• Balls Study

    Week of April 27 - May 1, 2020

    Click Here for a letter to famillies from Teaching Strategies: The Creative Curriculum featuring the Balls Study.

    Focus Question: Do all balls bounce?

    Question of the Day: Monday: Do you think all balls bounce? 

    Tuesday: Is your head bigger or smaller than a baseball?

    Wednesday: Is your head bigger or smaller than a basketball?

    Thursday: Do you think heavy balls bounce?

    Friday: Do you think light balls bounce?

  • Read-Alouds

    Starting on Monday, watch and read along with one title each day.

    Monday: The Three Billy Goats Gruff - Click the title to listen to and watch a read aloud of The Three Billy Goats Gruff.

    Tuesday: Bounce - Click the title to listen to and watch a read aloud of Bounce.

    Wednesday: Froggy Plays T-Ball - Click on the title to listen to and watch a read aloud of Froggy Plays T-Ball.

    Thursday: Hit the Ball Duck! - Click on the title to listen to and watch a read aloud of Hit the Ball Duck!.

    Friday: Play Ball, Amelia Bedelia  - Click the title to listen to and watch a read aloud of Play Ball, Amelia Bedelia.

  • Make Time for...

    Outdoor Experiences

    Bouncing Balls 

    • Bring a variety of balls outdoors for children to play with and explore. 
    • Test balls outside to see which balls bounce the highest.  Invite the children to make predictions and test them.
    • Invite the children to test how balls bounce on different surfaces, e.g., rocks, sand, grass and concrete.
    • If possible, have children test the balls by dropping them from various heights, e.g., slide, steps and climber.

    Physical Fun

    • Throw hard, throw far!  See how far the children can throw a ball.  Can they throw farther if they throw harder?

    Wow! Experiences

    • Ask a sibling or person who lives in your house to play ball with the children outdoors.

     

    *cited from Teaching Strategies: The Creative Curriculum for Preschool, featuring the Balls Study.

  • Interest Area Activities

    This is where you can find some fun activities to do with your child.  These activities can be done with materials you already have at home, or items similar to what you have at home.  Choose one activity each day starting Monday.

    1. Gather a collection of balls available in your home.  Talk with your child and ask questions such as "Do all balls bounce? Which ones do you think bounce best?" On paper, record your child's predictions about which balls will bounce, and create two groups: balls they think will bounce and balls they think will not bounce.  Be sure to include a variety of ball shapes, such as a cotton ball, orange, football, bouncey ball, soccer ball.  After testing each ball, sort the ball shapes with your child into the two categories above. Talk about why some ball shapes didn't bounce. 

    2. More predictions! Allow children to safely stand on a low chair and drop two different types of ball shapes.  Ask questions like "what did you notice about the balls? Which one bounced more? Which one bounced higher?" Repeat this activity with other types of balls, and record their thoughts. 

    3. Sort the balls you and your children have been using into different groups, such as size, color, texture, type (sports ball, food, etc.), and be sure to talk about why they can be or cannot be sorted into specific categories.

    4. Do you have some recycled water bottles or beverage bottles?  Here is an easy and fun at home bowling activity! Clean the bottles and remove any labels.  Using permanent marker, write large numbers on the bottles one through 10, or however many bottles you have.  Line the bottles up on the floor into a triangle shape as best you can. Using any type of ball you have in your home (beach ball, bouncy ball, tennis ball, etc.) have your child roll the ball towards the bottles to knock down as many as possible in two throws.  Identify with your child which numbers have been knocked down and which numbers are still standing.

    5. Estimation station is a fun game we like to play in our classroom! Without your child, fill a mason jar, or similar, with any ball shaped/round item such as pennies, cotton balls, jelly beans, cocoa puffs, etc.  Be sure to count the items as you put them in, and keep it to a number your child can count to with you. Then show your child the jar, and talk about the item inside.  Ask your child to guess how many of the item are in the jar.  Accept any answer and write it down on paper.  With your child, take each item out and count them together.  Compare with the number written on the paper, and ask your child if their guess was close. 

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