Pre-K lessons on seeds and plants

During my pre-interning I have been teaching a pre-k class. For spring one of my lessons I chose was to teach them about seeds and plants. The basics of how a seed becomes a plant, the basic needs of plants, etc. The kids loved the centers I chose.

Seed Exploring: Students use a magnifying glass to look at seeds up close and draw what they see on their paper. They really loved feeling like little scientists with the magnifying glass.


Seed Sorting: Students got to use child sized tweezers to manipulate the seeds and sort them in the proper cup of the egg carton. This is great for fine motor skills.


Garden Center (dramatic play): This was a favorite of the kiddos. They loved digging in the dirt and planting the real seeds, using the gardening tools, and feeling like a real gardener.


Modeling Center: Students were able to sculpt their own plants using play doh and mini terracotta pots.They really loved playing with the homemade play-doh I made.


Some of my favorite books I read and included in the reading center were: The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle, Tops and Bottoms by Janet Stevens, the Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss, and Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert.









Jen

Long I Fries...

This is a center activity I created for one of my reading classes. It's a great sorting game for children to sort their short i and long i words. It's also a great way for them to make a relation to words with long i/short i sounds to the french fries and Popsicle's.


Materials needed: Popsicle sticks, Popsicle box, McDonald's french fry box, and marker.

Common Core: Language Arts: Standard 2: Phonics/Decoding
–The student will apply sound-symbol relationships to
decode unknown words.
Jen

Is it summer yet???

I have been super swamped with my last semester of actual college classes before my full internship. Between being a newlywed, a full time student, an on call babysitter (to be best kiddos in the world), I have just been able to save some drafts for future post of some things I've been working on in my pre-internship. Hopefully by June 1st, I'll be posting left and right. I'm trying to build a resource for future employers to see what I've been doing in the classroom. Let's be honest, funding is so low for education right now that it's hard to get a job anywhere. So here's hoping this will help me out as I embark on that journey. I live in a small(ish) town in Oklahoma and am married to my high school sweetheart. We fight like brother and sister, enjoy each others time like best friends, and love each other like a husband and wife should. I think that's usually what you get when you've known someone since the first grade, but I wouldn't have it any other way :) I am blessed with an amazing family, in-laws, and friends. I love my community and love seeing young and successful people come back to it to build their lives. I thank God for the undeserving blessings he's given me and continues to give me every day. I'm looking forward to blogging about something that is a great passion of mine. For as long as I can remember I have wanted to be an elementary school teacher. I love children and know that is what God has called me to pursue. I've had great role models who have inspired me, like my mom who teaches first grade, and my grandmother who used to teach fifth grade. Many teachers that I've had throughout my childhood have really paved the road for me and have given me great examples of what a meaningful and effective learning environment includes. I also love my university and how caring they are in preparing me for my future. So please hold tight for posts as I am trying really hard to figure out the blogging world and get enough posts under my belt so I can be consistent. Thank you, and happy blogging!




Jen