Jul. 9, 2008 - Poems to Grow On
· Title: Poems to Grow on
· Author: Mabel Chandler Duch
· Illustrator: Pauline Phung
· Publisher: Fearon Teacher Aids (August 2000)
· ISBN-10: 1564179494
· ISBN-13: 978-1564179494
This 64 Page book contains 23 poems written by Mabel Chandler Duch. Each poem is illustrated and presented on its own page. Permission is granted to reproduce these student pages.
This book does not teach students about poetry, but rather exposes them to it and encourages them to explore it in far more ways than a just simple discussion.
There are 1-2 pages of corresponding curriculum activities following each poem. These activities include arts and crafts, field trips, science units, cooking, grammar and other language arts, songs, games and much more.
This book is written for classroom use and some activities are written for a larger group of students, however, most can be adapted to home use as well.
One of the units we enjoyed was “Clouds”. This lesson included:
a couple simple discussion questions.
some cloud watching outside
a suggested book Hi, Clouds by Carol Green.
Making cloud pictures by gluing cotton balls on blue paper and adding other things we might see in the sky such as birds or butteries
A cloud study that discussed what clouds are and why they look the way they do including an experiment on condensation
An introduction to different types of clouds using books such as The Cloud Book by Tomie dePaola and the reproducible chart of cloud type included in Poems to Grow On
We did this unit as a supplement to a larger study about weather. As each poem is independent from the rest of the book it can easily be used as a supplement where it correlates with other topics that are being studied. My children wanted far more information on this topic than what was suggested in the book. I was glad that the activities in this book helped pique their interest.
Some of the other poems, such as “My Pie” or “Boxes Big and Small” are more just for fun and help give us variety on days when we want to do something lighter.
The lesson plans, activities and games are well laid out. Some can be done with little to no preparation. Others require planning ahead such as gathering common household supplies, planning time for an outing, or getting books from the library. For example, one activity involves drawing your shadow on butcher paper at various times of the day. Another includes gathering fallen leaves, acorns, pinecones etc. A third suggests looking for tadpoles.
My childen were in 1st and 2nd grade when we used this book. Most of the disscussion questions are very basic and "too easy" according to them but the activities were enjoyable.
Although it is recommended for K-2, I think most of the activities would be suitable for even younger children as well. This book might be used independently as a series of mini-unit studies or as a supplement to other studies. It would also be well suited to a co-op class.
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Jul. 7, 2008 - DK Young Scientist Activity Book
· Title: Activity Book
· Series: Young Scientist; a DK First Activity Pack
· Author: Jack Challoner
· Illustrator: Grahame Corbett
· Publisher: DK CHILDREN (April 4, 1996)
· ISBN-10: 0789405733
· ISBN-13: 978-0789405739
· MSRP: n/a This book is currently out of print.
· Grade level: appx preK-3rd
This early elementary level kit includes a 17 page full color book, 11 pages of corresponding black and white activity sheets and all the harder to find items needed in the experiments such as colored filters, mirror paper, magnets, a syringe, tubing, and a paper model plane. All you need to provide are common household items such as tape, modeling compound or balloons.
The book contains 25 experiments and activities grouped into 9 categories. The activities are simple and accompanied by ample illustrations; most are followed by a “Why it happens” section. Many of the activities lend themselves to further exploration by your young student. My children enjoyed using the kit to repeat the experiments or come up with more of their own long after we were “officially” done with the book.
The first lesson is about light and colored filters. The book starts by explaining what white light is and how color filters work. It then has activities including optical illusions and 3D pictures to help reinforce the concepts. My children liked the “disappearing boats” where the number of boats and seagulls in the picture changed depending on which filter you used.
Activity sheets 1 and 2 correspond to this topic. On these sheets children both record data from their experiments by coloring pictures to show what they see through their filters and create an optical illusion of their own similar to the disappearing boats. There is an activity we played as a scavenger hunt where the children find brightly colored household objects such as a red tomato or blue pencil and record what they look like through the different filters.
My children had so much fun playing with color I ended up buying them an inexpensive set of more durable color paddles so that they could continue their experimenting.
Other topics are set up in a similar manner. A couple of the experiments are potentially messy. The syringe lesson uses dishwashing liquid, baking soda, vegetable oil, water, vinegar, milk and food coloring. Once again, my children loved mixing the colors! It was especially fun seeing the effects all these different substances caused.
This DK Young Scientist Activity Book is a fun introduction to a wide range of science topics for younger students that could also work as a hands on supplement for slightly older students. Since the activity sheets do not require any writing they can be used to teach even very young students how to record data from an experiment, though older students may find this appealing as well. Overall, we found this book to be engaging, enjoyable and memorable.
