Since stake conference has put my ward a lesson behind a lot of other people, our lesson on being grateful for plants is right next to St. Patrick's day with all its four leaf clovers. So here is what I'm think of doing for Sunday:
Snack Time:
We'll eat our normal snack but I think I'll try to bake some four leaf clover cookies. I'm going to bring some green icing and let the kids decorate the cookies and eat them.
I have the book The Giving Tree but it's really sort of sad (though is shows how much trees do for us) and the book Blueberries for Sal to read to the kids. Any other suggestions?
Show the picture of the Earth. Ask them what it is.
Show the picture of Jesus. Ask the kids who it is. Tell them Jesus made the Earth. Why did he make the Earth? Because he loves us.
Brown paper bag:
In the bag will be things that come from plants. A wooden block, an apple, a carrot, a flower (for them to smell), some spices (I'll let the kids smell and maybe taste some cinnamon sugar), paper, whatever else I can find in my house that comes from a plant.
I'll pick kids to come up to the front and pick something out of the bag. We'll talk about the plant that it came from and why we like plants.
Our class tree.
I'm going to make a tree with brown construction paper. I'm going to give each kid a green construction paper leaf. I'll ask the kids something they like about plants and let them come put their leaf up on the tree. I think we'll hang this on our bulletin board. During craft time I'll trace the kids hands on different color paper and cut those out so the tree can have some flowers too. I'll let each kid put up their hand on the tree.
Tree songs:
We'll sing some songs about trees. Popcorn popping. In the pretty treetops. Leaves are falling.
Craft:
Leaf rubbing
or
Flower puppet:
Take a small cup and poke a straw through the bottom. Have paper cut out in flower shapes that the kids can color then tape onto the top of the straw. The kids can move the straw up and down so their flowers can "grow."
I read my kids "The Carrot Seed" and they loved it. Also, I can't remember if it's at nursery level or not (I didn't make it to the library to find a copy for my lesson), but there's the book called "A Tree is Nice."
ReplyDeleteLove the Carrot Seed, I second that. I have a pet peeve against the Giving Tree. I get in warm debates with people over it because a lot of people have wonderful associations with it, but I despise it. The female tree does all the giving, to the point of absolute self-depletion, and the male boy shows his progress to maturation by doing all the taking. I can't like it, but that's just me. Some would say I'm being ridiculous and that message would be lost on nursery kids, but I say, if I can avoid presenting stories of women's degradation in any form, especially to impressionable minds...
ReplyDeleteA tree is nice is wonderful...
ReplyDeleteKate, you are a genius. Every lesson I read on your blog seems genius to me. I love reading them. Almost makes me want to serve in nursery, if both my kids and all their friends weren't in there. Can I serve in nursery in your ward? I also like Eric Carle's book "The Tiny Seed" though it's probably too late for suggestions :)
ReplyDeleteI love the 4-leaf-clover cookies!
I want to comment "Jeans comment". Apple trees are not female alone. I mean "apple blossom has both male and female parts (the apple tree is a hermaphrodite), it is self-incompatible. Apple trees require cross-pollination."
ReplyDeleteI also want to say thank you thank you thank you. To the creator of this blog. It is a great help in my class, makes it more fun. I look forward to teach in primary thanks to all the ideas in this blogs