Winter Solstice

The Winter Solstice by Ellen Jackson, illustrated by Jan Davey Ellis.

This book explains how the winter solstice is celebrated in different parts of the world, and during different eras of history.  It presents facts and folklore about the shortest day of the year.

The Shortest Day by Wendy Pfeffer, illustrated by Jesse Reisch.

This book describes how and why daylight grows shorter as winter approaches, the effect of shorter days on animals and people, and how the winter solstice has been celebrated throughout history. Includes solstice facts, instructions for making a winter sunrise/sunset chart, how to measure shadows on the shortest day, experiment to show how the tilt of the earth makes the seasons and fun party ideas.

A lovely story of a cold winter night when the resident farm Tomten says goodnight to all of the farm animals and they all think of the summer to come.

Artic Lights, Artic Nights by Debbie Miller.

Imagine a land where the sun rises at 1:58 a.m. in the summer and shines for less than four hours on a winter’s day. The animals in the wilderness near Fairbanks, Alaska, witness some of the world’s greatest temperature extremes and light variations ever year. At an average low of -16 degrees Fahrenheit, the winters may be unpleasantly frigid, but the light shows are always glorious!

Check here to find out when the winter solstice occurs in your area:

https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/december-solstice.html

Find out out to create Yule Sun Ice Catchers here:

http://www.raisingfairiesandknights.com/yule-sun-ice-catchers/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=pinterest&utm_campaign=tailwind_tribes&utm_content=tribes

 

Earth Day

With Todd Parr’s colorful illustrations and simple text, The Earth Book includes easy ideas for working together to take good care of the earth, from planting a tree and using both sides of the paper to saving energy and reusing old things in new ways.

Printable coloring pages from the book can be found here. http://www.toddparr.com/imgs/fun/earthbook_coloring.pdf

Teachers share their many ideas for Earth Day activities on the Scholastic books site. https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/2017/earth-day-activities/

As the round hole through the pages of this book grows larger, children will enjoy  guessing the identity of the object that’s round like a ball, hot and cold, every color, always moving, and home to us all. Lisa Campbell Ernst has written and illustrated a colorful and fun introductory book to science and our earth.

Two young families in two very different parts of the world each plant a tree. As the trees flourish, so do the families. The eye-catching illustrations show how trees help clean the air, enrich the soil, and give fruit and shade. I used a flannel board with this book during storytime and the preschoolers really enjoyed adding felt flowers, leaves and fruit to the tree.

The preschoolers enjoyed this simple and fun story about a little boy and his grandma gardening; beginning with deciding what to plant all the way to eating what was planted during a year of gardening from tilling the soil to harvest time.

This enchanting book invites children to imagine that they are the Earth, beginning with space, spinning and dancing around the sun, larger than the moon. Forests, seas, and deserts form a brightly colored quilt which is home to many creatures. The book invites the readers to “Wiggle your shoulders/ and mountains tremble and quake./ Shake your hair and feel windswept grasses tickle your face.”

The Earth and I is beautifully illustrated with vibrant rainbow colors and tells the tale of the adventures of a child in nature as he rides the back of a tortoise, plants vegetables, sings with the birds, and dances in the wind.

Wind Science

The Wind Blew by Pat Hutchins is a wonderful rhyming tale of the wind that is blowing everyone’s things away. The Scholastic site has extension activities geared to the book.

https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plans/teaching-content/wind-blew-extension-activities/

Windblown is an entertaining book that shows ways that different colored shapes can be combined to make different pictures and characters. The narrative is short and simple and the colorful illustrations show a variety of creative creations.

 Former U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser authored this wonderfully illustrated picture book that tells of the journey of a lone, yellow plastic bag that escaped from a landfill and the environmental consequences as well as the ways unwanted items can be reused.

In this wind experiment at the link below, children can build simple devices to collect things blowing in the wind.  They’ll need a few plastic lids, petroleum jelly, a magnifying glass, a paper punch to punch a hole in each lid, yarn and a windy day.  After hanging them outside on a windy day for a while, children can examine what the wind has blown into their lid.

http://stem-works.com/external/activity/20

Activities at the link below include the key science concepts that wind can move things and that wind is moving air.

Ideas include discussions that the wind can move things such as clouds in the sky, and sailboats on the water. Have children, think and demonstrate different ways they can make the air move and create a breeze (blowing, waving the hands, using a fan, etc.). Ask if they know of any tools or machines that move air (hair dryers, fans, etc.).

