Sunflower Poem and Dance Story for Young Children

                                           HELLO, FALL!    

    

My September post is a lively movement activity that celebrates autumn. The sunflower is one of my favorite flowers, and it provides the inspiration for this poem/riddle and a movement exploration.

 

            THE SUNFLOWER

        A Dance Activity for Young Children

To begin the activity, read the poem* below out loud, and ask the children to try to guess the answer. 

(*I wrote this poem as an entry in the Fall Writing Frenzy) 

             WHAT AM I?

I started as a little seed, 

Dark grey and very small.

And now that I am all grown up,

I’m over six feet tall!

The petals on my flower face,

Surround me like a crown.

I come in many hues and shades, 

Of yellow, red, and brown.

I start the day by looking east,

To greet the morning sun.

I follow it and face the west,

When summer’s day is done.

Some birds just love to eat my seeds, 

And people like them too.

I think you know my name by now, 

For each line is a clue!

SUNFLOWER DANCE STORY

Prepare: Children start this activity curled up on the floor and then respond with movement as you call out each line. Give them plenty of time between each prompt so that they can fulfill their movement ideas.

Optional: Quiet instrumental music in the background.

Begin the activity:

I’m a tiny, tiny seed.

A child planted me on a warm spring day.

I’m tucked down deep in the dark, rich soil.

Now it’s time to begin to grow.

I gently push against the sides of the seed shell.

I begin to sprout and reach through the soil.

Now I can see the blue summer sky.

I feel the warm sun and the cool rain.

I’m growing taller every day.

I’m starting to become a flower.

My petals surround my face like little flames.

I open my bright golden face to the sun.

I follow the sun as it moves through the sky each day.

All summer, bees and butterflies come to drink my nectar.

My heavy sunflower head begins to droop and nod.

Fall is here and my leaves are fading.

Birds like to eat my seeds.

The morning frost causes me to droop even more.

Winter is coming and I slowly fall to the ground.

The cold wind blows. 

My seeds scatter.

Snowflakes fall and cover the seeds.

I wait until springtime to sprout again.

Expand the Activity:

Use this same format for dancing about other types of plants, and other nature themes, such as the metamorphosis of a tadpole to a frog, and a caterpillar to a butterfly. 

Keep on Dancing, 

Connie

MOVING IS LEARNING!

                                    

                        

Sunflowers for Spring

Hi! It's Carolyn from Kindergarten: Holding Hands and Sticking Together.  We need a little sunshine here in Upstate NY, so I thought today I would share some sunflower ideas for the end of the year.

As my sweet class is getting ready to think ahead to first grade, I like to plant sunflower seeds with them.  We talk about the fact that when their flower is grown and blooming, they will be ready for first grade and a brand new year of school.

This is a cute story we read to go along with our planting. 





I wrote this poem to go along with their plantings.  Feel free to use it if you'd like to!

I could read and reread this book. It's beautifully written and so sweet.  Every time I read it, I find another little gem and detail in the book.  It takes you to such a wonderful, peaceful place. When my children were little, we did lots of the activities in this book. 

Sunflower House is another sweet book that gives children other fun ideas for planting at their own house!

Plants are magical for children of any age.  When you can combine activities with planting, it's just a bonus. 

Wishing you all a fun, sunny spring!







Planting in the Classroom!

Hi! It's Carolyn from Kindergarten: Holding Hands and Sticking Together.  This month, I put together some of my favorite planting activities to use in the classroom.  I'm ready for spring- and I'm going to make my own if I have to! Actually, it's been a gorgeous  winter in Upstate NY, so I can't even complain. 


First, this project makes me smile every year.  I like to do this project before St. Patrick's Day.  We usually have Open House around this time, too, which is perfect because parents can take these home after Open House. 

CRAZY HAIR PEOPLE

 We plant our grass seed to make our Crazy Hair People.  I take everyone's picture up close and print them 3X5.  I use two sided tape to stick the pictures onto the styrofoam cups.  The hair usually grows very quickly, which is so much fun.  I have some little tiny rubber bands that the girls love to use to make pony tails.  The boys love to give themselves haircuts.

 This little guy's dad took the time to send me a picture of his first "haircut."  

Here's another fun grass activity!  I saved this picture a long time ago- with no reference to go with it.  If it's your idea, let me know, and I'll gladly add it to this post.  I love the idea.  Even the kids' first initial would be cute.  I'm thinking you could even use Styrofoam meat containers, even though they're thin.  Grass doesn't need too much soil to grow in.  

GRASS LETTERS

LUPINES

I love to introduce my children to Miss Rumphius right before  Earth Day.

This is such a thoughtfully written book that lets children begin thinking of different ways they can make the world more beautiful. After we read the story, I had the children retell it. We talked about the three things Alice wanted to do in her life : 1)  travel to far away places, 2) live by the sea, and 3) make the world more beautiful. We had a great discussion about why it is so important for each of us to do something to make the world more beautiful.  I found some good discussion questions here for the story.  (The questions are written for 8-11 year olds, but some were perfect for 'turn and talks' and class discussions.  I had fun listening to the conversations when the children  did 'turn and talks'.   Kindergarten children are very wise.  

The children were anxious to write about how they could each make the world more beautiful. I loved some of the answers!

  (Hunter LOVES the color melon pink- so he is going to paint all the roads! :)

 And finally...  How could that smile not make the world a better place? 

Next we decorated our planting cups with lupines.  I showed them how to make one dot, then two, three, four, and five.

Then, we planted our seeds!

We also made a poster for our room to help us remember what we need to do!

The timing of our Miss Rumphius Day could not have been more perfect this year. The very next day, my dear friend from Texas sent me these pictures... having no idea of her perfect timing!

Where I live,  lupines will grow if I am very attentive to them and baby them, but my friend Betty is surrounded in Texas with GLORIOUS Texas BlueBonnets! 

FORGET-ME-NOTS

Last year, we planted forget-me-not seeds for Grandparent's Day.  We decorated the cups that we planted in by drawing on forget-me-not flowers with Sharpies. We also made cards that said, "Forget-me-nots for unforgettable grandparents!"  to go with the plants.

MORNING GLORIES

I wrote a post at my blog all about growing morning glories in my classroom!  Just click on the picture below if you'd like to see what I do with morning glories.  I absolutely love growing them in the classroom. 

BEANS

I also wrote a post HERE about Jack and the Beanstalk, and all the different activities I do with that story.  We have so much fun with Jack and the Beanstalk!  The kids love growing the beans!

SUNFLOWERS

At the end of the year, as my sweet class is getting ready to think ahead to first grade, I like to plant sunflower seeds with them.  We talk about the fact that when their flower is grown and blooming, they will be ready for first grade and a brand new year of school.

This is a cute story we read to go along with our planting. 

I wrote this poem to go along with their plantings.  

AMARYLLIS

Finally, in the winter, I love to plant an amaryllis bulb in the classroom.  You can get them for about $5 at Walmart or different stores.  They are so easy to plant- and great for measuring, because they grow so fast. The kids can take a measurement each day and see what happens.  Plus, it brings a little joy to the room in the cold, gray winter.

We have lots of fun and do lots of learning with the amaryllis.

This isn't my amaryllis, but I couldn't find the pictures I took of mine.  Mine looked just like this one.  They are no-fail, and always so gorgeous!

I hope you found some fun ideas to use in your classroom!  Thank you for stopping by!