Week One   Lesson Plan

Starting Out waterTable

The first week was spent getting to know each other and the Red Room rules and routines. The children sang songs and took a tour of the class. Children came up with the guidelines for a safe and fun classroom including sharing, being gentle and taking care of the toys. By the end of the week new friendships had began to form.

SwimmingPoolPlay

The Red Room swims two times a week. Some of the children are very comfortable in the water while others prefer to play on the sides. On the first visit to the pool, the life guards greeted us and reminded the children of the rules. Parents are required to come to at least two swim sessions and this makes for lots of family fun.

Literacy/Artpainting

Each week a selection of stories from a Caldecott Award winning author are read and discussed. Art materials that the author used are made available for the children to try. This week's author was Chris Raschka. Some children painted images of their bikes with water colors just like Raschka did in:

Everyone Can Learn to Ride a Bicycle.

Raschka's award winning book was A Ball for Daisy.

School of Public Health GardenGarden

To introduce the children to the 6 week long Summer Camp project of "Healthy Bodies", a field trip was planned to a UMD student run garden. The children graphed who had gardens at home and discussed what they might find at the SPH garden. The garden was just a short walk from the camp so exercise was emphasized too. Children used their five senses to explore the garden, taking time to smell the herbs. The class used a digital camera to take turns recording what they saw. After the garden tour, the campers stopped by a soccer field, ran around, and tossed some beach balls. In the afternoon Red Room friends reviewed what they had seen.

Running

Prior Knowledge WebOn the last day of the week, a web was generated from what the children perceived a healthy body was and what it takes to keep a body healthy.

Cooking- Our first healthy cooking project involved making a smoothie. Children shared in measuring and pouring the yogurt, berries, and water into a blender. Then each child was able to push a button to whirl the ingredients. yogurt

Simple Berry Smoothie

Blend until smooth.

Maryland Curriculum Standards

Science- Explain why it is important to make some fresh observations when people give different descriptions of the same thing.

Everyone thought an insect we saw on a tomato plant at the garden was a ladybug because it was red with black dots. One child observed that it did not have wings and she knew ladybugs had wings. Everyone took a second look and decided it was not a ladybug. It turned out to be a Colorado Potato Beetle larvae!

Health and Nutrition- Identify the relationship between food and the senses

A group meeting was devoted to learning about the 5 senses and this carried over during the visit to the garden, particularly with the herbs. A motar and pestal were set out on a table with some herbs and seeds for the children to investigate.

Social Studies- Generate and follow classroom rules, such as taking turns, walking inside, and forming a line that promote order and safety in the classroom

A list of classroom rules was generated by the students the first week.