) Unit 6 Growing

							                          Unit 6 Extensions
                              “Growing”

Blocks
 Tape pictures of flowers or vegetables to blocks then “plant
   the garden”
 Build a barn or fence- add farm animals
 Add a tape measure
 Build bridges seen in Make Way for Ducklings

Dramatic Play
 Provide materials for garden center, plant nursery or flower
  shop- artificial flowers, seed packets, garden tools and
  gloves, pots, vases baskets, apron, cash register, money,
  price list, etc
 Set up a farmer’s market- provide fruits, vegetables, scale,
  cash register, money, price list, aprons, baskets, bags, etc
 Add farm animal puppets to puppet stand

Art
 Still life paintings- provide bowl of fruit as model
 Add modeling clay- shape into fruits, vegetables, flowers
  (3D art project)
 Add fruit, vegetable and farm animal cookie cutters and
  playdough
 Paint with feathers
 Seed collage
 Cut pictures of fruits and vegetables from store ads and
  magazines to make collage
 Make duckling stick puppets using craft sticks, paper,
  feathers, etc
 Decorate flower pots (then plant something)



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Writing
 Tape or wind stem of artificial flower on end of pencil.
  Write with the “flower”
 Provide different shapes of blank books or blank paper such
  as flowers, apples, egg, duck, etc.
 Provide recipe cards and write a recipe for soup
 Prepare grocery list of items needed for making soup (then
  go buy them at the farmer’s market set up in dramatic play)
 Unit related word cards- write “carrot” on orange carrot
  shaped paper, “flower” on pink flower shaped paper, “duck”
  on yellow duck shaped paper, etc

Math
 Apple tree count--Draw trees, add number to trunk of tree,
  provide plastic apples or cutouts, children count correct
  amount of apples to place on tree
 Play Hi-Ho Cheery-o or make large tree, place apples on tree,
  roll die or draw number card and remove that many apples
  from tree
 Flower count--use cutouts of flower pots or small flower
  pots, write number on each pot, put that amount of flowers
  in the pot (cutouts of flowers or silk flowers-cheap on
  clearance at Michaels)
 Seed sort/count
 Pumpkin patch count--Cut squares of brown or green paper
  to use as a pumpkin patch, number each, count out correct
  number of pumpkins to place in patch (paper, foam, or small
  pumpkins from craft store) Could also roll die to remove
  pumpkins from patch as described above (apple tree activity)
 Cutout strawberries, place in basket according to number on
  basket (Could use with fruit counters, any fruit or
  vegetable)

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 Pull math activities that were previously used with The Very
  Hungry Caterpillar (Bright Beginnings “Constructions” Unit).
  Read this book on a reteach day or in place of fourth read.
  Use the related math materials during small group then place
  in center.
 Cut out “worms” or “caterpillars” of varying lengths from
  brown or green foam or paper. Measure using cubes, links,
  etc. How many cubes long is the worm, which is longest,
  shortest, same, etc
 Write a number of a paper leaf. Count out that many
  “worms” or “caterpillars” to match the leaf
 The Little Red Hen -read on reteach day or in place of 4/5
  read--use sequence cards; Cut out hens and match to nest
  (cutout) with correct number of eggs drawn in it
 Set up a farmer’s market in dramatic play--add scale, play
  money, cash register, signs with prices of plastic
  fruits/vegetables
 Cut out paper rabbits, number 1-10, and cut out the needed
  amount of paper carrots. Count out the correct number of
  carrots to match the number on the rabbit.

Manipulatives
 Lacing cards in the shapes of flowers, vegetables, farm
  animals, etc
 Letter clothespin match- provide unit related picture word
  cards and clothespins with the corresponding letter written
  on the end. Attach the clothespin with the correct letter to
  the letter on the word card. For example a child will attach
  the clothespin with a “d” to the “d” on the word card that
  says “duck”. Do this for each letter to spell the word. The
  stringing beads that have letters on them would also work
  well. Find the beads with the letters that match the word
  card and string to spell that word.

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 Alphabet letter match-provide cutouts of mother duck each
  labeled with a capital letter and cutouts of baby ducks each
  labeled with a lowercase letter. Match uppercase letters to
  lowercase letters. You may want to divide the letters into 2
  or 3 sets so children do not have so many pieces to sort
  through at one time.
 Build a barn using Legos, Lincoln Logs, etc.
 Using Legos,build bridges seen in Make Way for Ducklings
 Sort artificial flowers by color or type (buttercups and
  daisies would tie in with SWPL poem and poppies, peonies and
  petunias would tie in with book)
 Sort farm animals and zoo animals



Sand
 Add soil, child size garden gloves and tools, artificial flowers
  to plant
 Attach seed packet to craft stick place in sand/soil to
  indicate what has been “planted”
 Add oats or corn meal along with farm animals, tractors,
  trucks, etc
 Add measuring cups, spoons, bowls, pans to corn meal or oats

Water
 Vegetable wash
 Make soup-add vegetables, measuring cups, ladle, large pot
  and bowls
 Add duck family, number each duck, what number can you
  find
 Watering cans
 Place 5 bowls in water, number each bowl and place in water
  table. Draw beaks, eyes, and wings on 15 ping pong balls



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  (these will be ducks or chicks) Use a small net to scoop the
  requested number of ducks/chicks into each bowl.

Books/Library
 Provide props to use in retelling story time books (duckling
  stick puppets, farm animal puppets, felt board vegetables
  and animals, etc
 Provide nonfiction books about gardening, farm animals,
  animals from eggs
 “Five Little Ducks” interactive chart
 “Old MacDonald” interactive chart

Science
Refer to Unit book Growing Things and do some of these simple
projects
Place the worms and snails in science that the curriculum listed
for sand
Place the compost in science that the curriculum listed for art
Sequence cards
Animals that hatch-place small plastic animal in plastic eggs
Match the sound- put items in plastic eggs so that each egg has
a match, for example 2 eggs with rice, 2 eggs with bells. Shake
eggs, lsten and find egg that makes the same sound
Bird nest- pull layers apart to see what was used to build nest
Plant a garden outside
Match animal babies to their mothers
Seed sort
Place seeds in small jars, match to seed packet
Examine seeds or bulbs through magnifying glass, draw picture
of what plant you think will grow from that seed or bulb




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Music
 Egg shakers
 “Old MacDonald” interactive chart
 “Five Little Ducks” interactive chart

Computer
 Add unit related word cards and type words on computer




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