Election
Well it's that time again, we'll be electing our new President in a couple of weeks. This can be a difficult concept for children to grasp on their own, but relatively simple to teach. Here's how I teach it to my early elementary children:
- I Have the kids take surverys from everyone they meet/what they see...My oldest son can make his own graphs, so we'll make a graph where he can ask people's favorite rainforest animal, favorite cartoon, etc. My youngest (who is 4) will have to point out what colors he sees throughout the day, so on Monday we'll look for green and red, and we'll mark them on the chart. At the end of the week we can see what was more popular.
- I printed a coloring book of the candidates, a voting box, the Democrat Donkey,the Republican Elephant, etc. from
- For my oldest (2nd - 4th grade) I printed electoral worksheets from Enchanted learning . I printed the word search, and the election grammar worksheet, and the early reader booklet.
- For my youngest I printed Ben Franklin's ABC's and cut it into a booklet.
- For both I printed (for me really) Ben Franklin's Explanation on the Election day, primary election and general elections.
- Then we read the book Clifford For President, and Duck For President
Explaining The Seasons
Why do we have seasons? Well it all has to do with the tilt of the Earth's axis. If you live near the equator then you're used to virtually no seasonal changes. You're experiencing summer all year long. If you live at one of the Poles, then you get two very long seasons: The sun stays up all summer, and stays down all winter. If you live anywhere else, you get to experience 4 seasons. The earth orbits around the sun once a year and is tilted about 23.5 degrees. When the top of the earth is pointed toward the sun, then it's summer in the northern hemisphere – when the sun rises highest in the sky and the days are the longest- leading to the solstice (or longest day of the year). As the earth moves along the orbit the days begin to get shorter. A quarter of the way around the orbit, Fall sets in, with the Fall equinox, a day where daytime and nighttime are equal. The earth continues along, with the days shortening until reaching the Winter Solstice (longest night of the year) at this point in the orbit the northern hemisphere points away from the sun. The earth continues along this orbit with the nights shortening and the days lengthening. About ¼ of the way (to summer) we reach the Spring equinox, again where the day and night are the same length, but this time the days are strengthening. We continue along, the days getting longer, the sun climbing higher and higher in the sky, until the summer solstice.
Try this: Using a washable marker or masking tape, make a big oval on the floor. Take a lamp and remove the shade, placing the lamp in the center of the elliptical. Take an orange and cover it in aluminum foil. Take the aluminum orange and stab a straw or stick all the way through (you can use a protractor to measure the 23 degrees for older kids). Now. In a darkened room. Stand next to the light. (which can be on the table or floor). Hold the orange from the top and bottom, so the stick/straw still points at an angle (not up and down). Now slowly walk the elliptical orbit around the sun, at the point furthest from the sun, where the northern hemisphere tilts toward the sun – this is the Summer Solstice. Continuing on, to the exact opposite side, where the northern hemisphere tilts away from the sun, marks the Winter Solstice. You can see how bright the light is against the top of the orange during the summer and how dark it is there in the winter. Coincidentally, on the other ½ way marks of the oval (between the solstices) is the equinox, when day and night are equal!
If the summer solstice is the day we receive the most sunshine (in the northern hemisphere) and the winter solstice is the day we receive the least, then why are they the start of the next season, rather than the peak of that season?
Well this is why it's often referred to as the Mid-Summer Solstice, rather than the beginning of the summer solstice. True it's recognized as the start of summer. This is because of the Oceans. It takes a bit of time for them to heat up In the summer and cool in the winter. By the end of June (the summer solstice) they are still pretty cool from the previous winter, and that delays the peak of the air heating until about a month to a month & a half later. (as all that cool water keeps the air cooler as well, in the same way an old ice-box worked. Have a piece or two of ice and it kept the whole box or room cool). Similarly, in December, the water is still holding warmth from the summer, and the coldest days are sill a month or so ahead. (on average anyway!)
