The Rain Forest

Here is what we’ve been doing this week. Let us know what you think.  We hope by providing these materials to you free of charge, it will make your life easier! 

Lesson Plan: This will post on Monday for all of you moms eager to download…sorry for the delay! Items following the lesson plan are just the printables or links to websites we used to teach these plans.  (Please note: On top of our lesson plan we are reading books daily that relate to our theme.)

Memory Verse: This memory card is for daily use during our calendar time.  You can learn more about calendar time at 1+1+1=1 or Homeschool Creations.  Our weekly devotional is an object lesson that will help your child apply the meaning of the verse to them.

Day 1:
Rainforest Animal Spelling- This activity will help your child begin to recognize that when letters are combined they form words.

Rainforest Animal Counting- This activity will help your child begin to read whole numbers 1-10. It will also work on counting skills.

Layers of the Rainforest Puzzle- Enjoy learning about the different layers of the rainforest with this layer puzzle and its labels. 

Day 2:
Rainforest Beginning Writing- This activity works on beginning writing skills.  You could also follow the lines to work on cutting practice.

Roll & Graph: Rainforest Animals- This activity will introduce your child to data collection and interpretation. Once you’ve completed the graph (first item to # of choice), make sure to ask simple questions.  Such as, “Which color is taller? What item is that?  Which color is shorter? Which item is that? How many times did we give the (item) a sticker?”  Make sure to show them how to use the graph, instead of just counting the stickers.

           

Rainforest Plant/Animal Sort- Have fun and teach your child to group items according to their distinguishing characteristics. 

Day 3:
Rainforest Letter Match- Helps your child identify and distinguish lower and uppercase letters.  Also works on fine motor skills if you use a marker to connect the letter pairs.

Rainforest Size Sorting-Helps you child learn and sort items according to their size.

On-line Rainforest Activities- A fun interactive way to explore the rainforest with your tot.  Now you will have to help you kiddo greatly, but if they are anything like E, they just want to click!

These are from Rainforest Alliance and are more advanced, and better suited for older learners.  Little ones can click, but mom will be doing the thinking!

You can also check out these at Sesame Street On-Line! 
 

We hope you enjoy these lesson plans and please let us know if you have any issues with downloading or using the items provided.  

Snake Mobile

You’ve might have seen these around the world wide web.  The boy and I actually created one last year, but I thought it was the perfect craft to pull out for our Rain Forest week. 

This is a simple craft with very little prep.  We still have to add our final touches to ours, but painting is always a big hit for my boy.

Materials: snake mobile printable paint colors of your choice (or other color medium) paint brushes scissors single hole punch 2 ½‐foot long piece of yarn, any color Paper clip Optional Googly‐eyes Red yarn glued over tongue

Directions:

• Print the spiral snake pattern onto the cardstock (or draw your own
  spiral snake pattern on cardstock).

• Cut along the outside edge and follow the spiral all the way to the center of the design. (Painting first may prevent you from seeing the spiral line, that’s why I suggest to cut it first.  We didn’t do that and I just guess where I was suppose to be cutting.)
• Paint one or both sides of the snake with color(s) of choice. For more advance kiddos, they can create a pattern on the snake’s body.

  

• Optional: Glue a piece of red yarn to the snake’s tongue and two googly-eyes to its head.
• Poke a small hole at the end the snake’s tail.
• Attach paper clip through the hole.
• Tie one end of the yarn to the other side of the paperclip.
• Hang your snake mobile in desired location.

Have fun creating with your tot.

Sing for Joy!

This week our theme is Rain Forest!  Our verse comes from 1 Chronicles 16:33.

“Let the trees of the forest sing, let them sing for joy before the Lord.”

Materials:

• The Memory Verse Card
• The Bible Song Joy In My Heart (I don’t know this lady, but I like the version because it doesn’t talk about Satan and tacks, which aren’t necessary for today!)

