Joy School - Amphibians

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Amphibians Day!

Lesson:

We learned lots of interesting things about amphibians. Here's a sampling:

-all amphibians start their lives in water and move to land as they grow up.

-have porous skin that let moisture in and out

-have sticky tongues to catch food

-the smallest amphibian is the size of a pinky fingernail and the largest is about 1.5m

-90% of amphibians are frogs or toads

-they can have all sorts of different pupil shapes in their eyes (triangles, squares, hearts, diamonds)

-worlds most poisonous frog is the Golden Dart Frog and a single one has enough poison to kill 1000 people

-some species of salamanders grow lungs or gills according to how much moisture is around them.

Craft Time: Making lily pads

We started by giving everyone a white paper plate, which they turned upside down and painted green.

While the paint was drying, they each got a paper frog that they coloured and added googly eyes to.

Then the frog (and a flower too if they wanted) got glued on for a finishing touch.

So proud of his finished lily pad!

Science Time: Porous Skin

Did you know that many amphibians don't drink water, but rather they absorb what they need through their skin? Strange, but true. To illustrate this, I took a couple of kitchen sponges and cut them up. I put one into a little Rubbermaid container, and left the others out.

I told the kids that the sponges were going to be like our thristy amphibians. I dropped them all into the bowl of water and we waited a minute while the water absorbed.

Then we saw how our amphibians with porous skin were able to get all the water they needed, but the one that was surrounded by skin that was waterproof was still dry and hard - it wouldn't be able to survive.

Snack Time: popcorn!

What does popcorn have to do with amphibians? Nothing. Why did we have it then? Because we were going to eat our snack like amphibians - with our sticky tongues! I remember being little and thinking it was so funny that popcorn would stick to my tongue, so that is what we did. Each child was given a little bowl of it, and then they had to eat it by getting one kernel at a time with their sticky amphibian tongue. It was so funny to watch!

Video Clip:

We watched a segment from an Eyewitness DVD that taught us the difference between a frog and a toad.

Game Time:

We played a computer game from a great kids website. In the game there is a frog who is jumping from lily-pad to lily-pad across a pond, and you have to guess how big of a jump he needs to make. The kids all got one turn and then we moved on, but they would have been happy to play it a few times.

Wiggle Time: leaping lily-pads!

After they had all had a turn on the computer, I set up 'lily-pads' (pillows) across our own 'pond' (living room) and the 'frogs' (kids) had to jump across from one side to the next. They loved this. I set the pillows up at different intervals so they would have to do a small, medium, or large jump, just like the computer game.

Music Time:

I made little froggy stick puppets that I handed out to each of the kids (sorry for the very blurry picture here!) and we sang Five Green Speckled Frogs, There's a Hole in the Middle of the Sea, and Mmm-mmmm Went the Little Green Frog One Day.

Story Time:

I was surprised how many of the books we had on hand related to frogs. We read The Frog Prince, A Boy, a Dog, and a Frog, and Curious George Tadpole Trouble.

Art Time:

I had printed off a frog life-cycle chart from the internet for the kids to colour. They did, but then a couple of them decided they wanted to make theirs into a puzzle, so I passed out scissors, and they cut their charts into pieces.

By then it was time for our little tadpoles to swim on home.

Joy School - Birds

I am WAAAAYYYY behind in my Joy School posts. We have still been having it, we are still having a great time, and I've still been taking pictures. I just haven't been posting.

So in an effort to catch up, here is a Joy School lesson we did during our Animals Theme.

Lesson:

We learned lots of interesting things about birds. There was so much information, we could easily have split this into a few days.

-We talked about the different places birds made their homes; Beside water, in the antarctic, in the ground, in trees, in the grass, etc.

-We learned that all baby birds come from eggs.

-We looked at the different kinds of beaks birds can have and how they help them get different kinds of foods. We looked at which beaks would be good to crack nuts, which would be good for scooping up food, which would be good for grabbing bugs, and so on.

