Day 5 - GARDENING!

Happy Earth Day!!

Welcome to Our Sunny Garden!!

Today we were finally able to get into the garden to start planting!

There were six jobs that we needed to do in or plant our garden. Students were placed in groups of three by which type of flower they were able to plant. After assigning each student their two roles in the garden, they were able to practice each of their roles in a station. Job 1 was digging and covering the seed when done, the students with Job 2 measured the depth of the hole the seed goes in (1 inch) and planted the seed. The students with the last job, Job 3, measured the distance between each flower (1 foot) and watered their seeds after planting. After practicing, the students were able to head out and actually plant their seeds!

Tina measuring the distance between holes.

Digging and planting!

More planting!

The children had so much fun gardening!

After clean-up, the students came back inside and we had a discussion on how the gardening went and what students liked and didn't. We talked about how we will need to continue to water the flowers throughout the week. The students then filled out a worksheet in which they were able to draw a picture of what the plant looks like now, and what it will look like when it is fully grown. the students were also able to describe how they think the flower will help the earth.

On Mother's Day we will be donating these flowers to a battered women's shelter, Deborah's Place. The students are very excited to "fill a bucket"!

Day 4 - Mapping Our Garden!

Today we will be learning about composte and creating a map of what our garden is going to look like!

Day 3 - Life Cycle of a Plant

Today we went into a little more detail about plants specifically. We started off by reading The Tiny Seed by Eric Carlisle.

After reading, we talked about the parts of a flower and the things that help it grow. I created a huge flower with Velcro so that the students could come up and place the parts of the flower on the stem. They then had to label each part of the flower. When we were done, we went in depth on a flowers life cycle. I handed out sequence cards so the students could see the stages a plant takes in order to grow to its full size. Each student was then able to draw and color their own plant life cycle on a paper plate.

Day 2 - The Lorax

How many of you have read The Lorax by Dr. Seuss? I have read the book and I recently saw the movie and it was the cutest thing I have ever seen. Just look at those little bears!

Not only is the book adorable, but it has a great theme: we must care for our environment. Since we are talking about the environment this week, I thought it would be a great idea to incorporate it into our day! After reading The Lorax to the children, we had a little discussion on pollution and how we can care for our environment. We then went off to our centers and learned  more about each of the types of pollution.

Center 1 - Air Pollution

"The smogulous smoke being put in the air by the Thneed factory made the Lorax cough, whiff, sneeze, snuffle, snarggle, sniffle, and croak.  The Swomee-Swans were no longer able to sing! The Lorax had to send the birds away to find some cleaner air to live in.”

In the Air Pollution Center, we looked at different sites and found out which one had the most pollution and looked at why.

Center 2- Water Pollution

"All the Gluppity-Glupp and all the Schloppity-Schlopp made by the machinery is being dumped into the pond"

In the Water Pollution Center, the students observed clear water and made predictions on what happens to water when it is polluted. The students polluted their water with a drop of color then recorded their observations. They then wrote a little on how they think polluted water will effect water growth.

Center 3 - Smart Board Activity

The students LOVE working with the smart board, so any chance I get, I let them. For this center, I had them do two activities. For both activities  the students worked as a group. For the first activity, there was a bunch of pictures; things good for the environment, and things that are bad for the environment  The students had to drag the items over to their correct spot indicating whether or not it was good for the environment.  I figured that would not take much time so I created an interactive flower activity. In this activity, they were able to see the effects of clean and dirty water on a flower.

Center 4 - Pollution Image

Students were provided with magazines, scissors, glue, and a poster board. They searched through the magazines to look for pictures of what pollution looks like and cover their entire poster board with it.

Center 5 - Land Pollution

Students read a graphic organizer that shows what recycled materials can be made into. The students then looked at pictures of things that were recyclable. They drew a picture of the item then of what they think it would look like after it went through the recycling process.

After centers we had a discussion about the environment and came up with ideas to keep our earth clean. T the students were then able to get a little creative and color an earth and write about how they can help the environment!

Today was a busy day! I left off class by reminding them that:

Day 1 - Be Kind to Others!

Today, we read one of my favorite books, Have you Filled a Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud.

It is a great book to get children to learn how to treat others kindly and find ways to fill others buckets! After reading we had a discussion about some ways we can fill buckets and decided to make some buckets of our own!

The students had tons of fun creating their own bucket! They were so creative! 

Afterwards, they were given to opportunity to fill two students buckets that day. After we filled them up the students read all of the nice things in their bucket. It was an overall, feel-good day!

Week Overview

Good Morning! This week is a very big week for us. Earth Day is coming up and we wanted decided to do something nice for the environment as well as the neighborhood. This week we will be discussing the environment and something that really benefits it: FLOWERS! I have a lot of great ideas in store, so stay tuned!