Lesson Plan- St. Patrick's Day

Nature School, March 12th, 2012
St. Patrick’s Day

Supplies: Popsicle sticks, markers, cotton balls, glue, Popsicle stick puzzles (rainbow, leprechaun, and pot of gold), treasure with coins, clues hidden in the forest, 5 paper shamrocks.

Welcome to nature school today!! We are going to have so much fun!

Let’s sing our welcome song to everyone-

Our letter of the day is “S” for St. Patrick’s Day, which is this week.

Game:
Let’s play a game called “Hiding the Shamrock”. I’m going to call on a child to be it. He or she will hide the shamrock while the rest of us close our eyes. When the child is done, I’ll say “shamrock” and everyone tries to find it. If you find it, you get to be the next to hide it and so on.

Hike:
Leprechaun treasure hunt:
Today I have a very special adventure for you. First, I have to tell you a little bit about leprechauns. Does anyone know what a leprechaun is? Leprechauns are little Irish fairies that look like little old men. They wear a red or green coat and they enjoy being a little bit mischievous. Leprechauns spend all their time busily making shoes, and store away all their coins in a hidden pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. If ever captured by a human, the leprechaun has the magical power to grant three wishes and they will tell you where their treasure of gold is, in exchange for their release.

Well, I was lucky enough to catch a leprechaun and talk to him. He told me that his treasure was hidden here in this forest! He gave me some clues. So we are going to work together to find his treasure today! We will all share the treasure once we find it. It won’t be easy. We will have to search deep in the forest to find it. Are you ready?

Clue #1:
Cross a bridge
Over the creek
On the other side
A clue you will seek

Clue #2
Use your legs
To climb up the hill
You’ll have to work hard
To find a clue still

Clue #3
Left or right
Which way to go?
Head uphill
where the tall trees grow


Clue #4
Here is a place
where the path splits in two
Look for my footprint
of a leprechaun shoe

Clue #5
You are getting closer
You are almost there
If you go downhill
You’ll not find it anywhere

Clue #6
Look near a tree
Around at the ground
Near the base of its trunk
My treasure will be found


Song:
FIVE LITTLE SHAMROCKS
Place 5 paper shamrocks on the felt board or on the floor.

5 little shamrocks growing outside my door,
(child's name) picked one, and then there were 4.
4 little shamrocks, green as green could be,
(child's name) picked one, and then there were 3.
3 little shamrocks, sitting by my shoe,
(child's name) picked one, and then there were 2.
2 little shamrocks, enjoying the sun,
(child's name) picked one and that left 1.
1 little shamrock for Saint Patrick's Day fun,
(child's name) picked it, and that left none.
(Author unknown)

Group activity/problem solving
Popsicle Stick Puzzles:
Make up three of four Popsicle stick puzzles ahead of time. I made one with a leprechaun, a pot of gold, and a rainbow. Ask the children to split into groups of three or four and solve the puzzles as they work as a team. Then have the groups swap puzzles, until the children have has the chance to do every puzzle.

Game:
Who’s Sitting on  Gold…
A gold coin- chocolate foil covered, plastic, or a quarter wrapped in foil. Have the children sit on the ground in a circle or line. One child is designated as the leprechaun. Ask him/her to sit with back facing the children and gold coin sitting on the ground behind him/her.  Signal for one child to run and pick up the gold coin and sit on it. Then have the children say:
“Leprechaun, leprechaun where is your gold.
Someone stole it from your home”
The leprechaun has three guess to reveal the child.  The child who stole the gold than becomes the leprechaun.

Craft:
Popsicle stick rainbows. Give each child a popsicle stick and markers. Let them color a rainbow on it, you can tell the the color order or just let them be creative. I made an example ahead of time but I’ll encourage them to color theirs whatever way they would like. At the end of each popsicle stick, glue on two cotton balls.

