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Talk about some of the changes that spring brings.

Goal
Students will learn about many things that happen in spring.

Objective
Students will be able to put a sequence of pictures in order.
 

Concepts of Comprehension©
Predicting is deciding what will most likely happen next in what you are reading. After reading the issue, review what kinds of changes happen in spring. Explain that buds grow on trees. Ask: What will happen next? Talk about what season comes after spring. Discuss the warmer weather that will come in summer. Ask: What can you predict will happen in summer?

Link
Find spring-themed craft ideas.

Literature Connection
• And Then It’s Spring, by Julie Fogliano
• In Like a Lion Out Like a Lamb, by Marion Dane Bauer
• It’s Spring! by Linda Glaser
• Quiet Bunny’s Many Colors, by Lisa McCue
• Spring Things, by Bob Raczka

Standards In This Issue
Common Core State Standard
Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding.

National Standard
Science (NSES)
Changes in Earth and sky

Before Reading
Set the Stage: Invite students to think about the season of spring. Ask: What things do you see in spring? What games do you play outside in spring?

Background Information
• Spring is the season that comes after winter and before summer. Spring begins each year around March 21 and ends around June 21.
• The temperature begins to get warmer in spring. Some people spend more time outside than they did during winter.
• Many plants begin to grow new flowers and leaves during spring.
• Many animals awaken from hibernation or return from migration at this time of year.
• Many animals are active in spring. Some give birth to babies; others lay eggs.
• Springtime weather is often rainy or windy.

During Reading
Draw Conclusions: Explain that many plants begin to bloom in spring after resting all winter. Ask: Why might spring be a good time for flowers to begin blooming?

After Reading
Compare and Contrast: Invite students to describe spring. Ask: How is spring like winter? How is spring different from winter?

Language Arts Extension: After reading, discuss other things that happen in spring. Make a list of those things. Invite students to draw pictures of one thing on the list. Encourage them to write simple, two-word sentences. (For example: Birds fly.) Laminate the pages, and bind them to make a spring-themed class book. Place the book in a reading center for children to enjoy during reading time.

Science Extension: Take children on a nature walk. Encourage them to observe items that are signs of spring, such as earthworms; butterflies, ladybugs, and other insects; grass; buds on trees; and wildflowers. Back in the classroom, invite students to say what things they saw that made them think of spring. List those items on an easel pad. Encourage discussion about each item. Ask: Why might we see earthworms? What might the butterfly be looking for?

Adaptation: Make flash cards to reinforce content words, such as gardens, trees, flowers, and animals. Give each child a card. Invite children to find the words in the issue and circle them. Guide each child in writing one of the words and drawing a picture of that object.


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Teach students a lesson about weather.

Goal
Students will learn about different types of weather.

Objective
Students will be able to name different types of weather and match a picture of each type of weather with its name.

Concepts of Comprehension©
Drawing Conclusions is when you figure out what a text means by using what you already know and information from the text. Discuss the fact that people need to wear different clothing depending on the weather that day. Ask: How might weather help us know what to wear each day?

Link
Let students dress the child for the weather with an interactive game.

Literature Connection
• The Cloud Book, by Tomie de Paola
• Splish, Splash, Spring, by Jan Carr
• What Will the Weather Be? by Lynda DeWitt
• Wild Weather Soup, by Caroline Formby

Standards In This Issue
Common Core State Standard
With prompting and support, describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text.

National Standard
Science (NSES)
Life cycle of organisms

Before Reading
Think Critically: Explain that there are many types of weather. Invite children to name some kinds of weather. Ask: What is weather? Why is weather important?

Background Information
• Changes that take place in Earth’s atmosphere, or the air that surrounds Earth, cause changes in the weather.
• Wind is air that moves. Wind can be a gentle breeze, a strong storm, or anything in between.
• The sun warms Earth, helps plants grow, and gives people light.
• Clouds are made up of tiny drops of water that stick together and hang in the sky. Some clouds are big, white, and puffy. Other clouds are gray. When a cloud gets cold and heavy with enough water, raindrops fall.
• Rain is water that falls from clouds in the sky. Raindrops can be big or small.
• Snow is frozen water vapor. As water vapor in clouds freezes, it forms snowflakes.
• Storms can be violent. They are often accompanied by thunder, lightning, wind, and rain.

During Reading
Discuss: Explain that weather can affect how people do things. Ask: How might weather affect how you dress each day? How might weather affect things you plan to do on weekends?

After Reading
Make Connections: Invite students to look out the window to determine what the weather is like today.

Science Extension: Fill a jar or a bottle three-quarters with water. Add a teaspoon of clear liquid soap and a teaspoon of white vinegar. Tighten the lid, and thoroughly mix the ingredients by shaking the jar. Now quickly spin the jar in a circular motion. The motion will cause the liquid to form a small “tornado.”

Language Arts Extension: After reading the issue, distribute large pieces of paper with simple window drawings on them. Invite each child to illustrate the space within the window with his or her favorite type of weather. Encourage children to write the corresponding weather words beneath the windows. Remind the children that they can use the issue as a reference for writing their words.

Adaptation: Create a bulletin board weather chart with photos of the following types of weather: cloudy, rainy, sunny, windy, and snowy. Give each child a card with a weather word on it. Encourage each child to say the word and place the card next to the corresponding picture on the board.


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Teach students about the parts of a plant.

Goal
Students will learn about the parts of a plant and how a plant grows from a seed.

Objective
Students will be able to identify the parts of a plant.

Concepts of Comprehension©
Vocabulary in Context means figuring out the meaning of a word by looking at the words and sentences around it. After reading the issue, review the parts of a plant by showing a diagram of a plant with no labels. Write out labels on index cards, and invite children to place the index cards on the correct parts of the plant on the diagram.

