Early Learning Lesson

"Cherry Cubes"

Making cherry ice cubes not only helps the child practice one-to-one correspondence, but also helps to show how water can change from liquid to solid and back again.

Materials:

• water
• cherries or grapes
• ice-cube trays
• small pitcher or paper cups

Here’s How:

1. Have children place one cherry in each section of an ice-cube tray. Describe what is happening.

You put one cherry in each hole. There are 12 holes.
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12
There are 12 cherries.
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12

2. Using a small pitcher or a paper cup, each child fills a tray with water.
3. Place the tray in the freezer for several hours. Help children remove the cubes from the tray. Talk about how the water changed.

Remember how you poured the water into the tray with the pitcher? Does the water pour now? How is it different?

Extension
Use the cherry cubes in lemonade or sparkling water for a special treat.

From Teaching Young Children (EMC 4506)

Kindergarten Connection

“Soap Balls”

This project is messy. Be ready for lots of good clean, sudsy fun!

Materials:

• Ivory Snowflakes® (not liquid)
• water
• food coloring
• bowls
• measuring cups
• wooden spoon

Here’s How:

1. Measure about three scoops of detergent into the bowl.
2. Mix 2 tablespoons (30 mL) of water with food coloring.
3. Add colored water to detergent, stirring constantly, until mixture is thick.
4. Form balls with your hands. (Add more water if necessary.)
5. Try making other shapes.

Use the soap balls for washing dirty hands. The balls make nice gifts as well. Use some dye and shape the soap into a heart or a flower. They make a great Mother's Day gift for Mom or Grandma!

From Teaching Young Children (EMC 4506)

Word of the Week

abandon
verb

When you abandon something, you leave it or give it up forever.

The puppy was so darling that we couldn't imagine why anyone would abandon it.

Which words mean about the same thing as abandon?

• throw out
• hang on to
• get rid of
• keep
• dump

Tell about something you had to abandon (a toy, a project, a house) and how you felt about it.

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

Ten-Minute Activity

“Bags of Beans”

Math
Skill: addition/subtraction

Materials:

• a drawstring bag
• 10 dried beans

Here’s How:

This is a great math activity to use after reading Jack and the Beanstalk.

1. Show students that you have 10 beans.
2. Put some of the beans in the bag.
3. Count with the class the number of beans that were not put in the bag.
4. Students determine how many beans are in the bag.
5. Repeat by putting a different number of beans in the bag or by starting with a different number of beans.

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

Word of the Week

establish
verb
to set up

The telephone company decided to establish Internet service in large cities before small towns.

Which of these do you do when you establish something?

• form something new
• demolish something
• install something new
• create something
• eliminate something

When was the United States of America established as an independent nation?

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

Ten-Minute Activity

"Rock Out"

Science
Skill: observing and describing

Materials:

• five rocks
• index cards
• paper
• pencils

Here's How:

1. In advance, gather five distinctive rocks. They should be large enough to be viewed from any seat in the classroom. Fold and number an index card and place it in front of each rock.
2. Line the rocks up at the front of the classroom.
3. Give students 3 minutes to write a description of one rock.
4. Ask individual students to read their descriptions, and then allow the rest of the class to guess the number of the rock being described.

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

Science Activity

Salt Crystals
Earth Science
Process Skill: Observing

All rocks are mixtures of minerals. Salt is an example of one of the minerals found in Earth's crust. Like all minerals, salt is made up of crystals. Crystals come in different shapes, but all have flat sides.

• Use a magnifier to observe a few grains of salt. Draw a picture showing the shape of the crystals you see. How many sides does a salt crystal have?
• Use class resources to find out some of the other crystal shapes. Work with the other members of your group to construct models of different crystal shapes using sheets of cardboard and tape.

From Science Cooperative Learning Cards (EMC 5006)