Lesson 11 - I am Thankful for Fish

Please see my page on Sunbeams for an overview of my teaching system.

Looking at Sugardoodle... as usual, there are some cute ideas.  But as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I'm concerned about keeping the activities meaningful.  Our goal shouldn't simply be for the kids to have fun with something that is thematically related to the lesson topic.  Our goal should be for them to learn something meaningful with each activity.  That doesn't mean it can't be fun, too!

With one of the activities posted on Sugardoodle, though, the person who posted it explicitly mentioned that it really kept the kids busy for awhile.  But, keeping them busy shouldn't be the point, and shouldn't be our focus.  Teaching them should be.  However, we all have those days where we are simply trying to survive.  At times like that, busy is good!

So maybe I will also list "busy" activities that you can use when you have one of those days, or to have with you in case you need to fill some time.  You can use them if you feel you are losing control of the class, too!  But even so, I would encourage you to make some kind of meaningful connection with whatever you do!  If you make meaningful connections, then it's not just about survival!

On Sugardoodle, some of the activities I really liked included the Fish in a Bag craft, the starfish craft, the beaded necklace craft, and making a fish tank craft.  But, the fish in a bag is outside of my comfort zone.  I would need to learn more about making soap/melting soap before I did that one, but I think the children would love it!  And what a way to give the children a meaningful home connection to the lesson!  You could make a little handout note to have the parents remind the children of this lesson each time they took a bath and used the soap.

The starfish craft would be a cute craft (but I like my craft better - see below).  But it would be good to attach it to some explicit reminder that we should be thankful for fish.

I've done necklaces before with stringing beads.  I like this one, too.  It would be nice to attach a tag to the necklace, though, saying that "I am thankful for fish".

I love the fish tank craft, but I don't like the idea of bringing paint into the classroom.  Paint requires too much set-up time, but more importantly, too much clean-up time, and dry time.  And I don't like risking getting paint on children's clothes, or my own.   

But aside from Sugardoodle, there are so many other activities out there.

Let's Go Fishing game is one such activity (I found this one on Amazon, but you can find it most places that sell kids games).  Though it only allows 4 children to play at once if you use the fishing poles.  But, if you let them use their fingers (which can still be challenging for young children), you can let more play.  If you have a large class, though, this will get very chaotic and out of control.

You could make this meaningful by asking children why we go fishing?  What do we do with the fish that we catch?  But also, pointing out that catching fish is not easy.  They are animals created by God, and we need to respect the fact that they are living animals.

You can also make a fish bingo game or matching game.

Our Water World by Finch Family Games is one I've used.  It's a simple bingo type game (but it's for up to 5 children).  (This will work well for my class, but maybe not those that are larger.)

I have also made cards for a matching game. 

There are also some nice file folder games.  One I found on Etsy ($2.50).


So... onto what I am going to do for this lesson.

As with the past few weeks, we will start the lesson off with the Creation storybook by the Barefoot Teacher found on Teachers Pay Teachers ($1.75), that I introduced in Lesson 8.  I printed out the pages, but didn't bind them in any way.  This way I could pull out the focus page(s) when the story was done and place them on the board.  We will repeat this each week for the Creation lessons until we've completed all of the pages.  Reading the same story each week will create a concrete connection between the lessons and help the children better grasp the process of the Creation.

The activity selection is going to be done by fishing.  I have the activities listed on the backs of fish cutouts with paper clips attached.  I have a short dowel with a short string attached, tied to a magnet.  The children will take turns fishing to select the activities.

(I used the fish design from the back of the lesson to do the fish cutouts, but wouldn't recommend it.  They're not easy to cut out.  I would recommend a simpler design with straight edges and simple curves.  Try cutting one out before you commit to doing a whole bunch!)

If you do the fishing activity, make sure to not have the string too long, or the "pole" too long.  Young children (and adults) will have a difficult time "fishing" if the string is too long, and they will get frustrated.  Also, make sure to spread the fish far enough apart that they will only catch one fish when the magnet drops.

Activities:

• Aquatic animals matching game - the cards show different kinds of fish, as well as frogs, turtles, dolphins, crabs, seals, seashells, etc.  As children turn over cards, we will discuss what each animal is and where they live, to help children become familiar with them.  (This goes along with the manual section "Heavenly Father asked Jesus Christ to create fish and other water animals".)