Link
Get more ideas for teaching about plants.

Literature Connection
• From Seed to Plant, by Gail Gibbons
• I Really Wonder What Plant I’m Growing, by Lauren Child
• Lan’s Plant, by Sandy Riggs
• Plant a Kiss, by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
• Who Will Plant a Tree? by Jerry Pallotta

Standards In This Issue
Common Core State Standard
With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text.

National Standard
Science (NSES)
Changes in Earth and sky

Before Reading
Make Connections: Display a plant. Encourage students to discuss what they observe. Ask: Where have you seen plants? What are some kinds of plants?

Background Information
• Many plants begin to grow new flowers and leaves in spring.
• Flowers help a plant reproduce, or make new plants. When an insect lands on a flower to feed, pollen sticks to the insect. The insect takes the pollen to another plant. That plant uses the pollen to make seeds that grow into new plants.
• Leaves capture energy from the sun. The leaves use the energy, along with water and carbon dioxide, to create food for the plant. That process is called photosynthesis.
• The stem forms the basic structure of a plant. It carries water and nutrients from the roots to other parts of the plant.
• Roots absorb water and nutrients from the soil. They also help anchor the plant in the ground.

During Reading
Draw Conclusions: Show children pictures of gardening tools. Hold up one of the pictures. Ask: How is this tool used to help garden? How does it make a gardener’s job easier?

After Reading
Draw Conclusions: Invite students to describe how each part of a plant helps the plant survive.

Science Extension: Fill a sand table or a large plastic bin with potting soil. Supply children with various kinds of seeds, watering cans, and gardening tools. Invite students to dig, plant, and water the “garden.” Encourage children to describe how the garden changes as some of the seeds begin to sprout.

Language Arts Extension: Make plant booklets. Give each child a stapled packet of four to six pieces of paper. Write this sentence on an easel pad: “A plant has different parts.” Let children copy those words onto the first page of their packets. Have children draw each of a plant’s parts on that page. Add sentences for
children to copy onto each page of the booklets, such as “Some plants grow flowers.” Invite children to illustrate the page after they have copied each new sentence. For the last page, ask children to draw a complete plant of their choice and to write: “This is my special plant.”

Adaptation: Write key words from the issue on index cards, and distribute one to each child. Have each student find his or her word in the issue, circle it, and say it aloud. Encourage each child to use his or her word in a sentence.


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Discuss how students can work to help Earth.

Goal
Students will learn ways to save energy and keep Earth clean.

Objective
Students will be able to identify items that should be recycled as opposed to thrown away.

Concepts of Comprehension©
Categorize is when you gather together information that is the same or almost the same. Classify is when you give that information a name. Find pictures of trash and recyclable items. Invite children to sort the pictures into piles based on whether they can be recycled. Encourage students to describe why they arranged the piles the way they did.

Link
Make Earth Day crafts.

Literature Connection
• Earth Day: An Alphabet Book, by Gary Kowalski
• Earth Day, Birthday! by Maureen Wright
• Earth Day Every Day, by Lisa Bullard
• It’s Earth Day! by Mercer Mayer
• Jimmy’s Gone Green, by Kathy Cane

Standards In This Issue
Common Core State Standard
With prompting and support, describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text.

National Standard
Science (NSES)
Organisms and environments

Before Reading
Make Connections: Ask: Why is it important to take care of Earth? What kinds of things can we do to take care of it?

Background Information
• Earth Day is an international holiday that is celebrated on April 22. Discuss ways that the whole class can develop Earth-friendly habits.
• Earth Day is a day to help people remember and celebrate the importance of Earth.
• Earth provides people, animals, and plants with things they need to survive: food, water, and air.
• People can help Earth by recycling paper, cans, cardboard, and bottles.
• People can conserve the amount of water, electricity, and gas they use. Using less of those helps Earth. Use the following questions to guide children in assessing how Earth-friendly they are as a class:
• Do we have a box for scrap paper in our art center?
• Do we use both sides of a sheet of paper when writing or drawing?
• Do we turn off lights when we do not need them?
• Do we turn off the faucet after we wash our hands?
• Do we help keep our playground free of trash?

During Reading
Self-Assessment: As you read the issue with children, encourage them to think about their own habits.

After Reading
Think Critically: Ask: What might happen if people do not take care of Earth?

Social Studies/Science Extension: Fill a water table with toy fish. Explain to children that the water table represents a pond filled with beautiful fish. Then hand each child a small, empty disposable water bottle. Invite each student to place a water bottle in the pond while removing a fish. Once the table is full of bottles and there are no fish, ask children to explain what has happened. (The litter has polluted the pond, and the fish have nowhere to live.)

Science/Art Extension: Obtain several empty cardboard milk cartons. Cover the milk cartons with butcher paper, and give one to each child. Invite students to label each of the four sides with the words spring, summer, fall, and winter. Give each child four sheets of paper cut to fit onto each side of the carton. Then provide paints, markers, and small items (to be glued on) that students can use to create pictures or make small collages to represent each season. Guide children in gluing their pictures onto the correct sides of the milk cartons.

Adaptation: Cut out the photos from the Big Issue. Display them in parts of the classroom where they will serve as reminders. For example, place the photo of the child turning off the light above the light switch and the photo of the children recycling near the trash can and recycling bin.


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Kindergarten Teaching Centers, 2011-12

February 2012

Print your February Teacher's Guide here.

December/January 2011-12

Print your December/January Teacher's Guide here.

November 2011

Print your November Teacher's Guide PDF here.

October 2011

Print your October Teacher's Guide PDF here.

August/September 2011

Print your September Teacher's Guide PDF here.