Turtle or Tortoise? Reading Comprehension + Art

My boys have both been fans of the Wild Kratts cartoon. It seems to ignite not only a fascination with animals, but a curiosity too - at least it has for my sons. 

Because of this and a love of art, I thought my son would enjoy this activity.

To gain some knowledge, I read him a great book about the differences (and similarities) between turtles and tortoises. Trisha Speed Shaskan's book contains simple explanations and beautiful illustrations that captivated our interest with the turn of each page.

When we were finished, I asked him if he wanted to make a turtle or tortoise. He answered the latter, so we traced a big bowl onto half of a piece of brown card stock.

We added feet and a head, and then some paper shapes in a contrasting color, laid out like a mosaic to form the pattern on our tortoises' shell. Lastly, we glued a googly eye on.

Now it was time to test his reading comprehension. 

I gave him a worksheet that I designed and asked him to cut out the slips of paper at the bottom and put each of the characteristics under the proper reptile. He got them all right!

Download the free Turtle vs. Tortoise PDF I made here.

That penny's not a lemon. Just shine it up!

There's SO much you can do with lemon juice - including shining up a copper penny. 

This little experiment is a fun way for kids to see what an acid can do. 

What You Need
Dull pennies from before 1982 (they contain 95-percent copper)
cup
lemon
knife (for use by grown-ups only)

What to Do
Rub a lemon under the heal of your hand against a table/counter. This will help release the juices after it's cut. Have an adult cut the lemon in half.

Kids should squeeze the lemon so the juice runs into the cup. Squeeze hard. (Don't worry if a few seeds drop into the cup.)

Drop a penny or two into the glass. Make sure it's completely submerged in the lemon juice and that the pennies aren't overlapping.

Wait 5-10 minutes.

Remove the pennies and wipe with a paper towel. Look how much shinier they are now!

Disappointed in the result? Soak it longer!

We started with four pennies, all of which were equally brown. The two we kept out of the lemon juice were our control, and made it easy to see how much brighter the juiced pennies were.

How it Works
Dull pennies aren't just dirty. Oxygen in the air has reacted with the copper to form a copper oxide coating. The juice from lemons contains citric acid, which effectively releases the coating from the penny, renewing its shiny appearance.

After School Linky (4-25)

Let's party!

Thanks for stopping by either to generously share your ideas by linking up, or for perusing all the wonderful blogs for inspiration. I'm so glad you've joined us.

Here are a few of my favorite links shared last week.

 Understanding the Angles in Triangles from Math Geek Mama

 FREE Numbers Battleship Games at Boy Mama Teacher Mama

 Map Books for Children at The Jenny Revolution

 Tree of Benefits at Fumbling Through Parenthood

 Who Am I? A National Geographic Kids Book Activity from Dabbling Momma

Math Facts Practice: Watercolor Crayon Resist Art! from Teacher mom Plus 3

The After School Linky is cohosted by

Creative Family Fun

Planet Smarty Pants

Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational

The Educators' Spin on It

This Reading Mama

We would love to have you link up your School-Age Post (Ages 5 and up) about your learning week after school including Crafts, Activities, Playtime and Adventures that you are doing to enrich your children's lives after their day at school, home school, or on the weekend!

When linking up, please take a moment to comment on at least one post linked up before yours and grab our after school button to include a link on your post or site! By linking up, you're giving permission for us to share on our After School Pinterest Board and feature an image on our After School Party in the upcoming weeks.

5-minute Sight Word Uncover & Add

My son has successfully memorized 120 sight words this year. Unfortunately, not all of those words have stuck in his memory. With assessments coming up, his kindergarten teacher asked that we do some review at home.

Lately, my son has been really enjoying a Highlights' Hidden Picture book. His love for these puzzles inspired this game, in part. What I created is a basically modified BINGO game.

What You Need
Fun pictures either from photos or magazines for the game boards
PDF of the sight word game and call cards (download it here from Google Drive)
Heavyweight card stock
Scissors
Fine-tip marker
Star stickers (optional)
Timer (we used the microwave clock)

Have your own list of words to practice? Or another subject matter to quiz your kiddo on? No worries. The last page of the free PDF is a blank template.

Prepare the Game
Print the sight word pages on card stock. As a general rule, use a page of cards for each player and one to two extra pages of cards.

