THIS ISSUE'S THEME: Quack for Ducks
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Volume 7, Issue 9
April 27, 2009
Theme: Quack for Ducks
Help your kids enjoy this little rhyme as they perform the movements.
 Like a Duck
Quack like a duck (kids quack)
Waddle like one too. (kids waddle)
Flap your wings (kids flap arms)
Good for you!
Swim like a duck
Move your feet (kids move feet)
Bob for bugs (kids bob for bugs)
Time to eat!
Susan LaBella
Editor, Early Childhood Education Newsletter
 I'M WATERPROOF!
Talk with children about how ducks love water and never seem to get soaking wet or cold. Explain that a duck's outer feathers are waterproof due to a natural oil-like substance that coats those feathers. Help children understand that beneath this outer coat of feathers are soft fluffy feathers that keep the duck's body warm. Now cut two feather shapes out of felt. Coat one of the feathers with Crisco. Drop water onto each feather and observe what happens. Ask Why did the uncoated feather get wet? Conclude by reading Ducks Don't Get Wet by Augusta Goldin.
WHERE ARE YOU GOING, LITTLE DUCK?
After children perform the "Like a Duck" rhyme above [see the introduction at the top of this newsletter], ask "Where would you go or what would you do if you were a duck?" Invite children to draw pictures to show their responses. Then bind pictures into a class book titled Traveling Ducks.
A DUCKY CUPCAKE
Try this fun snack with children: Prepare yellow-cake cupcakes, one for each child. You will also need a can of white frosting, a bag of coconut, and yellow food coloring (to tint the frosting and coconut). Help children spread the yellow frosting on their cupcakes and then add yellow coconut. Children can complete the duck's face by adding two chocolate chips for eyes and a piece of candy corn for a beak. Yum!
DUCKS IN THE WATER
Give each child a pre-cut paper duck shape. Help children spread glue onto the shape. Children can then sprinkle dry cornmeal onto the glue to cover the duck. When cornmeal is dry, let children glue the cornmeal ducks onto a piece of blue construction paper (water).
DUCKS AREN'T THE ONLY ONES
Talk with children about other animals that hatch from eggs. Create a list of those animals on an easel pad so children can refer to them as they complete this activity. (Be sure to mention snakes and the platypus; and show a variety of pictures to reinforce understanding.) Next, give each child two egg-shaped pieces of paper that are stapled together at the top. On the front piece, let children copy this sentence frame: "I just hatched from an egg. I am a (an) ______." Children can fill in the blank with the name of an animal of choice. Then draw on the attached second piece a picture of that animal hatching from its egg. Display booklets on a bulletin board titled "Ducks Aren't the Only Ones."
Check out the following Web sites for additional background and activities.
Duck Online Jigsaw Puzzle
Kids will have a great time assembling this colorful 6-piece puzzle.
http://www.first-school.ws/puzzlesonline/animals/duck.htm
Ten Little Rubber Ducks
Read to children Eric Carle's Ten Little Rubber Ducks. Then visit this site for some related activities.
http://www.kindergarten-lessons.com/ten_little_rubber_ducks.html
Book Review: One Duck Stuck
Check out One Duck Stuck, a fun and educational story that kids will love.
http://www.preschooleducation.com/br26.shtml
Duck Songs
The first entry is especially cute and will help kids "get the math" behind the song.
http://www.perpetualpreschool.com/preschool_themes/ducks/duck_songs.htm
Duck Puppet
Try making this duck puppet. Print out the template and act out any duck story you wish.
http://www.michigan.gov/documents/hal_lm_mr_duck-puppet_82861_7.pdf
Baby Chicks Hatching
Let your children watch an egg hatch. In this case it's a chick, but they'll get the idea. Very cool!
http://www.msichicago.org/online-science/videos/video-detail/activities/the-hatchery/
Plan ahead for our next issue's theme:
Seeds and Such
-
 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."
No Contest: The Case Against Competition
One of the most prolific education writers, Alfie Kohn is also one of the most entertaining and thought-provoking. This book makes perhaps the most profound argument Kohn has ever fielded -- that "healthy competition" is an oxymoron, that competition is not an essential or desirable aspect of human nature, but rather a part of our animal nature that we must transcend. Of course our educational system has a love-hate relationship with competition: we don't want kids to feel like losers, but our society demands that schools identify a small number of winners. A truly essential read!
Click to learn more or to purchase this book.
The Absorbent Mind
Maria Montessori's classic underscores her belief that learning is a natural characteristic of the human being, and that the process of education is best conducted as a nuturing of that natural impulse, rather than something that has to be imposed on one's otherwise savage little charges. Along with this is her belief, much more radical in its time than now, that people's personalities are not fixed at birth, but that a child's early years are in fact crucially formative.
 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:
- If I Could Interview Any U.S. President...
- The Best Lesson I Ever Learned
- I Got a Postcard from Another Planet
- A Week Without TV
- The Best Invention Ever/The Worst Invention Ever
- Plus 39 more Writing Bug writing prompts!
The Best of WRITING BUG is part of the Teacher Treasure Series, an NEA Professional Library Publication.
http://store.nea.org/NEABookstore/control/productdetails?&item_id=0695X00
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Early Childhood Themes From Sue LaBella.
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News for Kids World news with kids in mind.
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Sewing Lesson
My granddaughter came to spend a few weeks with me, and I decided to teach her to sew. After I had gone through a lengthy explanation of how to thread the machine, she stepped back, put her hands on her hips, and said in disbelief, "You mean you can do all that,
but you can't play my Game Boy?"
Teacher Arrested
Apparently a teacher has been arrested in New York City in possession of compasses, a protractor, and a straight edge.
It is claimed he is a member of the Al Gebra movement bearing weapons of math instruction.
Short Takes
Harry: What kinds of tests do witches take?
Hermione: Hex-aminations!
Sam (disguising voice on the phone): My son has a bad cold and won't be able to come to school today.
School Secretary: Who is this?
Sam: This is my father speaking!
Little Johnny Strikes Again
Father: I heard you skipped school to play football.
Little Johnny: No, I didn't. I have the fish to prove it!
School Doodle
An Either "Oar" Question in Tight Economic Times
http://www.educationworld.com/a_issues/
school_doodles/school_doodles20.shtml
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