I always introduce the planets and their orbits in April, since a few important things are happening: the median age of the class hits 2 1/2 - 3, everyone has heard The Earth Goes Around the Sun at least once a week since September, and it's my birthday month! (and I looooove space.) The first two mean that when I introduce all the planets and the idea of orbits, they get it. It really clicks in their minds.
At some point we do this exercise with chalk outside, where we pick a planet and walk around the orbit.
For the younger children, these card & matching objects are a great, rich vocabulary lesson & our Safari LTD minis are both beautifully accurate and TINY. Perfect for a child in the midst of the sensitive period for detail & small objects.
I love this book (Giant Vehicles by Rod Green & Stephen Biesty) for the detailed illustrations (with cutaways!) This year I laminated the pages on the Saturn V rocket & presented them with the model from our Safari Toob. (Every afternoon during cleanup I find the Saturn V in the basket with the other models. That sense of order is STRONG.)
This moon cycles lesson is from TPT years ago. I chose not to cut up the control card & added velcro, I believe because I made this back when we had way less shelf space & it was hanging on the wall. In any case, it's a nice little addition to draw attention.
I change out a few other things throughout the room each month to renew interest & stay on theme. This time it was swapping the flower dishes in this transfer work for these great little star candle holders (Goodwill find!) & this constellation 1:1 correspondence with mini glow stars. I have some pretty B&W stones I usually use for the counting dots cards around this time of year, but SOME FRIENDS are still trying to eat everything they come into contact with. Pom-poms and dried beans it is.
I took the opportunity to add some contrast to the art shelf this month with black paper & shiny materials as well, but I think that'll end up being a separate post.
The Sensorial shelf is slowly filling up with (mostly DIY) lessons. These smelling jars are the newest addition. Dollar store salt & pepper shakers, pom-poms with a few drops of essential oil, & painters tape to isolate the concept of smell and reduce the temptation to open them.
These sound jars are similar. School admin accidentally ordered me the wrong size jars months ago for an art project, but luckily they've been so handy in the classroom. I use them for almost everything. These are filled partway with sand, rice, & pinto beans, respectively, and covered in painter's tape as well. I also glued the lids shut on these, since I'm not super keen on sweeping up sand fifteen times a day.
Soft & hard sorting & texture sorting. Pretty self explanatory. I have a blindfold available for children who need an extra layer of difficulty. I picked up some wood flooring samples at Home Depot last time we were there, I'm excited to do something with those soon. Still dreaming of baric tablets over here.
This new language lesson about trash/compost/recycling. Too many lessons in the compost, friends. I know the temptation to put things inside other things is hard to resist, but we have so many lessons for that need! The example cars were a TPT find, real photos of our bins by me.
That's it for me! Keep an eye out for art shelf & space books roundup soon. Have a great week!
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