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EARLY CHILDHOOD NEWSLETTER

 

Volume 4, Issue 14
July 18, 2006


THIS ISSUE'S EARLY CHILDHOOD NEWSLETTER THEME:

Summer Session #4
More Favorite "Anytime" Activities and Resources


WELCOME! to Education World's Early Childhood Newsletter. Every other week, I'll share some ideas on a familiar teaching theme. Hopefully you will find a new activity idea or two -- or a new twist on one of your old favorites! Since I know you are very busy, I'll be short and sweet -- like most of activities I suggest.

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A WORD ABOUT THIS ISSUE'S THEME

Welcome to Early Childhood Newsletter's "Summer Session." During June and July, I will share some of my favorite "anytime activities" from newsletters published in prior years as well as some of the best online Web resources I've found for early childhood educators. I hope you'll find here some fun ideas and useful resources for engaging your students.

While this newsletter is in summer session, I am hard at work creating new themed newsletters that will debut starting in August. Among the themes I'm working on are Colors, Let's Listen, and Wintry Weather.

--Susan LaBella
Editor, Early Childhood Newsletter



ACTIVITY IDEAS

EVAPORATE IT!
Help children begin to understand the process of evaporation. On a hot sunny day, let children wash all the doll clothes and hang them in the sun. When the clothes are dry ask, "Where did the water go? Only air touched them." Explain that the water moved in tiny drops into the air. This process is called evaporation.
Further demonstrate the process by
--- marking the outlines of puddles on a sidewalk after it has rained with chalk or small pebbles. Invite children to observe the puddles at intervals and note that they are shrinking.
--- setting out shallow pans of water. Invite children to dip their bare feet into the water and make footprints on a sidewalk or concrete area. Ask children to observe how long the footprints last and when they disappear.

MORE OR LESS?
Place a group of small plastic farm animals in a basket. Invite a child to take a handful of animals, count them, and say the number aloud. Create a spinner labeled "More" on one side and "Less" on the other, and ask a second child to give it a spin. If the arrow stops at "More," the child must count out more farm animals than the first student had. If the arrow stops at "Less," the child must count out fewer farm animals than the first student had.

READ AND DO
Try these hands-on activities after sharing books with children.
-- Read a book about COLORS, and set up a simple experiment. Using muffin tins, fill half the cups with primary colors of food coloring and water. Fill the remaining cups with just water. Invite children to use plastic eyedroppers to mix and discover secondary colors.
-- Read a book about FEELINGS, and create or collect a variety of feeling picture cards. Encourage children to identify each feeling and to sort the cards into different feeling groups: scared, happy, lonely, excited...
-- Read a book about TRANSPORTATION, and invite a trucker to bring a "big rig" to school for children to tour.
-- Read a book about FOOD, and help children create food collages by cutting out pictures from magazines and newspaper ads.

YUM-M M M M! SUPER SANDWICH PEOPLE

This recipe will make lunchtime lots of fun.
-- Spread a slice of bread with peanut butter or cream cheese.
-- Provide a variety of food items for facial features. For example,
---- eyes -- blueberries, cherry tomatoes, grape halves, or radish slices
---- nose -- cucumber slices, carrot sticks, cheese squares
---- mouth -- apple or orange slices
---- hair -- lettuce leaves, bean sprouts, or celery leaves
Invite children to create funny food faces!




ON THE WEB

Check out the following Web sites for additional background and activities.

What's Wrong With This Picture?
Use this picture from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Let kids pick out the mistakes.
http://www.epa.gov/OWOW/NPS/kids/whatwrng.htm

Count Us In
An online game that reinforces the concept of one more. http://www.abc.net.au/countusin/games/game11.htm

StoryPlace Pre-School Library
Visit this site for activities, online stories, and suggested reading lists -- all organized by theme.
http://www.storyplace.org/preschool/other.asp

Chilly Orange Drink
This is one coooool drink!
http://www.weekiwis.com/orange.html