Here are the cards I have made.
Copy each page twice and cut out cards.  You don't have to use all of the cards, but I included a wide variety to give choices and still allow children to be exposed to the wide variety out there!  (I will only be using about 1/3 of them.)

The first page shows different kinds of fish.  Starting from the top left (moving right):  clown fish, blue tang, shark, sting ray, seahorse, tuna, puffer, eel, trout, lion fish, sword fish, goldfish.

The second page shows other kinds of aquatic life.  Starting from the top left:  whale, dolphin, sea lion, crab, frog, turtle, jellyfish, starfish, lobster, octopus, scallop, anemone.

I don't mix all the cards together, as traditional "memory" is too much for many of these little children, and too time consuming.  I separate the two sets into different groups and have the children choose one card from each group.  But I leave the cards up, so they don't have to remember where they are.  They just have to figure out if they've made a match.




To make sure that this activity has meaning, I will remind the children that God made each one of these fish and aquatic animals... for a purpose.  We eat many of them, and others are there to support the marine life.  But they all have a special purpose, just as we do.

• (Another option... but I won't be doing this.) Pretend game - have cards showing different aquatic animals (could be some of cards used in matching game).  Have children select a card and act out how that animal would move - swim, walk, or hop.  You could either have the children mimic or guess.  (This goes along with the activity listed under "Heavenly Father asked Jesus Christ to create fish and other water animals".)
• Story of Jonah and the Whale - using Jonah and the Whale visuals from the Friend (January 2006) to tell the story.  The children LOVE these visuals, and always want to be able to hold the whale and make the jaws move up and down.  Use the manual for guiding questions you can use.
• Story of the loaves and fishes - for this story, I'm going to show a picture of Jesus teaching people (1-55 from the Manual Pictures, or pg. 39 from the Gospel Art Book will work).  But for the part of feeding the people, I've got a small stack of blue post it notes that I've cut into the shape of a fish, and yellow post it notes cut into the shape of a piece of bread.  (There is at least one fish and one bread per child.)  To tell this part of the story, I will let each child pull a fish and bread off the stack, and then point out that there are still fish and bread remaining.  Or, there are some free visuals for the story on Teachers Pay Teachers that you can use.
• (The manual includes plenty of finger plays or poems that children would enjoy!)  I like 5 Little Speckled Frogs which isn't listed in the manual.  Finger plays are good to get children engaged and active.  And learning to count is a very necessary cognitive skill.
• Song - Follow the Prophet (Jonah verse)
• Craft - "I am thankful for fish" showing a large fish.  Children will decorate the fish with squares of different colored tissue paper and glue sticks.

• (I also like the guessing game using clues listed under the additional activities for younger children.

For a take-home, Finch Family Games has a cute take-home of an "Under the Sea" necklace.  But I'm going to do the craft from Sunday Savers.  As with many I've chosen in the past, it is interactive, which I particularly love.  If it is interactive, the children are more likely to "interact" with it than if it is just a piece of paper.  The more interaction, the more reminders and connections with the lesson and what we want children to learn.  I also believe parents are less likely to throw something like this in the trash immediately than they would just a piece of paper.

Also, as mentioned above, the children always love the story of Jonah and the Whale.  Since they love the visuals from the story, I decided this would be the take-home.  I also prefer take-homes that are explicitly linked to the scriptures or the gospel to ensure that children focus on the spiritual aspects of the lesson in any home reminders.


For the coloring activity, we will use the black and white poster from Sunday Savers.

During snack time, I will read "Rainbow Fish" to the children.  I know it's not a church story, but the message is good, and the story is entertaining.  (Keeping them entertained during snack time will alleviate many of the problems that typically occur during that time.)

OK... so I'm so excited!  My friend Brandi taught this lesson before me, and it's so great getting her thoughts and input... and questions!  If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, please send them to me!  My goal really is to help anyone who wants help, to make Sunbeams a better place for our precious little children!

So, Brandi asked what she should do if she has more children than activities.  "Won't those who don't get picked get upset?"  Absolutely!  Little children like things to be fair.  They like getting their turn, and feel cheated if they don't get it.  Sometimes you can break longer activities into shorter ones, but that's not always possible.  So, instead, you could just make extra selection cards.  In this case, fish.  Instead of leaving the extra fish blank, you could put a scripture on it, or a reminder ("Trees give us many wonderful things!"), or something like that.  You can let the children know that not every fish has an activity on it.  Make it part of the game... let's see who can find the activities!  But this way, every child will get a chance to fish or choose a card.

