The Whole World in Our Hands

We celebrated Earth Day in our classroom by making a piece of recyclable art and terrariums. Creating and growing are two of our favorite things around here at Simply Sprout, and what better time of year to celebrate them than Earth Day! In our house and classroom we have a scrap paper baskets. My students' goal is to always use the scrap pieces of paper before we get out new construction paper. Their task was to make a mosaic globe, and a piece of paper to mount their art on from the scrap basket. They did a great job! First they cut circles out of paper from the recycling bin. Then we reviewed that they would need their stack of paper to be around 70 percent blue and 30 percent green from the scrap basket. Some children chose to add ice (white) at the polar caps, and different shades to represent a variety of terrain.

After ripping their scraps into tiny pieces, they started gluing. All that I told them was that they would need to cover the entire circle. Once they were finished with their mosiac, they traced their hands on old paper that was left in my classroom almost a decade ago! I pulled out the pastels and they wrote, "I've got the whole world in my hands." On the back side of the artwork, students wrote out Earth friendly habits to share with their families. They brainstormed ideas like turning the lights off, playing outside, picking up litter, taking shorter showers, planting flowers, and much more. So sweet and such a reminder that this generation is going to do great things to cherish our Earth. Later in the afternoon we headed outside to make terrariums. Another wonderful way to honor the Earth is by repurposing soda bottles into mini ecosystems. We filled them with small pebbles to represent bedrock, soil, seeds, organic material, and some students even put living organisms in their terrariums. We have been learning a lot about the living and non-living components of ecosystems. It's important to point out to children that the soil, sunlight, air, and water are vital to any environment. These things make it habitable for the living things like plants and animals.

Engage children by asking them questions like: "Do you think you're terrarium needs water?" "What does your plant need in order to grow?" "How long do you think it will take to see a seed sprout? Have children make a hypothesis, allow them to observe each day, and finally draw conclusions. We left our terrariums in our classroom green house that sits outside our back door, and we're looking forward to checking on the growth inside them. Terrariums also make a wonderful visual for children to see the water cycle in motion. The great thing is that you can continue to add items to your terrarium and see the wonder on child's faces as their mini ecosystem thrives. Get your free printable below for your ecologist at home! Happy Earth Day to our Lil Sprouts!

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Celebrate Earth Day with the Lorax

Dr. Seuss' Lorax has quickly become a classroom favorite of mine. It's silly tone teaches us all about a serious subject,  our environment and pollution. The Lorax and his beautiful Truffula trees are such a colorful inspiration for Earth Day, and they are the perfect inspiration for a sensory bin. We have mentioned the benefits of sensory bin exploration  in previous post. So in case you missed it let me give you a brief description.

A sensory box is a contained area where kids can explore and play through utilizing their 5 senses. Helping them to understand the world around them, and how it works.

Sensory boxes are inexpensive and fun to create, taking very little time to assemble.

It's easiest to pick a theme and colors and start from there. Start off by introducing The Lorax to your little ones by reading the book or watching the movie which is still in theaters.

To Make your sensory bin find a shallow open container that will be easy for your little one to reach into and explore. Add colored rice, you can find out how we make ours (directions for colored rice) . Remember to stick with your color theme. I used the colors from the Truffula trees, orange, yellow and pink. They are vibrant and welcome curiosity and exploration. Add some items like the ones pictured above. Black and white paper striped straws (Truffula tee trunks), you can find these online at The Sugar Divas. I also added glitter pom poms in orange, yellow and pink ( these resemble the tops of the Truffula trees from the story). I also added some soft fuzzy yarn. I found the perfect shade at my local craft store that combined all three inspiration colors. (This soft colorful yarn represents the "Thneeds" from the story.) Fluffy, soft and fun for curious little hands.  I always like to add cups, scoops and small spoons so my little ones can fill them up and practice their fine motor skills, as well as spatial relationships which are skills they will need later on in the classroom. 

Adding words to your Sensory Bin

Activities to introduce beginning reading skills

Another item you can add are plastic or wooden letters, just make sure they are small enough for your little ones to handle, refrigerator magnets work great. Add the letters to spell a few sight words from the book. Have them find the hidden letters from the sensory bin and match them to the cards pictured below. 

You can get your own copy to print at home for free at my Teachers Pay Teachers store. Once your child matches all of the letters to the cards have them search for those words in the story of The Lorax. These beginning reading skills will help them learn how words and stories are constructed and how letters have meaning, a critical concept for early reading.

Fun in The Kitchen

Bento-logy is one of my favorite go to sites for fun foods for my little ones. Their Lorax lunch is so creative and fun and is sure to inspire the littlest of Lorax lovers. Who wouldn't want to save the trees after eating this cute lunch.


For dinner try this colorful version of pasta alfredo.

Cook pasta in boiling water as usual separate into 3 bowls keeping the water,  add a  few drops of neon orange, pink and regular yellow food coloring to dye your noodles.
Add a few drops of neon blue food coloring to your favorite alfredo sauce. Add asparagus and broccoli as little trees...serve to your little ones and watch them giggle!
Kids love to explore with food new tastes, smells and textures intrigue their curiosity so go wild and get creative in the kitchen.

Learn with the Lorax

 For some classroom fun please check out our Lorax Primary Pack Complete with suessified grammar activities, writing prompts, and math fun. There are activities for everyone!

