Lesson - Sun

This week, my printer was broken so we couldn't do any activity sheets.  So I did things a little differently and we had a great lesson.  Instead of a letter and number of the day, we had a color and shape. 

Welcome Song

Announce Date

Theme
Ask: What do you know about the sun? Did you know that our sun is a star? It looks much bigger because we are much closer to the sun than we are to the other stars.

The sun warms the planet and provides us with light during the day. Plants need sun, along with nutrients in the soil and water, to live. People get Vitamin D from sunlight. But what happens if we get too much sun? That’s right, we get sunburned. Some people burn more easily than others. But even if you only tan, you can still get skin damage from the sun. So it’s important to wear sun screen when we are going to be in the sun for a long time. A hat can protect our head and face from the sun. Sunglasses protect our eyes from the sun.

Story
Great Day for Up 
by Dr. Seuss
I chose this book because it starts with the sun getting up and then has the sun on nearly every page.  So I asked the kids to look for the sun as we read and on some pages had someone point to the sun.

Color of the Day - Yellow
Ask: What color is the sun in the book we just read?

(I read part of another book on Colors.  It is an out of print book we had, but any book on colors will do.  The reason I liked the one we read is that it first talks about Red, Yellow, and Blue and then talks about what colors you can make by mixing them.  So I read the part about mixing red with yellow to make orange, and then we stopped.  I read that part because our craft will involve swirling colors together, specifically yellow and red.)

Activity
I pulled out all of our yellow Duplos and got out a set of yellow Kapla planks for the kids to use to make suns and stars.  Here is a little of what they did:

Song
Ask: Remember we said the sun is a star?  Do you know any songs about a star?  (I expected the kids to guess Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, but one boy actually made up his own song on the spot.)

Sing Twinkle Twinkle Little star and encourage the kids to use their "twinklers" (i.e. to do the hand motions) as you sing.
 
Shape of the Day - Circle
Ask: What shape is the sun?  (Some kids said round, some said circle)

Story:
See and Spy Shapes 
by Julie Aigner-Clark

We read this book and on each page I had a different child come point out the shapes on the page.

Craft
Our craft incorporates the theme, the shape and the color.  I gave each child a paper plate with a small hole punched out near the edge (for the hanger).  In the center of the plate, I poured yellow tempura paint, a drop of red and a drop of white.  Then they swirled it around and covered the plates.  While the paint was still wet, they applied small rectangles of yellow tissue paper that I had cut out.  I got the idea from SIZZLING SUN PICTURES on Jean Warren's preschool site.  We attached chenille stems for hangers after the plates dried.

My sample project. 

Take home project
Preschool didn't last long enough to do this one during our time together, so I gave the kids each a piece of black construction paper to take home and explained how to make sun prints (also on Jean Warren's website here.)  Here's one I did for Audrey:

The wind blew the letters and numbers around so I had to take it out of the sun sooner than I would have.