Also, what happens if the children get rowdy, and you lose control?  How do you get it back?  Well, yelling doesn't work very well... that just upsets them, and you.  Punishment never works as well as positive reinforcement, and also tears down their self esteem.  So try to avoid punishment.  So, how do you do it?  You offer something more enticing than misbehavior.  If stickers work, pull out stickers and give to those children that aren't misbehaving.  The others will see and stop so they can get a sticker.  (Once you've got their attention back, make sure to do something engaging to keep their attention!)  If they are all getting fidgety, that might be a good time to break for snack.  But, in general, don't give someone snack who hasn't calmed down and is showing they can sit reverently.  If you do, you will only reinforce the bad behavior.  Or, you can pull out a more engaging, hands-on activity.  But again, don't let them participate if they don't improve their behavior.  You ALWAYS want to reward good behavior, not bad behavior.  However, if there are special needs involved, this may require more flexibility, and more compassion.  But, even so, you don't want to reward bad behaviors.

My boys both have Autism, so their behaviors have posed challenges for many of their Primary teachers.  You cannot expect more than the child is capable of doing.  But, most children truly do want to meet expectations and to be good.  So you have to make sure that your expectations are appropriate, and the necessary supports are there.

If a child cannot sit still, you do not want to require them to "sit still".  You can sit that child on your lap.  You can give the child a "fidget".  That is something an occupational therapist calls something that a child can "fidget" with in their hands to provide sensory input.  There are many different "fidgets" available on the market.  Do a search on Amazon.com for "fidget toys" and you will see a lot of options.  I personally like the Tangles and squishy balls.  There is also Theraputty, and a lot of different options from suppliers for occupational therapists.

If you have a child with special needs in your class, learn as much as you can about the special need.  Talk to the parents.  Do some research.  You want to be proactive in terms of meeting the needs.  That is not only the most loving and compassionate approach, it is also the one that will minimize frustrations and problems in class.

You also want to make sure that children have choices.  Some children may elicit challenging behaviors because the only option they have to show some independence is to "disobey", because you have not offered them any choices.  This can be overcome by offering choices.  You will quickly discover which children need choices.  The activity selection is one "choice".  When you are using visuals, ask the child to help you and offer a choice as to which visual to hold.  For coloring activities, offer a choice of pages to color.  Simple choices will alleviate problems with those children seeking to gain their independence in this way. 

So... how did it go?  I used only 10 pairs for the matching game, and it went well.  With each card, we identified what it was before drawing another card.  The kids were very engaged.  Leaving the cards up, the game went fast, and they were all excited to find the matches.

Jonah and the Whale was a big hit!  It always is.  And they were so excited to get the take-home of Jonah and the Whale.

We ran out of time and never got to the loaves and the fishes.  I was a little disappointed to not get a chance to try out the Post it notes.

We did 5 Speckled Frogs, and the kids loved it!  I have a glove with frogs on the fingers and I used that to sing the song.  Some of the kids used their own fingers to count down the frogs, but they all were completely engaged and focused on my hand as I counted down the frogs.

The craft went well!  Instead of giving every child a glue stick, I used a glue stick to generously cover the fish before giving the paper to the child.  It stayed plenty sticky for them to stick on the tissue paper pieces.

I also included something at the last minute.  Yesterday I stopped at the Dollar Store to get some tissue paper, and they had packages of seashells.  So, I spent $2 and picked up two packs of shells.  We talked about going to the beach and finding shells in the sand.  I pulled out a small container with the shells, and we talked of how beautiful they are, and how wonderful it is that God created such beautiful things!  Each child was allowed to choose two seashells to keep.  I put their names on ziploc bags and they put their shells in their bags.
  

Lesson 10 - I am Thankful for Trees, Plants, and Flowers

Please see my page on Sunbeams for an overview of my teaching system.

Looking at Sugardoodle, there are some great ideas for this lesson.  I really liked one posted by Laurie:

"I helped each class member make their own set of Binoculars. for each one I used packaging tape to tape together two toilet paper rolls and yarn to make them hang around their necks. I also printed up a "Heavenly Father made everything for me to see".  Instead of sending them home to be forgotten I kept them hanging in the classroom. Every class we would take a time out and get into a reverent line and put our binoculars around their neck. We would incorporate this into our walks. The class would each take turns telling the others what they were seeing. They loved this because it was routine for them and they were always very reverent while participating."  (Idea by Laurie from Sebastopol, California)

This idea is great for a number of reasons.  It presents the opportunity to connect multiple lessons, which is always a good thing.  The more we can connect things explicitly, the better children will be able to connect the ideas into a "big picture" understanding instead of segmented ideas.

