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In the Garden
Unit
Poems
& Songs
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Garden Song
Tune: Here We go Round the Mulberry Bush
This is the way we dig the soil,
Dig the soil, dig the soil.
This is the way we dig the soil,
A-working' in the garden! |
I Dig, Dig, Dig
I dig, dig, dig,
And plant some seeds.
I rake, rake, rake,
And I pull some weeds.
I wait and I watch
And soon, you know
My garden sprouts,
And starts to grow. |
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Up Pops A Flower
Tune: Pop Goes the Weasel
We plant a seed in the ground,
The rain falls in a shower,
The sun comes up
and what do you know
UP POPS A FLOWER!!!!!!! |
Dig A Little Hole
Dig a little hole.
Plant a little seed.
Pour a little water.
Pull a little weed.
Chase a little bug --
Heigh-ho, there he goes!
Give a little sunshine,
Grow a little rose. |
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The Seeds Grow
tune: Farmer in the Dell
The gardener plants the seeds
The gardener plants the seeds
Deep down inside the ground
The gardener plants the seeds
The rain clouds give them water
The rain clouds give them water
Seeds need some water to drink
The rain clouds give them water
The sun gives heat and light
The sun gives heat and light
Seeds like it warm and bright
The sun gives heat and light
The gardener pulls the weeds
The gardener pulls the weeds
Seeds need the room to grow
The gardener pulls the weeds
The seeds grow into flowers
The seeds grow into flowers
Flowers that are beautiful
The seeds grow into flowers |
Five Spring Flowers
The first one
said,
"We need rain to grow!"
The second one said,
"Oh my, we need water!"
The third one said,
"Yes, it is getting hotter!"
The fourth
one said,
"I see
clouds in the sky."
The fifth one
said,
"I wonder why?"
Then BOOM went
the thunder
And ZAP went the lightning!
That springtime storm was really frightening!
But the flowers
weren't worried -- no, no, no, no!
The rain helped them to
grow, grow, GROW!
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My Garden
This is my garden,
I'll plant it with care,
Here are the seeds
I'll plant in there,
The sun will shine,
The rain will fall,
The seeds will sprout
and grow up tall. |
A Daffodil
A little yellow cup,
A little yellow frill,
A little yellow star,
And that's a daffodil. |
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Seeds
A little seed for me to sow
A little earth to make it grow
A little hole, a little pat,
A little wish, and that is that,
A little sun, a little shower.
A little while -
And then, a flower! |
Seed Poem
I dig
a hole
and plant a seed,
Cover it with dirt,
and pull a weed.
Down comes the rain,
and out comes the sun,
Up grows my plant,
Oh! What fun!
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Books About Seeds
Books About
Sunflowers
Books About Flowers & Gardens
Language Activities
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The Rose In My Garden
The Rose in My Garden by Arnold & Anita Lobel is
a favorite every year! The children love the cummulative pattern of the story and always help with
the repeated lines! After reading the story the
children draw their favorite part in their journal
(which is usually the surprise ending)! I also have a
flannelboard activity with all the flowers (and, of
course, the bee and the cat). The children enjoy
placing the pieces on the flannelboard and watching
their gardens grow! |
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Alison's Zinnia
Alison's Zinnia also by Anita
Lobel is one of my personal favorites! It is a
unique ABC book of flowers and names. Each page has
one line which begins with a girl's name and a flower
for that same letter and ends with a girl's name for
the next letter. We make our own class book using the
same pattern of the story. Each page is programmed:
(Ann)
gave a flower
to
(Bobby)
.
Each child writes
their own name on the first line and the next child in
ABC order on the second line and draws a picture of
the flower and their friend. |
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Beginning
Sounds Game
Make several large
flowerpots from brown construction paper. Make several
flower shapes. Put a sticker (or picture) on each
flower, laminate them, and attach them to craft
sticks. Program each flowerpot with a letter. Have
children "plant" the flowers in the correct flowerpot
by matching the beginning sound with the written
letter.
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Daffodil Poem
A little
yellow cup.
A little yellow frill.
A little yellow star,
and that's a Daffodil!
Write the words
of the poem on sentence strips and place in a pocket
chart. Also write out a set of color words on
sentence strips. Have the children replace the
word yellow with another color word and read with a
seasonal pointer. |
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Out in the Garden
Tune: Down By the Station
Out in the garden
Early in the morning
See the __________________ all in a row
See the happy farmer coming out to pick them.
Pick, pick, pick, pick off he goes!