Cut the outer border of one sheet of game cards (the bigger square word cards). Use it to trace the shape onto one each of your pictures (I used some old LEGO Club magazine pages). These will be your game cards. Crop the excess but cutting along the lines.

Now trim one row at a time on the game cards, align with the game boards and trace a line along the edge. Use this technique until all the grid lines are drawn on each game board.

Once the boards are finished, add a star sticker (or drawn star) in one of the squares. In each of the other squares, write a number, cleverly hiding it for an extra challenge. Depending on your child's math abilities, keep the numbers small or make them bigger for harder addition.

Play
With two piles - the call cards face down and the game cards face up - scrambled, each player should add sight word cards (face up) to their game board until its filled.

Set a timer for 5 minutes. Begin selecting one by one the call cards. Have the child(ren) read the words on the cards, search their game board for that same word, and if it's present, remove it from the board.

At the end of 5 minutes, the child(ren) hunt for the hidden numbers in each uncovered square. They add them together. If the star is uncovered, they double the total.

The player with the most points is declared the winner.

After School Linky (4-18)

Welcome to the party!

I'm so glad you've joined us. I hope you find inspiration here.

What follows are just a handful of the extraordinary ideas, activities, and info shared at last week's linky.

Literacy Centre Ideas from You Clever Monkey

Best Children’s Books about the Death of a Pet from Living Montessori Now

 Dice Wars at Teacher Mom Plus 3

 Bridge Unit Study - Lesson 2: Draw Bridge from Highhill Education

 Guard the Queen Dodgeball at Grandma Ideas

 A Simple Trick for Hungry Kids That Won't Ruin Their Appetite from Snotty Noses

Money Battleship: Fun Math Game for Kids from School Time Snippets

The After School Linky is cohosted by

Creative Family Fun

Planet Smarty Pants

Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational

The Educators' Spin on It

This Reading Mama

We would love to have you link up your School-Age Post (Ages 5 and up) about your learning week after school including Crafts, Activities, Playtime and Adventures that you are doing to enrich your children's lives after their day at school, home school, or on the weekend!

When linking up, please take a moment to comment on at least one post linked up before yours and grab our after school button to include a link on your post or site! By linking up, you're giving permission for us to share on our After School Pinterest Board and feature an image on our After School Party in the upcoming weeks.

Glass Half Full ... of Air!: Science Experiment

This experiment really challenges kids to think about things they can't see - namely air. Both my boys were impressed. 

Even I was impressed.

What You Need
A drinking glass
Paper or paper towel
Tub or bowl of water

What to Do
Crumple the paper and push it tightly into the glass. Turn the glass upside down and plunge the glass into the tub of water. Keep it there for a little while. 

Pull it out.

Inspect the paper. Why isn't it wet?

Water couldn't get into the glass because it was already full ... with the paper and air. Because the air is lighter than water, it can't escape.

This experiment comes from the book Science Play! by Jill Frankel Hauser.

Hungry Caterpillar Art Project

My youngest son's literacy skills are growing leaps and bounds. When I was volunteering in his kindergarten class last week, I noticed one of his classmate's reading Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar. 

We have the board book at home, but I'd foolishly thought of it as a baby book. Not so! Most of the words are ones my son could read on his own.

To go with the book, we got out our art supplies.

Watercolor paper
Watercolor paints and brushes
scissors
paper punch
permanent black markers
pom-poms
googly eyes
pencil
low-temp glue gun (school glue could also be used)

First we drew a big leaf on a large piece of art paper and used green watercolor paints to fill it in. When dried, we traced our lines and added veins to the leaf with a black permanent marker.

Once we cut the leaf out, we were able to use the paper punch to add the caterpillar's nibbles from the leaf.

I put a thick line of glue on the leaves with the low-temp glue gun and we added the pom-poms in a row to make a hungry caterpillar.

A dab of glue on the googly eyes made it possible to give our caterpillar sight.

This was a simple project that only took a few supplies and the results are positively charming. 

If you have never read the book to (or with) your child, do it!

Can't get to the library, watch this video of Eric Carle reading his book.

This great project was inspired by the Hudsonville Art Program.

After School Linky (4-11)

Welcome to the party!

I can't believe how fast this school year is going. It seems like I just blinked and already we're nearly to the last day of school. Are you gearing up for summer fun?

This linky always provides loads of great ideas. Here are just a few of my favorites from last week's party.

