Germs & Hand Washing

We are going to learn a new song this week that I think is important enough to post separately from our regular song page. Parents may not realize, but good hand washing is a learned skill.

Here is a quick way to teach about the spread of germs and a song to teach children while washing their hands.

Have one child come up to the front and put glitter on their hands. Talk about what germs are and how we can spread them. Explain that we are going to pretend the glitter is germs on their hand. Have the child with glitter on their hands shake hands with someone else. Observe how the glitter gets passed to another person. Have that person shake hands with the next person, etc. Explain how important hand washing is to prevent the spread of germs.

Hand Washing Song
(Sung to the tune of Are You Sleeping?)
Have students practice washing hands and doing the motion while they sing. Over is on top of the hand, under is washing the palm, in between is washing in between fingers. Make sure not to sing it too fast!

Over, under, over, under
In between, in between.
Over, under, over, under
Now we're clean, now we're clean.

Repeat.

F is for . . .

We worked on the letter F this week in school.

Art: F is for fish.
We made coffee filter rainbow fish after reading the book Rainbow Fish.
How to Do It:
You Need:
markers
coffee filters
tin foil
spray bottle
glue

To Make:

1. Color the filter completely with the markers.
2. Spray with the water bottle and let dry completely.
3. Cut out fish shape.
4. Decorate with cut pieces of tin foil.

Science: F is for float?During science time, we predicted whether certain objects would sink or float in water and then tested our hypothesis. This activity will keep kids of all ages busy for a long time, just be ready to clean up a lot of water off your floor!

Social Skills: F is for friendship
After reading the book Rainbow Fish, we talked about how to be a good friend. We came up with three things that good friends do:

1. They play with each other.
2. They talk nicely.
3. They share.

The kids then looked through magazines to find pictures of people being good friends and cut them out.

Literacy: F is for Fall
Season Books
We read the book Leaves by David Ezra Stein. We talked about the different seasons of the year and how we are starting the season of Fall. The kids made books for the seasons of the year. Each book had 5 pages: Cover, Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer. Each season page had a picture of a tree with no leaves and the name of the season at the bottom for the kids to trace. Here is the tree that we used:

How to Do It:

You Need:
book pages printed for each student that have a bare tree and the name of a season at the bottom of the page to trace over
pinto beans
fruit loops
red, orange, and yellow small tissue paper squares
cotton balls
glue

To Make:

1. Have the students decorate the cover for their book. Our cover said, "My Book of Seasons, By: ____________." It also had a small picture to represent each season that the students colored. (Leaf, Snowflake, Flower, Sun)
2. Have students create the season pages of the book. Have the students trace the name of the season at the bottom of the page.
3. Decorate each tree with the following: Spring - pinto beans for the buds on the trees, Summer - Fruit loops for the fruit on the trees, Fall - tissue paper squares for the fall leaves, and Winter - torn up cotton balls for snow.

Reading For Understanding - Comprehension

Ask these 15 questions before, during, and after your reading time to help develop comprehension skills at home.

Questions to ask before reading:

1. What does the title tell you about the story?
2. What do the pictures tell you about the story?
3. What do you already know about . . .? (Discuss the topic of the book.)

Questions to ask during reading:

1. Who? Who is doing something right now in the story?
2. What? What is going on right now in the story?
3. When? When is this taking place?
4. Where? Where is ______ happening?
5. Why? Why did _______ happen?
6. How? How did _______ happen?
7. What do you think will happen next?

Questions to ask after reading:

1. Who were the characters or people in the story?
2. What was the setting for the story? Where did the story happen?
3. What was the problem?
4. How was the problem solved?
5. Why did . . .?