K-3 Book Reviews, Puppets, Colouring, Clip Art
One of the first ones we’ll do is called Striped Celery. This is the experiment that shows the kids how plant stems and tree trunks carry water from the roots up to the leaves and flowers. Celery is cut and placed in coloured water. After about 30 minutes you can see the effects of the capillary action. A cool extension … Read more
I just finished reading Playful Learning by Mariah Bruehl. In case you’re not familiar with it, it’s a beautifully written book geared towards helping parents set up some fun learning experiences at home. The book is set out in 7 chapters: 1) Nurturing Young Authors, 2) The Joy of Reading, 3) Mathematicians at Work, 4) Scientific Investigations, 5) Exploration of … Read more
If you’ve been teaching as long as I have then you’re probably familiar with this great book by Pat Hutchins: Rosie’s Walk. Rosie goes for a walk, never noticing the fox following her. The text is very simple yet engaging. The illustrations are quite comical — the fox always makes you laugh. What’s really cool about this book though, is … Read more
The Floating Egg Experiment It’s always so much fun to do a cool science experiment with your kids. I especially love doing egg experiments because even though they’re mostly easy, they’re also usually pretty dramatic. The floating egg experiment is a good example. We did this experiment as part of our ocean unit. Probably half the class correctly hypothesized that … Read more
I don’t mean THAT kind of drama queen 🙂 I’m talking about being the Queen of Drama in your classroom. I’m not … ’cause I’m too shy and even though I’ve taken a couple of university drama courses and workshops I just can’t really get into it. But I have to teach it at school — and the kids LOVE … Read more
Years ago I started a noon hour Mad Scientists Club and it was a HUGE hit with the Grade 1 to 3 set. We met once a week and the kids were totally pumped every time they came. One of the experiments we did in our long-ago Mad Scientists Club was Egg in a Bottle (although on the kids’ sheet I … Read more
“If you promise not to believe everything your child says happens at school, I’ll promise not to believe everything he says happens at home.” ~ Anonymous Have you ever seen this quote floating around? Every time I come upon it I have to shake my head and laugh. I can’t count the number of times a parent has reported … Read more
(2024 update): In 2012 I joined Maria Dismondy for “Make a Difference Monthly”. This monthly linky no longer exists, but I’ve kept these posts because I feel they’re valuable. You can also read about: Respect Fairness Caring This Month’s Focus is CITIZENSHIP Today I’d like to talk about teaching your child to be a good citizen. I was surprised to … Read more
Every year in June I like to teach a Canada unit. We’re usually in school until the very end of the month so it lines up very well with Canada Day celebrations on July 1. I recently came across these sweet books, all with a Canadian theme, by Per-Henrik Gurth. I just love the vivid colours and simple illustrations. Here’s … Read more