Preschool: Plants

It was 50 degrees here in Wisconsin today, which basically means it’s time to break out the flip flops and get outside. We are thinking spring thoughts and hoping for warmer days soon, so it’s time to get started on our spring themes in preschool.  It is too early to do any planting outside, but we are learning about plants so we’re ready to head outside as soon as we get a taste of warm spring air.

This week I chose a non fiction series of books about the parts of a plant so that we learn about how plants grow and the purpose of each part. We used The Plant Parts (series) by Vijaya Khisty Bodach, and we started out with Seeds. After reading, Madelynn completed the All About Seeds book by cutting and gluing the missing pieces and tracing the words.  On the final page she identified and labeled the seed in the diagram of a plant then I asked her to tell me what she learned about seeds.

Our next book in The Plant Parts (series) by Vijaya Khisty Bodach was Roots. After reading, Madelynn completed the All About Roots book by cutting and gluing the missing pieces and tracing the words.  On the final page she identified and labeled the roots in the diagram of a plant then I asked her to tell me what she learned about roots.

Our next book in The Plant Parts (series) by Vijaya Khisty Bodach was Stems. After reading, Madelynn completed the All About Stems book by cutting and gluing the missing pieces and tracing the words.  On the final page she identified and labeled the stem in the diagram of a plant then I asked her to tell me what she learned about stems.

Our next book in The Plant Parts (series) by Vijaya Khisty Bodach was Leaves. After reading, Madelynn completed the All About Leaves book by cutting and gluing the missing pieces and tracing the words.  On the final page she identified and labeled the leaves in the diagram of a plant then I asked her to tell me what she learned about leaves.

Our last book in The Plant Parts (series) by Vijaya Khisty Bodach was Flowers. After reading, Madelynn completed the All About Flowers book by cutting and gluing the missing pieces and tracing the words.  On the final page she identified and labeled the flower in the diagram of a plant then I asked her to tell me what she learned about flowers.

Our first literacy activity this week was a plant themed letter writing tray. To make this fun sensory activity I filled our clear tray with dirt. Madelynn used flower letter cards as a model and chose which ones she wanted to practice. Then she used a shovel and/or her finger to write letters in the dirt.

  Nature Sound Stamping:

Next, for more letter practice we used our dot stampers. We started out stamping inside the letter to make an N. Then Madelynn had to find the upper and lowercase n’s in the leaf, stamp them and make the “N” sound each time. Then she stamped the other letters different colors and tried to make the sounds for each one.

 Flower CVC Words:

This week we focused on ending sounds, but we worked on beginning and middle sounds as well with these CVC word cards. To make letter manipulatives I wrote letters on circle stickers and stuck them to the center of our stockpile of pouch lids.  Madelynn used the letters to build CVC flowers that matched the picture on the card.

 Flower Name Craft:

For this week’s name craft we created this adorable naem flower.  First Madelynn cut the flower pieces out. Then she wrote the letters in her name on each square for the stem. After she finished writing, she glued the flower pieces together and added the squares underneath in order to spell her name. Finally she glued leaves to the sides of the stem.

 Plant Journaling:

For our journal this week Madelynn chose to draw what she learned about plants.  She told me that plants need lots of things, so she drew a flower, dirt, water, and the sun. After adding all of her details, she labeled each part of her picture.

We worked on identifying 3D shapes this week for our color by the code activity. Madelynn worked on identifying and naming 5 different 3D shapes: sphere, cone, cube, cylinder, and pyramid. I told her the color for each shape and she had to search and color each one in the picture.

This week we also worked on identifying and counting numbers 11-20.  Madelynn chose one of the teen number flower centers and glued it to a sheet of paper. Then she counted out flower petals and glued each one around the center. Easy peasy!

Roll and fill activities are always a great way to practice counting and identifying numbers. For this activity I set up flower shaped silicone cupcake liners on a stem outline.  Madelynn rolled a 1-20 die, then counted out that number of colored pollen pom poms to fill a flower.

We made this little counting book together which was a perfect way to practice one to one correspondence to 20 and use emergent reading skills. Madelynn tried to read the sentence on each page. “I planted __ seeds.”  Then she used mini dot stampers to add the correct number of seeds.

 We used these mats to practice numbers 11-20 this week. First, Madelynn identified the large number. Then she made it with play dough and counted the seeds in the ten frames. Next, she used a dry erase marker to practice writing the number, and finally counted out black bean “seeds” to fill the dirt with the correct amount.

Our science activity this week of course needed to be growing a plant, but I wanted something that would grow quickly for us indoors so we chose to grow grass.  Madelynn filled a small cup with dirt about 3/4 full. Next, she sprinkled grass seed on top of the dirt and sprayed with lots of water.  We also added a popsicle stick with numbers to measure the height of the grass as it grows.  Then she added a bit more dirt and a little water on top of the seed and placed in a sunny window.

We checked the cup each morning and added a bit more water. By the end of the week our grass started to sprout and Madelynn began to draw her observations in her science journal.  We will continue to watch and record observations over the next few weeks as the grass continues to grow.

For this craft Madelynn started by cutting out all of the plant life cycle pieces.  Then she glued the pieces to a large sheet of paper in a circle. Finally, she glued the labels under each stage and drew arrows to show the direction of the life cycle.

For this craft Madelynn started by cutting out all of the plant parts.  Then she glued the pieces together to form a flower. Finally, she glued the words next to each part to label the parts of the plant.