Category: Grade School

Preschool Mixing Colors

This month my 4 year was learning how to mix colors. We used books and Colors Worksheets Preschool (Learn to spell 11 Colors) Color Mixing Activities from Teachers Pay Teachers. First I taught her the primary colors; red, yellow, and blue. Then we read the books over and over and she learned how to mix red and yellow to make orange, yellow and blue to make green, and blue and red to make purple.

Monsters Love Colors

We read Monsters Love Colors by Mike Austin and decided to make some marble painting monsters.

First we drew a monster outline on a large piece of paper and placed the paper inside a cookie tray. Then we dropped some red and blue paint on the paper and added a few marbles to the cookie tray. She moved the tray back and forth to have the marbles move through the paint and mix the colors. We did another monster with red and yellow paint drops and a third one with blue and yellow paint.

Finally she wanted to do one with all three primary colors of paint.

After the paint dried we cut out black paper to look like mouths and eye brows. We also added googly eyes to the monster.

She loved this book and asked to read it every night for a while.

The Dot

We read The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds and she make several paintings with all sizes and colors of dots on her easel. She even experimented with mixing paint colors to make new colors of dots.

Painting on her easel is one of her favorite activities.

Mix It Up! and Press Here

For today we read Mix It Up! and Press Here by Herve Tullet. She really enjoyed the actions in these books. We used our Primary Science Lab to mix colored water. I placed a few drops of red, yellow, and blue food coloring in the beakers.

She used an eye dropper to mix the primary colors to make the secondary colors.

Red and yellow to make orange, blue and yellow to make green, and last red and blue to make purple.

Once she had all the colors, she experimented with the colored water to make new colors. Most of them ended up as a brown color.

She really enjoys playing with this Primary Science Lab. Just be sure to place it on a cookie tray on top of a towel if you have very young children.

Mouse Paint & White Rabbit’s Color Book

We read Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh and White Rabbit’s Color Book by Alan Baker.

I printed the color mixing page from Colors Worksheets Preschool (Learn to spell 11 Colors) Color Mixing Activities from Teachers Pay Teachers onto cardstock. She only had the primary colors of paint and she had to mix those to make the primary colors.

Color Dance

Today we read Color Dance by Ann Jonas and then tried to mix white with each color and black with each color.

We made 3 circles of each color and then added white paint to each color on the column on the left and added black paint to each color on the column on the right.

Mixing Colored Ice Cubes

I froze red, blue, and yellow water. Then she placed the ice cubes in the jars to mix the colors.

  • red ice cubes in the first jar
  • red and yellow in the second jar
  • yellow in the third jar
  • yellow and blue in the fourth jar
  • blue in the fith
  • and blue with red in the last jar.

Painting with Primary Colored Ice Cubes

I also let her paint with the ice tubes. She could make a rainbow by mixing the primary colors.

You might find some more good ideas for learning toddler colors here:

Or some more of our preschool units here:

Ocean Theme School Lunches

We had a fun ocean themed lunch at school for our “Anchored” week at school. Each day we found creative ways to incorporate all of the food groups. We also had to keep the calories and sodium counts down to meet the state requirements for serving food to the school children.

We used clear plastic cups for the pudding, jello, and the banana cup. We also offered milk everyday even though it is not pictured.

Monday

Ham & Cheese Sea Monster Sandwich
Goldfish Crackers
Broccoli Ocean Sprouts
Coral Reef Fruit Cocktail
Shark Pudding (Gummy Sharks)

Tuesday

Fish Shape Nuggets
Barnacle Baked Beans
Sea Dragon Punch
Blueberry Bubbles
Teddy Graham Beach Jello (Umbrella Toothpick)

Wednesday

Peg Leg Chicken
Sea Shell Pasta Salad
Green Sea Beans
Dolphin Banana in Grapes
Mermaids Delight Ice Cream (Mermaid Sprinkles)

Thursday

Hot Dog Octopus on Seaweed Spaghetti
Crab Leg Carrot Sticks
Sea Cucumber Slices
Green Sea Turtle Apple

(We added the hotdog bun to get enough whole grain. And we added a banana, because we had extras left from yesterday.)

Friday

Sand Dollar Pancakes
Sea Foam Scrambled Eggs
Treasure Tater Tots
Poseidon’s Red Pepper Sticks
Orange Boats

You might enjoy some of my other party posts:

Music Maker Week

I got to teach a “Music Maker Week” at our Summer Camp. I had about 10 kids Kindergarten-5th grade. Each day we did a Body Percussion song, STEM activity, and made an instrument. For younger kids we watched Little Einsteins.

Day 1:  Wind Chimes

Homemade Instrument: Wind Chimes

  1. Paint your stick if you choose and let it dry.
  2. Tie a string or pipe cleaner to a jingle bell and add several pony beads. You will need to make 3-5 of these.
  3. Tie the other end of the beads to your stick.
  4. Twist 1 pipe cleaner around each side of the stick to hand the wind chimes with.

