This is what tables are for, right?

Materials

• Tempera Paint in a variety of colours
• Masking Tape
• PAINT SHIRTS
• Drying Space (each of our kids made 5 or 6 pictures)
• Prep Solution (Water and a few drops of dishsoap)

Steps

1. Divide the table with masking tape into painting stations
2. Create 4-5 palettes of paint to go in the middle of the table
3. Before painting, spray down the table with a water and dish soap (just a drop) solution.
4. Unleash the children! When they are done painting, imprint their design onto a piece of white paper.

Have fun! This is extremely messy, but the imprints that we pulled off of the table designs were              AMAZING! This is another great way to teach about colour mixing and imprinting techniques through inquiry and experimentation.

Agriculture in the Classroom: Seed Kit

Living in a province with a large agricultural industry, it is important that Saskatchewan teachers accept the responsibility of educating our students in this area. By providing meaningful information and experiences, we can empower them to make informed choices when it comes to interacting in the world of farming.

One great way that I learned to involve students more in their Saskatchewan roots was through the organization Agriculture in the Classroom. Sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture as well as the agriculture industry, they have a multitude of amazing hands on resources for students. The best part ... these resources are free for educators!

One of my favourite picks would be the seed kit. This kit comes with 14 different seed samples, a few lesson plans and a sorting graphic. It is great to use for all ages, I have adapted the activity for students aged 4 to 10.

I have used the kit as both an inquiry centre (set up with all necessary tools and information cards) and a structured guessing game competition. The kids seem to be amazed at all of the consumer products that the grain industry supports! Here are some pictures of my kids interacting with the centre. I will attach the link to my information cards and the AITC website at the bottom. Enjoy!

A real canola plant!

These seem to look the same...

Materials for set up:

• A tray for the students to dump the seed samples (trust the kids to do this! -- we had a few spills but they all accepted responsibility and cleaned up their mess)
• A magnifying glass
• I had a mirror to place all of the bottles on for a beautiful visual display
• I also got some real wheat plants from the field for the kids to see the actual plant.
• The information cards

Check out this great website for over 250 lesson plans, activities, teacher guides, etc!

1950's Office Centre

"A high quality early learning environment supports children's learning through play. Adults contribute to the play by ... providing props and resources to enrich the play" (Jones & Reynolds, 1992) 

I was searching through my parent's basement when I found an old typewriter and rotary phone that I thought my children would enjoy as many were asking about the lives of their parents and grandparents. I placed both models together somewhere around 1950. I simply set up the centre without explanation to the children, and watched as they began to explore. This centre generated many questions, especially about Elvis Presley and what they thought was a "projector" (typewriter)!

We had many office scenarios take place as well as conversations with Lucy. Many of the kids just loved the sound of the typewriter and spent hours clicking away. We also supplemented this centre with dress up clothes and music (including Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley) as interest grew. Through play and inquiry, the children had fun learning about history and the lifestyles of previous generations.

Click here for the background pictures.

International Mud Day -- June 29, 2012

As a daycare staff who highly value the purpose of “messy” activities in developing language, social skills, motor skills and a positive attitude towards learning, we knew that International Mud Day had to be a big celebration!  This morning, our daycare director ordered a tractor bucket full of dirt which was dumped on the cement pad outside our front doors. All you need to add to complete the recipe for fun is kids and a garden hose!

We enjoyed the rest of our afternoon making some mud pies! The kids had so much fun. These activities were great to build gross and fine motor skills, discover the names of our mud pie plants in their natural environment and build some exciting vocabulary such as squishy, gritty, brown, cold, slimy and goopy!

Helping Hands

With fourteen kids in the room aged 5 to 10, keeping the room running smoothly could be a challenge on some days. For this reason, I introduced the Helping Hands in our room. For the older kids, it gave them a sense of leadership and responsibility. For the five year olds, they learned the value of taking care of their room. Some kids needed a job while some kids didn't. For this reason, I did not force the kids to do their job, but rewarded them with a "Caught Being Awesome" slip if they did.

For a personal touch I had each kid add their own hand print. I would have the kids move them around once a week. In a classroom setting, I have seen hand prints already made under each job heading. The students then move their names around to save space.

Job List

• Attendance Assistant
• High and Low Leader
• Awesome Catchers
• Room Rangers
• Snack Server
• Tidy Team
• Pet Patrol

The Black Book of Colours

It can be difficult to imagine what visual impairment might be like, but this book makes the challenge more attainable. Through a full Braille and written text, this book is accessible for a broad array of readers. It describes colours through the use of the other senses of touch, sound, taste and smell. The illustrations are also raised allowing every reader to explore the entire book through their fingers.

This book is an amazing piece of literature. Its accessible nature is not only great to include all readers, but also to teach students an alternative perspective and allow the world to be explored in a new way. It is truly a quality piece of literature.

Hearing Impairment Perspective Activity

In my Students with Special Needs course, we are learning about a variety of exceptionalities and inclusion strategies that may be used in the creation of a classroom community.

One activity that I particularly liked was a perspective activity that helped us to place ourselves in the shoes of a student who may have a hearing impairment.

1. Put music on and start quietly giving instructions for an activity.

• Give a high five to ten students
• Touch the four corners of the classroom
• Tap your foot eight times
• Complete four exercises
• Write down two thoughts about this activity
• Initial the board

2. Provide some students with written instructions, provide others hints, and for some students, reprimand
them for not listening.

3. Focus the discussion on the strategies that the students used to complete the activity. Make sure to hear the perspectives of the students with and without help. For example, "Was it easier to do the activity when you had written instructions?" or "How did you feel when you didn't know what to do?"

Perspective activities are a great way to help students understand and respect the struggles of their peers as well as the extra resources that they may need to be included in the classroom. If you ever have a scenario where students get jealous of the assistance received by a person with an exceptionality, this can reinforce the principle that "FAIR DOES NOT MEAN EQUAL." 

*Remember to consult the student with the exceptionality before engaging in these activities.*