Summer Fun: Day One

This week's theme is "Summer." Makes sense, right? Not too big of a stretch to pull that one out. Our words for the week are: summer, sun, yellow, circle, one. By the way, I found this GREAT site that lets you make your own flashcards. You can type whatever words you want, chose the size/font, and print them out. It's great.

Lesson One: Learn about the sun. I used a lesson from the OLD LDS nursery manual, straight outta the 80's.

SUNSHINE

Purpose: To children learn all about the sun and that the sun helps things grow and keeps us warm.

Materials:
1. paper plate
2. yellow and orange construction paper
3. glue
4. yellow paint
5. books about the sun/summertime
6. sun/summer pictures, if desired
7. flashcards of weekly words

Learning Experiences:
1. Give clues about the sun and have children try to guess what you're describing.

I'm thinking of something that is...
in the sky in the daytime
round
yellow
warm
bright
very big
helps plants to grow, etc.

Make a sun with your arms high over your head. Have the children make a sun. Talk about what the sun does for us, like giving light, keeping us warm, helping to make flowers and trees grow.

2. Ask the children to tell you when we see the sun. (Fill in with this information: We see the sun during the day. It gives us light so we can work and play. During the summer, the sun is usually its warmest.

Songs & Fingerplays:
"You are my Sunshine"
"Sun is Shining" (a variation of "Rain is Falling" from the LDS Children's Songbook)
"Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam."

The Sun
The sun makes the outside a warm place to
play
(arms above head in circle)
It makes the flowers grow each day
(holding up hands wiggling fingers)
The sun hides its face during the night
(cover face with hands)
But during the daytime it shines - oh so bright
(arms above head in circle)

Art:
Make your very own sun!!!
materials: paper plate, yellow and orange construction paper, yellow paint, glue

1. Paint the paper plates yellow.


2. While waiting for the paint to dry, we read several books about the beach and talked about the sun. We read a book about colors, trying to focus on yellow. We also looked up information about the sun in a book I have about the universe and in our visual dictionary. Finally, we found the Spanish word for sun in "The Cat in the Hat's Dictionary in Spanish." (It's 'sol,' by the way.)

3. When the paint dries, so glue on strips of yellow and orange paper around the edges of the circle to make the sun's rays.

4. Here's the finished sun!


Summary:

We can do many things when the sun shines. The sun gives us light and warmth and helps plants to grow. It's a big, yellow circle in the sky during the day.

Extra:
Review word flashcards and songs
Read sun/summer-themed books