Shadows and Reflections Week 2

Theme – This is our first week of our new unit, Shadows and Reflections. During this unit students will explore shadows and reflections, using observations, experiments and books to learn what makes a shadow and a reflection. Through Story Time books, children hear about a girl playing by a still pond, a puppy who thinks he is a kitten, a crocodile collecting reflections in a pail, a sleepy boy who sees a shadow save a cat, and a raccoon who has an adventure with only his reflection for company.


Theme Concepts:

Reflections are images thrown back from a shiny surface.
There must be light or there is no reflection.
Mirrors and still water reflect light well; dull surfaces do not.
If water is moving, its reflections are blurry or crooked.
Objects are opaque, translucent, or transparent.
Shadows are the dark areas made when an object blocks light.

Frog Update-We have eight tadpoles that are swimming in our tank.  We have a bubbler in the tank. This makes the tadpoles active and happy. The children are looking forward to starting to see legs grow next.

Stories:
Play with Me by Marie Hall Ets
Raccoon on His Own by: Jim Arnosky
Puddle Pail by Elisa Kleven

Small Groups:
-Writing- Students will choose a favorite animal from the books we have read in this theme.  They will create a page for a class book by drawing an illustration for their favorite animal.
-Science-Hand Held Mirror Exploration-Students will hold child safe mirrors and explore reflections of themselves and classroom objects.  We will also be using flashlights and put the light into mirrors and try to make the light reflect to the other side of the room.
-Animal Memory Game-We will be playing memory with animal pictures from our story books this week.

Choice: -
-Easel – Painting meadow, pond, and stream animals
-Sensory– Sand (then making it wet to mold)
-Dramatic Play – Dress Up with mirrors 
-Math-Using swamp animals to measure objects (For example, the chart is 6 frogs long; my hand is 3 lizards long)

-Art- making turtle reflections

-Writing Center – Drawing and writing about animals

-Puzzles – Photographs of Animal Puzzles (Raccoons and crocodiles)

-Blocks – legos

Songs, Word Plays and Letters

Change, Change, Rearrange (using the word cat, we change the beginning
   sound to make new words such as hat, bat, mat, sat)
Whose Reflection is in the Pool?
Little Letter/Big Letter Chant
Sammy (a movement song that you can move like various animals)
Five Green FrogsEentsy, Weentsy Spider
Bingo – with the word Snake
The Turtle
Five Little Fishies

Reminders:
This time of year the sun is beginning to get warmer. As we love to play outside, you may want to add sun block to your child’s face and arms before sending him or her to school.

Posted by Lisa at 5:08 AM 0 comments