This idea also incorporates hands-on activity which is beneficial for learning.  Hands-on activity engages the children in learning that is active versus passive, typically resulting in deeper learning, and more likelihood that the child will retain that learning.

This idea was also very thoughtful in considering routines and home connections.  Even though a good teacher is always hopeful that learning will carry over and be continued at home, the reality is that it doesn't always happen.  Teachers can present opportunities, but the teacher only has control over her classroom.  So, if we want to connect lessons through explicit or concrete means, we need to assume that responsibility on ourselves rather than hope that it will happen at home. This is not to say that we shouldn't present opportunities for learning to carry over to home.  We should do this.  But, if we want something to carry from lesson to lesson, we need to keep it in the classroom under our responsibility.

But, even though this is a great idea, I won't be doing it in my classroom.  As I said a few weeks ago, circumstances can constrain what is possible, regardless of what we like or not.  Although I would love to take my children on walks as suggested by Laurie, and can imagine that it is quite possible in California, the ground is currently covered in snow and ice here in New York, and I don't think we will be going on walks anytime soon.

Also, keeping the binoculars hanging in the classroom probably wouldn't work well if you share the building - as we do - without a means to store very much.  And I don't want to be carrying them back and forth each week.

Going back to Sugardoodle, I loved the Seed Fun activity linked there.  I am thinking about doing something like this.  I would love to have the children explore seeds, plant a seed, then take home a growing plant. 

I love the craft idea of coloring over leaves.  I've seen this managed very well by gluing leaves to a paper then taping/stapling a page over top.  Then children can do the rubbing without having to handle the leaves or keep the paper in place, etc.  It makes it very manageable for the children.  Unfortunately, with snow still on the ground, I really don't have access to leaves right now.  So, we won't be doing this activity.  But, I'd like to fit it in at some point during the summer/fall.

I like the fingerprint trees, but I typically avoid paint activities because of the set-up, clean-up, and drying time requirements.

I also like the hand-print flowers, and the tracing trees activities, but both of these require tracing then cutting children's hand prints.  Without significant help, this would be a recipe for disaster.  What would the children do while you are tracing and cutting?  How would this be meaningful for them?  This could be managed, though, if you traced their handprints the week before and did the cutting at home.  Then, a meaningful connection could be made to show that each plant is individual and unique, just like they are.  Something to consider...

Other resources that I have found and liked:

A file folder activity on Etsy ($2.50).  Several resources on Teachers Pay Teachers for the plant cycle, including this one ($4.00).

The manual itself has a lot of fun activities, and most of what I had found and liked, really came from the manual - even if I first found it on a website.  I liked the idea of talking about how birds use trees to nest in.  But, I would rather save this for the lesson on birds.  



Anyway, this is what I've decided to use:

We will start the lesson off with the Creation storybook by the Barefoot Teacher found on Teachers Pay Teachers ($1.75), that I introduced a few weeks ago.  I printed out the pages, but didn't bind them in any way.  This way I could pull out the focus page(s) when the story was done and place them on the board.  (For this week's lesson, on plants, we will focus on Day 3.)  We will repeat this each week for the Creation lessons until we've completed all of the pages.  Reading the same story each week will create a concrete connection between the lessons and help the children better grasp the process of the Creation.

The activity selection is going to be done using leaves.  I cut out leaves from green construction paper, and wrote the different activities on the back.  I will tape (or use magnets) the leaves to the board, and the children will take turns selecting them. 


Activities:

• Song - Popcorn Popping (p. 242)
• I am thankful for flowers - (aligns with the end of the manual section "Trees, plants, and flowers make the earth a beautiful place to live") I will start this section by showing some pictures of flowers.    Because I didn't want to spend much time on the intro, I decided not to make individual pictures and cut them out.  I just made this collage of different flowers, so we can simply focus on that they are all flowers, and that flowers are beautiful.  After introducing the flowers, I will hand out a page (printed on card stock) that says "I am thankful for flowers."  Then, using various colors of construction paper, I've cut out a bunch of different flowers.  I've also got a variety of different colors of circle stickers (color coding labels from Staples).  I will let the children choose up to 3 different flowers and glue them to their pages.  Then, they can choose circle stickers to put in the centers of their flowers.  I will then tell the children that flowers have stems and leaves.  Using crayons, the children can add stems and leaves to their flowers.  I will end by reminding children that God created beautiful flowers for us, and we should be thankful for them.