-We looked at bird feet and how some were good for swimming, some for holding onto branches and some for catching other animals to eat.

-We learned that not all birds could fly. Some could run very fast (ostrich) and some were good swimmers (penguins)

-We learned that even though other animals can have wings (bats), or webbed feet (frogs), or lay eggs (crocodiles), or even have a duckbill, (platypus) that did not make them birds. The thing that definitely makes an animal a bird is that it has feathers. Then we went over the several different types of feathers birds have, and what each type is for.

Science Time:

This mom had printed out several pictures showing the different stages as a chick hatches from an egg, and the kids worked to put them in the correct order. Some of the pictures were quite tricky to place, especially when the bird was part in and part out of the shell. Then the moms stepped in to give them a hand and point out the subtle differences.

Wiggle Time:

We played a duck-waddling game with a ball tucked between their knees and the kids had to waddle to the other end of the room. Pretty tricky for those little legs, but they got it in the end!

Craft: Bird Feeder

We followed these instructions here. I think we may have used too much water, or not let them sit enough before we picked them up, because they didn't gel the way we had hoped. But the ones on the instruction website turned out really cool, so it might be worth it to give it another go.

Art: Birdies in a nest

This one was so cute! The kids dyed eggs the colour of their choice and then we let them dry. After they were dry, we added googly eyes, little felt wings, and construction paper beaks to create baby chicks.

When our chicks were done, we made nests for them by cutting a brown paper bag to make it shallower, folding the ends back, and filling it with the cut up remains of the bag that we trimmed off. Isn't the end product adorable?

Story Time: There are lots of cute books featuring birds, but a couple of suggestions are The Ugly Duckling, The Nightingale, or The Sneetches. (Strictly speaking, I can't guarantee that the Sneetches are birds, but I have always thought they were.)

Snack Time:

This mom has some great cookie cutters in her kitchen. Not only did we use them to make the bird feeders, but we also created an on-theme snack out of bread and cheese just by trimming the bread into a goose, and the cheese into chicks.

She also made a fun treat by turning no-bake cookies into little nests, and adding a couple of chocolate mini-eggs to the centers.

Craft #2: making 'real' nests
We did our best to create a true-to-life birds nest. We gathered up mud, dirt, grass, string, hay and feathers and got good and dirty assembling them. Very fun, but pretty messy, so be prepared!

Music Time:

We did a counting-down rhyme I'd never heard before called Five Feathered Birds:

Five feathered birds sitting on the door,

One flew away and then there were four.

Four feathered birds singing in the tree,

One flew away and then there were three.

Three feathered birds looking at you,

One flew away and then there were two.

Two feathered birds sitting in the sun,

One flew away and then there was one.

One feathered bird looking like a hero,

He flew away, and now there are zero!

What was fun about this one, is that she had prepared five little birds for them all to hold, and they all stood in a line holding their birds. When the corresponding birds in the song flew away, they sat down, until at the end they were all sitting.

We also sang Two Little Blackbirds Sitting on a Hill.

And that was our fun Bird Day at Joy School.

Joy School - Fish

Carrying on with our Animal Kingdom unit in Joy School, our next focus was on fish.

Lesson:

This Joy School mother found a book at our local library called 'Do You Know About Fish?' It was a great basic introduction, and she used it for the basis of her lesson. We learned that fish need to live in water, they have gills to breath, they move with fins, a group of fish is called a school, and that fish come in a lot of forms. We looked at some pictures of truly strange looking fish and learned about some really amazing ones that live very deep in the ocean.

Music Time:

We sang Five Little Fishes, and did the number rhyme of 1,2,3,4,5 - Once I caught a fish alive.

Art Time:

Our host had found a great colouring page with a fish bowl and five fish down the side. The fish were all numbered and the numbers were in different colours, so the children got to match their crayons to the numbers to colour their fish. Then they coloured the fish bowl. The last step was to cut out the fish and glue them into the bowl. My little man doesn't usually have a lot of patience for this type of project, but he was really into this one and did every step with care. It was fun to watch him.

