Math and Science Learning with Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert

It's still summer, but Fall is in the air. For the past 3 weeks baby bookworm has been continuously asking, "Is it Fall yet?" She's been excitedly awaiting going back to music class and ballet - things that I told her would come in the Fall.

To get us in a Fall mood this week, we did a few learning activities inspired by the book Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert.

This book teaches children about the life cycle of a tree and introduces science-related vocabulary and concepts in a very kid-friendly way. 

The activities to go along with this book it seems were endless, so we did a few that reviewed important early math concepts such as counting, sorting, and size. We also made a graph, which was an activity we did for the first time. Of course, science & craftiness were also a part of this lesson!

Take a look:

We headed outside to collect our leaves first.

We selected a variety of leaves - not only on the ground but from bushes, too.

We classified leaves by color, and then counted the number of leaves in each pile.

We made a graph (color by number) based on the leaves we had found, sorted, and counted.

She identified which color had the "most" leaves and which had the "fewest".

We ordered our leaves by size, and she identified which was "biggest" and which was "smallest".

We "investigated" our leaves with a magnifying glass, and identified parts of a leaf we learned about

in the book such as stem. 

We also talked about why some of the leaves were green as opposed to 

yellow or brown.

Last but not least, we made some leaf rubbings and counted the number of points on each leaf. 

We noticed we only found leaves with an odd number of points!

Here's a summary of the Math & Science Concepts and Vocabulary in this Lesson:

Math 

Concepts: Counting, Sorting, Size

Vocabulary: Biggest/Smallest, Most/Fewest, Graph

Science 

Concepts: life cycle of a tree, Photosynthesis

Vocabulary: Stem, Photosynthesis, Deciduous, Bark, Vein, Investigate, Oxygen, Carbon Dioxide, Pigment

*Don't forget to make connections during this lesson (or any book-based lesson). In addition to making connections from text to activities, you can make connections from text to self, text to text, or text to world. It's an easy strategy to aid in comprehension!*

Bring on Fall!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day: Learning from Lucky Charms

We just wanted to wish everyone a Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Baby bookworm is 0% Irish.  But, it's always fun to get into the spirit of the day, and it gives me the excuse to eat some sugary cereal that truly is magically delicious!

We had a little fun with math at breakfast (does it cancel out the sugar if we are learning too?) by reading a few math-related books from Newmark Learning.  These books are meant for older children, but I think they work well for toddlers too. 

Then we used our magical cereal to do a little hands-on learning with patterns, comparisons, and counting.

Making patterns with marshmallows

The best part - eating, of course!

Remember a lesson doesn't always require extensive planning - it can be as easy as eating breakfast! I hope everyone enjoys a happy and safe holiday.