Shadows and Reflections -week 2

Shadows and Reflections – Week 2
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:
Raccoon on His Own by: Jim Arnosky
Puddle Pail
The Lonely Firefly by Eric Carle

Small Groups:
-Hand Held Mirror Play using mirrors and flashlights in a dark room to create reflections and use mirrors to make light reflect to opposite side of room. We will discuss how light is needed to create a reflection.
-Animal Memory Game- using picture cards from animals in our weekly stories.
-Sorting Animals by color, texture and characteristics. Children will discuss how to classify the reptiles and frogs and create categories to sort them by.
-Reflection painting- We will be using paint to add color to our "pails", then we will fold our pails to create a reflection.  This activity is inspired by the book Puddle Pail.
-Making Collections- Each child will be given a set of animals to sort from our books. Then they will sort the animals, count the sets, and then label the amounts(biggest collection, smallest collection, or equal collections).
-What is a good reflector? We will investigate different materials to see if they can reflect light or our images.  We will sort them and create a chart.
Choice: -
-Easel – frog foot print painting
-Sensory– Looking for reflections in water using child created floatable lids.  Reflective material will be in the bottom of the sensory table.
-Dramatic Play – Pet Shop
-Art –Photo Puzzles of each child to create
-Yellow Table- Materials to create lids to float in sensory table
-Maniplative Table- I touches
-Writing Center – Favorite Animal Page for class book
-Puzzles – Animal Puzzles (Raccoons, crocodiles, grasshoppers, and fawns).
-Blocks –Zoo Animals
-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