KinderGals: Columbus Day is Coming!

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Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Columbus Day is Coming!

Teaching young children about Christopher Columbus can be fun and exciting. Not only can you teach children about Christopher Columbus, but you can also build in many science, social studies, language arts, and math standards. When you teach your kids about Christopher Columbus, there are two different ways you can approach the topic:
All in One Day
Or..A Little Each Day
All In One Day is a "blow out" day. We completely forgo our regular schedule and the whole day is about Christopher Columbus. It is a crazy day, but it is one my kids talk about all year. By doing it this way, it is something different and unique. The brain loves novelty!
Or...A Little Each Day. In this format, you could do a different activity each day stretched out over the week.
Here are some of the activities we use to celebrate Christopher Columbus.
Slide1
 Here are the float and sink activities that we did. The children made predictions, checked their predictions, and made their bottle books!
Slide2
For this game, the children rolled a dice and moved the boats toward the water. They can move one boat or divide the roll between two or three boats.Slide3
This is our earth! The kiddos painted “land” on the sphere and on the back made a circle map of things that are spheres.
Slide4
This was the highlight…to say the least! The kiddos had so much fun making the coke floats! This was a fun way to teach predictions, doing the experiment, and graphing the results of the experiment!
Slide5
Here is where we made an all about Christopher Columbus Book! They loved the toilet paper roll telescopes! The chart is one that I found on someone else’s blog that they used while making the book.
Slide6
Here is where we made a large Santa Maria and then each child made their own. We were working on labeling.
Slide7
Slide8
We talked about characteristics of Christopher Columbus and then the children drew and wrote about their connections. Then we shared them with our buddies.
Slide9
Here are some photos from where some other bloggers posted pictures from the packet! Love to see how people use things a little differently!Slide10
All of these activities are from the Hooray for Columbus Day Unit. What are you planning for Columbus Day? Do you have a blog post about Columbus Day? If so, leave a comment with a link to your post! Would love to see them as we will actually have time to do it now BEFORE Columbus Day!
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11 comments:

Rachelle said...

The chart is from my class last year, what an honor to see it on your blog!

Rachelle
Http://sweetkindergarten.blogspot.com

Kim and Megan said...

Thanks Rachelle for claiming the picture. I loved the idea!

Rachelle said...

Oops, here's my post :)
http://sweetkindergarten.blogspot.com/2011/10/hooray-for-columbus-day.html

Jasmine said...

How do you make your boat game pieces stand up? Looks like a lot of fun!

Unknown said...

Thanks for the early post! I always find things too late and then forget that I purchase them for the next year! Scuh cute stuff! Can't wait to use it in my room! :)

Sarah Paul said...

This looks so great! I've never felt like I teach this well enough. Your unit is just what I need. Thanks:)
Sarah
Sarah's First Grade Snippets

Kim and Megan said...

Jasmine...I make them stand up using a paper clip that I open to a 90 degree angle and then tape them to the back of the game piece. If you have some old candy land bingo pieces they are perfect!

Amy Johnston said...

Perfect! I also love your firefighter glyph. I'm engaged to a firefighter so I might go a tad bit overboard with fire safety week. ;)

By the way - I am hosting a GIANT giveaway on my blog. There is a LOFT gift card and products from over 20 fabulous teachers up for grabs.

Come by and visit me! Easy to enter... so you can stock up on some cute stuff for your classroom...and for you!

Amy

http://whathappensinfirstgrade.blogspot.com/2012/09/huge-100-followers-giveaway.html

What Happens in First Grade

gingerp said...

I'm so excited that my pictures from your unit made it to your blog! I love all of your ideas and appreciate your willingness to share! We had so much fun with this, and I can't wait to do it again on Monday!
Ginger
ginger'5kdailbread@blogspot.com

Unknown said...
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Dr olivia Alexander said...
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