Snack Time:

We enjoyed some goldfish crackers, an obvious choice and a kid favourite.

Then we tried eating some tuna fish on crackers. This went over great with some of the kids, who had multiples, but not so much with others.

Story Time:

We read The Rainbow Fish. It was a very cute story, too.

Craft Time:

We made our own rainbow fish! We made a fish-shaped frame from construction paper, and then put it on a sheet of clear mac-tac. (shelving paper). The kids got to choose all sorts of colourful tissue paper to go inside, and then we sandwiched it shut with another sheet of mac-tac. The kids then cut around the fish to get rid of the extra mac-tac, and they were left with a very cool looking rainbow fish.

Joy School - Mammals

I don't have much to relate on this week's theme, because I had to step out quite early on during the morning to go to an assembly at the elementary school where my oldest two kids attend, since they were both being honoured. Could not miss that!

But - I do know they had a great day at Joy School.

And happily, I was there long enough to hear something funny. At the opening of her lesson, our host told the children that they were, in fact, mammals. Then she asked them what they thought made them mammals. She was, of course, looking for them to say that babies drink milk from their mothers, or that they have hair, or something else like that. Instead, my son screws up his face, shrugs his shoulders and says, "A potion?" HAHAHAHA!

I know that they sorted toy animals into a 'mammal' pile and an 'other' pile, and my boy came home with a letter M page that they had made and decorated with stickers of miscellaneous mammals, but I'm not sure what else went on. I still wanted to document this in my Joy School catch up though, since I loved that funny little moment from my guy!

Joy School - Reptiles

I am so ridiculously behind on my Joy School posts! We haven't quit; we're still going strong. I have just let myself get all caught up in all the fun of raising my kids, rather than documenting it. But today I am devoting nap time to the blog.

Some monthly themes we change out, and some we repeat every year. The Animal Kingdom is such a favourite that it is an every-year unit. There are so many things to learn and discover and have fun with. So yes, you may have read a similar post last year, but it won't be exactly the same.

Our first week in the unit was Reptiles.

Lesson: We learned the difference between warm blooded animals, (like us) and cold blooded animals (like reptiles)

- reptiles are usually hatched from eggs, have tough dry scales, and breathe with lungs.

-We learned that snakes can live in almost every environment on earth, the largest snake is the anaconda, (which can get up to 15m) they smell with their tongues, and that they can have up to 400 vertebrae.

-We learned that turtles can have soft or hard shells, can live a very long time, and are carnivores

-We learned the difference between crocodiles and alligators, that these animals lived with the dinosaurs, mothers guard their nests, and that the saltwater crocodile is the biggest reptile on the earth (can be 23 feet and up to 1000 lbs)

-We learned that lizards can be poisonous, but most aren't. We learned they usually live in hot climates, most are carnivores, and that the dwarf gecko is so small, it can fit on your thumbnail.

Video Clip:

We watched a segment on sea snakes from the Planet Earth DVD series.

Science Time:

We learned what a pattern is and how to recognize one.

I had made long paper slips and drawn different patterns on each. Then I had snipped off a section of them and shuffled them around on the table. The children were then given the task of finding the matching segments of the pattern and putting them back together.

Then we looked through several books of snakes and observed that many snakes had patterns on their skins.

Craft:

Continuing on from our science time, we used beads to create patterns.

They got to choose any pattern they wanted to. It could be any length, with any number of repeating units. In the end each child had a bracelet to help them remember the day.

Snack Time: cheese stick snakes

Story Time:

We read Alligator Baby, A Colour of His Own, Alligator Pie, and Yertle the Turtle.

Art Time:

I found dot-to-dot pages of different reptiles online. the kids each chose one and connected the dots to reveal the animal, and then we coloured them.

