1-NATIVE AMERICAN PAST AND PRESENT --BOW AND ARROW CRAFT

In the fall most kindergartens and other school classes teach about the Pilgrims and how the Native Americans helped them to survive in our country.  I go a step further and teach about the Native Americans all over our USA and how they live now and in the past.  Most children have the concept that “Indians” lived in America way, way back and think the Natives no longer are alive.  They are shocked to find that Native Americans are alive and well and still live in the USA, in fact some are even in our classroom.  Each year as I teach a unit on Native Americans ‘ some of the children find out that they are part Native American.  In one class I had there were 5 with Native Americans ancestors. It also is important to make sure the kids know that Native American children have to go to school just like them, that they live in houses, have cars, TV’s, computers and everything they have because they live in the USA just like them.

Since most children think of “Indians” shooting bows and arrows, I peak their interest by explaining about why they had bows and arrows and how they were made. I take them back to the past when there were no stores, TV, internet, electricity, cars, etc.  This is almost inconceivable to the kids.  Couldn’t they just buy them? Why weren’t there stores? Are some of the questions I get from the kids’?  I explain how everything had to be made by hand and from whatever materials were in nature and there was no metal to make guns, knives, or any other equipment needed by the Natives.  In order to get food they had to make their own bows and arrows to shoot their food.  I explained how clothes, housing, tools, food containers, etc. had to be made from nature.

Bow and Arrows

Our first foray into creating our own Native American tool, the bow and arrow gets them all excited to learn more.  To create our first tool, we get branches from bushes and trees in our yards.  To make a tool for taking the bark off the branches we find driveway gravel that has sharp edges. At the same time we look for gravel that has a pointed edge that we can use for our arrow.  We also look for a rock that we can use to shape our other rocks.

Outside the kids scrape the bark off the branches. When that is done we go into the classroom to make our bow and decorate it.  As we are only going to use these for decorations (I make that perfectly clear to the kids) and for a play we will perform. I let the kids decorate their bows with markers. Then we put the cord for the bow on. I explain how the Indians did not have cord that they had to find weeds or use the gut of the deer or buffalo for their cord. We then tie a ribbon on the other side of the bow for our decoration.  I use a hot glue gun to attach the ribbon because it takes too long for the glue to dry.  Then the kids decorate the ribbon with feathers and beads. It will take overnight for this to dry.

Next we use our shaping rock and friction to make our rock look more like an arrow. This is how

I teach about friction and useful it is. We also talk about how Indians used it to make fire and how they did it. When their rock looks good enough to them we attach it to the stick.  Again I will hot glue it and put cord around the rock and the stick to make sure it will stay. Next the kids decorate the other end with whatever feathers they picked out. When they are dry I hang it all on the Native American bulletin board.

This craft has gotten the kids all excited about past Native American life and they want to do more crafts and learn more about their life.

 

 

HANDCRAFTING A BEAUTIFUL PINECONE HOLIDAY CENTERPIECE

 

 

 

 

As a Kindergarten enrichment teacher, in a private school with no real budget, I am always thinking of how I can have the kids make a gift for parents that is both inexpensive and beautiful.  Years ago I thought of a “green” and easy way for the kids to make a holiday table centerpiece. I have the kids make theirs as a gift for Thanksgiving but it will do for any fall or winter holiday, even as a Christmas centerpiece of you just add some holly or Christmas ornaments.

Materials needed—1.pinecones, 2.cardboard, 3.aluminum foil, 4.glue, 5.voitave candle in a glass

A .Cut cardboard any shape. I use a large paper plate to size mine.

B. Paint or leave natural color but put a circle in center for the glass

C. Glue a circle of aluminum foil in circle(to prevent fires from candle or heat from glass

D. Let kids pick their pinecones out and start to glue, telling them not to glue pinecones in the center of the circle      

E. Glue pinecones

After the glue dries you will have a beautiful masterpiece that is amazing, cheap to make, and organic. The kids will be thrilled about how beautiful the centerpiece came out and the parents will be amazed that their child crafted it. The center piece can last forever as a memento from your class.

                                Another inexpensive, child friendly craft from Miss Gail

 

PROVING PLANTS DRINK WATER

When teachers do a unit on plants they are always TELLING kids that all plants need water to survive instead of actually showing them.  An easy experiment to prove that plants drink water is to take white flowers such as daisy’s, mums, or carnations and put them into water with a few drops of food coloring.  I use small paper or plastic drink cups, one for each color, and put one or two flowers into each. 