• Things that are made of wood - (aligns with the manual section, "Plants and trees are necessary for us to live) I will start by showing a picture of a tree, and letting the kids identify what it is.  Then, I will show them a piece of wood, and remind them we get wood from trees.  I will ask what are some things we make from wood?  Then, I will bring various items to show... a picture of a wooden chair (furniture is often made from wood); a wooden spoon and bowl (utensils and dishes can be made from wood); a hammer with a wooden handle and a ruler (tools are often made from wood); a basket; a box; a picture frame (decorations and many other things in our home can be made of wood); a clothespin; a toy (I'm using a Thomas the Train and one piece of track - but there are many other toys made of wood).  I will then make the connection that God created trees for us to help us.
• Many foods come from plants - I will bring different foods/fruits that come from plants.  I want to show the children how they are plants or come from plants, and then let them try them if they want.  (Of course, you should check on food allergies for this!)  
• Song - Little Seeds Lie Fast Asleep (p. 243) (or you could do "Little Purple Pansies")
• Let's plant a flower - I found some small clay pots at the Dollar Store (3 for $1), but you could also use plastic/paper cups as suggested in the manual and elsewhere.  I will put the soil into the cups before going, to minimize the potential mess.  I have a large Tupperware container that will hold the filled pots very nicely for transporting them to Church.  I also have a packet of Marigold seeds, and a spray bottle.  (I chose Marigolds because the seeds are a good size.  You can use any seeds you want, but if the children are going to handle them, you want them large enough that they can handle them OK.  You don't want to use really small seeds.)  We will start this activity off by briefly looking at the plant cycle.  I will use the visuals included in the file folder activity on Etsy ($2.50).  I won't do the file folder game itself, just the sequence cards of planting the seed, watering the seed, then the flower growing.  I have also printed out one activity from Teachers Pay Teachers ($4.00) that looked the best.  But I was a little disappointed.  It goes into too much detail for what I want, and it has some mistakes.  But, the visuals are nice, so I'm going to use the poster sheets for seed, stems and roots, leaves, and flowers, as well as the one showing what plants need.  We will go through these visuals first to show how plants grow.  Then I will take them through the file folder game sequence, to show how we plant seeds.  Then we will actually plant our seeds.

Other things you could do, to fill time or just for some engaging activities...

• You could make a matching game with flowers.  Use this activity to remind children that God created flowers to make our world beautiful.
• You could do wooden puzzles, or other wooden toys/games, and remind the children that wood comes from the trees that God created for us.  There are many wonderful things that we can do with wood.

During snack time, we will read "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein.

For coloring,  I chose to do the black and white poster from Sunday Savers.  We will also be doing day 3 in the Emergent Reader version of the book by Barefoot Teacher ($2.50).  I printed out a copy of the last version for each child when we started the Creation lessons.  Each week we'll do the appropriate page(s) until it is done.

So, how did it go?  It went well!  I'm not sure why, but the kids in Primary were a little crazy today.  Maybe due to a change in weather.  But even so, the children were engaged in the lesson, and it went well!  We did get started a little late, though .  As soon as we said the prayer, a couple of children asked if we could have snack first, because they were hungry.  Given how restless they were, I thought this was a good idea.  Because we had gotten off to a late start, we did the Creation book during snack, not "The Giving Tree". This worked out well!  "The Giving Tree" is a long book, and would have required considerably more time.

For the "foods come from plants" activity, I brought in an apple that I had cut in half - to show the seeds - and apple slices, a whole strawberry, and strawberry slices, and a clementine.  I also brought in a container of maple syrup and let those that wanted to try the syrup (on plastic spoons).  The kids loved this activity!  And it came at the end of the lesson, so it helped balance out that we had snack at the very beginning.  Because we did this activity after planting our seeds, the children really enjoyed finding the seeds in the fruits!  Knowing this now, even if this activity is chosen before the planting, I would probably bring out the apple and fruits again to help the children see the seeds.

