Today is Friday! Today, read If You Give a Pig a Pancake by Laura Numeroff to your class and change your song to "Do You Know the Pancake Man?"....then make “pancakes” as your art activity.
Use the tan circles and yellow square that you had your students cut out yesterday in fine motor. The students will glue the circles to the paper plate, then glue the yellow square on top to look like butter. Once they have completed this portion, they will pour “syrup” on top of their “pancakes”. To make the syrup, mix brown paint and white glue, then funnel it into squeeze bottles, like the ones you use for ketchup and mustard at a picnic. Have your students squeeze the syrup all over the top of the pancakes. The syrup will dry shiny and look like real syrup!
For fine motor, make a batch of pumpkin playdough. Make a batch of pumpkin playdough, adding pumpkin pie spice to the dry ingredients and orange food coloring to the wet ingredients. Your playdough will, of course, be orange, and it will smell like pumpkin pie. You could also make a batch and add cocoa powder to it to make chocolate playdough. Let your students pound, roll, and cut the playdough (they can even use scissors to cut the playdough) and give them cookie cutters to use as well.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Food Curriculum, Day Four
Today is chocolate chip cookie day! Of course, you are going to read If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and sing “Do You Know the Cookie Man” during your story time. At art time, you will make chocolate chip cookies! I love to make them from scratch so that the children can see the process from start to finish, and they come together rather quickly. Cooking activities are not only a science activity, but also a math activity, since students get to measure all of the ingredients. Make a poster showing the ingredients, measurements, and steps to the recipe. Let your students request a turn using verbalizations or vocalizations, signs, or PECS. Let them do all of the measuring, mixing, and scooping! One of my favorite adapted classroom tools is a device that holds a measuring cup that can be turned using a switch so that students with physical disabilities can help to measure and pour the ingredients. If you have access to a stand mixer, you could plug this into a PowerLink. A PowerLink allows you to adapt any electronic device so that it can be powered by a switch, and cordless switches are available to allow students to access devices from a distance. You can switch-adapt your stand mixer!
Make a set of “counting cookies” to put into your math center. Cut a large set of small-to-medium circles from tan construction paper or cardstock. Make two sets of “cookies” with “chocolate chips” on them-drawn on or made with brown dot stickers or chocolate chip stickers. Put a specific number on each cookie, from 0-10, and make 2 sets with no chips on them but with the numeral 0-10 on them. Students can match the cookies with the same number of chips, with the same numerals, or match numerals to the cookies with the same number of chips on them.
Today, for fine motor, have your students cut our 2 medium (pancake) sized circles from tan cardstock or construction paper and a small square from yellow cardstock or construction paper. These will be used for pancakes and butter in tomorrow’s art activity.
Make a set of “counting cookies” to put into your math center. Cut a large set of small-to-medium circles from tan construction paper or cardstock. Make two sets of “cookies” with “chocolate chips” on them-drawn on or made with brown dot stickers or chocolate chip stickers. Put a specific number on each cookie, from 0-10, and make 2 sets with no chips on them but with the numeral 0-10 on them. Students can match the cookies with the same number of chips, with the same numerals, or match numerals to the cookies with the same number of chips on them.
Today, for fine motor, have your students cut our 2 medium (pancake) sized circles from tan cardstock or construction paper and a small square from yellow cardstock or construction paper. These will be used for pancakes and butter in tomorrow’s art activity.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Food Curriculum, Day Three
Day three starts a new book: If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, also by Laura Numeroff. Her books are so much fun! Read the book at story time, but continue reading Today is Monday by Eric Carle for morning meeting. I was never able to find a great song about cookies, and I always liked to sing songs that were familiar to the students, so I like to change the words of “The Muffin Man” to ask “Do you know the cookie man?”
For today’s art activity, you will make chocolate chip cookies using the paper circles cut out during yesterday’s fine motor activity. You have 2 choices for how to do this activity: (1) use white price dot stickers colored brown….students will peel the stickers off and stick them on their “cookie”; (2) use torn brown paper-glue to the “cookies”. You can have them color the dots or tear the paper today while they are doing art, or you can have them do it the day before as part of their fine motor activity.
For math today, count the “chocolate chips” on each student’s cookie. Write the numbers on the board or on a piece of chart paper and talk about who has the most and who has the least. Line the cookies up in order from greatest to least or vice versa. If you are feeling especially adventurous, you can graph the number of chocolate chips that each student has on his/her cookie.
For today’s art activity, you will make chocolate chip cookies using the paper circles cut out during yesterday’s fine motor activity. You have 2 choices for how to do this activity: (1) use white price dot stickers colored brown….students will peel the stickers off and stick them on their “cookie”; (2) use torn brown paper-glue to the “cookies”. You can have them color the dots or tear the paper today while they are doing art, or you can have them do it the day before as part of their fine motor activity.