YouTube Body Percussion video: Pink Panther 

STEM Activity: Paint on a Sheet Music

  1. Print out some sheet music. We chose some easier ones, like the ABC’s; and some longer ones about a rose and about sunshine.
  2. The kids used watercolors to paint on the music.

Day 2: Egg Shaker Maraca

Homemade Instrument: Egg Shaker Maracas

  1. Place rice in an Easter egg.
  2. Place the egg inside of 2 plastic spoons.
  3. Tape the spoons and eggs together.
  4. Dance to Spanish music.
  5. Play Freeze Dance

Egg Shaker Songs:

We Don’t Talk About Bruno

Surface Pressure

YouTube Body Percussion video: Happy 

STEM Activity: Dancing Oobleck

Oobleck comes from the Dr. Seuss book called Batholomew and the Oobleck. It is a non-Newtonian liquid; which means that Oobleck has properties of both liquids and solids. You can look at the mixture sitting there as it appears like a liquid, you can even stick your fingers in it and it will feel like a liquid. You can also grab a handful of it and squeeze it into a ball, then it feels and looks like a solid until it relaxes again.

Here is a video of The Big Bang Theory doing the same experiment.

You need about 2 cups of Corn Starch to 1 cup of water, and then add food coloring for fun.

  1. You can search for “subwoofer test MP3” and download different test tones and play to see what works best.  Use 40 Hz, 50 Hz, and 63 Hz, and turn the volume way up.
  2. Place a cookie sheet onto the speaker of a subwoofer, and pour in the Oobleck.
  3. Before you play the MP3 you will need to place your fingers on the edge of the cookie sheet with gentle pressure to hold it flush against the sub.
  4. Turn on the music and watch the Oobleck jump and dance.

Day 3: Jingle Bell Anklet

Homemade Instrument: Jingle Bell Anklet

  1. Place the jingle bells and pony beads on the pipe cleaner.
  2. Dance with music that moves your feet, to hear the jingles.
  3. Play Freeze dance

YouTube Body Percussion video: I Like to Move It 

STEM Activity: Colored Ice Drums

You need about plastic tubs of different sizes (we mostly used large ice cream tubs), Just add water and then add food coloring for fun. Put in the freezer for a day or two.

  1. Freeze water colored with food coloring in different-sized food containers and bowls.
  2. When frozen, remove the ice shapes from their molds and place them in a tub (we used a plastic kiddy pool).
  3. Add drumsticks and objects for beating the ice drums.

Day 4: Spin Drum

Homemade Instrument: Spin Drum 

  1. Cut the tube into 1 or 2 inch pieces (each child gets 1 pieces)
  2. Take the tube and trace its circumference on the cardboard sheet twice, to make two circles.
  3. Cut out the circles from the cardboard. 
  4. Use a sharp object to cut a slot on the side of the cardboard tube ring. The slot should be big enough to insert a straw through it.
  5. Insert a straw through the slot of the tube section. Apply glue to the areas where the straw and the cardboard tube meet to attach them firmly.
  6. Take a long piece of yarn and attach a jingle bell to one end of the strand. Tie a knot to secure the bell.  
  7. Use something sharp to poke a hole on each side of the tube.  The holes should be on either side of the straw.
  8. Place some tape around the end of the yarn to poke it threw the hole, twist around the straw and poke it though the hole on the opposite side. (the bell should be just long enough to wrap around the drum and hit the drum in the middle)
  9. Pull the yarn through the other side of the roll. Add a jingle bell to this second side. Make a knot to secure the bell and cut off any extra yarn. Try to keep a roughly equal amount of yarn on this side as you have on the other side of the roll.
  10. Glue your cardboard circles to both sides of the ring to close it
  11. Use colored craft papers or paint to decorate the plain cardboard parts of the spin drum. Embellish as you’d like.

YouTube Body Percussion video: We will Rock You 

STEM Activity: Musical Chairs

  1. Make a circle with chairs. Have one less chair than there are students.
  2. Play the music for about 20-30 seconds and then stop it.
  3. As the music plays the children walk in a like around the circle of chairs, and when the music stops the children need to find a chair.
  4. The person without a chair is eliminated.
  5. Remove one chair and repeat until there is only one student left.

Day 5: Paper Plate Tambourine

Homemade Instrument: Paper Plate Tambourine

  1. Decorate 2 paper plates with crayons.
  2. Use a hole punch to punch holes around the paper plates.
  3. String yarn through the holes adding a jingle bell every once in a while.
  4. Add a few dry beans in the middlet.
  5. We colored these Mandala Music Coloring Pages and glued them to the plates.
  6. Play with Tambourine music.

YouTube Body Percussion video: Try Everything 

STEM Activity: Water Xylophone

You can use the water xylophone to teach kids about pitch.

  1. Fill 6 mason jars or glasses with different levels of water. Each should have slightly more water than the previous one. We added food coloring for fun.
  2. Have your children to use their drumsticks or a spoon to gently tap on the jar.
  3. You should hear different pitch for each jar that is tapped.
  4. This tap creates a vibration sound wave that travel through the water. The sound waves change with different amounts of water in the jar. Higher sounds have less water because the sound waves travel closer together. Lower sounds are in the jars with more water producing a lower sound.