 I let the kids add one color to each cup. Make sure you use enough food coloring to make a fairly dark color.  I also will put a cup with plain water, no coloring and add a flower.  Within two hours the flowers start to show some color.  By day two they should have the same color as if you bought them in the florist.

Now you have proven what you have taught the children in a way that will amaze them enough to forever remember how plants drink water

 

 

DRIED FLOWER AND WEED ARRANGEMENTS-FALL ART PROJECT

INGREDIENTS NEEDED—DRIED WEEDS, PLACTIC CUP, SAND, PLASTER OF PARIS,  SPRAY PAINT

Most teachers teach a unit about the fall season changes and how seeds travel.  We explain how the plants get ready for the fall by producing seeds that get planted in many different ways, by wind, some roll, some stick to animals, some are carried by birds and some are buried by squirrels and other animals.  Many times teachers take the easy and lazy way of just showing the pictures of seeds and try to explain how they travel. This makes no impression on the children. They will look at the pictures, remember some of it until the teacher quizzes them and then out of the head it goes. Hopefully more teachers will try to bring in samples of each method of seeds travel and also bring samples of the different seeds for the children to see, touch, and compare. After actually seeing and touching the seeds the children will understand the processes of travel and it will imprint upon their brains.  Taking a dandelion parachute seed, blowing it into the air always thrills the kids. Taking a sticker bush seed and letting the kids feel how sharp they are and letting it stick to their clothes makes the children understand how animals or people can carry them to a new place where they will plant themselves in the spring.

 

I carry the lesson further and make it more fun. We make dried flower and weed arrangements that last forever.  We will walk around a field and cut some of the weeds that have dried.  The more solid they are the better. Fluffy seeds like dandelion or thistle will not do.  From some gardens cape myrtle round seeds, butterfly bush, dried hydrangea flowers, iris and lilly pods, daisy type seed balls, and any other harder weeds will work well. Some of the time, I even will use dried roses, and zinnias
 

  I will put all the collection of weeds on a table outside (you can do it inside but it is messy).  I have the kids fill a plastic cup (a clear one) with about half sand. I use sand because it will hold the weeds in place.  The more weeds the kids put in the cup the nicer and fuller it looks

After they are satisfied with their arrangement, I will fill the rest of the cup with plaster of paris.  This will add weight to the cup and make it permanent. DO NO FORGET TO PUT THE CHILDS NAME UNDER THE CUP WITH A PERMANENT MARKER.! The kids never remember which one is theirs.

 

 

 

 

Next I will spray paint it all gold or silver. The beautiful arrangements can be put into a vase if the parents want. THE KIDS AND THE PARENTS LOVE THEM.  I have been in homes of my previous students 8 years later and the arrangements are still prominently placed on a table or even the fireplace.
 

 

STOPPING PREJUDICES BEFORE THEY MULTIPLY

Each year I have been lucky to have a very diverse class of children whose families came from many different cultures and countries. At the beginning of the year the children hang with those who look like them, being unsure of others who appear different. Finding a way to teach them even though they may look different from each other they are the same,  was a big challenge until I thought of my garden.

I grow many different kinds of zinnias and marigold flowers, both of which come in all kinds of sizes, colors and varieties. In September I bring in a bouquet of zinnias and one of marigold

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The zinnias come in many beautiful colors, some with stars in the center, some petals fuller than others, some in double petals, some dwarf, some giant, and those in-between sizes.  The marigolds also come in different sizes, shades from brown to yellow and almost white.

 

  I hold a bouquet of zinnias first and ask if they are the same flower or different kinds of flowers.  The kids always say different kinds.” Why do you think that? “ I ask. The response is because of color, size, looks, etc.  You are wrong I tell them they are all the same kind of flower, zinnias and just like us they come in all sizes, colors, and shapes.  I show the marigold s and ask the same question.  Again they guess they are different types of flowers and again I explain they are the same.  Then I say to them “look around at us-we are all people and look how different we look but we are still people.”  How many of you have brown hair, blonde hair, black hair, blue eyes, brown eyes, green eyes, etc. We go over all the parts of the body, and all our different skin colors and then I ask “with all our differences are we still people with the same amount of hands, feet, spines, fingers, toes, teeth, eyes, etc.  What about our blood, do we all bleed the same color,  We go over all the same organs and I ask again are we all the same even though we are different looking.

 I than go even further and ask about who is the smartest and how do you know. Most of the time the kids think the tallest or biggest kid is the smartest.”  I ask how that can be.”  My young high school aids are always taller than me, I am only 5 feet .  “ I am the teacher and I am shorter than Josey and all the other high school people and all of the teachers. Does that mean they are all smarter than me?”  The kids begin to think all their stereotypes may be wrong. Then I give the zinger-“who is the oldest?” Usually they will pick the tallest kid.  Again I use myself as the example.  I am 74 but the shortest adult in our school.  “How can the tallest kid be the oldest in our class” I ask.  I am the shortest adult in our school and I am the oldest.  All the other teachers are taller than me and I am the only one old enough to be a grandma so you can’t be right about size making someone smarter or older.  We then go through all their birthdays and ages to prove the point. 

By the end of the day all of the concepts and the previous thoughts of their differences, and prejudices have been thrown out the window and they begin to accept how alike they all are even if they look different.  Bringing nature and beautiful flowers and comparing themselves helps sort out whatever they might have learned previously and in a more painless equation that just preaching to them.

 

MAGIC SCIENCE---WEEK 7

 

Our first magic science trick was listed in science web sites as easy for kids to do. We started our club week 7 with invisible writing. Instructions said to use lemon juice or milk to write on white paper. We did both and left them to dry as instructed.  Next we were to put the invisible writing up to a light bulb.  It didn’t work with a fluorescent bulb so we switched to a regular old fashioned light bulb. Nothing happened so we tried the next thing suggested in the instructions—a candle. I would not suggest kids do this as the paper started to burn but still no magic writing. Next Marius’s mother tried the gas stove burner.  This worked perfectly but I would not suggest a child do this. We tried different types of paper with the same results; it worked only with the stove.

                                                                   

      

 

Our next magic trick was to fill a sandwich bag with water and snap it shut.  The trick was to stab it with a sharp pencil and not have the water leak out. Marius tried it first. He stabbed it all the way through two layers but pulled the pencil out.  Leak city!  All the water came rushing out.  I explained that the pencil had to quickly go from one side of the bag to the other. Patricia tried and it worked.  Why? Because the bag is a polymer and as the pencil goes through the soft plastic seals itself around the pencil and the water doesn’t come out.  Next the kids wondered if more than one pencil would work and it did.  I have tried this trick with 5 pencils going through the same bag.  The trick is that the points have to be very sharp to be able tp push through the bags quickly.  This magic trick will have all their friends and parents amazed—just make sure it is done outside or over the sink.

 

                                                                                            

                                                                                                                                                                                            

 Making Magic marshmallows is every childs’ favorite trick. After I have shown this to the kids I am forever asked to make them-even my grandchildren, my classes, and the neighbors.  You need a microwave for this.  I use a paper cup cut to about ½.  Put marshmallows (one or two large ones) in the cups and put them in the microwave and watch them grow and grow.  The kids get so very excited! I will do 4 cups at a time.  Make sure the kids can watch. Again I ask them why.  The answer is because the marshmallow is whipped and is full of air.  The microwave works with steam which blows the marshmallows up as it heats.  As it cools the marshmallows collapse, and the kids eat them.  It works differently than marshmallows over a fire or grill.  The microwave cooks from the inside while the fire cooked marshmallows cook from the outside in.  Try it—it is the best and always works!  Even I love them.

                                                                 

 

Have you ever cooked soap? For this magic trick you need Ivory Soap.  It is the only soap that will work.  It works on the same principal as the marshmallow.  Ivory Soap is the only soap that is whipped and again the microwave cooks with steam.  It steams up the whipped soap which grows and grows.  Kids love it!  When it comes out the soap sculpture is hard.  It is great for the grownups as the kids like to take the whipped soap and use it in their bath, it floats.  It also cleans your microwave.  Take water on a paper towel and wash out leftover soap.  Your microwave has never been so clean or smelled so good.  This is a win, win magic trick.

    Making Rockets  with Carbon Dioxide---Week  Six

 To make the rockets you need the white Fuji film canisters because of the way the cap closes. Since most people no longer use film, stores do not carry the canisters.  They can be ordered on Ebay or Amazon. To make rocketry more fun and to add a little scientific thinking and have a little artistic creativity, I had the kids design their own rockets using my scrap box.

 

  The fuel is water and an Alka Seltzer which will make carbon dioxide gas when mixed.

 On my art table (my kitchen table) I put feathers, colored string, colored paper, markers, scissors, coffee filters and scotch tape.  Do not use glue as it takes too long to dry and can make the canister too heavy. I gave the kids the task of thinking how their design could help the rocket fly higher.
The rocket hit the top of the porch.

  Some of the kids put the feathers facing down instead of facing upward toward the sky . Then we talked about how this could hurt the rocket from separating from the bottom cap. We also questioned whether the feathers would help the rocket fly higher like it does for the birds. My grandson David used a coffee filter as the parachute for the rocket to come down. Marius made wings on the side of the rocket to help it go up and then level. It was interesting to see how involved their thinking and designing became. Even the five year olds  put a lot of effort into their design. We went outside to try our rockets and to see if their designs helped or hindered.

For the first try we used about 1/3 water to ¼ of an  Alka Seltzer. The kids could really see how their design helped or hindered. Some had made them too heavy. We then went inside to improve on the rocket design. The ones who had feathers in the wrong direction changed them. Others added a parachute or wings. The  kids were very busy figuring out what would work

 The rocket went up and then down.

                                                               

 The second launch we used 1/3 water and ½ of an Alka Seltzer.  I asked what the difference was. The response was it went higher because of the design and because the Alka Seltzer was bigger and made more carbon dioxide gas.  Lesson learned! I was so proud of them.

Look at the white over the house. That is the rocket higher than the house.

 

Next we tried to see if we could use the ingredients on the Alka Seltzer label to make the same results. The label says citric acid and baking Soda. We tried it but it didn’t work.

The excitement for each launch was so much fun. The kids really got into the designing and scientific reasoning.  Learning science does not have to be boring.  The next time I saw the parents they were still talking about how enthusiastic their children where about learning and creating such a fun scientific project. The parents said their children told them all about the project and what it proved. The kids talked about how they modified their rockets and how the different ingredients made more or less gas.  The club time exceeded 2 hours because the kids were so excited and involved in the project, I did not want to stop them.  Science is both exciting and creative, and it stops the kids from thinking they are stupid when their project or thinking is not like everyone else.  It teaches them to try and think and design on their own and when something doesn’t work—just try again to make it better.

 

 

LIQUIDS IN SUSPENSION EXPERIMENTS

LIQUIDS IN SUSPENSION—LAVA LAMP

This week we started by my asking if anyone knew what I meant by liquids in suspension.  Anaka who is in 4^th grade explained it was liquids in a bottle that didn’t mix like oil and water. She was right and we were going to prove it as we did our experiments.

1.      We started our by making a lava lamp.  We used any bottles we could find.  Some kids brought glass jars and others used water or soda bottles. All bottles or jars needed lids. Each child  filled the bottle with ¼  water and then filled it to over ¾ with oil.  Add a few drops of food coloring.  Do not mix the colors as they will blend together.  The first observation was that the food coloring dropped down to the water and did not mix with the oil.  If the bottle was shaken the food coloring would rise up with the oil like lava and then drop down.  We added ½ of an alka seltza pill to the bottle and all were excited about what happened.  It behaved just like a lava lamp that you buy in the store.  When the Alka Seltzer mixed with the water it dissolved and the food coloring and water drops  exploded up in the bottle. I asked why?  The kids had no idea. Alka Seltzer is just like baking soda and when it hits the water carbon dioxide gas forms pushing the water and food color up. The “lava” will stop after the Alka Seltzer dissolves but more can be dropped in.

             LIQUIDS IN SUSPENSION--PAINTING WITH MILK





      Our next project was to see what happens with whole milk, food coloring, and Dawn dish soap. We put enough milk to cover our tray. I used allergy needle trays, but any tray or saucer with sides will do. Next drop little drops of food coloring into the milk. The food coloring and the milk do not mix.  Take a Q-tip, dip it into the dish soap and put it into a drop of food coloring in the tray and watch it form patterns. This can be done over and over again to form new patterns. Now take a piece of paper, lay it on the designs in the tray and make it a print. Why didn’t the milk and food coloring mix?  The answer is that whole milk is a fat like oil and it stays in suspension until you add soap.

LIQUIDS IN SUSPENSION--OIL AND WATER

3.      Try the same experiment with oil, water, and  food coloring . T here is a famous painter who makes pictures out of this mix.Put only enough 

    oil to cover bottom of the tray.The colors will

     make a darker print.

4.      Just to try something else we added a small piece of Alka Seltzer to each tray and watched the carbon dioxide gas form bubbles and mix the colors.

Not only did the kids have fun doing these experiments but so did the parents who were here.  Many paper prints were made from the beautiful flowing patterns.

A special note—this can become very messy so cover all tables with plastic and newspapers to absorb the liquid. I had two of the kids get so into the project and the moving colors, they used their fingers to add soap to the colors. They were covered in messy soap paint.  Good thing it was soap so it washed out easily.

SOUND-- SCIENCE CLUB WEEK 4     

      

WHAT CAUSES SOUND?

  How do we and other animals produce sound? What about music, machinery, TV, etc. What causes the variations in sound? These are the questions I asked the group. Most of the Kids knew that vibrations cause sound and they had a voice box in their throats.  Our first experiment was our sound. I had each child put their fingers on their throats to feel the vibrations. We whispered, we shouted, we sung, and we talked to feel the difference in the vibrations.  The next question was why did we have different voices if we all had the same voice box and vibrations in our throat.  That was answered when we began our experiments.

1. Using a tunning fork at you use by hitting objects and putting the fork to your ear. Everything you hit has a different sound.

 

 

 

  

 2. Sound produced by different glass cocktail glasses. Some thin antique ones gave off a beautiful melodic sound and some heavier ones had a flat sound. We experimented hitting the glasses with wood, and metal utensils to produce different sounds. Then we added water to the glasses to try to make musical sounds.

 

 

3. I have a singing quartz bowl which is large and heavy. The ohm sound is made by taking a brass rod that is covered with suede material and rubbed around the top side of the bowl.  The sound gets louder and louder as you rub.

 

4 .My cousin had a ukulele which she played and showed how to tune by tightening the strings. She showed how the sound differed by the width of the strings and how she placed her fingers.  Then the kids all tried to make music. She also showed different wind instruments and how she blew into them and had to change her breath from light blowing to stronger blowing into the instruments to change the vibrations that made the sound.  I also had different sized native drums that the kids could hit to make different sounds and we explained about the different vibrations by hitting harder and softer.

5 .Singing Balloons- I had a bag of different size balloons and different size hex nuts. Each child picked the balloon and hex nut they wanted. We put the nuts in the balloon and blew it up and I tied the ends.  Then I had the children shake the balloon and listen to the sounds—it actually sounded like music.  We compared the different sounds the different sized balloons and the different sized nuts made. The kids were so excited that they wanted to try a few balloons each.  Then they asked to take one home to their siblings.

 

 

          

Scavanger hunt- I took every one outside to look for anything they could find to make music. Some used sticks, rocks, cans, buckets, and a couple of things in the yard I hadn’t thought of. One of the girls found my pitch fork and took a stick and hit each prong to make different sounds, and one kid thought of using my shovel.  They really got creative-my metal patio table was an instrument with a metal spoon hitting it.  As usual the children went beyond my expectations with their creativity.

7. Making our own string instrument-I had a box of different size wood pieces-some rectangular, some long and thin, etc.  I gave the kids a box of thin wood nails and different size and width rubber bands.  I thought they would just line the nails and strings like the ukulele to play music with—again they out smarted me.  Some of the kids not only went in one direction with the rubber bands, but others went across the original bands and added more than one for different sounds.

8. Cup and string phone- I had them make a string phone by putting a hole in the cups tie a paper clip to a long string and put the string thru the hole in the cup. Put the other end of the string into the other cup hole and tie it to another paper clip.  The paper clips are only to hold the string in the cup. Give the cups  to two children, have them pull the string tight and on child talks into the cup while the other one holds the cup to his ear. Than have them switch with the other child talking and the other holding the cup to his ear.

 

 Hands on experiments helps the kids learn concepts while having fun. Actually touching, seeing, and feeling these concepts makes a lasting impression while just reading about these same facts sometimes goes over their heads and out of the minds. They will always remember how they made their own instruments, how they were able to make the music with the glasses, and how the difference in the weight, length, and tightness can cause the differences in sounds, and it was a fun and painless experience.