Be sure to check back this weekend for some more fun with the Lorax. We are hosting another Lil Sprouts event for our preschool friends this Saturday from 3:30 - 5:00. We will be celebrating Earth Day with the Lorax. Our Lil Sprouts will be creating their own monogrammed canvas painting with recycled objects, they will practice their sorting and color skills with an Earth friendly recycling game, they will even get their own" Truffula seed" to take home and nurture in a custom designed pot. Don't miss this fun event please visit our simply sprout facebook page to signup by this Thursday April 19, 2012. 
Please feel free to invite a friend!

For information on upcoming Lil Sprouts events please contact us at simplysprout@gmail.com

                          

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Our Friend the Sun

During the week leading up to Earth Day, Marcy and I are excited to bring you ideas to spread the love of our planet to those in your home and classroom. Children are natural dirt worshipers, explorers, and conservationist. This time of year reminds us that we could all use a little more time outside enjoying all that Mother Nature has to offer. It's also a great time of year to set up Earth friendly habits that can last a lifetime.

Teaching children to conserve water and electricity, recycle, and gardening are easy ways show children the importance of cherishing our resources. For instance, focus on using the sun as an example of a renewable resource. You can start by teaching children a few things about the sun:

* Our Sun is special because it is the closest star to us. It's approximately 93 million miles away (and that's close!).
* It's a medium sized star. You can point out to elementary aged children that it appears bigger than other stars because of how close it is to us.
* The sun is our planet's main source of energy, and without it plants wouldn't grow and animals (including us) wouldn't be able to call Earth home.
* It's considered a renewable resource because we are not in danger of running out of solar energy anytime soon (unless you believe Sci-Fi movies).
* Not only do animals need the sun, but so do plants. Plants need the sun for a process called photosynthesis. Without the sun, plants couldn't make their own food.

You can use this as a visual for children to see the relationship between the sun and plants.

Take a field trip to your yard, a park, or the playground. Point out all the types of plants that you see. Children tend to forget that a tall tree is a plant, as well as the grass between their toes. Talk to children about different types of food that grow as plants. Your next stop might be your kitchen, the produce section of the grocery store, a farmers' market, or a local farm. If you have the opportunity to take your children strawberry or blueberry picking, this is an excellent way to show them how these types of plants grow using the sun as an energy source.

With the fruits of your labor make a yummy Fresh and Sweet Blueberry Wrapup. Have your children help you measure out the ingredients. Talk about how the they're going to get energy from a eating a fruit that got energy from the sun so it could grow.



Fresh and Sweet Blueberry Wrapup

Ingredients:
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup sugar
1 8oz container of cream cheese
1/2 cup fresh blueberries
1 package of crescent rolls

Preparation:
Cream together cream cheese, sugar and vanilla in a small bowl and set aside.
Wash blueberries and gently stir into cream cheese mixture. Open crescent rolls and align 7 of them in a pinwheel fashion, equally on a baking sheet. Use the 8th one to fill in any holes in the middle.
Spoon cream cheese and blueberries onto the middle of the crescent pinwheel that is formed. Carefully pull points of crescent rolls overlapping them over the middle in a criss cross fashion. Bake in the oven on 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

While you are waiting for your fruit creation in the oven, have children sort play food items into fruits and veggies, or plants and non plants. Older children could find pictures of fruits and veggies in a grocery store flyer and make a collage. Just remind them that they are looking for things that grow as plants.

Enjoy your tasty treat outside in the sun, and ask your children to remind you of the energy source that made it possible for all plants to grow...the sun!

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Earth Day Fun with Solar Crayons

Earth day is just around the corner, what better way to celebrate than by getting crafty using one of our most abundant natural resources...the sun. To make solar crayons you need just a few things. a metal muffin tin, crayon shavings & aluminum foil. Have your little one sort through their crayons separating the colors. We chose blue and green for ours, to look more like the Earth. Use a knife to cut crayons into small pieces. Have your little one put them into groups of 10. Using 7 blue and 3 green. Discuss with your child how our Earth is comprised of 70% water and 30% land. Depending on how old your children are this is a great lesson on understanding fractions and part whole relationships. You can also practice counting by 10's with your little ones. This is one of my daughters favorite ways to count.

Place your groups of 10 into the muffin trays (it help if you spray pans with Pam or use paper liners for easy removal, cover with aluminum foil and set in a hot sunny spot outside on the asphalt. Let the sun do the rest. Once the crayons have melted completely take them inside and let them cool. Pop out and let your children's imagination take over.  These make great Earth Day treats, for home or school.

Teachers be sure to visit my Teachers Pay Teachers store for an activity sheet for your students that incorporates science, math and social studies questions as well as step by step instructions for making solar Earth day crayons.

So this Earth Day get crafty with your kids

Reduce --- Reuse--- & Recycle!



Get your free download here available for the next 48 hours.
Use it as a bag topper for your Earth Day Crayons.

Earth Day Banner

To make the Earth Day banner shown in the pictures above just use some paper coffee filters. Have your little one use blue and green paint to represent the land and water. Remind your little one that our Earth is covered with 70% water and 30% land. Once dry punch holes in the side and attach with ribbon or tuelle. We hung our banner on our favorite tree and had a picnic.
I can't think of a better way to celebrate Earth day!

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