Education World Early Childhood Education Newsletter Volume 6, Issue 14

THIS ISSUE'S THEME: Trees WELCOME! to Education World's Early Childhood Education Newsletter. Every other week, we'll bring you activities and suggestions to give your teaching themes a boost. You'll find some new ideas -- or perhaps a new spin on an activity you've used in the past. We're happy to be a part of your teaching and hope your school year is filled with wonder, creativity, and fun-filled learning. Tell a friend about us! Invite them to sign up for their own FREE subscription at http://www.educationworld.com/maillist.shtml#childhood Education World is the largest *free* resource on the Web for teachers and school administrators. We remain a free resource thanks to the support of our advertisers -- so please click on ads of interest and visit our advertisers' sites.   ============================================================================ This week's newsletter is sponsored by Online Degree Directory. Further your teaching skills with the latest theories and practices -- get a Master of Arts in Education: Curriculum and Instruction.  You'll learn practical and relevant information you can instantly apply to your classroom. Inspire your students and faculty -- get your Doctoral in Education: Leadership for Higher Education. Programs developed in collaboration with the American Association of School Administrators (AASA). And discover more available programs with FREE Information from Online Universities - Online Degree Directory. http://www.educationworld.com/OnlineDegree2.shtml ============================================================================ Volume 6, Issue 14 September 15, 2008 Theme: Trees You might introduce your study of trees with this little action poem. Wonderful Trees Wonderful trees With leaves of green, (students spread arms over heads and down) Put on a magic show Every year it seems. When fall comes 'round Leaves take a bow. (students bow) And then secretly change Although we don't know how. Some change to red, Some turn yel-low. Then they magically Fly to the ground below. (flutter fingers and move hands down to floor) After sharing our poem with children, you might read aloud Why Do Leaves Change Color? by Betsy Maestro. Susan LaBella Editor, Early Childhood Education Newsletter   LET'S ADOPT Take a walk outdoors with your students. Choose a tree for the class to adopt. During the year, try various activities with "your tree." --- Find out how many children (holding hands) it takes to encircle the tree. --- Take a picture of your tree in each season. Hang the pictures in your classroom so children can view the changes. --- Discuss with children what animals might live in the tree. --- Talk about what products come from trees. WHAT A TREAT! Talk about some of the foods that grow on trees. Point out that many of the fruits we eat grow on trees. Then try any of these "tree-licious" snacks with your children: Banana Push-ups Cut up two large bananas. Place banana pieces in a blender with ½ cup of instant non-fat dry milk, 1 cup plain yogurt, 1 can frozen orange juice concentrate, and 1 cup of water. Blend ingredients well and pour into paper cups. Freeze thoroughly and serve. Children can push up frozen mixture from the bottom of the cup to enjoy. Funny Bunnies Give each child a lettuce leaf and a canned pear half. Place the flat side of the pear onto lettuce. Help children place 2 orange slices for "bunny ears," then use cherries and raisins to create eyes, a nose, and a mouth. Enjoy. Fruit Kabobs Cut up pieces of apple and banana and place on flat plates. Drain chunks of canned pineapple and put them a flat plate. Next, fill a plate with shredded coconut and another plate with fruit-flavored yogurt. Give each child a wooden skewer stick. (Be sure to monitor children with sticks.) Invite children to slide chunks of fruit onto their sticks. Then have them hold both ends of their sticks and roll their fruit kabobs, first into the yogurt and next into the coconut. Yum! PRINT IT! Let children gather bags of fall leaves. In the classroom provide paint brushes, tempera paint, and construction paper. Children can paint the backs of leaves and press them carefully onto the paper. When the prints are dry, let children examine the leaf veins as you talk about their purpose. WHAT DO I FEEL? Create a sensory box. Place in a box various parts of a tree: leaves, bark, seeds, a branch, a flower, a pod, and so on. Cover each child's eyes as he/she reaches in to feel and identify each part. Let each child place the part on a table and match a name card to it (bark, branch, leaf). WHAT A PUZZLE --- Gather a variety of leaves of different shapes. Trace each leaf onto construction paper. Cut out two of each leaf shape. Paste one of each pair of leaves to a piece of cardboard. Mix up the other set of leaf shapes. Let children match the leaf shapes. --- Cut pairs of leaf shapes from various colors of construction paper. Give each child a leaf shape. Ask children to find the person with his/her matching leaf (color and shape).   