Write this
song on sentence strips and place in a pocket chart.
Cut out, mount, and laminate pictures of vegetables
(yellow squash, green beans, red tomatoes etc).
Write each color word and vegetable on a sentence strip.
Have the children choose a picture card and the matching
word. Sing the song and point to the words using a
seasonal pointer.
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Math Activities
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Flower Counting
Place a supply of plastic
flowers and plastic vases (numbered 1-10) in your Math
Center. Have your children pretend to be florists and
arrange the flowers (according to the
numerals) in the vases. You
can also pretend to go to the flower shop and buy the
flowers. Or they can pretend to deliver them to you.
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Petal Counting
Glue 10 circles to the top
of ten popsicle sticks. Number the circles 1-10 (or
write the number words). Cut out many different
colored petal shapes. You may want to laminate them so
they last longer. Have the children place the correct
number of petals onto each flower.
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Pattern Block Flowers
Find a a large clip art
picture of a flower. Use white out to erase the
petals (so the stem & leaves are the only things
showing). Color and laminate. Supply the children
with pattern blocks to create the petals.
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Watermelon Workmats
Photocopy a
picture of a watermelon slice, color, and laminate.
Have the children use real watermelon seeds (or black
beans) to solve simple addition problems.
You could
also adapt this game by making 10 workmats, write
numerals 1 - 10 and have the children place the
appropriate amount of seeds on each slice |
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File Folder Math
Games
There are
two great file folder math games for this unit at
Preschool Printables - just print, cut, laminate and
you've got a center!
Numbers in Bloom
Watermelon Numbers |
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Science Activities
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Lima
Beans
Soak a large number of lima beans (enough for each
child to have three or four) in water overnight.
Discuss what might
happen to them. Examine
the lima beans the next day. Compare limas that
soaked all night to limas that are dry. Show the
children how to carefully break open the bean to find
the baby plant inside.
I also let the children plant
some of the lima beans in a clear Solo cup, close to the
edge, so when it begins to grow the roots can easily be
seen.
Or . . . place a damp
paper towel inside a zippered plastic bag. Insert
2-3 limas. We trace and cut out flower pots on brown
construction paper, I cut out a square in the middle
(large enough to fit the baggie) and tape the baggie
onto the paper. Hang on a window and watch the bean
plant grow! The children can record plant growth
in a picture journal.
One Bean is a terrific book to teach children
about the life cycle of a plant. The
illustrations are wonderful and explain exactly what
is happening to the bean. It is a great story to
read and use as a reference with this activity.
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The Sand Center
Add potting soil to your
sand table. Also, put some children's garden gloves,
garden tools, watering cans, hats, and plastic flower
pots into the center. Let the children pretend they
are gardeners and plant seeds!
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Seeds
(In
advance
ask children to
bring in different kinds of seeds.)
With the seeds you can:
* Graph different kinds.
* Make seed collages.
* Write name using seeds.
* Sort by type and place
them into eggs cartons.
*
Glue a seed close to the
bottom of a piece of construction paper. Have the
children draw the soil,
roots, stem, leaves, and what they think the flower
will look like. They can copy the name from the seed
package.
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Art Activities
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Sunflowers
Have the children cut slits
on the edge of a paper plate (to make the petals).
Paint the plate yellow.
When the plate is dry glue
sunflower seeds to the middle of the. Make green
paper stems and leaves.
Hang them on your bulletin
board.
"We're A Bloomin' Good
Bunch"
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Spring
Flowers
Have your children make
spring flowers by using pastel colored cupcake papers
for the blossoms. Glue the papers to a piece of blue
paper. The children can draw stems and leaves with
crayons or use green scrap paper.
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Hand Print Flowers
Make a beautiful flower
garden using each child's hawww.yahoo.com
ndprint, dipped in paint.
Use green paint to add the stems and grass. This
will look bright and cheery on your classroom windows!
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Coffee Filter Flowers
Materials:
coffee filters (the basket
kind)
shallow bowls
food coloring mixed with
water
green pipe
cleaners
Fold the coffee filter into
thirds. Slowly dip the corners into the food coloring
and water. Slowly open them up (I usually do this
part so they don't rip). Let them dry.
Have each child make
three. When the coffee filters are dry, place them in
a pile one on top of the other. Pinch the middle and
fluff out the edges. Twist a green pipe cleaner
around the middle for the stem.
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Graphics on
this page are from:
© Pam Ballingall
The Teacher's Room
2001-2007
Please do not copy anything from this website onto other websites.
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