specific vocabulary to describe the squash as they take out seeds, feel the pulp, and touch the carved-out squash.  Children can discuss their predictions. It is important to create an atmosphere where children are free to say, “My prediction was wrong.” We like to praise children for these words, as we want them to feel free to think creatively as they make guesses. We don’t want a classroom where only correct predictions are celebrated.

 

Finally, integrate art with your science project.  This art can be an accurate representation of what was discovered. Have them glue actual seeds and ribbon or yarn to construction paper to show the inside of a squash.

 

Conclude the Squishy Squash Exploration by preparing a dish with squash and reading a book like Sophie’s Squash by Pat Zietlow and Anne Wilsdorf to the class.