So, drawn from your suggestions,here are two more excellent titles to add to your book list for this time of year:

Lesley Brooks Legakis told us that, “My favorite is “Fish is Fish” by Leo Lionni. It’s about a minnow and a polliwog who are best friends until the polliwog outgrows the pond and goes off to see the world. Thankfully, he returns to share his adventures with his friends as I encourage my students to do with me!”

While Brandy Raymond shared, “Of course…Oh, the Places You’ll Go!

What favorite titles are you reaching for this time of year?  Please share!  We’d love to hear from you!

The kids seem to have sprouted up over night, and the end of the year is just around the corner.  Here’s a fun project that makes for an adorable bulletin board and could easily work as a Mother’s Day present.

To make the flowers you’ll need some small paper plates and some colored paper (colored copy paper works great).  Have your students trace their hands several times over on brightly colored paper, then glue them around the edges of the paper plate.  Glue a close up photo of each child (printed out onto regular paper) as the center of the flower.

To make the leaves in the photo, the kids used a stencil cut out of cardboard.  Each leaf contains one of the following sentences:

My name is ____________.

I am _____ -years-old.

I like to _____________.

To assemble, the leaves and flower were stapled onto a long “stem” of green paper.  Now, stand back and admire how all the flowers in your kinder “garden” have grown!  If you want to use these as a Mother’s Day gift, you might want to add the following poem:

Dear Mom,
I will love you forever;
And forever you will be
The most wonderful mother,
You mean everything to me.

I thought of buying you flowers
In the usual way,
But I knew you would prefer
A FOREVER bouquet!

(To the tune of “I’m a Little Teapot”)

I put a tiny seed in the dark, dark ground.
(Mimic putting a seed in the ground or in your hand.)

 

Out came the yellow sun, big and round.
(Raise arms to make circle above head.)

 

Down came the cool rain, soft and slow.
(Mimic rain falling from the sky with hands.)

 

Up came a little sprout, grow, grow, grow.
(Use arm/hand to mimic sprout growing and flower on top.)

Seasons of trees

In spring
The trees
Are a beautiful sight
Dressed in blossom
Pink and white.

In summer
The trees
Are full of treats
Apples and pears
And cherries to eat.

In autumn
The trees
Are red and gold
And the leaves fall down
As the days grow cold.

In winter
The trees
Are bare and plain
Waiting for spring
To dress them again.

Julie Holder

Review the seasons of the year and their impact on trees with this cute project.  The samples in the photo were made using die cut trees, but you could certainly have students tear strips of brown paper to make their own, or give them a blackline tree to cut out, or cut them out by hand for your students.  So there are lots of options!

Give your students a 24″ x 4″ strip of construction paper to glue their trees on (or you could use sentence strips).  Spacing them out will be easier if you show them how to fold the paper in half and then half again to make four equal(ish) parts.  Once they’re glued down, you might want to have them label the trees with the seasons.  Then, it’s time to decorate the trees to reflect the different times of the year. In the example, spring is tissue paper flowers, fall and summer are appropriately colored leaves pulled off the mini garlands you can get at the dollar store, and winter is white paint snow dotted on with a Q-tip.  Of course, you could always add Q-tip red dots for apples (or other fruit) in summer, or have kids tear construction paper leaves, etc.  There’s no wrong way!

Referenced in the article is this You Tube video about the use of iPads with young children.

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Spring can often bring out the sillies.  Whether it’s the wind, the smell of summer around the corner or just a full moon, this is often a time of year where indoor voices can be in short supply.

Would you like to read a story or teach a lesson without having to stop a million times?  Here’s a little trick to help keep the noise level in check.  Put on your Easter headband “bunny ears” (from the dollar store, or Target’s dollar section).

Once the giggles have subsided, explain to your students that you now have really, really big ears, and can hear extremely well.  So…they’ll have to be really quiet to avoid hurting your ears – or you’ll sadly have to take them off!  ;)

Row, row, row your boat,

Gently down the stream,

Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,

Life is but a dream.

 

Bow, bow, bow your boat,

Gently down the stream,

Berrily, berrily, berrily, berrily,

Life is but a dream.

 

Zow, zow, zow your boat…zerrily, zerrily, zerrily, zerrily…

Mow, mow, mow your boat…merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily…

Repeat with other consonants.

1. Oats and Beans and Barley, Raffi – Join Raffi and sing along and make the motions as the farmer plants his seeds, and surveys their progress.
2. Each Of Us Is A Flower, Charlotte Diamond – Review the needs of plants with this gentle, sweet song that is quick and easy to learn.
3. The Garden Song, Charlotte Diamond – Inch by inch, row by row, practice rhyming while you review the needs of plants.
4. The Corner Grocery Store, Raffi – With beans that try on jeans and corn blowing on a horn, the silly rhyming lyrics will have your students laughing while they improve their phonemic awareness.
5. Parts of a Flower, (from the album “Kiss Your Brain”, Dr. Jean – Practice the parts of a flower in song.

What songs are you singing with your students to celebrate the arrival of spring?  Have some favorites?  Please share!

Preschool Activities and Lesson Plans