Seashells by the seashore

We are preparing for a trip to the beach, so we are learning about what we might see.
The best thing about the beach is there are seashells you are aloud to take home with you.
So, I have collected a lot over the years.


I didn't find this one, but inherited it.  It's great for hearing the ocean.
I made these mats from a worksheet in a mailbox magazine.  They are great for containing the shell space.

Allowing children to sort shells by there own categories will come up with amazing groups.  I will provide the full lesson plan with Ohio academic standards in another post.

I made this book from a pamphlet I picked up at the visitors center on the way to Florida.  I keep it at the sensory table were I put 100's of shells they can play with.  If you have a smaller science tub, that would work too.  I just have collected too many shells to worry about them getting broke.

I also added some to our sand tub.
We put some at the playso table.
We made necklaces out of the shells that had holes in them.  They are made by birds trying to eat the animal inside.
I put foam letters on some shells to make alphabet.  I can see so many future activities with these as she gets older.  I will find lower case letters to match, spell names, and even spell words.


 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Math Centers- Number work

Image
Children get to explore numbers in a variety of forms.  Numeral to set These types of games are very simple to make.  Pick any theme.  Cut shapes or buy them already cut out.  Then find something that goes with the shape to use as counters.  I like using those shaped erasers you can buy at the dollar store. Here are butterflies cut from the ellison machine. I put numbers 1-10 on the front and 11-20 on the back just so higher level thinkers can have a challenge.  I have snowmen, cars, Christmas trees, hearts, and flowers.  Any little manipulative piece can be paired with a shape to make a thematic game. You can also buy store bought games and adapt them to your needs.  This game is cute but is too easy.  It is set up more like flash cards so that kids can count the number of M&M's on each card.  I use bowls or thought about making candy jars with the little M&M pieces. great number work This site has the cutest printab...
Read more

Changes, Changes- A book of building and a craft too

Image
Changes, Changes is a book by Pat Hutchins This book has no words and I was amazed at how it kept all the children's interest.  We predicted what the people would build next.  At the end of the story we recalled all the different things that were built.  They did great with it.  Some even asked to read it again.  Since we share all our books from Creative Curriculum with another class, we had to give the book up for the day. I decided to let the children make their own structures like in the book. Like the book states, plans change. My lesson plan shows the intent of the activity below. First, we worked together to watercolor paint a large piece of paper.  I then cut out shapes from the paper, and I added some other paper scraps from other cutting projects.  Next the kids were asked to glue some shapes down to make something.  I recorded what they made on each page along with their name. We turned it into a book we will keep in our library....
Read more

Stages of Writing

Image
     I don't have a lot of experience with a specific writing curriculum, but I have acquired a lot of knowledge though observation, conferences, college classes, and reading.  I was very fortunate to have a really good language arts teacher in college.  She showed us how important real literature and writing go hand in hand to teach children to read and write.      Before a child is ready to write, Handwriting Without Tears , has shown that children progress in markings in a certain order.  First, side to side, then up and down, then a cross, then a circle, then a square, then a triangle.  This just states that diagonal writing is the hardest for little hands to make.  So, don't start writing with letter A.  When children start to assign meaning to their marks, then starts the real writing. I found this very neat worksheet somewhere and thought it was a good description for parents to look at.  I hang it up...
Read more