• Balls Study

    Week of May 18 - May 22, 2020

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

    Focus Question: Who uses balls?

    Question of the Day: Monday: Who can use balls? 

    Tuesday: Have you ever been to a store that sells balls?

    Wednesday: Can you make your body into a ball?

    Thursday: What is your favorite thing to do with balls?

    Friday: What kind of animals play with balls?

  • Read-Alouds

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

    Monday: Just Like Josh Gibson - Click the title to listen to and watch a read aloud of Just Like Josh Gibson.

    Tuesday: Play Ball! - Click the title to listen to and watch a read aloud of Play Ball!.

    Wednesday: Watch Me Throw the Ball - Click the title to listen to and watch a read aloud of Watch Me Throw the Ball.

    Thursday: Play Ball! - Click the title to listen to and watch a second read aloud of Play Ball!.

    Friday: Just Like Josh Gibson - Click the title to listen to and watch a second read aloud of Just Like Josh Gibson.

  • Make Time for...

    Outdoor Experiences

    Sphere Hunt 

    • Have the children look for spherical items outside.
    • Collect or take pictures of spherical items that the children found.

    Physical Fun

    • Can you play catch with a ball using something other than your hands?  Try a glove or scooper.  What else can you try?

     

    Family Partnerships 

    • Have children interview family members about games they played with balls when they were children.

    Wow Experiences

    • Invite a family member who plays sports to visit and play a game they are skilled in. 
    • Visit a sportings goods store and look for different kinds of balls. 
    • Invite a family member to visit with a pet who plays with balls. 
    • Visit (or send a card to) a grandparent or older family member. 

     

    *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.   Try making homemade playdough!  It's easy and only requires a few common household items.  See what kind of shapes you can create with the playdough - ball/sphere, square/cube, etc.  Take pictures and share with us on ClassDojo! Here's the link to a recipe: Homemade Playdough.

    2.   Do you have a ball and bat (or anything that can be used as a bat or similar, such as a plastic golf club)?  Click here to read Pete the Cat: Play Ball! and see if your child can make the ball move with the bat. You can try baseball and golf! When you're done, click here to take a virtual field trip to see the Florida Marlins baseball stadium.

    3.   Lay on the ground with your child and practice rolling around, like a ball!  How far can you roll? Can you roll down a hill? Then, use any balls or ball-shaped items in your home. Take them outside to the yard or park and see which balls can roll. Why do you think they roll? Do some of them not roll? Using paper and a pencil, or chalk on the driveway or sidewalk, keep a tally chart to record which balls rolls.  

    4.    Thursday's Question of the Day asks about what is our favorite thing to do with balls.  Mine is eating them!  Anything ball shaped, like meatballs, melon balls, and tomatoes to name a few.  Can you think of some of your favorite ball shaped foods? Click here for a recipe to make puffed rice balls, or click here for a recipe for stuffed pizza balls.  Take a picture and send it to us on ClassDojo when you're done so we can see all of the yumminess!

    5.  What animals do you think play with balls?  Using paper and a pencil draw a picture of all the animals you think play with balls.  Then, click here to watch a video of animals playing with different types of balls.

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