Wind experimentation and prediction as well as directions for a simple windsock made from a paper bowl, tissue paper, crepe paper streamers and pipe cleaners.

http://www.ready-set-read.com/2013/04/preschool-theme-wind.html

In this experiment children blow on objects to simulate the wind (a wooden block, paper cup, metal spoon, piece of construction paper, craft pom pom, feather, and rock).

http://www.prekinders.com/can-the-wind-move-it/

Other wind themed activities can be found at https://www.kidssoup.com/activity/wind-and-air-activities-crafts-games-and-printables and http://sciencing.com/science-activities-air-preschool-ages-6468647.html.

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Learning About the Rainforest

Learning about all the colorful animals, insects, and plants in a rainforest make for a fun storytime theme!

The children really enjoyed The Frog With the Big Mouth by Teresa Bateman.  It’s a humorous tale about a little Argentine wide mouthed frog that goes around the rainforest to brag about his fly-eating abilities. At the end of the book there are notes about the Toco Toucans, Coatis, Capybaras, Jaguars and Argentine wide-mouthed frogs, also known as Argentine horned frogs.

The Parrot Tico Tango by Anna Witte is a wonderful cumulative rhyme in which a greedy parrot snatches delicious fruit from his animal friends in the rainforest until he can hold no more.

I used the book Rain Forests by Nancy Smiler Levison with a flannel board activity for the preschoolers.

I handed out animals, insects and plants mentioned in the book and read the pages about the four layers of the rainforest: emergent, canopy, understory and the forest floor.

As I read about each layer, I invited the children to put the corresponding trees, plants, and animals on the flannel board. The preschoolers really enjoyed learning about the animals in each layer and helping to create a rainforest.

Here are two more nonfiction books about the rainforests:

Wow! Rain Forest Animals by Carolyn Franklin

Rain Forest Revealed by Jen Green

Other great rainforest picture books to read to preschoolers are:

Way Up High in a Tall Green Tree by Jan Peck

If You’re Happy and You Know it Jungle Edition by James Warhola

Slowly Slowly said the Sloth by Eric Carle

If I were a Jungle Animal by Tom and Amanda Ellery

We’re Roaming in the Rainforest: An Amazon Adventure by Laurie Krebs and Anne Wilson

Jungle Drum by Deanna Wundrow

The Umbrella by Jan Brett

The Great Kapok Tree by Lynn Cherry

The Rainforest Grew All Around by Susan K. Mitchell

Worms. Can You Dig It?

Noodle & Lou by Liz Garton Scanlon

Ned’s New Home by Kevin Tseng

Yucky Worms by Vivian French

Worms for Lunch by Leonid Gore

Look under science activities on this link:

http://www.preschool-plan-it.com/worms.html

Find more worm science here:

Wiggly Worms: A Garden Science Activity Guide

Nocturnal Animals

Night Animals by Gianna Marino

Owl Babies by Martin Waddell

Whoooo’s There? by Mary Serfozo

You can find some great nocturnal animal science activities by clicking on the links below:

http://www.teachpreschoolscience.com/NocturnalAnimals.html

http://www.brighthubeducation.com/preschool-lesson-plans/62630-nocturnal-animal-theme/

http://www.stillplayingschool.com/2014/10/nocturnal-animals-kwl-chart-preschool-science.html

 

Hold on to Your Hats!

Twelve Hats for Lena by Karen Katz

This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen

A general discussion could be held about how hats keep heat in our bodies or how hats provide shade.

Look under Early Science in the link below for an activity idea:

http://www.educatall.com/page/460/Hats.html

Note 1: Twelve Hats for Lena lends itself to a discussion of seasons and the calendar year.

Note 2: This Is Not My Hat easily sparks a discussion of predators, prey and the food chain.

 

Pirate Science

Portside Pirates by Oscar Seaworthy

Shiver Me letters: A Pirate ABC by June Sobel

Pirate Science FUN with “Exploding” Treasure Chests

https://www.howtosmile.org/blog/posts/avast-me-hearties%E2%80%94its-pirate-science

Jobs for People Who Like Science

Dot by Randi Zuckerberg (Technology)

A Rock is Lively by Dianna Hutts Aston (Geology)

The Beetle Book by Steve Jenkins (Entomology)

Some nice science job lists are at the following sites to help tie-in with the kinds of jobs scientists can have :

https://kids.usa.gov/science/science-jobs/index.shtml

http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/careers.html

Leaf Man?

Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert

If you can accumulate a collection of leaves, it would be fun to make leaf men with your preschool children!

The following sites have some great leaf science ideas for preschoolers:

http://www.123child.com/lessonplans/seasonal/fall/leaf.php

http://www.preschool-plan-it.com/fall-leaves.html

http://www.teachpreschool.org/2010/10/crunchy-leaf-science-and-math-in-preschool/