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).
- Another freebie at Teachers Pay Teachers.
I created the activity selection cards labeled by numbers, so that the activities would be done in the corresponding order.
- The attention activity as shown in the book. Children love guessing games!
- 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.
- 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").
- 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.
- 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.)
- 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.
- 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
Thanks for your ideas! I love your day/night activity cards. Can you attach them or email them so that I can print them out for my lesson this week?
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