Pre-K Pages | Pre-Kindergarten | Spring | Plants

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Here are some ideas to make your Spring unit special.

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Literacy Activities

Activity Click on the pictures below to enlarge	Instructions
Flower Sight Word Mats	Setting: Small Group, Literacy Centers Objectives: Sight words Materials: Flower accents (see resources section below), Sharpie marker, lamination film, magnetic letters Instructions: Write a different focus sight word on each of the flower accents with a Sharpie marker. Laminate the flower accents for durability. Place a basket or tub of magnetic letters in the center of the table. Students will spell the sight words out on the mats with magnetic letters.
Flower Pot Syllables	Setting: Small Group, Literacy Centers Objective: Phonological Awareness: Syllables Materials: 3 small flower pots, Sharpie marker, flower accents, popsicle sticks, glue, tape, syllable clipart (see resources section below), laminating film Directions: Print the phonological awareness syllable pictures from the printables below. Next, cut out the pictures and glue each one to the center of a flower accent. Laminate the flower accents for durability. Glue or tape each flower accent to a popsicle stick to create a stem. Using the Sharpie marker number each flower pot 1-3 on the front. Students will identify the picture in the middle of each flower and determine how many syllables it has, then place it in the correct flower pot.
Flower Sentences	Setting: Small Group, Literacy Centers Objective: Color/sight word recognition Materials: Sentence strips, Sharpie markers in different colors, flower clip-art Directions: Write several simple sentences about flowers on sentence strips using Sharpie markers. For example; "I see a blue flower." Include clip-art next to the unknown word. Cut the sentences apart and place in envelopes. Give each student in your small group an envelope. Students will construct the sentences using their knowledge of sight and color words. Remind them to create sentences that "make sense".

Math Activities

Activity Click on the pictures below to enlarge	Instructions
	Setting: Small Group, Math Centers Objective: Number Recognition, Number Sense Materials: 10 pages from flower notepad or 10 flower cut-outs, Sharpie marker, flower erasers (Oriental Trading), glue stick. Directions: Write one number in the middle of each flower with your Sharpie (1-10) and laminate the pages. Place the flower erasers in the middle of the table in a basket or container. Give each child a laminated flower page and ask them to place the correct number of flower erasers on the flower. When they have successfully completed the task they can trade flower pages with their neighbor.
	Setting: Small Group, Math Centers Objective: 1:1, Number Sense Materials: flower erasers (Oriental Trading), ice cube trays- one per child, one foam die. Directions: Place the flower erasers in the middle of the table in a basket or container. Give each child one ice cube tray. Students take turns rolling the die and placing the correct number of flowers in their ice cube trays. When their trays are filled they are finished and may start over.
Flower Patterns	Setting: Small Group, Math Centers Objective: Patterning Materials: Patterning grid- one per child (available in printables section below), flower foam stickers or stamps Directions: Give each child in the small group one patterning grid. Place the foam stickers or stamps in the center of the table in a container so all students can easily reach them. The students will use the stickers or stamps to create a pattern on the grid.
Flower 1-5 Counting	Setting: Small Group, Math Centers Materials: 1-5 counting grid- one per child (available in printables section below), flower foam stickers or stamps Directions: Give each child in the small group a counting grid sheet. Place the flower foam stickers or stamps in the center of the table in a container so all students can easily reach them. The students will place the correct number of stickers next to each number on the counting grid.
Flower Pot 1:1	Setting: Small Group, Math Centers Objectives: 1:1 correspondence Materials: flower pot 1:1 mats- one per student in small group (see printables section below), flower erasers or flower playing pieces (see resources section below) Instructions: Print the 1:1 flower pot mats on cardstock and laminate. Give each student in the small group a mat. Place the flower erasers or playing pieces in the center of the table in a container so they are easily accessible to all students. Each student takes a turn rolling the die and putting the corresponding number of flowers on their mat. When there is one flower in each flower pot on the mat the students have successfully completed the game.
Flower Roll 'N Stamp	Setting: Small Group, Math Centers Objectives: Number recognition, number sense, one-to-one Materials: foam die, 1-6 flower game sheet (see printables section below), Do-A-Dot markers (see resources section below) Instructions: Students take turns rolling the die, identifying the corresponding number on their paper and stamping that number with a Do-A-Dot marker.