Issaquah Fish Hatchery

On Monday, we took a tour of the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery- http://www.issaquahfish.org/. It was fantastic! I learned a ton and I can tell my boys did too because they've been asking me questions about fish ever since we went. Our tour guides were great and very patient with our active troop of kiddos. It was pouring for the first 15 min. of our tour so our guides talked to us a bit inside of an aquarium area and had us watch a little video on salmon spawning and life migration. After that, we walked around the hatchery and learned about the various areas and functions of the hatchery. As a side note- March is not the time to go to the hatchery if you want to see actual salmon swimming through the ladder and up Issaquah Creek. It's best to go in the fall :)

I found a few pictures on the internet of the hatchery. I did not take these photos:

On vacation- ideas for hiking with kids

We've just returned from a week in Oregon hanging out on the coast and visiting my parents. A change of pace is always good for me and my kids.

We certainly did our own "nature school" while on the coast. Took a couple of hikes into the woods to searching for elk tracks. Chased some waves and collected rocks and shells on the beach.

My best trick for keeping my kids happy while hiking is to tell them stories and engage them in pretend play. I told them stories about elves and fairies caught in a rainstorm, we pretended to be knights and a fair maiden while we galloped through the forest on our horses (sticks), and my husband pretended to be a grumpy gnome and chased us out of his territory. It always keeps the kids moving, happy, and having fun.

I'm currently reading two books about children and nature:
The first is called Sharing Nature with Children:
http://www.amazon.com/Sharing-Nature-Children-20th-Anniversary/dp/1883220734
and the second is called The Green Hour:
http://www.amazon.com/Green-Hour-Happier-Healthier-Smarter/dp/1590307569

Mushroom lesson

About a month ago, we had a local mushroom expert come and teach us about fungi! He taught us how to put together our very own mushroom kits. It takes a few weeks for the mushrooms to flower, so we are all, now, enjoying our very own, homegrown oyster mushrooms :)

Here are a few picture from our mushroom lesson:

Lesson plan- Sharing

Nature School Feb. 20th, 2012
Sharing

Welcome song

We’ve been talking about love with Valentine’s this month. Today let's learn about sharing! Sharing is another way we show love for our friends and family.

Letter of the Day:
S for sharing
Who can tell me what sharing is?
When you share a toy with a friend, does it mean they keep it forever? No :) It’s good for me to remember that when I’m having a hard time sharing. Who feels happy when they share? I do!

Sharing Chart:
There are so many things that are more fun to do with a friend than alone. Let’s fill out a sharing chart. Let’s say whether we like doing these things with a friend or family, or doing them all alone (some things on the chart could go either way, for instance “reading a book”).

Playing a game
Eating cookies
Brushing teeth
Getting Dressed
Going on a bike ride
Going for a hike
Eating dinner
Snuggling
Seeing a rainbow
Reading a book
Finding a beautiful flower
Playing with trains or cars
Playing dress up
Making music
Brushing your hair
Doing chores

Group Sharing:
Everyone brought something that they would like to share with the other kids. Let’s take turns sharing with one another about what we brought.

Books:
Rabbit’s Gift- http://www.amazon.com/Rabbits-Gift-George-Shannon/dp/0152060731
The Please and Thank You Book- http://www.amazon.com/Please-Thank-Book-Little-Golden/dp/0375847588

Rhyme:
Three little sailors set out to sea.
They worked together happily.
Everyone cleaned, everyone rowed,
Everyone fished, everyone sewed.
When they got home
They stood side-by-side.
Their boat full of fish,
Their hearts full of pride!

Game:
Picture puzzles- this game will help teach the children to work together and share with one another.
Find pictures from National Geographic or any other magazine with neat pictures. Mount them onto cardstock. Cut in half. Make sure you have enough for each child to get a half. Pass out the puzzle pieces. Tell the children they need to find their puzzle partner. Let them play the game multiple times by gathering and re-distributing the picture puzzle pieces.

Hands On:
Packet of Sugar Snap Peas
Dirt/Potting soil
Egg carton cut up into individual little cups

Planting peas- I brought seeds, dirt, and egg carton cups for everyone to plant a pea seed. This pea seed will grow into a pea plant with LOTS of sugar snap peas to share with your friends and family. Planting seeds is such a special way to share with others, because with one seed, you can have a big beautiful plant grow. Plants make our planet happy too! When we plant seeds, we are sharing the beauty of the earth with others too.

