Linda's+RL-Connection+page

Real-Life connections:

10. There is always construction happening in cities. This is really annoying when riding a bike because it can pop your tire or driving because of the traffic BUT this can be a great learning experience for children. If there is construction work happening around your school. children can go on walks and observe what is happening. Children can also come up with questions of what they would like to ask the workers, and then the children can carry their questions on clipboards and ask the questions they have to the workers. Children can also take pictures of what they see. This would be great to use because they can document the process of what is happening. (CC: This is great. You are tapping into events in the community for activity ideas. Another idea would be to use this for geo-literacy. Get a map of the neighborhood via Google, and cross out parts where construction is happening and ask children to find alternative routes from one location to another. Start with with Google's line drawing map, and then move to satellite views for complexity; children will enjoy looking at their neighborhood from a satellite's bird's eye view. Also ask them to identify various locations on the map!)

9. This week I introduced blocks to our classroom... sadly we don't have enough blocks, but it turned out to be a nice learning encounter. I showed children pictures of various factories in the greater Boston area. The children enjoyed making block structures using the pictures. I think it would be nice for children to walk around the neighborhood and take pictures of buildings in the neighborhood, bring the photos back and make block structures using the pictures. We could also discuss the details in the buildings and what they see and how they can make the details out of the blocks. (CC: Excellent approach; never worry about not having enough materials. Supplement block building with other art supplies. For example, making the roof out of construction paper to add to a block structure; use transparancies as a way for them to easily decorate windows, etc)

8. I think it would be great to talk about seeds. On Sunday my roomies (shout out to Feiting and Naomi) were cooking dinner for Mary Eisenberg. I was making a cucumber and mango salad... the seeds are so different!!!! Duh. My roomie raised the questions, "What is inside the mango seed?" Since I like to explore seeds, I have broken the mango seed before to see what was inside, so I knew the crazy thing that made the sound. This made me think of how I could encourage children to bring in different fruits and collect their seeds, then have children think about which seed belongs to which fruit. We can also eat the fruits, which is fun. (CC: What a great way to work bring in number of topics related to plant life as well as associations and identification. Also a good way to begin or introduce the plant life cycle; talk about different fruit trees and how different fruits grow in different regions/from different types for plants such as tall trees vs. bushes; and why some seeds are big, some are small, some fruits have one seed while others have many, etc)

7. There is a little girl in my classroom who is a fantastic artist. She rarely plays during recess. I have been thinking a lot about how this playground that's not really for children who are dancers or into DP and art can engage with the materials outside. Then then told her that we can bring out chalk for her to draw murals on the floor using the sky as our muse by looking at the clouds and the shapes the clouds make. (this past week we were talking about murals and we looked at various photographs of murals). Materials: An artist in your classroom or any child (CC: I am glad you paid attention to her personality. Recess is different for every child, and so as a teacher you really have to pay attention to how they interact with others and how they use this time. An important aspect to recess is social interaction; so it would be crucial to leverage her interests in drawing clouds or drawing a mural to make sure she collaborates and draw with other children; maybe a collaborative class mural on the playground grounds.)

6. On Monday we were sitting at the snack table and children started discussing the food labels on the back of the cartons. Some of the Kindergartners could read the information, but could barely comprehend what it meant. I then ate a Larabar later that day and read the ingredients... there were 3. They were very simple ingredients. It would be a great connection for children to read the label and discuss the ingredients and then blend the ingredients that were found in the Larabar. (CC: I love food so this is an exciting activity. Another approach is for children to make the labels of some food item you know can be shared in the classroom. Maybe a fruit salad or some other snack that has easily identifiable ingredients and talk about why it is so important to have food labels- e.g. to avoid allergies, to have a nutritious diet.)
 * Note: This cannot be done with children who have nut allergies!!!:(

5. This past week, the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day, which was very different from the weather a few days before. I then noticed that my skin was a little darker after my walk. Don't worry, this is not an introduction to suntanning!!! I then thought about how I could introduce what the sun does to materials, like newspapers or colored paper when left outside. It would be great to leave papers out in the sun and talk about how the sun fades the color. You can also leave out the paper for a week (hopefully it wouldn't rain) to observe the changes that happened during the week.

Materials: Paper!!! (CC: Excellent idea. In fact, different types of papers fade differently. You can also paint the paper with different paint types/crayon/markers and see how they react differently under the sun. This will take about a week to really notice the sun's effects on paper and colors. In addition to this excellent activity, you can also have children spot out fading in classroom furniture! If you have windows in your classroom, there is no doubt some furniture has faded corners or sides.)

4.The week we were using children's books as ways to engage children in math activities, I read Numbers in the City to a child I babysit. It has been really interesting because he still continues to look for "Numbers in the Neighborhood" on our walks home. He has started to notice the house numbers and has asked why the numbers "skip". I then thought about how this could be a great activity for children to do when going on neighborhood or nature walks. Children and teachers could discuss the numbers they see. They can also discuss why the numbers skip and what they notice about when the numbers skip. This could be a great way to talk about counting by twos or even and odd numbers.

Materials: It's easy- A nature walk!!!! (CC: Yes! What a natural way to count by 2s because street numbers do go up by two's. What about numbers in the classroom? Both numbers that are displayed and things that could be counted. You can do a number hunt in the classroom, e.g., find something that we have 10 of...)

3. I was sitting outside Preschool East at EPCS and remembered how the children last year enjoyed the small tree located in between the play structure and the bike path. I thought about how fun it would be to document the changes the tree goes through during different points of the year. I also thought about A Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats, and thought about how I would be able to connect that story into the observation. Peter (I think that's his name), hits the tree to make snow fall off the tree. I would encourage children to shake the tree to see how much snow has fallen off the branches. We would make guesses as to how many buckets the snow would fill.

Materials: tree buckets A Snowy Day (CC: This is great. I love how you are incorporate children's experience outdoor into curriculum. This is also a good curriculum to incorporate some art, such as having children draw the transformation of trees throughout the year, or incorporate some form of digital photography for children to capture the trees' transformation)

Observing Seasons and the changes

2. I have been thinking a lot about the wind recently. Well, since it has been so windy, I think it is appropriate. When we were outside at EPCS for our Playground exploration, I noticed some of the gravel had been separated which seems as though the gravel had eroded. If I were to build a real life connection out of this, I would talk to the children about they think happened to the gravel. I would then continue the discussion by observing the eroding after heavy rain and more wind. I would also encourage the children to remember what happened when there was no wind or rain... or rather, what did not happen.

Materials: Observing gravel/ natural playground? (CC: Erosion is a very important concept to children and a significant domain in earth science. Being able to observe what happened before and after rain can help trigger children's interests in wanting to know the process of erosion of gravel and sand. This can easily lead to a classroom activity using water and buckets of gravel as a demonstration.)

1. I would like to do a real life connection on recycling and what to recycle. I would have children children bring in materials that we can recycle and not recycle. We would then have a discussion on what we collected. We would make recycling and trash boxes. Then during recess, I would come into the classroom and throw the materials on the floor. The children would then come back into the classroom, and sort the materials into their proper recycling bins. We would discuss why the materials are in the bins.

Materials: bins trash

Practice sorting and information about recycling (CC: Sorting recyclable materials is a good way to introduce recycling and potentially make some home-school connection. Children also often wonder why we recycle and what happens after we sort out the materials. Ways to bring that information into the classroom, or activities such as making recycled paper or reusing cleaned bottles and cans for other uses in the classroom are good ways to make the concept of recycle and reuse visible.)