Sanity Savers: All Are Welcome-Read along and Lesson

Posted March 31, 2020 by by Jess Basil

By: Amelia Schrader
Senior Manager of Learning and Education

Materials:

All Are Welcome Book (or read-a-loud )
Paper (or downloadable worksheet )
Pencil

Length:

Story Reading: 3 – 10 minutes
Activity: 15 minutes

Sanity Savers: All Are Welcome (Read along and Lesson)

Academic Subject:

English Language Arts (ELA)
Development Subject Areas:
Social – Emotional Development
Appreciating Diversity
Adaptive Social Behavior: Empathy

Diversity, inclusion and empathy are all topics we strive to teach our children. The first Play Zone in our Museum, Being Good Neighbors, is all about teaching these important lessons to our visitors. We know that these important life lessons can often be challenging to discuss on an age appropriate level. Our Being Good Neighbors Zone is designed to get visitors to learn more about the diverse backgrounds of all people that make up our wonderful community through play.

While we know you cannot visit the Museum right now, this at home lesson, targeted at kids PreK-2nd Grade will help children learn to empathize with a child or community member that maybe feeling exclude for one reason or another. Combining this lesson with a beautifully illustrated children’s book is a great way to start the conversation!

Directions:

Step 1: Read the story, All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold and Suzanne Kaufman. If you do not have this story you can watch a read-a-loud video here.

Step 2: Discuss some of the images in the story. You can use some of the following questions to prompt discussion:
· Do you have a friend at school who is from a different country?
· Do you have a friend at school who speaks a different language at home other than English?
· Is there anyone in the cafeteria that always brings a lunch to school that is different from yours?
· Do you have a friend at school who moves different from you? Maybe they use a wheeled mobility device, crutches or a walking brace.
· What are some of the things that are the same between you and your friends? Do you all like the same games? Do you have some of the same types of pets?
Step 3: Talk about what it means to include someone vs. excluding someone. Complete the chart pictured below to discuss how it feels, looks and sounds to include someone vs excluding that person.

Vocabulary Words

· Include/Inclusion: To make someone part of a group, place or activity
· Exclude/Exclusion: To deny someone access to or from a group, place or activity.
· Diversity: The differences between people. These can include cultural background, age, appearance, religion, ability level etc.
· Similarity: The qualities that make people alike
· Empathy: The ability to be aware of and understand another persons feelings, thoughts or experiences.

Want another story? Check out our Storytime page for more stories!

For more Sanity Savers projects click here!

Storytime: Amelia Schrader reads All Are Welcome

Posted March 30, 2020 by by Jess Basil

All Are Welcome Here by Alexandra Penfold Read by Amelia Schrader, Senior Education Manager at Explore & More, the Ralph C. Wilson, JR. Children’s Museum

For a follow-along activity, please check out our Sanity Saver activity, with a downloadable worksheet and step by step instructions! Here

Storytime: Amelia Schrader reads All Are Welcome Here

Want another story? Check out our Storytime page for more stories!

Storytime: Eric Wood reads I Love Monkey

Posted March 30, 2020 by by Jess Basil

Sanity Savers: Pop Up Cards

Posted March 30, 2020 by by Jess Basil

Materials

Envelope
Paper that fits inside the envelope when folded in half
Paper for drawing
Pencil, crayons, markers, and/or colored pencils
Scissors
Glue stick

Length:

Set up: 5 minutes
Active: 10-30 minutes

Academic Subject(s):

English Language Arts, Visual Arts, Math

Directions:

Step 1: Draw a picture and color it. This will be the piece that pops out from your card.

Step 2: Cut out the picture.

Step 3: Fold the paper that will become your card, in half, as shown.

Step 4: Cut two slits in the middle of the folded end. They should be perpendicular to the fold and parallel to each other. The strip in the middle should be narrower than the bottom of your picture.

Step 5: Open up the card and push the middle strip to the inside of the card. Close the card and flatten in out. When you open it, it should look like this:

When closed, it should look like this:

Step 6: Draw and color the background (the inside of the card) and write a message. This is also a good time to decorate the front of the card.

Step 7: Glue the bottom of the picture and attach it to one side of the middle strip. The bottom of the picture should just touch the point where the middle strip meets the rest of the card, as shown.

Tip: Allow the glue to dry before closing the card!

Vocabulary Words

• Parallel: side by side lines that are the same distance apart and never cross each other
•Perpendicular: at a 90 degree angle to a given line (in this case, the fold of the card)
•Horizontal line: line that runs left to right (not up and down)

For more Sanity Savers projects click here!

Sanity Savers: Spin to Spell Eggs

Posted March 30, 2020 by by Jess Basil

Materials:

Plastic Eggs that come apart
Permeant Maker

Length:

Set up: 10 minutes
Play Time: Unlimited!

Academic Subject(s):

Literacy
This lesson supports your student’s curriculum: PKRF1, PKRF2, PKRF3, KRF1, KRF2, KRF3, 1RF2, 1RF3, 2RF3
This lesson supports areas of Early Childhood Development and PreK Curriculum:
· PreK Standards: Counting to tell the number of objects, demonstrate emergent phonics and word analysis skills.

Do all those vocabulary worksheets seem overwhelming right now? Looking for a fun way to engage your child in spelling practice?
Try out these spin to spell eggs.

Directions:

Step 1: Gather your list of vocabulary or sight words that your child is working on.

Step 2: On the larger, taller end of the egg write down common word endings or word families (i.e. –op, -an, -at, -ing etc.)

Step 3: On the smaller, shorter end of the egg write down the corresponding start of each word (i.e. for the egg ending in -op the beginning sound would be a consonant or consonant blend.
Step 4: Snap the eggs together and ling up the beginning with the end to spell each word!

This is a great activity to adjust to your child’s learning level. If you have a younger child that is working on capital and lower case recognition you can create a spin to match egg set that has upper case letters on one half and corresponding lower case letters on the other half! Just make sure you mix them up so you truly have to spin to match. You can also use this lesson for counting practice by adding roman numerals to one egg half and dots to the other half. The possibilities are endless!

Egg Word List to Start Your Lesson
Word Family (-ing)- King, Sing, Fling, Wing, Bring, Spring, Thing
Word Family (-at) – Bat, Cat, Hat, Sat, Rat, That, Flat, Chat
Word Family (-op) – Stop, Shop, Mop, Hop, Pop, Cop
Word Family (-an) – Can, Man, Tan, Fan, Pan, Ran, Van, Plan
Word Family (-ill) – Fill, Hill, Pill, Will, Chill, Drill, Grill, Skill
Word Family (-ab) – Cab, Lab, Blab, Crab, Flab, Grab, Scab

Use your child’s vocabulary list from school to make more word family eggs!

Vocabulary Words

· Word Family: a group of words that have a common pattern or group of letters

For more Sanity Savers projects click here!

Sanity Savers: All Are Welcome-Read along and Lesson

Materials:

Length:

Academic Subject:

Directions:

Vocabulary Words

Storytime: Amelia Schrader reads All Are Welcome

Storytime: Eric Wood reads I Love Monkey

Sponsored by: M&T Bank

Sanity Savers: Pop Up Cards

Sponsored by: M&T Bank

Materials

Length:

Academic Subject(s):

Vocabulary Words

Sanity Savers: Spin to Spell Eggs

Materials:

Length:

Academic Subject(s):

Directions:

Vocabulary Words

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