Mouse Cookie Baking Week

I got to teach a “Baking Week” at our Summer Camp. I had about 20 kids Kindergarten-5th grade. I had 4 groups of kids in the kitchen, each with 1 older child to help the younger ones. Each day we made a food from one of the “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” books.

Daily Activity Schedule:

  1. Read Story/ Circle Time
  2. Recess
  3. Divide Teams
  4. Review Kits and Safety Rules
  5. Kitchen Cooking
  6. Activity Time
  7. Lunch
  8. Recess
  9. Quiet Time (Kids Baking Championship – Food Network)
  10. Color/ Activity Sheets from the MouseCookieBooks.com activities page
  11. Snack

Day 1:  If you Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff

Jello Cookies

Board Game

Jello Cookies

(24 cookies)

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp cream of tarter
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 6 tbsp butter at room temperature
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 3/4 tea. Vanilla
  • 3 tbsp flavored Jello
  • 1 cup of Extra sugar

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Combine the flour, cream of tarter, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
  3. Add the butter and 3/4 cup of sugar to a large bowl and cream together until fluffy about 5 minutes.
  4. Add the eggs and mix
  5. Add the vanilla and mix
  6. Add the medium bowl ingredients to the large bowl and mix together.
  7. Knead in the Jello with your hands.
  8. Place the extra cup of sugar into a small bowl.
  9. Scoop 2 Tablespoons of cooties and roll them into balls, then roll them in the sugar until completely covered.
  10. Place the balls on a prepared sheet pan with 2 inches between each cookies.
  11. Bake in the oven for 10-13 minutes until the tops of the cookies are golden.
  12. Cool on the pan for 3-5 minutes.

Day 2:  If you Give a Moose a Muffin by Laura Numeroff

Banana Muffins

Banana Muffins

(12 muffins)

Ingredients:

  • 1 eggs
  • 6 Tablespoons butter
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 2 overripe bananas
  • 1 cup flour
  • ¾  tea. Baking soda
  • ¼  tea salt
  • ½  tea. Vanilla
  • 12  Muffin Cups

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Mix the eggs, butter, and brown sugar.
  3. Mash in the bananas.
  4. Blend in flour, baking soda, salt, and vanilla.
  5. Place muffin cups in 12  muffin holders. And fill ¾ full with batter.
  6. Bake for 16 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Day 3:  If you Give a Dog a Donut by Laura Numeroff

Donuts

Make Your Own Donut

Glazed Baked Donuts

(6 donuts)

Ingredients for Donuts:

  • 1 Cup Flour
  • ½ Cup Sugar
  • 1 tsp Baking Powder
  • ½ tsp Salt
  • 2 tbsp butter melted
  • 1 large egg
  • ½ Cup Milk
  • 1 tsp Vanilla

Ingredients for Glaze:

  • ½ cup Powder sugar
  • ½ tsp Vanilla
  • ¼ stp Salt
  • 2  tbsp milk
  • Sprinkles

Directions for Donuts:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray donut pans
  2. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt.
  3. In a separate bowl, stir together the melted butter, egg, milk, vanilla.
  4. Gradually add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until combined (do not over mix)
  5. Pour the mixture evenly into the donut pans filling each about halfway full.
  6. Bake for 10-13 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
  7. Let the donuts cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack.

Directions for Donuts:

  1. Whisk together powder sugar and salt.
  2. Then stir in the vanilla and gradually add the milk.
  3. Dip the cool donuts in the icing covering about half of the donuts. Then top with sprinkles.
  4. Let the donuts cool about 30 minutes.

Day 4:  If you Give a Cat a Cupcake by Laura Numeroff

Cupcakes

The Art of the Cupcake

Chocolate Cupcakes

(12 cupcakes)

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 Cup granulated white sugar
  • ¼  cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • ¾ teaspoons baking powder
  • ¾ teaspoons baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoons salt
  • 1 large egg
  • ½ cup milk
  • ¼ cup vegetable oil
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla
  • ½ cup boiling water
  • 12 Cupcake Liners

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Mix together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking power,  and salt.
  3. Add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla into the same bowl.
  4. Mix for five minutes.
  5. Stir in the boiling water last.
  6. Place 12 cupcake liners in the pan, filling each tin or liner about 2/3 full.
  7. Bake 30 to 35 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Day 5:  If you Give a Mouse a Brownie by Laura Numeroff

Brownies

Brownies Recipe

(9 brownies)

Ingredients:

  • ½  cup butter or margarine, melted
  • 1 cups sugar
  • 1/2 cup baking cocoa
  • 2 eggs
  • ½  cup flour
  • ½  cup chopped nuts (optional)

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. In a bowl, mix the margarine, sugar and cocoa.
  3. Add the eggs and mix well.
  4. Stir in flour; mix well.
  5. Grease a 8×8 inch pan and pour the batter into the pan.
  6. Bake . for 30 minutes or until the brownies test done with a wooden pick. Cool in pan.

