Saturday, March 26, 2011

March 28-April 1 Shadows and Reflections week 3

Shadows and Reflections – Week 3
Theme – 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.

Stories:
Kitten for a Day by Ezra Jack Keats
Dreams by Ezra Jack Keats
Guess My Shadow by Stephen Swinburne
Night Shift Daddy by Eileen Spinelli
Small Groups:
-Tally Animals in Books: We will revisit 2 books from last week(Play with me and Raccoon on his own). We will compare and contrast which animals that were in both books or just in one. We will create a chart.
-Writing- We will create a journal page about which animal was our favorite animal from our unit books.
-Turtle Counting Book- We will write numbers and count the correct number of boxes to color in child made books.  We will reinforce the concept of left to right progression when counting and coloring.
-Snake Patterns- We will create AB and other patterns along the body of a snake.
-What is a Shadow?- We will look for shadows in our unit books. Then we will discuss how shadow can change shape by being closer or further from a light source. We will also go on a shadow hunt around our school to find shadows of chairs, tables, easels and other classroom objects.
-Class Book- Each child will create a page in a class book. They will write about the pet they would wish for.

Choice:
-Easel – blue paper to create cloud animals using cotton balls dipped into white paint
-Sensory–searching for collections in sand then sorting them into pails
-Dramatic Play – Donut Shop(In Puddle Pail, the characters saw reflections from the donut shop in puddles)
-Art –Star Painting using star stencils
-Yellow Table- Beads to create patterns
-Maniplative Table- I touches
-Writing Center – animal labels
-Puzzles – Animal Puzzles (Raccoons, crocodiles, grasshoppers, and fawns).
-Blocks –Shadow Tent with shadow puppets and flashlights
-Science Table- Reflection Exploration- Mirrors and magnifying glasses. Snake skin and bumble bee specimen. Pictures of animals to create reflections.

Songs, Word Plays and Letters
Five Green Frogs with child made props
Eentsy, Weentsy Spider
Bingo – with the word Snake
Whose Reflection is in the Pool?
The Turtle
Five Little Fishies

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