Early Learning Lesson

Create a Scrapbook

Use paper from grocery bags to create a special scrapbook. Encourage children to be creative and to include special signs, symbols, and words that really mean something to them. A scrapbook makes a great gift that parents will truly treasure.

Materials:

• big brown-paper grocery bags
• hole punch
• scissors
• yarn or string
• paste
• marking pen
• paint
• pictures (cut from a magazine, drawn, or photographs)
  

Making the Scrapbook

1. Cut bags into three 9" x 12" (23 x 30.5 cm) rectangles.
2. Fold the rectangles in half. Open the rectangles flat.
3. Stack the brown-paper rectangles on top of each other.
4. Refold the papers and then punch three holes through the pages.
5. Bind the book by tying yarn through the holes.

Filling the Scrapbook

1. Write the child's name on the cover of the scrapbook.
2. Choose a theme for the scrapbook. For example, "Things I Love About Home" or "My Family."
3. Have children cut pictures from magazines, draw them, or use photos.
4. Paste the pictures in the book.
5. Label the pictures with simple words. You may wish to have the child dictate to you, or they may use invented spelling to write their own captions.
6. Decorate the cover with handprints dipped in paint.

Reading the Scrapbook

1. Allow each child to share his or her book with the class.
2. Encourage children to talk about the pictures in their book.
3. Ask children if their scrapbook is a gift for someone.

From Teaching Young Children (EMC 4506)

Kindergarten Connection

Tissue Paper Flowers
Tissue paper flowers are a Mexican tradition. They can be found in sizes from small to absolutely gigantic. Make lots of these to decorate the classroom for your fiesta. Allow each student pick one to adorn his or her desk.

Materials

• 6" x 10" (15 x 25.5 cm) pieces of tissue paper in assorted colors (Hint: Cut the pack of tissue in half, then open it up and cut 6" lengths.)
• chenille stems
• scissors
  

Steps to Follow

1. Have students choose 6 pieces of tissue paper. They may wish to use all of the same color or use different colors.
2. Model how to count out and lay 6 pieces of tissue on top of each other.
3. Model how to round or scallop the ends or cut them in a zigzag pattern.
4. Model how to gather the tissue paper together in the middle for a "bow tie" effect.
5. Assist each student in wrapping one end of a chenille stem around the gathered tissue and twisting it to secure the tissue.
6. Model how to carefully pull each layer apart to make the flower. After a few tries, students will get the idea of "fluffing and scrunching" to make a puffy flower.

From Theme Pockets, May (EMC 588)

Word of the Week

trio
noun
A group of three is a trio.

The three girls called their singing trio "Wee Three."

Which of these circus acts would be introduced as a trio?

• two guys and a girl juggling plates
• a unicycle rider
• three ladies riding horses bareback
• two clowns being shot out of a cannon
• three dancing bears

Which activities have you done with two other friends as a trio?

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

Ten-Minute Activity

Test Your Strength
Science
Skill: air pressure

Materials

• several balloons
• book

Here's How:

1. Blow up a balloon and ask a student to pop it by stepping on it.
2. Then ask students if it's possible that a balloon can be too powerful to pop. Take a vote.
3. Blow up another balloon to approximately the size of the book you will use.
4. Call up a student. Place the book on top of the balloon. Tell the class that the student is going to press down on the book as hard as he or she can. Ask how many students think the balloon will break.
5. Instruct the student to keep the pressure on the balloon evenly with both hands.
6. Still not popped? Call up another student and ask him or her to sit or lie on the balloon.
7. Ask students for ideas as to how the balloon can be so strong. Explain the scientific principle involved.

Why It Works
To pop a balloon, we use direct force in one spot. When pressing on the book, the force is spread out over the whole balloon, so the force does not have the same effect. Hovercraft work in this way as well. By spreading out its weight over a whole cushion of air, it is able to stay above the water.

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

Word of the Week

encounter
noun
an unexpected meeting

An encounter with a bear was the biggest surprise of our hike.

Which of the following describe an encounter?

• Two friends meet at a restaurant for lunch.
• You run into a classmate at the park after school.
• You meet a distant cousin at a family reunion.
• Two strangers bump into each other on the street.
• A group of hikers find a rattlesnake coiled next to the path.

Tell about an encounter you had with a classmate outside of school.

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

Ten-Minute Activity

Classy Classifications
Science
Skill: classifying

Materials:

• Venn diagram on chart paper for each group
• a bag of assorted objects for each group (see below)
• paper, pencils
  

Here's How:

In advance, prepare a Venn diagram on large paper for each group.

1. Label two side-by-side circles. Label one metal. Label the other plastic.
2. Draw a third circle at the bottom of the side-by-side circles. This circle will intersect with the metal circle, the plastic circle, and the common area for both the metal and the plastic.
3. Divide the class into groups of four or fewer.
4. Give each group a bag of assorted objects and a Venn diagram.
5. Groups classify the objects by placing them in the correct section of the diagram. Objects that are comprised of more than one material go into the section of the diagram that includes those materials.
6. Rotate groups so that they may check each other's classifications. If they see something out of place, they discuss the problem with the group who classified the objects.
   

Possible Objects to Sort
Metal--paper clips, scissors, coins, flatware, binder clips, wire, nuts, bolts, screws, nails, wire hanger
Plastic--plastic utensils, "baggies," glue bottles, straws, coffee stirrers, cups, math manipulatives, plastic hanger
Wood--rulers, blocks, toothpicks, craft sticks
Mixed--scissors with plastic handles, wooden ruler with metal edge, pencil, wristwatch, wooden hanger with metal hook, writing pens, pushpins, tape dispensers, calculators

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

Science Activity

Managing a Forest

The job of forest scientists is to keep the forests healthy. But not all forest scientists agree on the best way to do this. Some forest scientists think that forests should be left alone. No trees should be removed, and wildfires should be left to burn. Other scientists think that some trees should be cleared out of forests to prevent strong fires from burning all the trees.

• Use class resources to find out more. Then hold a debate within your group. Two people should argue for leaving the forests alone, and two should argue for some clearing.

From Science Cooperative Learning Cards (EMC 5006)