What About The Distance From The Sun? The number one mistake people make is believing the seasons are due to the rotation of the earth around the sun, bringing the earth closer at some points and further at others. While this is one contributing factor, in actuality it's the point of the earth. The earth circles around the sun, it's true, but it really isn't a circle, it's more of an oval. The distance from the sun actually varies as the sun doesn't sit in the middle of our invisible elliptical around it. The elliptical is really set off center, so that we're much closer to the sun at one end of the elliptical than at the other.....which season do you think we're closest to the sun? You're probably wrong, it's WINTER! That's right, we're actually closest to the sun around January 3-5 (which is why we have our brightest moon in the end of December)
Olympics & China
This year we have the summer olympics. I would also suggest doing a unit on the Country/city hosting the olympics. But you can do mock games for PE, you can discuss the different types of sports and what makes a winner, you can discuss the different countries competing and their flags / national anthems, etc.
FACTS- http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0114094.html // http://www.suelebeau.com/olympics.htm // (olympics through time) http://olympics.fhw.gr/ // (official olympic link for biographies and such) http://www.olympic.org/uk/index_uk.asp // http://history1900s.about.com/od/greateventsofthecentury/a/olympicfacts.htm
Consonant, Colors & Pictures Gymnastics Lesson Plan - http://www.kidzone.ws/plans/view.asp?i=8751
Alphabetize the Summer Sports - http://www.abcteach.com/free/a/abcorder_summerolympic.pdf
Olympic Vocab List - http://www.abcteach.com/Olympics/vocab.htm
"Did You Know" Olympic Fact Cards - http://www.abcteach.com/free/d/didyouknowcards_olympics.pdf
News Summary Sheet - http://www.abcteach.com/free/o/olympics_news_summary.pdf
Coloring Booklets: http://www.abcteach.com/free/o/olympiccoloringbook.pdf //
Make an Olympic Scrapbook - http://www.abcteach.com/free/s/scrapbookcover_olympics.pdf
Further Lesson Plans (word searches, riddles, word finds, etc):
http://members.enchantedlearning.com/olympics/index.shtml
http://bogglesworldesl.com/olympics_worksheets.htm
http://www.teacherplanet.com/resource/summerolympics.php
The Flags -
Along with the Flags booklet from www.enchantedlearning.com I've found this site that lists countries of the world and their flags http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/country.html
The National Anthems -
http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/8106/Anthems/ This is the site that has all the national anthems listed by country.
The Medal Winnings -
For a list of countries and their overall medal count you can check out http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/countries;_ylt=AqoXfrK2eHfjQ6WZ3bcLipaVTZd4 For specific sports results check out http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/results;_ylt=AuhNvjiIu_bu1r5.a31RIBOVTZd4
For information on Panda's -
(Unit Theme on China, Chinese New Year and the Giant Panda) http://www.fastq.com/~jbpratt/education/sstudies/geog/china.html
(Preschool Unit Theme on the Giant Panda) http://www.first-school.ws/theme/animals/wild/panda.htm
(fact sheet) http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/wildfacts/factfiles/5.shtml
(history of the Giant Panda) http://www.chinaunique.com/Panda/pandaedu.htm
(worksheets in cluding word finds, math, dress-up games etc.) http://www.akidsheart.com/animals/bear/pandas.htm
(ebook and lesson plan) http://www.readinga-z.com/newfiles/levels/i/tiantiani.html
Early Elementary - Volcanoes
Bulletin Board: http://teachers.teach-nology.com/themes/science/volcano/
Overview Refference Info: http://www.kidskonnect.com/content/view/109/27/
Types of Volcanoes: http://members.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/volcano/types/index.shtml
Volcano Composite & Worksheets: http://members.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/volcano/ /
http://members.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/volcano/labelvolcano.shtml
Volcano Vocab & Spelling Lists: http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/glossary.html
How Volcanoes Work:
http://www.geology.sdsu.edu/how_volcanoes_work/Home.html
How Volcanoes Form: http://science.howstuffworks.com/volcano2.htm
Volcano Bulletin Board / Experiments:
http://teachers.teach-nology.com/themes/science/volcano/
Ring of Fire Printout & Worksheet: http://members.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/volcano/ringoffire/ / http://members.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/volcano/ringoffire/labelplates/
Volcano Printout http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/volcano/printout.shtml
Volcano Cloze Printout:
http://members.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/volcano/cloze/general.shtml
Ring of Fire : http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/volcano/ringoffire/
all about volcanoes http://www.sabine.k12.la.us/zes/volcanoes/default.htm
Making Our Own Volcano: http://members.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/nature/volcano/
Recommended Reading (from www.amazon.com/ )
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4th of July - Independance Day
This is a great these - that we usually last a week doing.
