Friday, April 17

Finally, it's Friday!  All day long!  Tomorrow is Saturday.  But wait, isn't every day Saturday lately?

EVERYONE

Today, weather permitting, you are going to go on a Plant and Flower Nature Hunt!

From our website, print the page for your Nature Hunt.  You'll need something to write with while your explore.

Look at all of the different things on the list with your child.  Explain what they all are.  If you don't know, Google them!  Until Ms. Tammi told me what liriope was, I just called them 'fancy grass'.

Take a walk with your family and see how many of the sixteen things you can find.  I was able to find all but one in my neighborhood.

2s: Yellow and Ovals and Stringing Pasta

1.  In your bag of supplies, you'll find a yellow oval and a baggie of yellow collage bits.  You'll also need some glue.

Talk with your child about the yellow oval, going again over the color and what makes it an oval and not a circle.

Let your child put glue on the oval.  Remember - just a dot, not a lot.  As your child takes yellow items out of the bag, talk about what they are - "Oh, this is a cotton ball.  What color is this oval?  There are yarn and strings.  What else do you see?"

Put a piece of tape on the end to keep
the pasta from slipping off

2.  See if you can find some pasta for your child to use along with some string or ribbon.

Show your child how they can push the string through the pasta.

Do you have any beads or buttons at home?  You can add those to the strings as well.  Encourage your child to make a pattern of pasta, bead, pasta, bead, etc.

Make a slip-knot and let your child wear it as a necklace.

3s: Plants and Sunflowers

1.  How is your sunflower doing?  Has it grown at all?  Can you see a sprout yet?

You're going to make a hat about the life cycle of your sunflower.  You've learned this week that all plants and flowers start as seeds.  After that, they grow into a sprout, a small plant and then, finally, a flower!

Use the long yellow slip of paper from your bag of supplies.  You'll also need to print out the Sunflower Hat page from our website.

Color in the big sunflower and the pictures.  Cut out the pictures at the bottom of the page.  

Place the sunflower all the way on the left of the strip of paper.  What picture do you think comes first in the sequence?  The flower, the seed, the sprout or the young plant?  Glue that picture to the right of the big sunflower.  What comes next in the life cycle?  Glue that picture down.  Finish the sequence.

Have Mom or Dad measure the strip and put a staple in it so that it fits your head.  Now you can wear it and tell everyone how your sunflower will grow!

2.  Plant or Not a Plant?

Can you tell if an object is a plant or not?  How do we know?

Print out the Plant or Not a Plant file from our website.  You'll also need crayons, colored pencils or markers and glue.  

Encourage your child to color the pictures in on the second page.  Next have them cut out the eight pictures.  

Look at the pictures with your child.  Have them identify which pictures are plants and which are not.  Show them on the first page that one side is for plant pictures and the other is for things that are not plants.  Have them glue the pictures on the appropriate sides.

3.  Plant Dissection

If you can, pick up a plant, flower or herb at the store that you would plant in your garden.

Give your child a tray, a butter knife, a spoon, magnifying glass and some room to make a mess.

Encourage them to gently take the plant apart.  Look at the roots and all the parts of the plant.  

If you can't get to the store, you can dig up a small section of grass or a plant from your yard!

4s: Letter X Show & Tell, Plants

1.  Have you ever had an x-ray taken of your bones?  Has anyone in your family had to have one?  An x-ray is a picture of your bones.

Listen and watch the ebook What Does the X-ray Say?  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-R9heK8K33U 


2.  Letter X Show & Tell

This is a tough assignment.  Can you find something that has the letter X in it's name?  If we were at school, we'd be having watermelon for snack.  Why?  Its name in Mandarin is 'xigua'.

Have each of your family members find something that has the letter X in it.  Take turns telling each other about your finds.  Have Mom or Dad write the word down for each person.  Remember, if it is someone or something's name, it has an uppercase letter at the beginning.

3.  3.  Plant Dissection

If you can, pick up a plant, flower or herb at the store that you would plant in your garden.

Give your child a tray, a butter knife, a spoon, magnifying glass and some room to make a mess.

Encourage them to gently take the plant apart.  Look at the roots and all the parts of the plant.  

If you can't get to the store, you can dig up a small section of grass or a plant from your yard!

4.  Experiment Time

Can we see how water gets to the different parts of the plant to help it grow?  You bet!  This experiment will let you see how the water travels to the leaves of a plant.

You'll need a piece of celery, a glass and some water with food coloring in it.

Have Mom or Dad make a fresh cut on the bottom of the celery stalk.

In a tall glass, place some water and put in a couple of drops of food coloring.  Now stand the stalk of celery up in the glass and put it some place safe on the counter.

Check it every few hours to see if anything has changed.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!
We miss you all a great deal!!

Ms. Bridget