Music Time:

We used puppets to sing Three Little Monkeys Swinging in a Tree. We also sang a Sharon, Lois and Bram song about a lady who went sailing on the back of a crocodile. I know the words, but not the title. We also did a turtle finger rhyme:

There was a little turtle who lived in a box. (trace fingers in the air to make a square)

He swam in the puddles, (mime swimming)

And he climbed on the rocks. (put hand over hand to show climbing)

He snapped at the minnow, (clap)

He snapped at the flea, (clap)

He snapped at the mosquito, (clap)

And he snapped at me! (clap on each word, 'snapped at me')

He caught the mosquito, (clap)

He caught the flea, (clap)

He caught the minnow, (clap)

But he didn't catch me! (wave finger back and forth and shake head)

Wiggle Time:

We wrapped the kids up in a blanket and had them lay on the floor. They had to wiggle their way out, just like a snake shedding his skin. LOTS of giggles here!

Joy School - Water Dinosaurs

It seems like time is flying by! This was already our final week in our second learning unit! Next week is the start of a brand new theme!
On our last dinosaur week, we explored the ancient oceans and the animals that once lived there.

Lesson Time: Just as the flying dinosaurs were not really dinosaurs, those found in the oceans were not technically dinosaurs either. They are called plesiosaurs.

-all of them were carnivorous

-hunted in a range of ways. Some ate large animals, others are squids and other smaller sea creatures.

Science Time:

We had two experiments this week. The first one was based on the ways that a giant sea reptile may have digested its food. Rocks have been found in the stomachs of fossilized remains, and some scientists think that they might have eaten them on purpose to help break up their food, like a modern day bird.

To demonstrate, we put a scoop of dry cereal into a Rubbermaid bowl and added a few stones. Then the lid was put on, and the bowl passed around to all the kids. They shook the bowl as hard as they could and then passed it on to the next child. When it got back to our host mom, she lifted the lid and we looked inside the cereal had been mashed up at all. It really had! There were a few left in tact, but generally, there wasn't much left but crumbs and powder.

(Other scientists think that the rocks were inadvertently eaten as they scooped up food from the ocean floor. We'll never really know)

Experiment number two:

Salt water and buoyancy. We learned that the ocean water is different than our regular water. It has high amounts of salt dissolved in it, and therefore behaves differently. One thing it effects is an object's ability to float.

Our host mom prepared two containers of water. One tap, and one with salt added. Then we dropped an egg into each and watched how one egg sank to the bottom, and the other floated along the top. The kids all guessed which container had the salt and then we learned that the salt helps things float and not sink to the bottom. So the container with the salt was the one with the floating egg.

Scientists believe that the sea reptiles could get so large because the buoyancy effect of the ocean helped them swim around and not sink. Otherwise, they think the animals would have been so heavy, they would have just sunk to the bottom and died there.

Art Time:

The moms drew a simple outline of a pleisaur and the kids added dots inside of it with a washable marker. Then they painted over their dots with water and watched the colours run together to create a more mottled look. They turned out quite pretty, really.

Craft Time: Since some of the animals ate squids, we made a squid craft.

First, the kids were given a large sheet of paper and a variety of bingo dabbers and they went to town with them. They really loved this part. Then when the paint had dried, we rolled them into a cylinder and stapled them closed. To make the tentacles, we used large, fuzzy pipe cleaners that we attached through holes we punched along the bottom. Lastly, we glued on some googly eyes and added a handle on the top.

So cute, and so fun!

Snack Time:

We ate goldfish crackers, but before they could gobble up their food, they had to 'catch the fish' just like the sea reptiles needed to. Our kids each got a straw, and then by sucking in air, they had to pick up a gold fish and transfer it into their bowls. Once all their fish were caught, it was chow time!

To add a carnivorous element, she also served little cocktail wieners and ketchup. These were a huge hit, and the kids kept asking for more 'baby hot dogs.'

