Water, Water Everywhere!

We started our water study, and the kiddos have been enjoying it! We have been starting each day this poem:

Water

Water, water everywhere, water all around,
Water in the ocean, water in the ground.

Water in a river, water in a creek,
Water in a faucet with a drip-drip leak!

Water from a waterfall, rushing down from high,
Water from a dark cloud, raining from the sky.

Water at a fire, gushing through a hose,
Water in a garden, so every flower grows.

Water for the animals swimming in the sea,
Water, water everywhere for you and for me!

by Meish Goldish

The cool thing about poetry is there are so many early literacy skills the kiddos can learn from it. Just from watching me read the poem, they can learn that text flows from left to right and top to bottom, that the words I'm saying match up with the words on the paper, and (since I illustrated the poem I created for my chart) that the words and the pictures match up! We have also picked out rhyming words, and we're going to go on a letter hunt through our poem later this week! It has been really cool watching the kids enjoy this poem.  

Since we're studying water, we have been doing lots of activities using water, of course. On Monday, I filled up some tubs with water to put in the sand table. It has been nice this week, so I was able to wheel it outside. The kids have been exploring how to make water wheels work, practicing some fine motor fishing skills, and just experiencing water!

I had the water table inside today, so the kids had more time to explore the water. We did some water painting outside. We used paintbrushes to paint the sidewalk with water. The cool thing about that is the sun dries the water up fairly quickly, so we always have a fresh canvas to paint. (Unfortunately, I managed to forget my camera inside both times, so I was unable to get a picture of this.) 

Hopefully, you have received your pledge forms for the Read-a-thon by now! I can't wait to see what we can do for St. Jude's. Keep in mind, though, if you don't feel comfortable asking others for money but you'd still like to participate in the Read-a-thon, you are more than welcome to! I would love to have every student participate that night regardless of how much money we make! Our main focus that night will be to have a great family time while learning about early literacy skills - the support we collect for St. Jude's will just be the cherry on top!