4th of July Activity Book - http://members.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/books/julyfourth/
What Senses Do You Use worksheet - http://members.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/senses/whichsenses/july4/
Important Symbols of the US
The Flag - http://members.enchantedlearning.com/books/geography/usflag/
The US Great Seal - http://members.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/books/julyfourth/Greatseal.shtml
The Presidential Seal - http://members.enchantedlearning.com/history/us/symbols/presidentialseal/
The Bald Eagle - http://members.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/birds/printouts/Eaglecoloring.shtml
More US Symbols - http://members.enchantedlearning.com/history/us/symbols/
CRAFTS:
Make a US Flag - http://members.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/books/julyfourth/Flag.shtml
Coloring Pages, Crafts, Worksheets & Games - http://www.dltk-kids.com/usa/index.html
THEME UNIT:
http://www.first-school.ws/theme/h_united_states.htm
Preamble To the Constitution - http://www.abcteach.com/free/p/poster_constitution.pdf
The Pledge of Alliegence - http://www.abcteach.com/free/p/pledge.pdf
"Proud to be an American" Writing Prompt - http://www.abcteach.com/USA/unit/proudamer.htm
Math Worksheets - http://www.kidzone.ws/MATH/usa/index.htm
Kids Recepies - http://www.familycorner.com/family/kids/recipes/july_4th.shtml
Independence Day writing & color sheet - http://www.teachnology.com/gold/july43.html
Important People
Francis Scott Key (author of the Star Spangled Banner) - http://www.abcteach.com/free/r/rc_bio_francisscottkey.pdf
Betsy Ross - http://www.usflag.org/history/aboutbetsyross.html
Elizabeth Stanton & Susan B. Anthony - http://www.pbs.org/stantonanthony/
Geography
We've started a 2 year journey around the world. We made a little monkey out of felt as well as some clothing cut outs. I also made a cut out of different types of transportation (a car, bike, plane, boat).
Each month Mike the Monkey goes to a new location. First it's a continent. My youngest - who just turned 4, has to find whattype of transportation carried Mike from his last location to the new one around the globe. Then he needs to find out the climate of his new location and select the appropriate clothing.
Utilizing http://www.enchantedlearning.com/ we find worksheets and continent coloring books like
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/books/africancountries/instructions.shtmlg.com
To learn more about the location.
The next month. Mike travels to a country on that continent. We look on-line to find what type of animals live there and the climate. Then My youngest colors pages of those animals. My oldest learns more about the country - it's people, food, etc.
Another Great unit on Geography - http://www.trumbull.k12.oh.us/teachers/resources/Themes/geography.html
Early Elementary - Misc:
The Rock Cycle
http://www.oum.ox.ac.uk/thezone/rocks/cycle/index.htm - Follow Rocky The Rock through the Rock Cycle
http://www.fi.edu/fellows/fellow1/oct98/create/index.html
Rock Hounds - How rocks are formed.