Craft Time part two:

After the snack, we pulled out s time to make our own ancient ocean in a bottle. The kids added blue food colouring to a bottle of water, then added some sand, rocks, sea shells, plastic little plants, and a couple of small figures of aquatic dinosaurs.

Game:

Our host made several different sea reptiles and the kids took turns organizing them into different groups. The did it by size, colour, and shape.

Story Time: We read "Oh my! Oh my! Oh Dinosaurs!" by Sandra Boyton.

Wiggle Time: We were basically out of time for the day, but we gave it a quick whirl. A large circle of sting was put on and one person was 'it' and was inside. They were to represent the sea reptile. Then the other kids were animals walking around the ocean. But if one got too near the circle, or even stepped inside it, the sea reptile would grab them and gobble them up.

Joy School - Land Dinosaurs

We had another great Joy School this past week. Our host mom's topic was Land Dinosaurs. These are, of course, the most famous ones and the ones the kids were most familiar with. ie: T-rex, stegosaurus, triceratops, etc. They had fun interacting with things that were familiar to them.

Lesson:

Our host broke her lesson up throughout the morning, so it was less sitting still and listening. She taught a little bit, then would do an activity about that section, and then we'd regroup for another little 'mini-lesson' and we'd do another activity etc.

First, she reviewed the term Paleontologist, which we learned last week on our fossils unit. We talked about how if there were no paleontologists, than we wouldn't know anything about these dinosaurs.

Craft Time:

We made toilet-paper-tube paleontologists.

She had found a worksheet that had a pattern for a boy or a girl. The kids coloured it in,

cut it out,

And glued it to their tubes. (I know you can't really tell in the picture, but my son honestly did colour his guy a little!)

Lesson Time (part 2)

This was great. She had taken the time to get an information sheets on so many dinosaurs. First we focused on herbivores. We went over their body structures, what they ate, and how large they were relative to people.

Then after we learned each one, the kids would take turns looking through her box of toy dinosaurs to see if we could find the species she had taught us about.

Last, she would teach us where the fossils for the dinosaurs had been found, and we would look on her globe and find that place. Once we did, we put on a little red sticker to mark it. By the end of the lesson, her globe was well covered in stickers, and it was a great visual to reinforce with the children that dinosaurs roamed the entire earth.

Singing Time:

We sang one herbivore song to the tune of Row, Row, Row your boat.

Herbivore, Herbivore, eating shoots and leaves,

Take a bite, and chew it up,

And then spit out the seeds.

Pretty cute!

Snack Time:

Not only did she break up her lesson plans into sections, she also broke up snack into two sections. This first one was a 'herbivore' snack since we had just learned about the plant-eating dinosaurs. She had made a lovely fruit salad and scooped up a serving for each child.

But the catch was that they couldn't eat it with their hands because dinosaurs didn't use their front legs for that. They just ripped the plants off with their teeth. So we ate our snacks face first! So many giggles!

Lesson Time: (part 3)

We followed the same pattern of learning about a specific dinosaur, finding it in the box, and adding a sticker to the globe, but this time for carnivorous dinosaurs, including the world's largest ever predator, the Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Snack Time (Part 2)

Here, I supposed we would eat some meat like a carnivore, since that was what we had done for the last snack, but she surprised us with a delicious dinosaur cake for a special treat!

I cannot believe that I didn't take a picture of it before it had been cut and divided out. Arg.

But here is the sheet she used to create it. Maybe it will help you imagine it.

She made the cake a pumpkin spice recipe and covered it with a caramel icing. OH MY! It was out of this world. I have gotten the recipe from her, and bought the ingredients so I can make my very own. And trust me, I'll share the results with you. This is too yummy to keep to myself.

As you can see, even our smallest Joy Schoolers approved of the treat!

Art Time:

We created dinosaur finger puppets. The kids got to choose a dino, then colour their picture. The moms then helped them to cut out the circles for their fingers. This pink stegosaurus did quite a little dance across the table, I must say!

It was a great week and it was good to be all together again. (last week two of our families couldn't come due to illness).