For planting the flowers, having the soil in the pots before hand worked out great!  The children were really good about following directions, and not playing with the pots, so we only had one minor little spill.  (Next time, I would probably bring in small paper plates to place the pots on, just in case.  Also, napkins for the children to wipe their hands with afterwards.) I had an extra pot, so I modeled each step of the process before having the children do them.  I had the children push a small hole into the soil with a finger, then I gave each child 3 seeds.  They put the seeds in the hole, then gently covered them with soil.

After planting the seeds, I asked the children what our seeds needed to grow, besides the soil.  They called out water and sun.  So, we then passed around the spray bottle, and we sprayed our soil three times.  The children were very good with this!  Of course, if I had more than the five children, I may have wanted another spray bottle.  (In fact, even with five children, a second spray bottle would have been good.)  While we were spraying them, I reminded them that we learned last week about how God created water for us.  Because plants need water, it was important that God created the water before He created the plants.  (It was nice to be able to make this connection!)

Once the pots were all sprayed, I had the children push their pots to the center of the table.  We had already sung "Popcorn Popping" earlier, but since they enjoyed it so much, I had them sing it again a couple of times while I put a piece of plastic wrap over each pot, secured it with a rubber band, and wrote their names on them.

We did run out of time, too, so we didn't sing our second song (Little Seeds Lie Fast Asleep) or color the pages from the Emergent Reader.  We will color the pages next time!

Lesson 9 - I am Thankful for Water

Please see my page on Sunbeams for an overview of my teaching system.

Looking at Sugardoodle for this lesson, I love so many of the activity ideas!  The eye droppers, balloons, rain maker, water colors... they all would be tons of fun.  But, how do you make them meaningful?  I'm sure that I could, but I've decided to go with bubbles, instead.  By relating water to taking a bath, we can easily ask the question about what do we use with water to get ourselves clean?  What happens when we add soap to water?  What do we get?  Bubbles!  So blowing bubbles can remind us of how we use water to keep our bodies and homes clean.

It's so important to make everything we do meaningful, at least in some small way.  I truly advocate for this!  If we just give children a fun activity, they may have fun, but will they learn anything?  Our stewardship is to teach, and I take this very seriously.  But teaching, and learning, can be fun.  We just need to make sure that we connect learning with fun in meaningful ways.

I also loved a craft activity I found on Sunbeam Printables! But, I liked the
the interactive craft from Sunday Savers better, so will use that.

But unfortunately, this is a subject that has fewer resources and ideas than most other lessons, so I didn't find much to draw on besides those listed on Sugardoodle.  There are plenty of resources on water, the water cycle, etc.  But, this lesson isn't really about teaching children about water, but rather, becoming aware of the uses of water to help us be more grateful for its creation.

We will start the lesson off with the Creation storybook by the Barefoot Teacher found on Teachers Pay Teachers ($1.75), that I introduced last week.  I printed out the pages, but didn't bind them in any way.  This way I could pull out the focus page(s) when the story was done and place them on the board.  (For this week's lesson on water, I'm actually going to focus on Day 2, the creation of the 'firmament' or sky.  The separation of the waters from the land is part of Day 3, but for Day 3 we will be focusing on the plants.  But water - in the form of clouds - are part of the firmament.) We will repeat this each week for the Creation lessons until we've completed all of the pages.  Reading the same story each week will create a concrete connection between the lessons and help the children better grasp the process of the Creation.

The activity selection is going to be done using raindrops.  I cut out large raindrops from light blue construction paper, and wrote the different activities on the back.  I will tape (or use magnets) the raindrops on the board, and the children will take turns selecting them. 