The Great Backyard Bird Count

Hey all nature lovers- the Great Backyard Bird Count begins on Feb. 17th and runs for four days. Get outside with your kiddos and get ready to count birds!

http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/kids

Sense of Smell (winter version) Lesson Plan

*We have an arboretum here in Seattle that has a "Winter Garden". This specialty garden is full of winter blooming trees, flowers, and bushes. It is incredible at this time of year! Some of my favorite winter blooming trees and plants are hamamelis (witch hazel), sarcococca (sweet box or Christmas box), helleborus (Christmas rose- although it is not part of the rose family), camellia, some early blooming prunus, and my absolute favorite Daphne. If you live in a city that has an arboretum or botanical garden, most likely it will have some wonderful winter-blooming plants. Winter is one of my favorite times to visit a garden. Seeing and smelling flowers in the winter feels like a gift from heaven and really lifts my spirit out of the doldrums of the cold and gray winter. Anyway, here is the lesson plan from last week:

Sense of Smell (winter version)

Letter of the day- N for nose!

What do we use our noses for? To smell! What do you think would happen if we couldn’t smell or we didn’t have a nose? We wouldn’t be able to taste our food very well. Isn’t that weird? Do you remember the last time you had a cold? Did your food taste different? That’s because our nose has cells that work when we eat food and tell our brain what our food tastes like.

Who is happy they have a nose? I sure am! Let’s take a walk and practice using our nose to discover the good smells that we find in nature. If you smell something that you really like, share it with everyone, please :)

Rhyme: (As you walk along, find a place that has some flowers and some dirt. Have the kids take a deep breath of air, then chat the rhyme together. Have the children fill in the blanks with each verse. When you get to the dirt verse, scoop up a handful and have the children get close and smell. They will all have very different ideas about what it smells like! We had kids say "applesauce, toes, stinky, toast, etc). 

The air smells ________

How do I know? 

My nose told my brain, 

So it must be so.
Flowers smell ______
How do I know?
My nose told my brain,
So it must be so.

The dirt smells ______

How do I know?

My nose told my brain, 

So it must be so.



Games:
Smelly cups-
Prep- cut up an egg carton into individual little cups, one cup for each child in your class.
Give each child a egg carton cup. Find an area with a diversity of vegetation. Let them spend a few minutes picking up things from the ground or picking flowers, needles, dirt, leaves, grass, etc. that they find interesting to smell. Have them place a few items in their cup. Call the kid back together and tell them that we are going to play a game where we use our noses. Have the kids stand in a circle. Ask them to close their eyes and when you say “pass”, pass their cup to the left. They smell the cup in front of them for a moment then open their eyes to see what it is. When you say pass, they do it again and again, until all the cups have made it around the entire circle. Let the children talk about what different things they smelled and what they thought about the smells. Were they surprised? Did the smelly cups smell good, stinky, flowery, christmasy, spicy, strong, grassy? What was their favorite smell? 

*note- this ended up panning out a bit differently than I had envisioned. Some of the kids were adamant about holding on to their little cup and did not want to pass it around. We ended up just walking around and smelling one anothers cup rather than passing them


Pretend Play:
Let's act out some animals that are "super smellers!"
-Dogs are super smellers! Have you ever watched a dog smell? How does the dog do it? Let’s pretend to be dogs! Let’s use our noses to tell us about the world around us!”

-Bats are super smellers! Let's fly around catching insects with our good sense of smell.

-Sharks are super smellers! Let's swim around using our sense of smell to catch fish to eat.

-Rats are super smellers! Let's squeak like a rat and use our noses to find some garbage to eat :)

Sensory:
Scented playdough- I made three different scented playdoughs; cinnamon and cloves, rosemary, and peppermint. Give each child a little piece of playdough, let them smell it and play with it. Ask them which each playdough reminds them of. Which do they like the best.



Craft: Scented Flower
Materials:

Cotton balls enough for each child (with perfume or essential oil on each)

Felt flower cut outs

Paper flower cut outs

Floral wire

Directions:

Give each child of of each of the materials. Take the wire and poke through paper and felt, around the cotton ball and back through the felt and paper. Twist to make a stem.