Best Apps for Kids to Build Literacy Skills at Growing Book by Book

 Erosion Experiment from Inspiration Laboratories

 Motorized Coloring Machine Kids Can Make from Crystal & Co.

 Sight Word Game from Dabbling Momma

 Skip Counting Hopscotch at Math Geek Mama

Grow a Taco or Pizza Garden with Kids at Share It! Science News

The After School Linky is cohosted by

Creative Family Fun

Planet Smarty Pants

Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational

The Educators' Spin on It

This Reading Mama

We would love to have you link up your School-Age Post (Ages 5 and up) about your learning week after school including Crafts, Activities, Playtime and Adventures that you are doing to enrich your children's lives after their day at school, home school, or on the weekend!

When linking up, please take a moment to comment on at least one post linked up before yours and grab our after school button to include a link on your post or site! By linking up, you're giving permission for us to share on our After School Pinterest Board and feature an image on our After School Party in the upcoming weeks.

Pick the Punctuation (Period, Exclamation Point, & Question Mark)

The kids in my youngest son's kindergarten class are working hard on their writing skills. The teacher has been talking a lot about end punctuation and reading with fluency (i.e. NOT like a robot). 

I thought it would be fun to test my son with a quick game to see if he could pick the right punctuation for sentences I read to him.

I made some fun cards with visual cues for him to use.

Want to play this? Here's what you need:
the 4-page PDF (download it free from Google Drive here)
heavyweight card stock to print the PDF on
scissors/paper cutter
time

To play, simply put the three punctuation cards in front of the child. Now mix the assorted sentence cards. Read them to your child with inflection and intonation. When the statement should have an exclamation, proclaim it excitedly. When your asking something, make sure the pitch of your voice goes up at the end. Sentences ending in a period should be read with a flat tone.

If the child holds up the correct punctuation card for the sentence you read, they get to keep the sentence card. They can add up their score at the end and play with different sentences the next day to try and beat their personal best.

The sentence cards are just to get you started. Make up your own. Change them to reflect your child's interests and family. Get creative! Get silly! Make it personal.

For as simple as this was, my son really enjoyed it. I hope your kiddos will too!

Gravity-Defying Coin Trick

Okay, maybe that title is a little misleading. It SEEMS like a gravity-defying, but it isn't. That's the awesome part of this science experiment.

What you need are two quarters and a nickel.

1. Make a nickel sandwich. 

2. Hold the nickel sandwich with the fingertips of one hand.

3. Place the other hand 10 inches below.

4. Now let go of the lower quarter, still holding onto the top one.

What happened? Which coin ended up on top in your other hand? It wasn't the nickel, was it? Do it again. Same result, huh? 

Why is that? The quarter is bigger. It's heavier. Shouldn't it just drop straight down, gravity pulling the heaviest object faster?

The reason the coins flip positions has more to do with your fingers dexterity, than gravity. Unbeknownst to you, when you release the bottom quarter, your fingers release one side before the other, causing the quarter to tip and the two coins to rotate.

This amazingly simply and truly astonishing trick comes from Vicki Cobb and Kathy Darling's book You Gotta Try This!

After School Linky (4-4)

Welcome to the party!

Thank you to everyone who visits our weekly link-up, either to share or to get inspiration.

I (and my co-hosts) truly appreciate it.

Here are just a few of the great ideas and activities shared last week.

30 Days of LEGO Play - Free Printable Calendar from Mom's Messy Miracles

Earth Day Activity for Kids from The Classroom Creative

Multiplication & Division Number Bond Mat at 3 Dinosaurs

Non-Fiction Books about Women for Kids at The Jenny Evolution

Rice Krispy Treat Fractions from Craft Knife

Spring Tissue Paper Kid Craft at Bombshell Bling

The After School Linky is cohosted by

Creative Family Fun

Planet Smarty Pants

Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational

The Educators' Spin on It

This Reading Mama

We would love to have you link up your School-Age Post (Ages 5 and up) about your learning week after school including Crafts, Activities, Playtime and Adventures that you are doing to enrich your children's lives after their day at school, home school, or on the weekend!

When linking up, please take a moment to comment on at least one post linked up before yours and grab our after school button to include a link on your post or site! By linking up, you're giving permission for us to share on our After School Pinterest Board and feature an image on our After School Party in the upcoming weeks.