Other Baking Ideas:

  • Pizza
  • Fruit Pizza
  • Pretzels with cheese sauce
  • Pancakes

Kids Baking Shows:

  • Kids Baking Championship – Food Network

Book List:

Memorial Day 3: American Flag

J is fascinated with the American flag so we decided to take this last day and learn some more about it.  We had a yummy flag breakfast, reviewed the symbols of the flag, made a flag craft, and learned how to show respect to our flag.

American Flag

Discuss: The American Flag is red, white and blue and has 13 stripes and 50 stars.

Its Symbols-

  • The stripes represent the 13 original colonies.
  • The 50 stars represent the number of states there are now.
  • The colors of the flag have meaning as well:
  • Red symbolizes Hardiness and Valor (the qualities of a hero or heroine; exceptional or heroic courage when facing danger; especially in battle)
  • White symbolizes Purity and Innocence (the state of being free from sin or moral wrong; lacking a knowledge of evil)
  • Blue represents Perseverance and Justice (the administration of law; the act of determining rights and assigning rewards or punishments)

Proper Display-

  • The flag should be displayed from sunrise to sunset.
  •           If the flag is displayed at night it should be illuminated.
  • Never allow the flag to touch the ground or the floor.
  • When displayed on a wall or window the blue field should be in the upper left corner.
  • The flag should be raised quickly and lowered carefully.
  • The flag is often flown at half-staff to show respect for someone who has died. When flown at half-staff, the flag should be raised to the top for an instant and then lowered to the half-staff position. The flag should also be raised to the top before it is lowered at the end of the day.

Read: The American Flag by Tristan Boyer Binns

Comprehension Questions:

  1. What colors are on the American Flag? Red, white and blue
  2. What does each color stand for? Red for Valor, White for Purity, and Blue for Justice
  3. What do the 13 stripes and 50 stars stand for? 13 stripes for the 13 original colonies and 50 stars for the 50 states.

The Pledge of Allegiance

We used this page to talk more about The Pledge of Allegiance.

Edible Celebration Flag

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 jar marshmallow cream
  • 8 ounce cream cheese
  • Strawberry Pop Tart (unfrosted)
  • Fresh red raspberries or Fresh strawberries
  • Fresh blueberries

DIRECTIONS:

  1. In a small bowl stir together cream cheese, and marshmallow cream until smooth.
  2. Spread on top of the Pop Tart..
  3. Arrange 9 blueberries on top left corner of each toaster pastry to make “stars” on flags. 
  4. Lengthwise quarter raspberries or halve strawberries and thinly slice.
  5. Arrange raspberries or strawberries on top of toaster pastries to make “red stripes” on flags. 
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The Flag of the United States of America

We used this page to review what we have learned about The Flag of the United States of America.

Popsicle Stick Flag

Materials:

  • Red, Blue and White Paint
  • Paintbrush
  • 8 Popsicle Sticks
  • Cardstock
  • Strips of Rhinestones
  • Craft Magnet

Directions:

  1. Paint the sticks white and red (paint half of 3 sticks blue)
  2. Once they dried glue them onto cardstock. (Blue goes in the top left)
  3. Stick the rhinestones on the blue to use as the “stars”.
  4. Stick a magnet on the back.
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Check out the other day that we spent learning about Memorial Day:

Memorial Day 2: Memorial Stone

For the second day of our Memorial Day unit study we studied a Bible story of memorial.  We read about and made our own memorial stones like Joshua and the Israelites did after crossing the Jordan River.  We also made another Memorial Day art project.

Memorial Stone

Discuss: In the Old Testament of our Bibles God’s people also had a time of memorial to remember what God had done for them. Open your Bibles to Joshua 4. Before we read let’s talk about what happened before Joshua 4. Remember God’s people had been in slavery in Egypt and God used Moses to lead his people out of slavery and across the Red Sea. Then, God led them to wander through the wilderness for forty years, but every day He was faithful to give them the quail and manna they needed. Then God finally led the Israelites to the land He had promised them when He led them out of Egypt. That brings us to today’s story. This is the story of how God led His people across the Jordan River on dry ground and into the Promised Land. God wanted a man from each of the twelve tribes to pick up a stone as they crossed the Jordan River.

Read: Joshua 4:1-20

Comprehension Questions:

  1. “Why were these twelve stones important?” The Israelites were to keep the twelve stones as a way to remember how God led them safely across the Jordan River.
  2. What are some good things God has done for you that you want to remember? Let the children answer, The mose important thing that God had done for us is given us His Son Jesus.

The Hand of God

I had J trace his hand on paper and cut it out.  Then he wrote “Joshua 4:23-24” on the palm of it.

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Joshua Crossing the Jordan Coloring Page

I used the Joshua Crossing the Jordan Coloring Page that I found here for J to color.

