The Fruits of Our Labor....Our Maple Syrup Store

Just had to share and follow up on our earlier posts. This spring we tapped the six maple trees that live in the front yard of our school (check out previous entries). After weeks of watching, waiting, boiling, and filtering we bottled our precious syrup. The children designed signage and bottle labels. They researched market prices and calculated our production costs. After much discussion we set a product price and planned for our sale. We used the bead materials to add totals and calculate change. We set up tables just outside our classroom doors and sold to families as they arrived to pick up at the end of the day. Everyone in our class has definitely caught the entrepreneurial bug!

Spelling, sorting, and mapping...just a few new activities that are popular right now

I found a big bag of letter beads on sale at the craft store and I am trying to find creative uses for them. Here's a simple language work where children build words by sliding the letter beads onto a piece of pipe cleaner. It's sort of a variation on the movable alphabet, matching, and a fine motor beading activity. We have some first year students moving up from our toddler room this summer. Here is a simple sorting activity with dinosaur counters. They can be sorted by color or type of dinosaur.

This sorting activity is a little more challenging. Children place the objects on the chart sorting by color and type of vehicle. We have it out in our math area but it could just as easily find a home in the practical life area or language area.

Here's a simple map drawn on card stock, some command cards (recycled plastic pill containers), and some counter vehicles. Lot's of fun and incorporates so many different skills.

A Taste of Summer

It been a cold, wet start to summer here in upstate New York. The gardens are flourishing becuase of the rain and despite the coolness it's beginning to taste like summer (even if we are still wearing sweatshirts!).

Here is a simple green bean food prep activity. Children cut the ends of the beans off and compost them; they slice the beans into smaller pieces and skewer them with a tooth pick before serving to their classmates.

Nothing sings summer like watermelon. Here is a watermelon balling activity. Children scoop balls of the melon, insert a toothpick, and serve to their classmates. Yum.