WEEK THREE of Fun Club brought us Laura Numeroff’s wonderfully fun books, “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” and “If You Take a Mouse to School”.
OPENING ACTIVITY: Use pre-cut, geometric shapes, glue stick, and black marker to create an individual representation of a mouse.
PLAYTIME: Choosing stations
STORYTIME: If You Give A Mouse A Cookie
ACTIVITY: Children will work together cooperatively to measure, mix, and taste the ingredients that make up Mouse’s Chocolate Chip Oat Cookies. They will take the cookies home with them to work on patience, self-control, and sharing.
ILLINOIS LEARNING STANDARDS:
Mathematics
State Goal 9: Use geometric methods to analyze, categorize, and draw conclusions about points, lines, planes and space.
Learning Standard A: Demonstrate and apply geometric concepts involving points, lines, planes and space.
Benchmark: 9.A.EC Recognize geometric shapes and structures in the environment.
Social Emotional Development
State Goal 32: Demonstrate a respect and a responsibility for self and others.
Learning Standard B: Perform effectively as a member of a group.
32.B.ECb Begin to share materials and experiences and take turns.
Language Arts
State Goal 1: Read with understanding and fluency.
Learning Standard C: Comprehend a broad range of reading materials.
1.C.ECb Respond to simple questions about reading material.
Children love the cyclical nature of her books, along with the great illustrations and crazy animals…plus, the familiarity and repetition makes these great for emerging readers.
To activate our prior knowledge, we first used shapes to create our own little mice pictures. Children discuss what mice look like, how many ears and eyes and whiskers and whatnot…then they create on their own using the shapes provided. As you can see, they are far more creative when given the freedom to make it their own way within the given perimeters!
We also baked “Mouse’s Chocolate Chip Oat Cookies”. (For our diabetic and gluten-free students, we checked with parents first for the appropriate accommodations.) I love baking with the children because cooking is such a great lead-in to science, especially chemistry. They “taste test” most of the ingredients, smell the vanilla, help cream the butter, and sift the flour. They take turns and pass the bowls, usually doing “1-2-3-pass it on!” I use counting and simple questions to slip in extra Spanish and French…today it was “Que es el azucar?” and 1-20 en espanol. When all of the ingredients are mixed, the children roll their own cookies, getting SO messy in the process…but they are so excited to do it themselves, to get to experience what the dough feels like, to be the “chefs” (evidenced by the flour on our noses), and of course, to get to take home their cookies at the end of the day!
I’ve said it before…simple pleasures are so divine!
1 c. salted butter
3/4 c. brown sugar, packed (so cool to compare to sand at the beach / sandcastle making)
3/4 c. sugar
2 eggs (important that they don’t eat raw dough because of this…also, what other animals lay eggs besides chickens? good discussion ensues.)
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla (how can it smell so good but taste so bad?!)
1 1/2 c. flour
2 c. oatmeal
1 1/2 semi-sweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine all ingredients in given order. Mix thoroughly. Drop onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Cool. Hide from your mouse friends!
***SK did a lesson plan based around the book, The Jolly Postman, which included tiny book-making and a walking trip to the mail box!
WEEK FOUR…”Once Upon A Cool Motorcycle Dude”
OPENING ACTIVITY: Choosing time at stations, then come together as a group for science experiments of “frog slime” (which illustrates how two liquids can react to form a solid) and “magic potion” (which shows how a solid and a liquid can react to create a gas)–BOTH activities introduce and reinforce the concepts of solid, liquid, and gas and are very visual and sensory-oriented. Students are prepped in safety procedures and conduct the experiments by themselves while under supervision.
PLAYTIME: Choosing stations
STORYTIME: Once Upon A Cool Motorcycle Dude
ILLINOIS LEARNING STANDARDS:
Science
State Goal 11: Understand the processes of scientific inquiry and technological design to investigate questions, conduct experiments and solve problems.
Learning Standard A: Know and apply the concepts, principals and processes of scientific inquiry.
Benchmark: 11.A.ECa Uses senses to explore and observe materials and natural phenomena.
First off, I love this book. I have adapted it into a play and done it with kids for camp. I have used it with younger kids and older kids…it works in so many ways, on so many different levels. A great language arts tie-in for older grades is to have them write “partner stories”–use this book as a model for how two people can go back and forth creating a story, and then compromise to reach an ending.
I use this “funny fairytale” week for some great hands-on science. We make “frog slime” and “magic potion”…here are the recipes and instructions. It is really important to remember to talk safety before you do this and also to look for those “teachable moments”–these experiments are visually stunning and really help kids get excited about being magical scientists!
FROG SLIME (great way to see if two liquids can combine to form a solid):
DO NOT EAT! KEEP AWAY FROM HAIR/FUR/CARPET!
Brew #1: Mix 2 Tbs. Borax with 1 cup warm water. Pass around the table having children do 1-2-3-stirs and pass it on!
Brew #2: In separate dish, mix 1 cup Elmers Glue with 2 drops of food coloring and ½ cup warm water. Pass around the table having children do 1-2-3-stirs and pass it on!
Pour Brew #1 into Brew #2—do not stir. Gently slosh side to side for 30 seconds. (I have the kids tap their fingers on the bowl and say magic words like “sham-a-lam-a-ding-dong!”
Reach into the bowl and pull upward dramatically! Ta-da! Slime! Tear off small chunks to share with all. Knead out excess water & it becomes like silly putty! You can stretch it, roll it, bounce it, etc. Great to send home in Ziploc baggies with instructions.
MAGIC POTION:
Get two small cups and a plate or shallow bowl. In cup 1, pour a small amount of vinegar (about an inch or two), squirt in some liquid dish soap, and one or two drops of food coloring. Swirl gently to mix. Model this to students and let each do their own.
In cup 2, put two teaspoons of baking soda. Set cup 2 on the plate or bowl—this will get messy. Have students hold up Cup 1 and make a magical “toast”—1-2-3-POUR CUP ONE INTO CUP TWO (or liquid into solid)…
Your students will delight as they watch the foam magically appear! Smaller cups work better because then the foam can cascade over the edge and down the sides. They can feel the foam and comment on what they see, smell, and feel. I usually have them play with this for a few minutes, and then we all make a “giant” potion by pouring our liquid into one big clean-up bowl.
Leave a Reply