Memorial Stones

Discuss: Just like God wanted a man from each of the twelve tribes to pick up a stone as they crossed the Jordan. Today you are going to paint your own memorial stone as a reminder to you of how God gave us Jesus. When you look at your stone you can remember how Jesus died on the cross for your sins and you can thank God sending His Son Jesus to die in your place

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Materials:

  • One clean, dry stone for each child
  • One paintbrush for each child
  • One paper plate or pie tin for each child to use as a paint palette
  • One color acrylic paint. The amount of paint needed depends upon the number of children.
  • Masking tape
  • Sharpie marker

Procedure:

  1. The stones must be scrubbed clean and be completely dry for the paint to stick to the surface. I recommend you wash the stones a few days in advance and set them outside to dry.
  2. Pass out one stone, one paintbrush, and one empty paint palette to each child.
  3. Show a stone which is already completed.
  4. The children will choose which side of their stone will be the top.
  5. Squeeze a small amount of paint onto each child’s palette.
  6. The children will paint a cross on the top of their stone.
  7. The adult helpers will write each child’s name on a piece of masking tape and stick it to the bottom of the stone.
  8. Set the stones aside and allow to dry.

Memorial Day Word Search

I found a Memorial Day Word Search that J and I worked together.

Memorial Day Mixed Media

Materials:

  • Red and Blue Paint
  • Paintbrush
  • White Paper
  • Scissors
  • Glue
  • Black Construction Paper

Directions:

  1. Paint white paper and used the bottom of the brush to get some designs. Let it dry.
  2. Cut up the paper and collage it onto a big square white paper.
  3. Flip the paper over and draw a star on the back (blank side), and cut it out.
  4. Glue the star onto black paper.
  5. Use oil pastels to write patriotic images, words, phrases, songs, etc.
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Check out the other day that we spent learning about Memorial Day:

Memorial Day 1: Order

J has been asking me for the last few years why we celebrate Memorial Day so for day one of our Memorial Day Unit Study we learned some of the history of Memorial Day.  We also learned with our toy army men, Venn Diagrams, art projects, geography and some math.

Memorial Day Order

Discuss: Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation’s service. It is celebrated on the last Monday in May.

Read: Memorial Day by Trudi Strains Trueit and the Order for recognizing Memorial Day as a national holiday.

Comprehension Questions:

  1. Why do we celebrate Memorial Day? Because we are remembering and honoring the people who serve in our military. They work to keep us safe and give us our freedom.
  2. Write the word Memorial on the front board. See how the word memorial is like the word memory. On Memorial Day, we remember and thank the people in our military.

All About Memorial Day


We used the All About Memorial Day handout to learn more.

Army Men Math

Materials:

  • Army Men
  • Hoola Hoops

Directions:

  1. First count them to see how many there are. You can put them in piles of 10 and then count by 10’s.
  2. Sort and arrange into patterns by color first then by the soldier’s position. Try and AB pattern first then try something harder like AABCC.
  3. Create a Venn diagram with hoola hoops. Compare standing soldiers to laying soldiers, with kneeling soldiers in the middle. 
  4. Remove any extra pieces so that you have a number divisible by 10 (say they were injured and went to the hospital).  
  5. Set up 10 men as generals, how many soldiers could each general command, if all the men were divided equally among the 10 generals?  

Army Men Math

How many army men do you have? (count by tens)______________

How many of each color do you have?

Light Green?_________________

Dark Green?_________________

Gray?______________________

How many in each position?

Standing?___________________

Kneeling?___________________

Laying?_____________________

Remove any extra pieces so that you have a number divisible by 10 (say they were injured and went to the hospital). If 10 were generals how many could each general command?_____________________

Drawing Army Men

Discuss: Show the children how to make the army man body after examining a few different army men together. Observe how the arms and legs bend because of knees and elbows. Here is a step by step guide for the child. Look at all the details of their little man.

Materials:

  • Army Men
  • Pencil
  • Green Marker
  • Water Colors

Directions:

  1. Use the diagram above to draw an outline of your army man with a green marker,
  2. paint the army man with green water colors,
  3. for the back ground draw camouflage or an American flag.
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American Casualty Locations

Discuss: Many American soldiers have died protecting our countries freedom. Here is a list of all the wars that Americans have fought in. It also tells how many American’s died in each war. We are so thankful for each and every soldier for giving their life for our freedom.

Directions: Study the list and display a large world map, and ask students to point out the places where Americans have fought and died.

Memorial Day Poppy

Discuss: On Memorial Day you will often see veterans selling poppies in memory of those people who died for our country.

Materials:

  • Red tissue paper
  • White paper
  • Green pipe cleaner
  • Glue
  • Green seed beads
  • Aluminum foil
  • Scissors
  • Ruler
  • Pen

Directions:

  1. Cut a 3 inch square of aluminum foil and red tissue paper.
  2. Glue the red tissue square over the aluminum foil square, and let it dry.
  3. Cut a 2 inch circle from the tissue covered foil to make the poppy.
  4. Poke a 6 inch piece of green pipe cleaner through the center of the poppy for the stem. Bend the end of the stem to one side and glue it to the center of the flower.
  5. Cover the center of the poppy with glue and sprinkle the glue with green seed beads for the center of the poppy.
  6. Cut a thin 4 inch strip from the white paper. Fold the strip of paper in half and glue it around the stem of the poppy.
  7. Use a pen to write “Memorial Day” and the date on the paper strip.\
  8. Stick the stem of the poppy through a buttonhole on your shirt to wear it on Memorial Day.
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Check out the other day that we spent learning about Memorial Day:

Memorial Day Unit Study

In this unit study we learned more about Memorial Day and the American Flag. This unit study has 3 days of lessons.  I did this study with my 1st grader and would recommend it for Kindergarten through 3rd grade.

