Learning About Nighttime: Day 4 (Easy Preschool At Home)
After day, must come night! Today my son moved on to learning about nighttime. First he was thrilled for a chance to use his geoboards again. Later he had fun with our other project for the day. Be sure to keep scrolling to read all about it!
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LEARNING ABOUT THE SUN, MOON, DAY, + NIGHT: WEEK 3 dAY 4
Learning About Nighttime: Day 4 Ideas
Letter of the day:
N is for night. I created a simple free printable ‘N is for Night’ page on Twisty Noodle. I drew a horizon line towards the bottom of the N. My kiddo used a black crayon to color the night sky in the upper portion, and a green crayon to color the green grass on the ground. Then he added a foam sticker moon and some clouds as well.
Word of the day:
Instead of working on his name, my kiddo wrote ‘night’ with 4 different writing instruments. (I grabbed that printable page from First And Kinder Blue SKies on Teachers Pay Teachers!)
Book of the day:
Day And Night. By Eric Carle.
Journal prompt of the day:
At night I… (I switched up our journal format a bit for some variety, and used half of this printable prompt instead!)
Activities and play we enjoyed:
We took some time today to talk more about how the Earth and moon move in relation to the sun. I gave my kiddo a print out that included all 3. Then he used crayons to color each. He really liked the opportunity to talk about the sizes of each in relation to each other while he colored. (My boy was AMAZED at how big the sun is!) Next I cut out the pieces, and we assembled them with brass fasteners. The model we created was a perfect visual representation of all the rotation and orbiting happening in the sky. It was a great way for my kiddo to really grasp how night and day are created.
I pulled out our geoboards and rubber bands again today, which delighted my son. The night before, through trial and error, I created a star on one side of a board, and an N (for night) on the other. My 4 year old grabbed a blank board, and we worked together on recreating both the star and the N. He needed some guidance and prompting to correctly recreate the images, but my main goal with these was extra fine motor work, so it was a successful activity.
YOU MAY NEED THESE FOR LEARNING ABOUT NIGHTTIME…
colored pencils / crayons / markers / transparent tape / pens / scissors / pencils / double sided tape / composition notebook / index cards / rubber bands / brass fasteners
But PLEASE Remember…
This is what is working for us during the pandemic, for the time being. It may seem overwhelming to your family to attempt anything like this. Or if you’re like me, you may welcome a little structure in your days. It’s important for you to consider the needs, emotional health, and learning styles of your entire family, and make adjustments as needed. The goal is NEVER more stress, more comparisons, or more guilt.
Keeping the above in mind, here’s a little bit more about our process…
- We’re aiming for about an hour of ‘school-ish’ work a day. This might included coloring, painting, writing, drawing, stickers, and more. My 4 year old is used to attending UPK for two and a half hours a day, 5 days a week, so 1 hour seemed like a good starting point at home.
- I build a ton of breaks and flexibility into our days and weeks. I plan 5 days of ‘school’ each week, and we generally accomplish all the activities by stretching them out over 7 total days. Some Wednesdays, we just can’t do school. So we’ll make it up later, if we can. Again, the goal isn’t stress or pressure, so flexibility is key.
- Variety is helpful for my kiddo. His attention span is short, so most of what I plan is quick, and we change styles of learning often. You know what will work best for your own families.
- Our journal is simply a basic notebook. Every day, I provide a prompt, and my child draws a picture on a blank index card. I tape that into the notebook, and write most of the prompt. At least one or two words are written larger, in dots, so my son can trace them.
- I have a pretty well stocked supply of craft and learning materials already, and know that may not be the case for you. Be creative, be flexible, and be open to compromise! We also have a large home library for the kids, which is very helpful right now!