Directions:

• Say the verse above with your tot.  We suggest that you print the verse off and use it every morning with your calendar time.  If you don’t do calendar time still say the verse each morning with your tot before you begin tot school.
• Follow the cues given in this devotional. 

Talk with your child about the following:
Today  we are going to learn about joy.  Would you sing a song with me to help us learn about joy?  Ok, let’s sing it!  (Sing Joy In My Heart)

One part of our verse talks about singing for joy, so you can tell me what you think joy is?  Joy is kind of like happiness, but better.  Lots of thing can make us happy, but that feeling doesn’t always last very long because something else can come and make us sad.  Joy though is something we have in our hearts no matter what happens.  Joy is something that God put in our hearts because He made us and all things to bring glory to Him.   

This week we’ve been learning all about the rainforest.  We’ve talked some about the animals that live in the rainforest, and some about the type of plants that live there too, like big tall trees. 

Our memory verse today talks about the trees in the forest singing.  Have you ever heard trees sing?  No, trees don’t really sing, do they?  Sometimes the wind blows through them and the wind makes noise, but the trees don’t sing.  Trees in the rainforest don’t really sing either.  The verse today isn’t talking about singing like we just did, its talking about showing the best we have, just like we do when we show joy.  Because God made all things, all things bring glory to Him, and joy is when we glorify God.  The trees glorify God and sing for joy just by being trees, and we glorify God and sing for joy just by being us!  Let’s pray

Dear God, thank you for the joy that you have put in our hearts.  We know that you made all things, and that all things live to bring your honor, glory, and praise.  Be with us today and help us to show the joy we have in our hearts.  Amen

Questions to ask:

• You might want to review last weeks questions with your tot.
• Who should sing for joy?  Us
• Who should we be singing to? God

Movie Night-The Rainforest

So this week we are learning all about the rainforest!  For our movie night we could have made one of these cool rainforest themed snacks….

Instead I made Rice Krispie Treats with E.  Believe it or not, tonight was the first time in my life I have made these tasty treats!  I’ve had them, but never been the chef behind them.  In case you in the same boat, you can make the recipe we did:

5 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
5 1/2 cups Krispy Rice Cereal 
4 1/2 Tablespoons of butter

Directions: Melt the butter over low heat.  Stir in the marshmallows and stir constantly until completely melted.  Stir in cereal and mix until coated.  Pour into a baking dish coated with cooking spray (so it doesn’t stick) and let it sit until formed (or as long as you can resist temptation).  Eat them….they are GOOD.   

Now E helped me stir, pour, and mash the treats into the pan. 

She was also more than willing to help us eat them! 

There are a couple of movies out there for you to watch about the rainforest.
Since we have NetFlix, we used our instant streaming option to watch Barney’s Jungle Friends.  Be warned….you will have annoying “Jungle Adventure” songs in your head for hours. 

The Cat in the Hat series is also on NetFlix, and there is an episode where Nick and Sally visit the rainforest.  This 15 minute segment is great for little ones, or for you mommies and daddies who closely monitor TV time.  If you want some more ideas here are couple to check out. 

Remember, screen all of these for your kiddo before you sit down to enjoy them to decide if they are a good fit for your family. 

Have a great movie night!

Rain Forest Books

This week we are learning all about the Rain Forest! We will be talking about some animals and plants that can be found there.

I don’t know about you, but I had a wonderful long weekend with friends and family.  Not only did I get to celebrate Mother’s Day, but I also got to participate in my dear friend’s wedding, enjoy some quality time with my mom who was visiting from CA, and catch up with extended family. It was a fabulous time, but as with any vacation, I’m so glad to be home now.

As you can imagine I haven’t had a chance to venture out to our local library to pick out books, so I found some cute ones for you on Amazon.

Check them out and let us know if you’d read any of them.

If you have any rain forest book suggestions that aren’t listed, please leave a comment below. The more choices the better! Thanks.