Memorial Day Book List

Book can be read by the child or by the parent to the child, depending on the child’s reading level.

Books I used in the lessons…

Memorial Day by Trudi Strains Trueit

The American Flag by Tristan Boyer Binns

Other age appropriate books…

Memorial Day Surprise by Theresa Martin Golding

The Impossible Patriotism Project by Linda Skeers

The Wall by Eve Bunting

The American Flag by Debbie L. Yanuck

The American Flag by Elaine Landau

Memorial Day by Sheri Dean

Memorial Day by Lynn Hamilton

Memorial Day Parade

We went to the parade in town for a little field trip today.

Here are some of our other Elementary Unit Studies:

Rainbows Day 5 -What Makes a Rainbow

Today we talked about the science behind rainbows.  We learned that all a rainbow needs is light and water so we went outside to try to create some or our own rainbows.  Today we included more rainbow crafts, science, math, literature, and snacks.

What Makes a Rainbow

Discuss: A rainbow needs light and water for us to see it. Show a simple demonstration of how we bend light by using a straight straw and a clear cup that is half filled with water. Even though the straw is straight, it looks bent when we put it into the water. That is just the light bending. When we bend light, it is called “refraction.” Let’s bend some more light.  Show the kids a prism, go outside and used a prism to create a rainbow on a piece of white paper. Why do we see rainbows when it rains? The raindrops are like a tiny prism, bending the light that comes from the sun. So we need both sun (light) and rain (prism) at the same time to make a rainbow in the sky. Let’s do a simple demonstration to see how the sun and water make a rainbow.  We’ll use the hose in the backyard to make a rainbow.  Make sure the sun is behind us and the water is in front of us.

We did experiments from the “Magic School Bus The Mysteries of Rainbow Science Club Kit”.

Read: What Is a Rainbow? By Chris Arvetis and Carole Palmer

Comprehension Questions:

  1. What makes a rainbow? Light and water

Fruit Loop Bagel Breakfast

Materials:

  • Plain Bagels
  • Cream Cheese
  • Fruit Loops

Directions:

  1. spread cream cheese on the bagel
  2. place the fruit loops in the shape of a rainbow

Tissue Paper Rainbow

Materials:

  • colors of tissue papers
  • pencil with a full eraser
  • school glue
  • white cardstock with an outline of a rainbow on it
  • markers or crayons

Directions:

  1. Have the children use the markers or crayons to color in the colors they want their rainbow to look like.
  2. Cut the tissue into 1 inch squares.
  3. Pour some school glue onto a tray or plate.
  4. Have your child take one piece of tissue, and show them how to center (approximately!) the eraser onto it.
  5. Wrap the tissue up around the pencil. 
  6. Dip into the glue.
  7. Hold onto the edges of the tissue, and press the glue tipped end onto the paper, matching up the color from your picture. Slide the pencil out.

Rainbow in a Box

Discuss: Like water drops in falling rain, the CD separates white light into all the colors that make up the rainbow. The colors you see reflecting from a CD are interference colors, like the shifting colors you see on a soap bubble or an oil spill. You can think of light as as being made up of waves-like the waves in the ocean. When light waves reflect off the ridges on your CD, they overlap and interfere with each other. Sometimes the waves add together to make a rainbow.

Materials:

  • CD
  • Box
  • Flashlight

Directions:

  1. Shine a flashlight on an old CD in the bottom of a box turned on it’s side.
  2. Turn off the lights, and move the flashlight across the CD to make the rainbows dance.

Rainbow Addition

Materials:

  • Paper
  • Pen
  • Construction paper

Directions:

  1. Draw an outline of a rainbow on the paper.
  2. Write addition combinations on the blank rainbow. (make sure they are spaced out quite a bit)
  3. Cut the construction paper into rectangles small enough to cover one of the combinations.
  4. Write the answers to the top row of combinations on the red rectangles.
  5. Next row answers are on the orange rectangles. And so on.
  6. Child will look at the combination and find the answer in the colored pieces and place it over the combination. At the end there should be a completed colored rainbow.

I modified the one for A. to counting dots on the white paper and finding the correct number on the colored pieces.

And I modified the tots to matching colors.

Eat the Rainbow

Discuss:

Talk about what different colors of the rainbow that we can eat to be healthy. Fruits and Vegies Then make a chart with the kids that have all of the foods that they suggested written on it.