For math today, count the “chocolate chips” on each student’s cookie. Write the numbers on the board or on a piece of chart paper and talk about who has the most and who has the least. Line the cookies up in order from greatest to least or vice versa. If you are feeling especially adventurous, you can graph the number of chocolate chips that each student has on his/her cookie.
Food Curriculum, Day Two
Today is your first cooking activity for this theme! Of course, you will still be reading the book If You Give a Moose a Muffin. Make blueberry and strawberry muffins from a mix (you could make more if you want; I just usually do these two). I love to make a poster when I am doing cooking activities showing all of the steps of my recipe in writing as well as in a picture. Boardmaker is great for doing this! Have the students help you read the recipe, dump the muffin mix in the bowl, add the milk, stir, put in the muffin cups, and scoop the batter into the cups. Once the muffins have baked, let each student sample half of each variety of muffin. After the students have sampled their muffins, get out your classroom graph-programmed with the different flavors of muffins, of course-and let each student come up and stick a muffin pattern or a Post-it with his/her name on it in the column of the variety of muffin that he/she liked best.
Just a word about science and cooking activities: don’t forget that cooking is science! There are many different types of changes that take place in food when you mix ingredients together, stir, cut, crack, heat, etc. Have your students predict what they think will happen. Write their predictions on the board or on a sheet of chart paper. After the recipe has been prepared, compare their predictions with the actual result of your cooking activity, then determine if their prediction was correct or not.
For today’s fine motor activity, give each student a large circle drawn on a sheet of tan paper and have them cut it out. Students with physical disabilities can use adapted scissors if needed. These will be used for tomorrow’s art activity. Depending on how you decide to do tomorrow’s art, you could also have your students tear some brown paper or color some white price dots with a brown marker.
Just a word about science and cooking activities: don’t forget that cooking is science! There are many different types of changes that take place in food when you mix ingredients together, stir, cut, crack, heat, etc. Have your students predict what they think will happen. Write their predictions on the board or on a sheet of chart paper. After the recipe has been prepared, compare their predictions with the actual result of your cooking activity, then determine if their prediction was correct or not.
For today’s fine motor activity, give each student a large circle drawn on a sheet of tan paper and have them cut it out. Students with physical disabilities can use adapted scissors if needed. These will be used for tomorrow’s art activity. Depending on how you decide to do tomorrow’s art, you could also have your students tear some brown paper or color some white price dots with a brown marker.
Monday, October 26, 2009
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.
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.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Spiders, Bats, and Pumpkins, Day Fifteen
Friday=cooking day! Today’s activity is a simple one: pumpkin pudding. Start by having your class make a batch of vanilla pudding. You can do this the traditional way-with a bowl and whisk/electric mixer-or you can pour the ingredients into a zipper bag and pass it around and have the students shake it. You will need a few boxes of pudding-one regular-sized box serves 4, so you will need a box for every four students. Give each student a cup/bowl of pudding. Allow each child to scoop out a spoonful of pumpkin pie filling into their bowl, stir, and eat!
Today is a great day because you get to do a second cooking activity! Hopefully, when you cut the pumpkins earlier in the week, you saved some seeds. You will want to thoroughly wash the seeds and let them dry, then make roasted pumpkin seeds. Give each student a sandwich bag and let them get a large spoonful of pumpkin seeds to put into their bag. Help each student measure about ½ teaspoon of vegetable oil into their bag, then a slight shake of salt. Seal up the bags and give them a good shake, then dump them onto a cookie sheet. Bake them at 350 for about 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so. These are a great, healthy, crunchy snack!
For science, pass around an orange pumpkin and a white pumpkin. Have the students predict what the inside of the white pumpkin will look like. Cut both pumpkins open and compare them (if you have never seen the inside of a white pumpkin, the flesh is a light orange color, and they smell like cucumber-melon!). If you’d like, fill out a Venn diagram to write the similarities and differences between the two.
Today is a great day because you get to do a second cooking activity! Hopefully, when you cut the pumpkins earlier in the week, you saved some seeds. You will want to thoroughly wash the seeds and let them dry, then make roasted pumpkin seeds. Give each student a sandwich bag and let them get a large spoonful of pumpkin seeds to put into their bag. Help each student measure about ½ teaspoon of vegetable oil into their bag, then a slight shake of salt. Seal up the bags and give them a good shake, then dump them onto a cookie sheet. Bake them at 350 for about 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so. These are a great, healthy, crunchy snack!
For science, pass around an orange pumpkin and a white pumpkin. Have the students predict what the inside of the white pumpkin will look like. Cut both pumpkins open and compare them (if you have never seen the inside of a white pumpkin, the flesh is a light orange color, and they smell like cucumber-melon!). If you’d like, fill out a Venn diagram to write the similarities and differences between the two.