• Where does water come from?  I've made cards showing common sources of water, to talk about where we find water (river, lake, ocean, stream, rain, snow, puddles, clouds).  I will let the children take turns picking a card, and naming what it shows.
• Song - "Fun to do" (as described in manual). 
• What do we use water for?  I've made cards showing common uses of water (brushing teeth, washing hands, watering plants, swimming pool, drinking water, boating, bath, cooking, washer & dryer, sprinkler, fishing, mopping).  I will let the children take turns picking a card, and naming what it shows. Then discuss how we need water to live.
• Story of Moses - I will use the same visuals I used in Lesson 1, but I found another visual to show Moses getting water from the rock.  I plan to review the story of Moses, but continue it to when he got the water out of the rock. 
• Water is important to the Church - I have two pictures, one of baptism, and one of the sacrament, which I've cut into pieces.  I will let the kids help me put them together (like a puzzle) to discover how water is important to the Church.
• Baptism -following the manual section "Water is important in the Church", I will show the two pictures and have the children talk about the similarities and differences with the pictures.  Connected with this, I will give the  interactive craft from Sunday Savers.  As I've said before, the children love interactive handouts, and it's a great opportunity to engage the children in a meaningful review of lesson content. 
• Song - "Rain is falling all around" - I will bring an umbrella and a spray bottle to use while we are singing.  As we sing, I will mist the air with the spray bottle.  If the children don't want to get wet, they can move under the umbrella.
• Bubbles - I got bubbles at the dollar store which we will use to blow bubbles, then each child can take theirs home.  As we blow the bubbles, we will talk about how bubbles are made up of water and soap, and that we see bubbles whenever we use soap with water.  Bubbles can remind us of how water helps us keep our bodies and our homes clean.

For snack time, I will tell the story of Noah and the Ark.

For coloring,  I chose to do the black and white poster from Sunday Savers.  This wasn't one of my favorites, but I didn't find anything I liked better.  We will also be doing day 2 in the Emergent Reader version of the book by Barefoot Teacher ($2.50).  I printed out a copy of the last version for each child last week.  Last week we did the cover and day 1.  Each week we'll do the appropriate page(s) until it is done.

So... how did it work out? Pretty much everything worked as I had hoped and planned.  However, the first child to pick an activity picked the raindrop with the Bubbles on it.  I really didn't want to start the lesson with this.  So, I said we'd save that special raindrop for later.  We actually just barely got through the rest of the activities, though, so instead of doing the bubbles in class, I sent them home with the children.  They were very excited about this!  I think this worked out great!  Although I would have loved to have done them in class, it can be difficult to get their attention back after this type of activity and transition to a new activity.  

This week I had a larger class than usual, with a couple somewhat inactive children.  Those that do not come regularly have a much more difficult time staying on task and transitioning reverently, as they are not as familiar with the routine.  So this is always a consideration.  You have to carefully think about how different activities will go with different children, and be flexible to different options.  This is one reason I didn't want to do the bubbles in the beginning.  It's much better to establish a sense of reverence and control in the beginning of the class, and then allow for moments of activity and movement later in the class.  This is even more important when there are children you know will have a difficult time transitioning back to reverence.

Lesson 8 - I am Thankful for the Day and Night

Please see my page on Sunbeams for an overview of my teaching system.

I am excited about making this post... because I am finally caught up!  I am no longer posting about what I've done, I'm posting about what I will be doing.  I'm looking forward to recording my planning process and then sharing how it works out.

In looking through Sugardoodle, I really liked an idea posted by Mary Ann.

Shortly before our nursery began and even during welcome time, two of our nursery leaders put glow in the dark stars on the ceiling and walls (using teacher's putty).  The children were each given a mini-flashlight to hold.  As soon as it was time for this part of the lesson, we invited the children to come to this particular room and had them sit or lie down on our carpet squares.  We closed off the accordion door to make it a small room.  They were instructed to turn on their flashlights (so it wouldn't be completely dark and scary when we turned off the lights).  Then she turned off the lights.  The whole room was filled with stars.  It was so peaceful, the children became quiet and attentive.  Then she talked about the creation of the earth and the stars.  This activity kept them interested and held their attention.  Not to mention it was fun for the leaders too!  I think this activity could possibly be adapted to fit other lessons or even to learn a new song, such as "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" or "All Things Bright and Beautiful" (Children's Songbook, 231).  (Idea by Mary Ann)



This would be a great activity, as I believe the sensory input from this activity would be very engaging and make the lesson really come alive for the children! Unfortunately, our building is small, we have no spare rooms, and none that can be completely darkened except the chapel and gym.

So, despite liking the idea, I moved on.  You always have to consider your own particular constraints in choosing activities.  Activities that don't align with the constraints will not work, no matter how much you like them or want them to work.

Because this is really the first lesson focused on the Creation, I was glad that the ideas on Sugardoodle provided some that focused on the Creation.  But I would like to make a greater focus on the Creation.  I think that this series of lessons, if done right, can provide a great foundation for young children in understanding the Creation.  So, providing an outline of the Creation, and constantly referring back to that, will connect this series of lessons in a way that I don't believe is made real explicit as provided by the manual.  

