Sharks, Week of April 27
🐣 🦅 Birds 🦆 🐥
Monday April 27
Music Monday - Here are some favorite songs to sing with your preschooler.
· See the Little Bunnies
· Round Robin
· Two Little Blackbirds
· 5 Little Ducks
· Kookaburra
· Clap Your Hands
· Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
· Fly Away Bird
Make your own Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star Wand Craft
What you need:
· Paper Cut into a Star Shape
· You can color your Star
· Glue
· Craft stick or I used a Chop Stick
Creative Exploration
· Feather Art—All birds have feathers and feather come in all sizes, colors, and patterns. Use feathers to create a work of art. You could paint and stamp with feathers or trace around feathers and then add details. If you don’t have access to real feathers, look at pictures of real feathers and draw or paint what you see. Does your feather have spots? Stripes? Different Colors?
· This website has a lot of information on feathers but just looking at the pictures and discussing ideas is great for young kids.
Science
· Watch video about classifying animals
· Animal Sort--Make cards with labels “Bird” and “Not a Bird” OR make a card for each type of animal. Bird, Mammal, Reptile, Bugs/Insect, Fish. Sort animal toys or pictures by type. How many different types of birds can you find?
Literacy
· Bird Memory-Print the memory cards. Lay cards face down on the table. Take turns looking for the matching card.. You can extend the learning by adding more cards.
· Read Aloud Feathers for Lunch by Lois Elhert
Numeracy
· Birds and Worms-Cut or print out bird shapes and write numbers on their bodies. Use yarn, ribbon, or paper and cut the matching number of worms for each bird.
Tuesday April 28
Creative Exploration
Make Binoculars—Cut a cardboard tube, like in the middle of paper towels or from wrapping paper, into 2 pieces. Decorate the outside with printed paper, markers, crayons, or stickers. Tape the tubes together and punch holes on the outside edge of each tube. Tie yarn or ribbon through the hole so the binoculars can hang around your neck. Take your binoculars out to look for birds!
Science
Explore bird songs. Use this Website to explore different birds and their songs. Try making some of the sounds yourself. Go outside and listen for birds. Do you recognize some of the calls? Can you name the bird that’s making it?
Literacy
· Read Aloud Birds by Kevin Henkes
· Bird Memory-Learn the names of some common and popular birds with this game. You can extend the learning by adding more cards.
· Bird Research—Choose a bird from the memory game or from one of the books you read and find out more about it. Where does it live? What does it eat? Do the males look different than the females? What type of materials does it use to make its nest and where does it build it? You can print this form to keep track of what you learn.
Numeracy
Race to 10, 20, 30 — Get some legos, unifix cubes, or other connecting toys. Take turns rolling a die, or two, and stack the number of blocks together. When someone reaches the decided amount of 10, 20, or 30 a new game begins. How many more did the other person need at the end of the game?
Movement
Spring Movement Game-Print the movement cards and cut them apart. Put them in a basket, bag, or other small container. Take turns drawing a card and everyone perform their own version of the movement.
Wednesday April 29
Creative Exploration
Paper Birds. Paint, draw, or use other art materials to create your own bird. You can use a paper plate cut in half, or cut a bird shape out of cardboard or construction paper and then add details using different materials.
For more inspiration look at these paper birds by guest artist Diana Beltran-Herreras
Community Adventure
· Miss Caroline’s Bird Watching Adventure
· Bird watching walk — walk around your neighborhood or sit quietly in your yard. Watch for birds. What do you see them doing? Can you hear different bird songs? Try to take some photos to use for a project later like a field guide or book about your adventure.
Cooking Project
Thumprint Cookies—Your child can mix the ingredients, roll the dough into balls, add the “thumbprint” by pressing their thumb into the ball of dough and add the jam in the center!
· Gluten Free Alternative
Literacy
· Bird Research- Continued
· Read Aloud—Owl Moon by Jane Yolen and Owls and other animals with Amazing Eyes
Numeracy
· Data Collection--Use this printable sheet to keep track of the birds you see. Use your data to answer questions like: Which type of bird did you see the most? The least? How many did you see altogether?
