Early Learning Lesson

Pond Hoops
Children balance and hop, using a hoop as an imaginary pond.

Materials

• plastic Hula-Hoop®, one per child
• whistle
• outdoor space

How to Play

1. Children take a Hula-Hoop and spread out in an outdoor space. They place their hoop on the ground next to where they are standing and pretend that it is a pond.
2. Then children listen for the sound of the whistle before standing in their pond.
3. The teacher reads the "Pond Hoops" script (below) aloud to the children, and they follow the teacher's directions.

Pond Hoops Teacher Script

Be a cattail growing by the pond.
Show me how you can stand by the edge.
Show me how you can sway when the wind blows.
Be a plant growing at the bottom of the pond.
Show me how you can stand inside the pond.
Show me how you can pick up the hoop with two hands.
Show me how high you can lift the hoop over your head.
Now you are under water!
Be a floating plant in the pond.
Show me how you can stand inside the pond.
Show me how you can pick up the hoop with two hands.
Show me how you can lift the hoop up to your shoulders.
Now your head is floating above water like a flower!
Be another plant growing in the pond.
Show me how you can stand inside the pond.
Now show me how you can stand on one foot.
Show me how you can stand on the other foot.
Stand outside the pond.
Now squat down and walk like a duck all the way around the pond.
Look for duckweed to eat.

From All About the Pond (EMC 2409)

Kindergarten Connection

Come to the Pond
Outdoor Activity

Children form a pond circle for different "animals" to come and play.

How to Play

1. Children form a "pond" by standing at least an arm's length apart in a circle.
2. One child stands outside the circle.
3. Children in the circle chant, "Little creatures come this way. Who will come and play today?"
4. The child outside the circle chooses a pond animal and says, for example, "Frog will."
5. Children in the circle respond, "Frog, frog, come this way. How do you want to play today?"
6. The frog demonstrates a movement such as hopping, while moving past the children to the
   center of the pond. Children in the circle move around the circle, hopping like frogs also.
7. Choose another child to be the pond animal and repeat the activity.

Movement suggestions: Hop like a frog, swim like a fish, fly like a bird, glide like a swan, run like a salamander, wiggle like a worm, waddle like a duck.

From All About the Pond (EMC 2409)

Word of the Week

topple
verb
When something falls down, it topples.

The tree was about to topple over in the strong wind.

Which things could topple easily?

• a large stone statue
• a house
• a child learning to ride a bike
• a tower of building blocks
• a car

How would you stand to keep someone from toppling you?

From A Word a Day, Grades 1-3 (EMC 2717)

Ten-Minute Activity

Next in Line
Language Arts
Skill: ending letter sounds

Here's How:

1. Begin this activity by selecting a word. Any word will work. You may want to choose one that relates to your curriculum.
2. Ask the students to listen for the last sound they hear in the word.
3. Ask a student to think of another word that begins with the ending sound of the
   previous word.
4. Continue in this manner, allowing different students to provide new words.

Variations
As your students become familiar with this game, challenge them to think of words in a category. For example: food--banana, avocado, orange.
Play the same game, but each time a word is offered, require the student to spell it.

From Ten-Minute Activities, Grades 1-3 (EMC 784)

Word of the Week

tariff
noun
a tax paid on products that are imported or exported

Fresh pineapple from Mexico is expensive because of the import tariff.

For which items might you have to pay a tariff?

• a German car bought in the United States
• American apples bought in Costa Rica
• a cowboy hat made and sold in Texas
• food from your garden
• a rug made in India

What is something that you or your family has bought that probably included a tariff?

From A Word a Day, Grades 4-8 (EMC 2718)

Ten-Minute Activity

Is That a Fact?
Language Arts
Skill: Fact or Opinion?

Materials: assorted small objects in a box or bag

Here's How:

1. Select an object and show it to the students. For example, the object might be a fuzzy toy rabbit.
2. Call on a student and ask him or her to state a fact about the object, such as, "The rabbit has two ears."
3. Ask another student to state an opinion, such as, "The rabbit is cute."
4. Require students to express their answers in complete sentences.
5. Allow the group to determine whether the statement given is indeed a fact or an opinion by giving a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" signal.

From Ten-Minute Activities, Grades 4-6 (EMC 785)

Science Activity

Insulators and Conductors
Physical Science
Process Skill: Inferring

A conductor is a material that allows heat energy to move through it easily. An insulator is a material that doesn't allow heat energy to move through it easily. With your group, brainstorm a list of insulators and conductors.

• Think about your experiences with heat or hot objects and how different materials protected you from the heat. Then think about other materials that you wanted to get hot. Also consider materials that protect cold objects from heat.
• Beside each item, describe what the insulator or conductor material is made of. How might the material allow or prevent the movement of heat?

From Science Cooperative Learning Cards (EMC 5006)