Materials:

  • Posterboard
  • Markers of crayons
  • Strawberries
  • Cantaloupe
  • Banana
  • Pear
  • Blueberries
  • Red Grapes
  • Kabob Skewers

Directions:

  1. Make a rainbow on a plate or platter with different fruits.

RED – Strawberries
ORANGE – Cantaloupe
YELLOW – Banana
GREEN – Pear
BLUE – Blueberries
VIOLET – Red grapes

    2. Let the children use the kabob sticks to make their rainbow fruit kabobs.

Read: I can eat a Rainbow by Annabel Karmel while they eat

Make a REAL Rainbow

Read: A Rainbow of My Own by Don Freeman

Discuss: Rainbows appear wherever sunlight falls on water or glass.  We used the Rainbow Diagram here to help us with this experiment.

Materials:

  • Glass of water
  • Dark kitchen
  • White Paper
  • Masking Tape
  • Flashlight

Directions:

  1. Fill a glass of water (almost to the top) and place it at the very edge of the counter in a VERY dark kitchen or bathroom.
  2. Place a sheet of plain white paper on the floor a few inches away from the counter.
  3. Put two pieces of masking tape over the front of a flashlight so that the light comes out of a slit about 1/8 inch wide.
  4. Shine this light across and down into the water as shown in the figure. When a narrow beam of light is passed through a glass of water, a spectrum can be seen on a white sheet of paper.
  5. Can you see a small rainbow on the white paper? If not, move the flashlight around a little until you achieve the best results.

Rainbow Symmetry

Discuss: A line of symmetry divides a shape into two identical parts. In some cases, as with a rainbow, you’ll find one line of symmetry down the middle. In other cases, there is more than one, like with eight sections of an orange. So if we paint a rainbow on one side of the paper and then fold it in half it should appear the same on both sides forming a symmetrical rainbow.

Materials:

  • Cardstock folded in half
  • Paint for all the colors of the rainbow

Directions:

  1. Fold the paper in half and open.
  2. Have the kids how to paint half a rainbow on one half of the paper in the right order. 
  3. Fold the paper over and press gently.
  4. Open again to see your rainbow print. 
IMG_0701

Rainbow Celebration Cake

Cake Materials:

  • White cake (2 boxes)
  • 9 in. cake pan
  • Red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple GEL food coloring.

Cake Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Spray 9” cake pans. Make the 2 cakes according to the directions.
  2. Divide the batter into 6 bowls (about 1 1/2 cups each.
  3. Then whisk 2 drops of the appropriate food color into each bowl. Pour into the pans and bake for 12 minutes each.
  4. When you remove them from the oven, let them rest on the cooling rack, in the pan, for ten minutes. Then flip, cover, and stash them in the fridge to cool quickly.

Frosting Materials:

  • 2 Cups shortening
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • ½ cup water
  • 2 lbs. Powdered sugar

Frosting Directions:

  1. In large bowl, cream shortening with electric mixer. Add vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add water and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use.
  2. This icing can be stored 2 weeks. rewhip before using.
IMG_0680I added sugar sprinkles in the shape of a rainbow to it too.

More rainbow fun that we had this week:

Rainbows Day 4 -Double Rainbows

Just last week we saw a double rainbow and I actually got a picture of it with my phone, so we decided to make that day 4 in our rainbow unit study.  We had a rainbow breakfast and lunch and did some more rainbow crafts, math, and science.  The kids loved the mini fruit rainbow pizzas that we had for snack today.

Double Rainbows

Discuss: In a “primary rainbow”, the arc shows red on the outer part, and violet on the inside. This rainbow is caused by light being refracted while entering a droplet of water, then reflected inside on the back of the droplet and refracted again when leaving it. In a double rainbow, a second arc is seen outside the primary arc, and has the order of its colors reversed, red facing toward the other one, in both rainbows. This second rainbow is caused by light reflecting twice inside water droplets. The second arc is also lighter than the first one.

Read: All the Colors of the Rainbow by Allan Fowler

Comprehension Questions:

  1. What is the order of the colors in a rainbow? Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple
  2. What is the order of the colors in the double rainbow on the top? Purple, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red
  3. Have the children draw a double rainbow (top rainbow lighter and in opposite order)

Rainbow Pancake Breakfast

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 cups buttermilk
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
  • food coloring

Directions:

  1. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.
  2. Lightly beat the eggs with the buttermilk, milk and melted butter.
  3. Just before you are ready to make the pancakes, add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients all at once, stirring just long enough to blend. The batter should be slightly lumpy.
  4. Separate the batter into 6 bowls and added food coloring to make the colors of the rainbow.
  5. Heat a lightly greased griddle or heavy skillet over medium-high heat (375 degrees on an electric griddle).
  6. Pour 1/4 cup batter per pancake onto the griddle or skillet, spacing the pancakes apart so they do not run together.
  7. When bubbles appear on the surface of the pancakes and the undersides are lightly browned, turn and cook for about 2 minutes longer, until lightly browned on the bottom.
IMG_0A said “Look, I made a flower” (so girly)!618

Hand Print Rainbow

Materials:

  • Paint (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple)
  • Poster board

Directions:

  1. Cut the poster board in the shape of a semi-circle.
  2. Have the children put their purple hand prints along the bottom curve.
  3. Then blue hand prints over the purple prints (it’s okay if it overlaps a bit)
  4. Then green, yellow, orange, and red hand prints

Blow It Up

Discuss: Baking soda and the vinegar create an ACID-BASE reaction. When combined/mixed they create a gas – carbon dioxide. Gasses need room to spread out, so the carbon dioxide gas fills the bottle and then moves into the balloon inflating it. A gas can float in the air but we usually can’t see it.

