Friday, March 14, 2014

The World Outside

This post contains affiliate links to Educents.  See my full disclosure policy here.
 
Kids love to learn about the world around them.  Animals and habitats are a fascinating part of the world around us.  Kids are naturally drawn to them and they are so much fun to learn about!  I found this awesome song "I Got a Habitat", by The Bumblemen.  I found this video on youtube.com.  The song is catchy and full of information and the video is fun and will keep kids engaged!  Check it out!



There is so much to learn about and observe in the world outside.  My kids LOVE bugs.  They are an exciting part of the world.  One of my favorite websites, The Teaching Channel, has a great video about preschoolers hypothesizing and learning about bugs.  I love how the teacher uses the specific, scientific language with the young children.  The kids are so excited to learn about the bugs in a very hands-on way.  Check out the video for more ideas.  Don't forget to head over to this post to enter a HUGE spring giveaway!!


Learning out the world around us is so important and loaded with tons of literacy and math!  Kids are highly engaged just by the topic itself not to mention all the learning that happens!  Some of my blogging buddies teamed up with Educents for an amazing bundle of instant downloads to teach about the world outside! 
https://www.educents.com/rewardsref/index/refer/id/64987/
There is so much in this pack, "The World Outside".  I am definitely a fan of all of these products.  I personally used two with my kids and some of the kids I tutor.  They were a hit!!
 
I used "Teaching With Nancy's" African Safari Pack.  It is full of amazing activities for literacy and math.
I have not included all the activities.  Nancy has 11 literacy and math centers.  My students sorted the long and short vowel words.  This center is very easy to differentiate.  You can focus only on short vowels, using all the vowels.  My students sorted the words by the short vowel sound.  They then used a dry erase marker to underline the vowel.
 
When we used the long vowel words, the students used a dry erase marker to underline the vowel team or silent e.  It was very useful in having the students identify why the vowel is long.  Plus, it is FUN!
 
We were "Wild About Syllables"!  The kids loved picking out a picture, saying in out loud, and using a bingo marker to mark the correct number of syllables.
We used bingo markers again to dab the correct spot that shows the matching rhyme.  The kids loved finding the matching animal underneath the rhyming word. 
These contraction cards make contractions fun!  Students find the contraction that matches the two words.  They then will write the correct contraction on the recording sheet.
I love this activity!  Students will choose a ten frame and find the equation that matches the ten frame.  Nancy matched the colors on the dots of the ten frame to the same colors on the numerical equation.  It is great for visual learners.
We broke out the pocket chart for skip counting.  We used a tabletop pocket chart.  Kids put the numbers in order, by 2's, 5's and 10's. 
I also used another awesome pack from Mrs. Payton's Precious Kindergarteners.  This is a pack focused on zoo animals.  I love it!!
There are both literacy and math activities.  Mrs. Payton has a Write the Room activity, as well as, a pocket chart picture & vocabulary match.  My daughter loved matching the animals from the pocket chart activity to the animals in the Write the Room activity and then found the matching word.   
 She was able to check the words and pictures against the matching words and pictures in the Write the Room activity.
 Mrs. Payton also includes a printable worksheet to match the animals picture to the correct word.
 There is also a recording sheet for the Write the Room activity.  Students will write the animal words with the matching animal pictures and fill the words into the correct sentences.
Students complete an ABC center for medial vowel sounds, short a, and short i. Students are able to sort the sounds and then cut and paste the medial vowel sounds in the correct CVC word. 
We also used a skip counting center.  The task cards for the directions are written in the same color as the number cards.  Fun!!
There are many other activities in this awesome pack!  This is just a small glimpse of the entire packet.  I know your kiddos will love it as much as mine did :)
 There are so many more awesome activities and packets in this Educents pack!!






 
For a limited time it is $10.99 from Educents which is about 70% off!  It also includes these other great products so there is sure to things you love!  I love Educents!! I have gotten a ton of deals from them before :)

And if you have never purchased from Educents before... they always have a great deal for your first purchase.  
 

http://www.educents.com/the-world-outside.html#64987/
You can also take peek at some of the other products included in the bundle at any of the links below! Have fun teaching everyone!

3 comments:

  1. Nature/Outdoor learning topics are definitely favourites of mine! There are so many awesome resources to support these topics (*must resist*) I'd be bankrupt if I bought everything I liked the look of!

    A top tip I recommend is getting in touch with scientists/universities to see if they have any experts willing to do a session with the children. I did this last year with my kinders and it was AMAZING! A local university scientist took us all on a *insect hunt* (complete with nets and little insect catching boxes) and the children (and I!) learned so much about various insects and had lots of fun too. It was fabulous having an expert on hand who was very enthusiastic about insects and keen to share their expertise.

    OkinawanGirl Lisa

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  2. I know the feeling of "must resist"!!! I love your idea of getting in touch with experts to share with experts. It brings any subject to life!
    My husband and I started a camp last year focused on environmental awareness and "taking care of our world". We had so many wonderful people come and present to the kids. They were all free and were all so interactive!!
    Love your new blog and the freebie you had :) Thanks for stopping by! Your comments made my day :)
    Laura

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