Teacher's Corner

---

Week 6 Lesson Plan

Here is a sampling of Maryland State standards met:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.K.2 Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing about and supply some information about the topic.

Picnic invitations- Children were encouraged to make invitations for their family to the picnic. This girl enjoyed the activity so much she made a huge invitations and decorated it with pictures of her family. This invitation was posted on the door for all to see.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.K.3 With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story.

This week the teacher finished reading Charlotte's Web to the children. As a journal entry they drew their favorite part of the story. Since the illustrations were not shown until the end, children used their imagination to draw the characters.

Physical Education- 3A1 Recognize that skills will develop over time with appropriate practice and use of the correct cues.

Learning tricks on the hand-over-hand bars is a mater of preservance to acquire the skill. These children are proud of their accomplishments over the years on the monkey bars.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.1.d Recognize and name all upper- and lowercase letters of the alphabet.

Helper of the Day- After being helper for the day a child gets a turn to give clues for the next helper. These are usually letter clues. A child looks closely at the letters in his classmates name and says something like, "This person has an a in their name". This gives them practice reading the names and using lowercase letters as well as uppercase letters.

Outside- At the beginning of the camp we stressed the need for children to spend as much time outside as possible. Despite some days being code orange for air quality or heat this was accomplished. The first hour and a half of camp was started outside and even when the campers were in the classroom they usually had an option to go our the back door connected to the classroom to run, ride scooter, play in the water table etc. There was also an hour outside before lunch and another hour and a half before pick up time. The camp went to the pool twice a week and many of the field trips were outside. Often we brought out writing materials for a quiet activity to do on a very hot day.

The last day we tried reading story before nap outside and it was very successful.

Week 6

Arthropod Museum

Week six was the last week of camp. The bug study wound down and children prepared to wrap up loose ends, culminate the study, and celebrate the end of camp. Children started work on an "Arthropod" display to go into one of the show cases located to a school common area known as the "Great Room". Most children decided to make an arthropod of their choice using model magic, pipe cleaners, and other miscellaneous supplies. The arthropods were then labeled as to it's type and it's maker before putting in the showcase.

The circles from earlier in the study, depicting how many legs each group of arthropods has, was put in the display with added drawings and rubber bugs from the Yellow Room collection. Some of the words from the word wall were added to photographs and a few children labeled photographs taken during the summer. Some other materials from the summer study were added to round out the display. Many oooos and ahhhhs could be heard as people examined the display.

 

Spirit Week- This last week of camp is traditionally designated as spirit week and the second day was specified as "costume day" for all of the classes. There were a lot of super heroes, princesses and other fun costumes. Our school does not celebrate Halloween so this chance to break out the costumes and all of the pretend play that goes along with it was very welcomed.

In preparation for the last day of camp and the end of spirit week, "class color day", children decorated yellow tee shirts by using bug stencils and acrylic paints. Campers had a choice of a dozen different bugs and about that many colors to choose from. On the last day, most of the campers changed into the shirts on return from the pool.

Taco in a cup- One girl found a recipe from a High Five magazine on the classroom bookshelf for "Taco in a cup". She made a grocery list for the teacher and after all ingredients were purchased the class was able to make their own individual "taco cup" by measuring out the ingredients into their own cup. The recipe includes, crushed tortilla chips, black beans, shredded cheese, salsa, sour cream, and guacamole.

Picnic- A Video was put together with clips form many of the activities and field trips from the summer. The main purpose of the video though was to address the question the children had expressed during week two of camp. Every child was videoed giving the answer to one of their own questions. Some questions had been completely answered during the study others needed a reference book to aid with the response. The parents were invited to a viewing of the video with a family picnic afterward.

There was a great turn out for the video and picnic and lots of fun was had by all. The picnic venue choice was a volley ball and soccer field with a wooded perimeter and shaded tables and chairs just a short walk from the Center. Children made a list of supplies to take along before hand which included, balls, chalk, hockey sticks, bubbles, cameras, water, and their lunches. Families stayed, ate, and played with the weather being particularly good for the occasion.

Music Class Ms. Burrs was the music teacher throughout the summer. She brought many new songs and activities to the Yellow Room children. Children learned a hello song that allowed them to use different languages to say hello. Ms. Burrs incorporated the rhyme "Here is the bee hive" and included shaker instruments to enhance the effect during some of her lessons. Ms. Burrs showed the children music notes and how they were the notes in one of the songs she had taught them. Children also helped make up actions for a color poem that she shared. There was also lots of time to practice a steady beat during music class.

In addition to this class, songs were sung throughout the day especially at transitions. Children particularly enjoyed listening to music during block clean up. A favorite CD was A Pillow Full of Wishes by Kathy and Marcy which had a song called "All Around the World" that the children had memorized. During the song children say good night in many languages including the ones represented in the classroom demographics.

Future- Insects were the top Arthropod studied this summer but perhaps crustations and arachnids could have been more developed. I would also like to do more meetings and stories in the out of doors. It is hoped that this study sparked an interest in these minuscule life forms that will be a part of the children's curiosity and learning for years to come.

As a final meeting children were asked what they would like to study in the future. Here is a list of their ideas: dinosaurs, fossils, bones, bubbles and water, nature, weather, houses, butterflies, marine life, music, colors, dolphins, dogs, chickens, trees, and dalmations.