Week 19: Bridges

When you randomly ask your child what he/she would like to learn about,

make sure you are prepared to hear

the most random thing you can think of....

enter Bridges.

Why on earth my daughter, while eating bagels at the bagel place,

tells me she wants to learn about bridges is beyond me.

I even looked around (we were outside)

to see if there pictures or logos with bridges.

Nope.

Out of thin air; bridges.

So here it is, a lesson about Bridges.

Books

Golden Gate Bridge by Riggs, Kate.

Brooklyn Bridge by Tieck, Sarah, 1976-

The bridge is up! by Bell, Babs, 1944-

Who's that tripping over my bridge? by Salley, Coleen.

Hey kid, want to buy a bridge? by Scieszka, Jon. (Assuming this is a chapter book, but we'll see if its appropriate for reading aloud when we get it.)

Cross a bridge by Hunter, Ryan Ann.

The monkey bridge by Martin, Rafe

The family under the bridge by Carlson, Natalie Savage.

Twenty-one elephants by Bildner, Phil.

Crafts

Bright Hub has a great lesson plan for The Billy Goats Gruff...story. You can read it online here. I'll read the story, and then we'll talk about bridges, and why we have them.

Then we'll construct our own popsicle stick bridge. Everything I have found is for a little bit older aged children, so I think we'll just wing it. We'll probably make a bridge more like the ones in the Billy Goats Gruff picture, rather than a real 3d bridge...but we'll see. If I get daring, we might try to build THIS bridge.

If only we could accomplish this.... {Photo Source}

Here's a great Bridges Clip Art Site...

Songs:

London Bridge is Falling Down ( Have to do this one!)

London Bridge is falling down,

Falling down, Falling down.

London Bridge is falling down,

My fair lady.

Take a key and lock her up,

Lock her up, Lock her up.

Take a key and lock her up,

My fair lady.

How will we build it up,

Build it up, Build it up?

How will we build it up,

My fair lady?

Build it up with silver and gold,

Silver and gold, Silver and gold.

Build it up with silver and gold,

My fair lady.

Gold and silver I have none,

I have none, I have none.

Gold and silver I have none,

My fair lady.

Build it up with needles and pins,

Needles and pins, Needles and pins.

Build it up with needles and pins,

My fair lady.

Pins and needles bend and break,

Bend and break, Bend and break.

Pins and needles bend and break,

My fair lady.

Build it up with wood and clay,

Wood and clay, Wood and clay.

Build it up with wood and clay,

My fair lady.

Wood and clay will wash away,

Wash away, Wash away.

Wood and clay will wash away,

My fair lady.

Build it up with stone so strong,

Stone so strong, Stone so strong.

Build it up with stone so strong,

My fair lady.

Stone so strong will last so long,

Last so long, Last so long.

Stone so strong will last so long,

My fair lady.

Snacks:

We'll probably make bridges out of pretzel dough, and I will bake them...

Thanks!

Week 15: Solar and Wind Energy

I know.... I know... you are thinking,
Solar and Wind Power to teach Preschoolers?
Well, it wasn't necessarily my choice...
I asked Lily what she wanted to learn about and she said,
"Well, first I want to learn about Tigers and then Solar Panels..."
I was so intrigued and frankly freaked out by this that I thought I should try it right away
(before her ecological passion is gone)
and see how it goes.
I decided to add Wind Energy on there because
I thought it would be fun to do some experiments with it.

Books

Solar power

Benduhn, Tea

Solar power
Rooney, Anne



Wind power
Benduhn, Tea

Science Project/ Experiment-


Here's the link to make your own simple solar oven...we're going to 'cook' hotdogs in it!

We're also going to use this as an excuse to buy a kite:
When your children get done flying a kite, instead of rewinding the string to bring it down. Wrap the string around another stick or your hand. When you get it down then you can stretch out the string and show your children how high up the kite was.


Solar Craft-
I'm going to use THIS craft for inspiration, and let the sun help us make a sun with construction paper!

Here's another one from one of my favorite blogs- The Long Thread....guest posting on another fav kids craft blog- Skip to My Lou! Painted Sun Prints

Solar Songs:

Mister Sun
Oh Mister Sun, Sun,

Mister Golden Sun,
Please shine down on me

Oh Mister Sun, Sun,
Mister Golden Sun,
Hiding behind a tree...

These little children
Are asking you
To please come out
So we can play with you

Oh Mister Sun, Sun,
Mister Golden Sun,
Please shine down on me!

Oh Mister Sun, Sun,
Mister Golden Sun,
Please shine down on me

Oh Mister Sun, Sun,
Mister Golden Sun,
Hiding behind a tree...

These little children
Are asking you
To please come out
So we can play with you

Oh Mister Sun, Sun,
Mister Golden Sun,
Please shine down on...
Please shine down on...
Please shine down on me!

W-I-N-D-Y

(Sung to BINGO)

There was a day when we were blown
And windy was the weather-O,
W-I-N-D-Y, W-I-N-D-Y, W-I-N-D-Y,
And windy was the weather. Continue

Sun Shaped Snacks:

I'll be doing this but with a pointy star.... hence a sun!

Photo credit:

Thanks!

Week 9: Recycling

Last week we explored the world of rhyming... 

I have come to find that I am very rusty at rhyming. 

We played the guess the animal game,

 and I don't think 'blafigator' is a word 

(or if it even technically rhymes)...

but hey, she guessed Alligator, so she understands rhyming right?

Curious George is one of Lily's favorite shows that I let her watch. 

Last week, there was an episode on recycling. 

I thought it would be great to teach her about recycling, 

which would then lead into her first chore...

putting the recycling items out in the garage and sorting. 

Hmmm, maybe chores will be next week!

RECYCLING

Books:

Stuff: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle by Steven Kroll

Recycle Everyday by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace

Recycle! : a handbook for kids by Gibbons, Gail

Curious George plants a tree by Perez, Monica.

50 simple things kids can do to recycle by Montez, Michele

Crafts and Activities: SOURCE

RECYCLE CHORE
I am definitely going to have Lily help me with the recycling this week, and start to teach her how to do it on her own. We already have three different baskets in our garbage cabinet in the kitchen, so it should be pretty easy to teach her....'should' being the key word there :)

RECYCLED MATERIAL COLLAGE
I have a bunch of magazines that I want to recycle. Before I do that, I will have Lily go through them and find items that can be recycled. She will then glue them in their appropriate bin on her paper.

RECYCLE PLANT
I would love to take Lily to the Recycle Plant to see how things work once the truck picks them up, but I will have to look into it.


SONGS: SOURCE


RECYCLING FOR OUR EARTH

Hear the cans go crunch, crunch, crunch,
Crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch,
Hear the cans go crunch, crunch, crunch,
Recycle for our earth.

Hear the bottle go ding, ding, ding
Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding,
Hear the bottle go ding, ding, ding
Recycle for our earth.

Hear the paper go crinkle, crinkle, crinkle
crinkle, crinkle, crinkle, crinkle, crinkle, crinkle
Hear the paper go crinkle, crinkle, crinkle
Recycle for our earth

Recycling Song - Sung to "Row Row Row Your Boat"

Save, save, save the cans, throw them in the bin,
We can help to save the earth if we all pitch in.

Save, save, save the paper....
Save, save, save the bottles....
Save, save, save the plastics....

SNACKS: SOURCE

Donut Holes- The hole cut from donuts used to go to waste until someone thought of selling them. Ask them if they now of anything that goes to waste that could be used. To drive home the point give them donut holes for snack.