Just For Fun

Activity

Instructions

Folded seed sequence

Materials: construction paper, crayons, seeds, glue.

Directions: Fold each sheet of paper into quarters. You can teach your students "One hamburger fold and one hot dog fold". After the paper has been folded to create four squares, open it up. Inside of each square have your students draw a picture of one thing that a seed needs to grow.

Cupcake Flowers

Materials: cupcake wrappers, seeds, green construction paper, regular construction paper, glue.

Directions: Cut the green paper into strips to create the "stems" and "leaves" for your flowers. Have each child glue their stem and leaves into the middle of their paper. Next, glue the cupcake wrapper at the top of the stem to create a "flower". Add glue to the inside of the cupcake wrapper and sprinkle seeds on top. Have students draw the details of the picture with crayons; sun, dirt, roots, grass, rain etc.

Rainbows

Materials: Multi-colored tissue paper, glue, paper plates, crayons, scissors.

Directions: Cut paper plates in half and cut out middle to resemble a rainbow. Next, take the crayons and draw lines on each paper plate rainbow to show your students where to put each color of tissue paper. Pre-cut the tissue paper into squares and place on the table with glue. Have the students glue the tissue paper onto the paper plate in the correct areas. If you instruct the students to twist the tissue paper squares around their pencil erasers first it will create a better effect. This is a great companion activity to go with the book "Planting a Rainbow".

Lunchable Gardens

Materials: empty Lunchable containers, dirt, seeds, water, popsicle sticks, Sharpie marker

Directions: Collect one Lunchable container per student. Have students put dirt into each section of the container. Have students plant a different type of seed in each section of their Lunchable trays. Write the names of the seeds that were planted on popsicle sticks and put them in the dirt in each section of the tray to indicate which types of seeds will grow there. Ask students to make predictions about which seeds will grow first. Place the trays in the sun and water as needed.

Carrot Seed Graph

Materials: baby carrots, orange and green butcher paper for graph, white paper, crayons, glue.

Directions: After reading "The Carrot Seed" to your class have them taste and graph if they like carrots or not. Prepare your graph in advance using orange butcher paper cut into the shape of a carrot, use green paper for the top. Have the students help you write the title of the graph, "Do you like carrots?" using interactive writing and glue to the top of the graph. Write the word "yes" and "no" at the top of the graph. Next, let the students write their name on the white paper indicating if they liked the carrot or not, then they can glue it in the appropriate spot.

Seed Names

Materials: seeds, glue, crayons, construction paper.

Directions: Cut large sheets of construction paper in half hot-dog style, one per child. Next, write each child's name on the construction paper strip using the crayons. Have each student squeeze glue on top of his or her name and then add the seeds. When dry these look great on the wall or in a bulletin board display.

Watercolor Spring Picture

Materials: Green watercolor paint, blue watercolor paint, white construction paper, crayons.

Directions: Fold each sheet of white paper in half hot-dog style. On the top half have the students paint with the blue watercolor paint. When dry, have them paint the bottom half with green watercolor paint. When all the paint is dry, ask students to draw a spring picture using their crayons.

Ziploc Seeds

Materials: Lima bean seeds, 1 sandwich size Ziploc bag per child, cotton balls, water.

Directions: Write each child's name on his or her bag with a sharpie. Have each child place a slightly damp cotton ball into his or her bag. Next, add the seed and place it next to the cotton ball in the bag. Tape or string the bags up near a window. They should sprout nicely in the sun, but if they do not receive enough sun they will mold, so be careful.

Vegetable Chart

Materials: paper, crayons, glue sticks, butcher paper, scissors.

Directions: This is a great companion activity after you read "Growing Vegetable Soup". Cut a large soup pot shape out of butcher paper. Give each child a square of paper, 1/4 the size of a regular sheet. Have the students draw their favorite vegetable on the square and glue onto the pot. Use interactive writing to have the students help you spell the vegetable names. If all the children want to draw the same picture you can print out some vegetable clip art to add to your soup :)