Rock Cycle Adventure Game & Worksheet:
http://sciencespot.net/Media/rockcycdice.pdf / http://sciencespot.net/Media/rockcycwkst.pdf
The Earth's Layers
Interactive Earth Layers : http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/vwlessons/lessons/Earths_layers/Earths_layers1.html
Earth Layers Learned Via Play Dough
http://www.abacon.com/C&I/science/act2a.html
http://www.members.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/planets/earth/Inside.shtml?p
The Plates
Plate Tectonics
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/glossary/Contdrift.shtml
All about Plates: http://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/msese/earthsysflr/plates1.html
Plates & Experiments: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/tryit/tectonics/
Solar System:
Cinco De Mayo - The Sun Holiday
- Activity - Paper Plate Sun http://www.dltk-holidays.com/summer/msun.htm
Space Day - first friday in May
Our Solar System - little explorers booklet http://members.enchantedlearning.com/books/science/solarsystem/SolarSystemBook-EnchantedLearning.pdf
*Planets - Colors, Shapes, Counting to 10 - Make a banner with the planets printed at: http://cse.ssl.berkeley.edu/AtHomeAstronomy/act09_imagecards.html & http://cse.ssl.berkeley.edu/AtHomeAstronomy/saturn_card.htm & http://cse.ssl.berkeley.edu/AtHomeAstronomy/jupiter_card.htm {planet facts from: http://kidzone.ws/planets/index.htm}
Transportation
Types of Transportation http://www.first-school.ws/activities/alpha/h/helicopter.htm ; http://www.first-school.ws/t/cp_transportation/fire-truck-engine.htm ; http://www.first-school.ws/t/cp_transportation/car-automobile-1.htm ; http://www.first-school.ws/t/cp_transportation/motorcycle.htm
*Tracing Lines http://www.first-school.ws/t/ap/helicopter_ap1.htm
Coloring Pages: Ambulance http://www.first-school.ws/t/cp_transportation/ambulance.htm ; Vehicles Coloring Book http://members.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/books/vehiclebook/
Primary Colors & Mixing Colors http://www.first-school.ws/t/colorarc.htm ; http://www.first-school.ws/t/apcolorarc.htm (activity Sheet)
Make Color Flash Cards http://www.first-school.ws/t/gamep1.htm ; http://www.first-school.ws/t/gamep2.htm ; http://www.first-school.ws/t/gamep2.htm
Spelling : http://www.zaner-bloser.com/spellingconnections/english1.html - Lessons 1-4
All About Birds
Early Elementary - Weather
http://www.teach-nology.com/worksheets/science/weather/ - Creative writing, vocab, Cloze Worksheets, booklets on weather
Matching Worksheet - matching vocab with definition http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/weather/weathermatch.html
Word Search - http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/weather/wordsearch.html
Weather Proverbs - http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/weather/weatherproverbs.html
Weather Spelling Worksheet - http://www.mes-english.com/worksheets/flashcards/weather_spelling.php
Teaching Theme & Bulleting Board Ideas - http://teachers.teach-nology.com/themes/science/weather/
Intense Scientific Explanation of the Water Cycle (older children) http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/watercycle.html -- More Basic definition of the process of the Water Cycle http://www.angelfire.com/ny4/enfuego360/rain.html
Water Cycle Experiemnt (preK - 3rd grade) http://science.preschoolrock.com/index.php/preschool_weather/preschool-weather-experiment-the-rain-cycle
Interactive Water Cycle http://www.epa.gov/safewater/kids/flash/flash_watercycle.html
Worksheets - http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/planets/earth/Watercycle.shtml
Weather Log - http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/weather/weatherlog.html
Whole Theme based on the Weather - including an online story, letter of the week, craft & nursrey rhymes - http://www.first-school.ws/activities/science/drippy.htm
Money Theme
Well also be introducing and delving further into Money as Daniels birthday is at the end of next month and he usually get's money for his b-day. I've found teaching the concept of money to be really difficult up to this point. I'm not entirely sure why, but my kids just can't remember what is what.
We'll be using http://www.kidsbank.com/ for the intro.
http://www.learningpage.com/pages/menu_basics/money.html - has probably the most comprehensive set of worksheets on teaching money I've ever found. They're lots of fun too!
Teachers Trick - A great way to learn about adding money an making change is through a rumage sale - either real or imagined. Or through a Lemonade Stand. The kids love to make 'purchases' and therefore pay more attention to the concepts!
Fantastic Money Lesson Plans--
http://www.usmint.gov/kids/teachers/lessonPlans/ // http://www.coreknowledge.org/CK/resrcs/lessons/298Money.htm // http://www.teach-nology.com/teachers/lesson_plans/math/money/ // (a little older 3-5 grades) http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/pages/490.shtml // http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson298.shtml //
Misc Money Worksheets - http://www.theteacherscorner.net/thematicunits/money.htm // http://www.moneyinstructor.com/money.asp // http://www.instructorweb.com/basicskills/money.asp // http://www.myschoolhouse.com/courses/O/1/11.asp