· Graphing--Turn the data from your bird walk into a graph. Print the large graph paper. Write the bird names or draw pictures in the boxes across the bottom and number each box up the left hand side. Let your child color in the number of boxes for each type of bird seen.
· Race to 10, 20, 30—Get some legos, unifix cubes, or other connecting toys. Take turns rolling a die, or two, and stack the number of blocks together. When someone reaches the decided amount of 10, 20, or 30 a new game begins. How many more did the other person need at the end of the game?
Thursday April 30
Creative Exploration
Bird and nest sculptures. Use playdough to make a nest and roll eggs to add to it. How many eggs can your nest hold? Use playdough and small objects to sculpt an adult bird. Use buttons, beads, wood pieces, pipe cleaners, straws, pebbles, sticks to add beaks, legs, wings, and eyes.
Science
· Can you make a realistic nest? Go for a walk to gather things form nature to make a nest. Grass, twigs, leaves, weeds, moss, lichen…
· Use the materials you gathered on your walk to make a nest. Use a small rolled paper bag or a base made of playdough.
Literacy
· Read Aloud — Mama Built a Little Nest
· Build and tell. Use your nest and toy birds, or birds you make yourself, and tell a story.
After creating your story with your nest and birds use pictures or drawings to create a book.
· Bird Research-Continued
Numeracy
· Big Birds—Birds come in all sizes. Measure or ask your family members their height. Do some research to see which bird is closest to each person’s size. Here is a Website of the 15 biggest birds to help get your research started.
Movement
· Penguin Dance-The song is on YouTube and tells you the movements so there’s no need to watch the video! Just listen and move.
Friday May 1
Creative Exploration
· Permanent Nest Sculpture. Make the salt dough recipe below and sculpt a nest and eggs. Let your nest and eggs air dry and then paint them.
Salt Dough recipe:
2c flour
1/2 c salt
3/4 c water
flour for dusting
Mix dough together, if it is too sticky, add more flour.
for nests, you can add:
dry coffee grounds
noodles
grass
shredded paper
string
yarn
sticks
ribbon
rubber bands
· Color and Relax-Print and color some of these bird-inspired pages together
Science
· Experiment—watch the video of Miss Caroline doing an experiment using milk, food coloring, and dish soap. Then try it for yourself.
Literacy
· Research Poster—Make a poster about the bird you researched. Write the bird’s name across the top in big letters. Cut out pictures of the bird and glue it to your poster. Find pictures of the facts you recorded on your research sheet or draw and write them to show what you’ve learned.
· Read Aloud- Antarctic Antics A Book of Penguin Poems
· Library Story Time -Hillsboro Library’s preschool story time “One Dark Bird”
· Murmuration Video — A four-minute video showing real starling murmuration, as in the book above. If you don’t want to watch the whole thing at least watch from 2:00-2:30!
Numeracy
· Life size Bird Family--Draw a life size picture of one or more of the birds you researched on the sidewalk with chalk, or on giant paper if you have it. Have the family member lay down and mark each end to get the correct height or use a tape measure. Working between the two ends add the details of the bird. It will be helpful for a grownup or older sibling to draw the outline and let the younger family member add the details. Don’t forget to label your bird family with your names and the type of bird.
· Race to 10, 20, 30—Get some legos, unifix cubes, or other connecting toys. Take turns rolling a die, or two, and stack the number of blocks together. When someone reaches the decided amount of 10, 20, or 30 a new game begins. How many more did the other person need at the end of the game?
Movement
· Here is a Cosmic Kids Yoga about Tallulah the Owlet
Notes
We miss the Sharks!
This friend LOVES fire trucks and fire fighters and often wears shirts with fire trucks on them. Can you guess who it is? Read the stories below while thinking of this friend.
When we were last together at school, this friend was LOVING our unit study on space and each day he would come to school and share new facts he had learned. Think about this friend while you enjoy these two stories about space.