Spring is here! We already experienced the first day of spring with sunshine an warmer temperatures. What is the Spring Equinox or Vernal Equinox in March for countries in the Northern Hemisphere? (Which is the Autumnal Equinox in the Southern Hemisphere and vice-versa) It is the sun shining directly on the Equator and starts moving north for the Northern Hemisphere (or south for the Southern Hemisphere). Thus, day/night are about the same length, and days are getting longer for the Northern Hemisphere. For children, it comes down to longer playing days outside! As a little girl, I remember eating ice-cream in Europe at 10 pm with sun still shining outside!
Let’s sing together our song “Rise and Shine – Welcome to School Today” by Dr. Jean https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyAD2OoFuoY and our greeting song “Hello to all the children of the world”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nYjGy_ZUG8
My favorite Closing Song sung on “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” tune with movement:
Twinkle, twinkle little stars! Time is over and we say goodbye. (Open and close hands)
We had fun with all our friends. Let’s come back and do it again! (Arm moved up and back)
Twinkle, twinkle, little stars! What a wonderful bunch you are! (Blow kisses)
For the writing/reading process, have your child trace or copy (advanced skill) daily his/her name on paper/dry eraser board/ mini blackboard (kindergarten handwriting page) starting at the top of each letter (you could draw an emoji 🙂) either in all uppercase letters or just first letter in capital/uppercase and the rest in lowercase. If your child is starting to write on paper, you can write your child’s name with a highlighter and your child can use a crayon to trace it.
I realize that you might have to survey other members of your family for the question of the day so that your child have enough tally marks to count or have your child put more than one tally mark.
What is a sign of Spring?
FLOWERS / CAR / FROG / SNOW / WARM OUTSIDE
Let’s start with Zig Zag Zebra Letterland and listen to the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQipsb-DzT4 (Zig Zag Zebra is very shy, saying “zzzz…” while zipping by. Zebras often seem to be shy. But, we’ll never really know why) After listening to the song, have your child trace a capital Z and a lower case z, starting at the top (song – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJnZePnDo-U), do a straight horizontal line, do a diagonal line down, and a straight horizontal line. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDU_jJLOoeo
A whole week activity:
For the phonetic part, have a big yogurt container with a lid filled with small objects or pictures that have the letter Z (zebra, zero, zip, zoo, zoom, crazy, dizzy, fizzy, lazy, puzzle). You might want to add a picture of yarn, so that your child can say Yarn does not start with Z! Here is a book of Z word pictures: https://twistynoodle.com/my-letter-z-minibook/ and https://www.first-school.ws/t.asp?t=http://www.first-school.ws/images/alpha/ap1/z.gif Also, you can add new objects/pictures starting with the letter Z every day and let your child explore the container all through the week.
Science
For Sorting Seed Science Observation, you will need: (1) Egg carton, (2) seeds of any kind (dried corn, sunflower, pumpkin, or it could also be small nuts or beans), and (3) black marker.
Identify seeds with your child, talk about their differences and decide how to sort them in the dozen egg carton. Then, sort with your child, count and label seeds.
If your child has a nature journal, write today’s date, glue or tape seeds and label them.
To learn the Circle of Season, encourage your child to make a big circle with one arm. Like a clock, winter is at 12 o’clock, spring is at 3, summer is at 6 and fall/autumn is at 9. Repeat movement with your child.
On the tune of “Oh, my Darling Clementine”, we can sing: what’s the weather, what’s the weather, what’s the weather like today? Is it cloudy, is it rainy, is it sunny, is it cold? (You can also change the weather words).
Let your child check the weather and tell you about it. You might want to ask your child to do a weather drawing that you can label.
Language Arts
What to do with seeds? If your child talks about growing, ask what a seed needs to grow. Help your child to come up with water, air and sun with questions (what does it need in the sky, how does it breath, what does it drink like us?)
Then, let’s read and listen to books:
1. Inch by Inch – The Garden Song by David Mallett. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1oiVEWFHrs
After the song, you can sing the first part again:
“Inch by inch, row by row,
Gonna make this garden grow,
All it takes is a rake and a hoe
And a piece of fertile ground.”
2. We Plant a Seed by Sharon Gordon (advanced) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxl6Kiy7NPI.
3. Little Seeds by Charles Ginga https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fyYJzsj3UY.
4. Planting Seeds of Kindness by Rose Bunting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1U1ULNH7Mw
After viewing a book, help your child sequence the story: what happened first, next,… at the end. Brainstorm with your child what you know about Seeds and what you can do with them. One major theme is kindness. Brainstorm with your child what acts of kindness are.
For an advanced activity, have your child fill in a simple story map. Take a sheet of paper and divide it into 3 equal size parts. Write “Beginning”, “Middle”, and “End” and encourage your child to make a drawing about the beginning, the middle and the end of the story.
Math
Counting and Sorting seeds are math activities. With your child, you can play many board games using seeds like “Chutes and Ladders”.
Independent Practice:
1. Count Watermelon Seeds https://twistynoodle.com/count-the-watermelon-seeds-coloring-page/.
2. Count and Graph Tulips https://twistynoodle.com/count-and-graph-the-tulips-coloring-page/
Spring is in the air in March! The calendar is a daily activity to do with your child that develop number and pattern recognition. Here is the link to print a calendar to update daily with your child. The set has a weather component, if you like. https://www.themailbox.com/magazines/march-calendar-set/march-calendar-set-4
Daily counting of tally marks and show your child a number card or write the number down to show your child. The numbers of the tallies will be different every day. Extend the concept by comparing numbers: which has more? Which has fewer? Which are the same?How many more (count with fingers)?
Art
For Letterland Letter Z for Zebra Art Project, you need (1) template to print https://twistynoodle.com/my-letter-z-coloring-page/, (2) scissors, (3) glue, (4) black construction paper, (5) 1 googly eye, and (6) black marker.
Directions:
1. Cut template and glue on black construction paper.
2. cut black strips for zebra’s stripes, 1 little black circle for snout, 1 longer black strip for mane.
3. Glue black strips, googly eye, and small circle.
4. Label “Z for Zebra”.
5. If you have a Letterland binder, insert the craft.
For the Painted Flower with Seeds Art Project, you will need (1) small plates, (2) tempera paint with brush, (3) empty toilet paper rolls, (4) green construction paper, scissors, (5) glue, (6) pompom attached to clothespin, (7) seeds.
Directions:
1. Pour different color paint on different plates.
2. Dip ends of empty toilet paper rolls in each.
3. Print ends on green construction paper. Each painted circle is a flower.
4. Cut green leaves and stem out of construction paper or paint green leaves and stem. You can use color crayons/markers too!
5. Glue or paint around flower circles.
6. Dip pompom into tempera paint and paint inside flower circles.
7. Once dry, glue seeds in flower center. Good counting practice!
8. Option: use color paper baking cups for flowers.
Small Motor Skills
Flower Tracing and Coloring https://twistynoodle.com/trace-and-color-the-flower-2-coloring-page/.
Count the Tulips https://twistynoodle.com/count-the-tulips-coloring-page/.
Flower Dot Painting https://twistynoodle.com/flower-dot-painting-coloring-page/
Cut and Paste the Letters F L O W E R (advanced) https://twistynoodle.com/cut-and-paste-the-letters-f-l-o-w-e-r-coloring-page/
Gross Motor Skills
Outside time with climbing, jumping, bicycling, running, walking are great ways to develop the whole child.
Let’s review the alphabet with “Animal Alphabet A-Z Move and Groove” by Jack Hartman https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG44px1LfHc