Monday, April 2, 2012

Oviparous and Viviparous Animals, A Creative Movement/Yoga Sorting Activity {Freebie}

I have been invited to guest teach at a school near Santa Fe, New Mexico tomorrow.  I am currently visiting my husband in Santa Fe.   Can you believe it is snowing here in April?!  I am SO excited to guest teach!  I was asked to lead the children's yoga part of their morning routine.  I wanted to to integrate some science and reading skills into the lesson since I only get a half hour to teach my new friends!  This is what I came up with...


Firstly, I was inspired by this book that I just adore.  I don't think I'll have time to read it to them but I am going to take it with me just in case!




I am going to talk to the kiddos about oviparous and viviparous animals.  Oviparous animals are those that lay eggs that mature in their environment.  Viviparous animals give birth to live babies.  


I bought some plastic eggs and made little animal tags to go in each one.  Some of the animals are oviparous and others are viviparous.  Each student will take a turn cracking an egg and reading the animal to the class.  Then I will show them the yoga move for each animal.  You can do this with your class too.  Even if you don't know the yoga posture for each animal you can just let your students make up a silly movement for each animal.  They'll love it and movement is good for the heart!




After we do the yoga movement we will sort the animal into either the oviparous or viviparous container.  My new friends will get to practice classifying!


I found the containers, eggs and the basket at Joann'f for 50% off today!  
Did you know that Joann's offers a 15% discount to teachers?!  I used that as well!



Of course I will need to use some management strategies tomorrow.  How else would I be possibly be able to choose one of my new friends to pick the next egg?  

I saw this idea on pinterest over the summer... from Kathleen at Growing Kinders!  Thanks Kathleen!



So I made these to go with my lesson for tomorrow.  My new friends will write their names on the tags and then I can pull them out of the little container.  


My little lucky duck stuffed animal will help me talk the kiddos through a guided relaxation.  All the kids will lay on their backs and I will talk them through a deep relaxation story.  Then lucky duck will go around with me and gently peck on their cheeks to help me wake them up!  So sweet :)

To begin the end meditation I will tell them some fun clues so they can practice their inferring skills.  They'll each get another egg with something inside.  I will tell them that it is light, comes from an oviparous animal, sometimes you tickle someone with it, they are sometimes stuffed inside a coat or pillow.  What is it?  



Did you guess a feather?  Then you were right!  You are so SMART!!

I will show them how to use a feather to help them with a breathing meditation.  You can see my post here to learn more about feather breathing!


{Click here to download the documents for this activity!}


  

Sunday, April 1, 2012

The Lunar Cycle

I have been teaching my moon unit for the last few weeks in my classroom.   




It is almost complete and ready for you all!  Stay tuned!



Measuring Practice

A few weeks ago my students started measuring with feet and inches.  I made this data sheet so my students could collect the measurements they found.  They love using the measuring tape!  It's really important that you model how to keep it tight so they get an accurate measurement.    





{Click the picture to get the free download!}

I partnered my students up and let them measure items in our classroom.  My two classroom aides and I walked around the room helping the students to make sure they were measuring correctly and writing down the measurement right.  They are still mastering writing inches to the nearest half inch and that can be a bit tricky to write down.  


I had to help these two to measure our GIANT smartboard that we love SO much!



PS I am enjoying the sun room in my husbands house in Santa Fe, New Mexico!  I came down for a visit during my WEEK long spring break!  Wahoo!!!