I also really liked the Creation Booklet created by Book of Mormon Discovery.  I thought this one could be a story to be read during snack time, if I didn't find something I liked better.

Sugardoodle also has some very nice coloring pages.  And I loved the idea of making snowglobes... but opted not to do it as I think it would get messy.  If you have an assistant to help, this could be a wonderful activity, though!  Instead, I opted to go with a modification of an idea posted by Diana Glover.

We took a white sheet of construction paper and put a half of a black sheet on 1/2 of the white sheet to signify day and night. At the top of the paper we wrote I Am Thankful for the Day and Night I used a black marker and then on the black piece of paper I wrote with a white chalk pencil. We then let the children put a moon and star stickers on for the night and let them put a sun out of construction paper and sun stickers on the day side.   (Idea by Diana Glover)


In looking for other Creation resources, I also found the following that I really liked:

• Latterday Chatter on Etsy ($3.25).

• Creation visuals by Keeping Life Creative on Teachers Pay Teachers (free).

• Another freebie at Teachers Pay Teachers.

What I finally decided to go with is as follows.  Despite my best intentions of completing this post before I taught the lesson, I didn't get it done.  So, we are now talking about the lesson in past tense.

I created the activity selection cards labeled by numbers, so that the activities would be done in the corresponding order.

1. The attention activity as shown in the book.  Children love guessing games!
2. I inserted a quick section here on the Creation.  I introduced the Creation using a storybook by the Barefoot Teacher found on Teachers Pay Teachers ($1.75).  I printed out the pages, but didn't bind them in any way.  This way I could pull out the focus page(s) when the story was done and place them on the board.  (For this week's lesson on Day and Night, it actually addresses both Day 1 and 4 of the Creation.)  We will repeat this each week for the Creation lessons until we've completed all of the pages.  Reading the same story each week will create a concrete connection between the lessons.
3. To go along with the manual sections "We work and play during the day" and "we rest during the night", I decided to break it up a little bit different.  For this first activity, I wanted to bring the attention back to the sun and its creation.  I took a blank puzzle (I found these at Amazon) and used markers to draw the sun.  I had the children help me put the puzzle together.  (They really enjoyed the puzzle we did a few weeks ago, but that one didn't hold together well because it was just on cardstock.  This worked much better!)  I followed with the questions from the manual for the first part of the section on day (stopping before where it says "Activity").
4. I decided to simply use the same model for this activity.  I drew a moon and stars on another blank puzzle.  (Though, I want to go back and color the background in with black.  I didn't do that yet.)  Again, I used the questions from the manual for the first part of the night section.
5. I combined the activity portions of those sections into one activity.  I created visuals of the sun and moon, then made cards with visuals of different activities we do at day or night, or different things we see during the day or night.  I cut out the cards and shuffled them together.  I placed the sun and moon visuals on the board, apart from each other.  Then I had the children take turns drawing a card, decide what the card was showing, then decide whether it went with the sun or the moon.  This worked out very well, and allowed us to touch on many of the things noted in the manual.  (Cards are shown below.)
6. For another activity - which we didn't do - we could take the cards from activity 5 and act them out, as suggested in the manual.
7. For a craft activity, I made a version of the activity suggested by Diana Glover, posted on Sugardoodle.  I made the following printout, one for each child.  Then, using yellow construction paper, I cut out a sun and a moon for each child.  I used white construction paper to cut out a cloud for each child, also.  Last, I found some star stickers, and gave each child a dozen stars to stick on their sheets.  We reviewed what we had learned as we glued each item onto the sheets.

(I will post a picture of the finished craft shortly.)
















The visuals for activity 5...

(Other visuals that could be used: [day] washing dishes, grocery shopping.  I want to find more visuals to represent a wider variety of activities.  You don't have to use all of them.)


When the children began to get restless, we broke for snack.  While they snacked, I decided that's where I would address the story of the nativity.  I read them a story of the nativity. 

Last, I gave the children the lesson Window Wheel by Sunday Savers.  They love getting handouts that are interactive!  We went through the wheel together and read the different sections.

Then I gave the children two coloring activities to finish the time with. I  downloaded the Emergent Reader version of the book by Barefoot Teacher ($2.50).  I printed out a copy of the last version for each child.  This week we did the cover and day 1.  Each week we'll do the appropriate page(s) until it is done.

Then I gave them the black and white poster from Sunday Savers.

Other activities that you could do:

• Song - I am Like a Star
• Song - Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam