THIS ISSUE'S THEME: What About Water?

WELCOME! to Education World's Early Childhood Education Newsletter. Every other week, we'll bring you activities and suggestions to give your teaching themes a boost. You'll find some new ideas -- or perhaps a new spin on an activity you've used in the past. We're happy to be a part of your teaching and hope your school year is filled with wonder, creativity, and fun-filled learning.

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Volume 7, Issue 8
April 13, 2009
Theme: What About Water?

Did you know that water covers about 70 percent of Earth's surface, yet only about 2.5 percent of it is usable for consumption?

In this issue -- and just in time for Earth Day -- we present some activities to reinforce with children the importance of water and the need to preserve this precious resource.

Susan LaBella
Editor, Early Childhood Education Newsletter

BE WATER WISE
Explain to children that with only a small amount of water available to us, we should never waste it. Talk about ways in which people sometimes waste water, for example, by taking long showers or running water while brushing teeth or washing hands. Show children a blue raindrop shape on which you have drawn a face. Explain that this is "Wally the Water Drop" who never wastes water. Ask children ways in which they and their families might help save water. List responses on an easel pad. Invite children to choose one of the ways to copy onto a piece of drawing paper and then illustrate. Bind drawings into a class booklet. Glue Wally onto the booklet cover and title it We Are Water Wise!

KEEP THE CYCLE GOING
Introduce children to the water cycle by reading Scholastic's The Magic School Bus Wet All Over: A Book About the Water Cycle by Pat Relf. Then prepare a bulletin board of the water cycle showing a pond, grass, gray clouds, raindrops, and so on. Label the parts of the cycle using the words evaporation, condensation, and precipitation. (Your bulletin board might look something like this illustration.) Each day, teach children one of those three water-cycle words and what happens in that part of the cycle. Next, let children observe a mini water cycle in action by watching the growth of flower seeds. Give each child a small flower pot. Add soil and help children plant a few flower seeds. Water the seeds, cover the pot with a large plastic baggie, and place it in a sunny spot. As children see what happens, let them draw pictures of each part of the cycle: evaporation causes condensation (clouds) on the top and sides of the bag; precipitation (rain) falls down on the plants when the bag is tapped; collection of the rain can be seen in the plant's moist soil.

WHAT'S EVAPORATION?
Clarify the concept of evaporation with this experiment: Place ice cubes in a cup in a warm place. When the cubes melt, help children understand that the sun's heat changed the hard cubes to liquid water. Leave the water in the cup in the sun and let children observe it for a day or so. When the water has disappeared, ask: "Where did the water go?" After several responses, lead children to understand that the water escaped, or evaporated, into the air. To prove this, place two cups with water in them in a sunny spot. Cover one cup tightly with plastic wrap and leave the other one uncovered. Observe for a few days. Help children understand that the cover on the cup trapped the water and did not let it evaporate, while the water in the uncovered cup evaporated.

LET'S COUNT RAINDROPS
Give each child a piece of blue felt for a math counting mat. Provide clear, flat glass floral marbles (available at most craft stores) as raindrops/counters. Invite children to listen for the number of thunder booms they hear (teacher clapping hands a certain number of times) and to place that number of raindrops on their mats.

USING RAIN
Try this craft so children can take part in the wise use of water and have fun:

Finally, add collected rainwater to each watering can and show children how to hold the "can" by the handle and tip it to "rain" on flowers and plants.

 

Check out the following Web sites for additional background and activities.

Earth's Water
This great resource will provide all the background information on water you'll ever need.
http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/mearth.html

Shape-Book Patterns
Create water-related shape books using a raindrop or an umbrella.
http://www.eduplace.com/rdg/hme/k_5/shapebook/toc.html

Water Cycle
Reinforce with children the amazing water cycle by teaching them this fun song.
http://www.proteacher.org/a/12048_Water_Cycle_Song.html

Explore Water
This is a complete lesson plan on exploring water with preschool children.
http://www.peepandthebigwideworld.com/resources/pdf/peep-guide-water.pdf

Rain
Lots of activities, printables, and more.
http://www.atozkidsstuff.com/rain.html

 

Plan ahead for our next issue's theme:
Quack for Ducks!

Each week, Education World spotlights books of interest to educators. This week, read a brief summary of two more of our "top 50 books for educators."

What Great Teachers Do Differently: Fourteen Things That Matter Most
Todd Whitaker is one of the prolific education writers who continually remind us that teaching is primariliy an art, though it is surrounded by a lot of science (and pseudo-science). As such, Whitaker looks at great practitioners and focuses on what they do that distinguishes them from less-than-great teachers. Among the intriguing chapter headings are: "Restoring Trust," "The Angry Parent," "Handling the High Achievers," and "Treat Everyone As If They Were Good."
Click to learn more or to purchase this book.

The Elementary Math Teacher's Book of Lists
Subtitled, "with Ready-to-Use Patterns Worksheets," this book brings list-mania to math. We often forget, in thinking about math as driven by the familiar symbols for operations, that learning math is as much about learning the meaning of a universe of concepts as it is about learning specific operational skills. This approach offers the practicality of worksheets and activities along with the more conceptual value of covering the major groups of concept words in elementary math.
Click to learn more or to purchase this book.

Click the icon to the right to see more books and many other products that are available in the Education World MarketPlace.

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The Best of the WRITING BUG

If you enjoy Education World's weekly WRITING BUG feature, you'll love this book! Education World and the National Education Association (NEA) have joined forces to create a handy, pocket-size booklet with 44 of the most popular Writing Bug story starters. Use these Writing Bug activities to engage your students in effective writing. Each writing prompt will spark students' imaginations, tickle their funny bones, and motivate their pencils.

Included: In this booklet you'll find these Writing Bug titles and many more:

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MORE FEATURES OF INTEREST
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Best Books for Teaching About… Booklists for 30 popular teaching themes.
Sign Up for Our Newsletters Ten free newsletters full of practical ideas.
Special Education Center Tools for the special education community.
Techtorials Tutorials take the terror out of tech.

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LEAVE 'EM LAUGHING
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Five Signs That the Teacher Is Experiencing Burnout

5. Spelling test words include go, home, and already.
4. She spends an inordinate amount of every parent-teacher conference extolling the virtues of home schooling.
3. Lately, all the math homework involves calculating how long it will take Teacher A on Flight 201 out of Boston to reach Maui.
2. "Because the scalpel method is much too slow, we're going to speed up the frog dissection with this blender."
1. You hear your kindergartener singing, "A-B-C-D-whatever-whatever..."

Investor Training

Two stock brokers on Wall Street are talking…
Mr. Dow: I learned a lot about investments in elementary school.
Mr. Jones: What do you mean? What could you have learned in elementary school about investments?
Mr. Dow: Everything I did in class aroused principal interest.

Science Test

Judy's fifth-grade class had been studying astronomy. One morning at breakfast she announced to her family, "On Friday we're having a quiz on the moon."

That's when her little brother piped up, "Are you going to let her go, Mom?"

Little Johnny Strikes Again

Teacher: You missed school yesterday, didn't you?
Little Johnny: Not very much!

School Doodle
Fasten Your Seat Belts for a School Transfer
http://www.educationworld.com/a_issues/school_doodles/school_doodles54.shtml

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