Food Curriculum, Day One

Okay, this theme is absolutely my favorite of all time! You will read lots of books and do lots of fun things during this theme. There are so many cute art activities that go along with my food curriculum, and you and your students will also get to cook lots of yummy things!

For your morning meeting theme set, you will read Today is Monday by Eric Carle for the duration of the theme. Your books for storytime will change every couple of days. We will start the theme off with the If You Give a ______ a _______ books by Laura Numeroff. On Monday and Tuesday, you will read If You Give a Moose a Muffin. For art, provide each student with either a precut muffin shape (if they are not able to cut it themselves) or with a muffin pattern on white cardstock to cut out. Once all of the muffins are cut, give the students a choice between strawberry and blueberry (red or blue paper) using your Boardmaker symbols. Have the students paint their muffin pattern with tan paint (if you do not have any or can’t find any, mix brown and white paint together). Have your students tear the red or blue paper and stick it into the wet tan paint to make “strawberries” or “blueberries.”

For your science activity today, pass around scent jars. Soak cottonballs in something strawberry-scented and blueberry-scented (e.g. strawberry extract, blueberry potpourri oil, etc. ) and put the cotton balls in baby food jars, film canisters, or tiny plastic storage bowls. Talk about which sense you use to smell. You could also talk about how the sense of smell and the sense of taste are connected. Pass around the scent jars and have your students choose which scent they like best (you may need to have them choose as the jar comes around to them). On your board or a sheet of chart paper, make a t-chart with one side showing who likes blueberry and the other side showing who likes strawberry, then list the students on the side of the scent they choose. At the end, have the students help you count how many chose each scent, then talk about which number is larger/smaller.