Check out the following Web sites for additional background and activities. Finger-Tip Tree Print out this tree template. Let children color the tree, then dip their fingertips into various colors of tempera paint to make "leaves" for their trees. http://www.makinglearningfun.com/t_template.asp?t=http://www.makinglearningfun.com/Activities/fallleaf/fallFingerPrint-1.gif Acorns Got acorns? You'll find plenty to do with them here! Lots of learning! http://123child.com/UBB/showthread.php?t=2571 Tree Activities Get cool information and activities -- all about trees. http://www.dfr.state.nc.us/education/pdf/tree_act_k.pdf Trees Are Terrific--Travels With Pierre Let children listen to Pierre (the acorn) tell all about trees. You may want to spread the story over several days. http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/trees1/flash/index.html All About Trees Start out with Fun Forest Facts, then go to Wood You Believe. You'll get some cool facts to share with your class. http://www.afandpa.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Educators_and_Students/All_About_Trees/All_About_Trees.htm   Fire Safety   Each week, Education World spotlights books of interest to educators. This week, read a brief summary of two more of our "top 50 books for educators." Teaching Outside the Box Subtitled, "How to grab your students by their brains," this paperback edition of LouAnne Johnson's well-reviewed book promises a lot of practical guidance for today's classroom teacher. Including a step-by-step plan to make the first week of school a success, the book's advice ranges across classroom management and motivational topics to strategies for teaching the reluctant reader. This is a book not only to read, but also to share with colleagues. Click to learn more or to purchase this book. Education: The Practice and Profession of Teaching Yes, this is a textbook, costing $100 in paperback, not counting a companion book you can get by adding $20 and a package of online resources you can get from www.mylabschool.com. However, the book's fans claim its comprehensiveness and readability make it a worthwhile investment even outside the context of education courses. Case studies that start each chapter, a feature called "teachers and the law," and a guide to certification, are all special features of this most recent edition. Click to learn more or to purchase this book. Click the icon to the right to see more books and many other products that are available in the Education World MarketPlace. ============================================================================ The Best of the WRITING BUG If you enjoy Education World's weekly WRITING BUG feature, you'll love this book! Education World and the National Education Association (NEA) have joined forces to create a handy, pocket-size booklet with 44 of the most popular Writing Bug story starters. Use these Writing Bug activities to engage your students in effective writing. Each writing prompt will spark students' imaginations, tickle their funny bones, and motivate their pencils. Included: In this booklet you'll find these Writing Bug titles and many more: If I Could Interview Any U.S. President... The Best Lesson I Ever Learned I Got a Postcard from Another Planet A Week Without TV The Best Invention Ever/The Worst Invention Ever Plus 39 more Writing Bug writing prompts! The Best of WRITING BUG is part of the Teacher Treasure Series, an NEA Professional Library Publication. http://store.nea.org/NEABookstore/control/productdetails?&item_id=0695X00 ============================================================================ Education World now incorporates www.SchoolNotes.com ~ "everybody on the same page!" The leading school-to-home communications platform, with FREE pages for teachers and automatic notification of parents and students when new homework is posted! For a modest $24.95 PER YEAR, upgrade to Personal Edition, "Super SchoolNotes," with thousands of resources linked to your state's standards. Click here for more information. ============================================================================ MORE FEATURES OF INTEREST! Professional Development Newsletter Sign up now! Education World MarketPlace Books, electronics, insurance, travel, more. Printables Library You're sure to find great resources here. Meet Our Columnists Experts from many areas of the "education world." Teaching Themes for Early Childhood Sue LaBella offers holiday ideas, more. Classroom Organization Tips Ideas (and photos) that you can easily adapt. Stress Relief Kit Take a deep breath. Then take a look here. Classroom Management 101 Real teachers share what they are doing to manage real classrooms. News for Kids News of our world written with kids in mind. Teacher's Guide included. We hope you enjoy receiving this Education World e-newsletter. Did you know that Education World offers eight other FREE weekly newsletters? Have you signed up to receive the... Education World SITE REVIEWS NEWSLETTER? Each week, Education World's Site Reviews Newsletter reviews three new Web sites of interest to PreK-12 educators. The weekly reviews spotlight some of the best resources on the Web for teachers and students. 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