To busy for science activities?
Get organized...

Greetings from kindergarten-lessons.com,

Do you find yourself handing out science worksheets rather than conducting science experiments and activities in your classroom? Putting together science experiments can be burdensome when you already have a busy schedule. It is tempting to give students worksheets about science, rather than coordinating lessons to include actual science activities.

Read,

"Easy Science Experiments" to discover ways to bring more real science into your classroom.

Celebrate spring with gardening stories...

Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert

This book helps children understand how to plant bulbs, seeds, and seedlings as well as how to take care of the plants. A great read before a planting activity.

The Surprise Garden by Zoe Hall & Shari Halpern

Three children plant a surprise garden, using seeds of varying shapes, sizes, and colors. They don’t know what kinds of seeds they have planted and have no idea what kinds of plants will grow in their garden. After watering and weeding the seeds, they are happy to have a colorful vegetable garden and harvest. Shari Halpern’s cut-paper collages are also an inspiration for an art lesson.

Farmer Duck by Martin Waddell & Helen Oxenbury

Farmer Duck is the story of a hard working duck who is left to run the farm by himself, as the farmer stays in bed all day. This goes on until the other animals revolt against the farmer. The use of repetition encourages students to read along.

City Green by DyAnne DiSalvo-Ryan

City neighbors works together to improve their street by transforming a vacant lot filled with litter into a wonderful garden.

A Child's Garden by Michael Foreman

This story is different than the other gardening books. It takes place in a war ravaged world, where a little boy’s home has been destroyed. A wire fence and soldiers separate him from the country side he once visited with his father. When the boy sees a little speck of green peeping up, he begins to care for it.

A fun gardening activity...

• Soak scarlet runner beans in water over night
• Cut a 1 litre (quart) milk cartons in half to make plant pots
Have each child decorate a long strip of paper, put their name on it and then tape it around the carton
• The children fill their cartons with potting soil
• Then have the children stick a gardening stake (about 12")in the corner of their carton
• Each child plants a scarlet runner bean in their carton and measures their bean's growth with Unifix type blocks every few days (model being careful here...the beans are fragile)
• Record their observations on a chart or have the children record them in individual observation booklets
• The beans grow quickly and you will need to attach them to the pole with string after a while
• Be sure to plant extras for the classroom or for any child whose bean fails to grow
• Let the children take them home before they get too long or they may break in transit
• Keep measuring the classroom beans' growth
• Attach a few strings from the ceiling and the beans will wrap around the string and grow to the ceiling

The children get really excited on Mondays as the beans grow so fast over the week-ends.

Happy teaching,
Patricia
kindergarten-lessons.com