Materials:

  • baking soda
  • vinegar
  • plastic bottle
  • 6 balloons (one of each color)
  • funnels

Directions:

  1. Using your funnel pour vinegar into your bottle. You only need to fill about 1/3 of the bottle.
  2. Using another (dry) funnel pour baking soda into your balloon. Fill the balloon approx. 1/2 way.
  3. Cover the top of the bottle with you balloon. Make sure you don’t let the baking soda spill into the bottle yet.
  4. When ready, lift your balloon and let the baking soda fall into the vinegar.
  5. Watch as the mixture fizzes, bubbles & expands your balloon!

Measure a Rainbow

Materials:

  • Construction Paper in colors of the rainbow
  • Scissors
  • Stapler

Directions:

1. Measure and cut the construction paper into 1” wide strips. Measure and cut each of the strips into the following lengths:

•red ~ 10″
•orange ~ 9”
•yellow ~ 8”
•green ~ 7”
•blue ~ 6”
•purple ~ 5” 

2. Stack all of the strips together in the rainbow order with red on top. Align and staple the aligned end together.

3. Bend and align the other end and staple to form a rainbow!! And that’s it…a fun rainbow with a little bit of measuring practice as a bonus!

Rainbow Spaghetti Lunch

Ingredients:

  • Spaghetti
  • Oil
  • Food Coloring
  • Tomatoes
  • Carrots
  • Croutons
  • Lettuce
  • Rasins
  • Shredded Cabbage

Directions:

  1. Cook a small pot of spaghetti and drained it and tossed it in a couple of teaspoons of oil.
  2. Divided it into 6 bowls and added a some liquid food coloring to each one, and stirred it through.
  3. Serve with a salad make of RED – Tomatoes ORANGE – Carrots YELLOW – Croutons GREEN – Lettuce BLUE – Raisins VIOLET – Shredded Cabbage

Rainbow Wind Catcher

Materials:

  • paper plates
  • paint
  • glue sticks
  • a stapler
  • crepe paper

Directions:

  1. cut paper plates in half.
  2. paint a rainbow on the back sides, both halves. 
  3. after they were dry, use a glue stick to add the streamers.
  4. cut the streamers in half long wise so they measure about 1in. X 10in.
  5. in theory you would add the color of streamer under the color of paint.
  6. glue streamers to the inside of both halves of the plates.
  7. staple the two plates together.
  8. tie a knot in a loop of yarn and then stapled it in when putting the plates together.

Crayon Melting Canvas

Discuss: Why does wax melt? Energy travels from the heated area to the wax, a solid. When the energy hits the wax molecules, it causes them to speed up, resulting in liquid. As the heat is removed, the wax molecules begin to slow down and heat the air around them. As the molecules lose energy they slowly stop moving as much and become a solid again.

Materials:

  • 11×14 canvas
  • hot glue gun & glue stick
  • hair dryer
  • lots of crayons
  • newspaper

Discussion:

  1. Pick out the colors you want to use and line them up until you run out of space.
  2. Using a glue gun, make a line of glue across the crayons (if you want a certain part showing, like the label, be careful to put the glue on the opposite side). Quickly place onto canvas in a line, as shown below, with tips facing down. 
  3. Line your floor with newspaper, place the canvas against the wall, and start blow drying.
  4. Aim the heat right at the middle to lower area of the crayons (where the tips are). Once the wax starts melting, move the dryer around as needed to prevent splattering and get wax to go straight down.  
IMG_0655

Extension:

Kids can do individual crayon melting pictures on cardstock then cut off the crayons.

IMGI tried spelling something with stickers and peeling them off._0594
IMG_05Instead of the wax not showing up under the stickers to make it appear white, the wax spread under the stickers.96

Mini Fruit Pizzas

Ingredients:

  • 3/4 cup butter, softened
  • 3 ounces cream cheese
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 jar Marshmallow Cream
  • 1 block cream cheese
  • Raspberries
  • Manderin Oranges (cut in halves)
  • Banana (sliced and cut in fourths)
  • Green Grapes (cut in halves)
  • Blueberries
  • Plums (sliced and cut in fourths)

Directions:

  1. In a bowl cream butter, 3 ounces cream cheese and sugar until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; beat until smooth.
  2. In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. Stir till soft dough forms.
  3. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours.
  4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
  5. Bake cookies for 8 minutes or until lightly browned and let cool.
  6. Mix 1 jar of marshmallow cream and 1 block of cream cheese for the kids to spread on the cookies.
  7. Cut up the fruit for the kids to make a mini rainbow on their cookies.

More rainbow fun that we had this week:

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