Fall
is a time to celebrate new beginnings. Spend a special week opening (or
re-opening) your Butterfly School workshop! It helps children to see what
Butterfly School is all about.
For this series, I translated our early kitchen style Butterfly School sessions into the Butterfly School world of the kid-friendly caterpillars. I always find it fun to coordinate the date with our Butterfly School counting games.
As you'll see in the pictures, as our ideas grow throughout the week, I just tape more sheets of paper onto the kitchen wall. By leaving things posted for a day, a week or longer, children will gently get to review and absorb the things we discuss. Keep your current focus materials at your child's eye-level. Older materials are still useful if they are posted in less visible areas.
Special Tips:
We have tried to emphasize one aspect of Butterfly School in each of these
Activity Sheets. Consider printing the whole set now to gather ideas from each
day. Some elements of Butterfly School that we have included are: sharing
the date, checking the weather, discussing a special letter, sharing an exercise
together, and a simple activity that brings one of our ideas "to
life".
Starter Set . . . Caterpillars & Butterflies.
In upcoming weeks, you can refer back to these illustrations to demonstrate the
kind of activity you are sharing in your Butterfly School. Discuss ways that your Butterfly School sessions are similar to the
caterpillars' sessions -- and ways that they are different!
What to save . . .
At the end of the week, or month, we gather everything into three ringed notebooks -- our portfolios. I like to use plastic
"sleeves" or "sheet protectors" from the office supply store
for the kids' artwork. It is nice to have one notebook for each child and
one for yourself.
I enjoy keeping a collection of our Butterfly School work. I believe it is a special family record that we will all treasure later. Now and then, we all look over our notebooks. I can see that the kids are pleased with their growing collection of work! We can all see how much they have learned. It is fun to look back and remember the times we have shared. It is also fun to consider all the great things we will get to share in the future.
Names
Add whatever names you like to this week's caterpillars.
Name them after yourselves, or ask your child what name s/he would like. Make a few extra butterflies or caterpillars this
week. Give them interesting names. Try all "L" names -- or
name them after your pets -- my kids always think it is very funny to have
caterpillars named after our cats.
Keep us in the loop!
We are always creating new materials and we appreciate feedback from other
kid-friendly grown-ups. Please share our ideas with your favorite children
and with your friends. Let us know what works, where you see room for
improvements and suggestions. We would love to hear from you.
Butterfly School began at my kitchen table and I'm delighted to help you transform yours into an adventurous place to share learning with your preschoolers, toddlers & other children!
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You are ready for the Activity Sheets now; you can print them from here (Get Sheets), or go back to the Butterfly School home page.
For more great ideas, check out the activities at our parent site www.shininghours.com.
Getting Started
Teacher Tips
from Corinne Steigerwald
If you are new to Butterfly School, review these sheets before you play them with your child. Plan ahead for the simple treats that will make it fun for your child to learn with you.
Our major goal is to share the fun of learning with children. Keep early sessions short & sweet. Surprise your child with the scent of a lemon, the pleasure of a bunch of paper leaves to count, a simple yellow caterpillar that your child gets to name.
Above all, keep early sessions short so your children will look forward to the next one! Stop when everyone is still having fun & you'll be sure to generate more excitement as the weeks unfold.
Here are some fun ways to bring the sheets to life.
L is for lemon! This sample set shares activities
featuring the letter "L". You might try to find a lemon to share
with your child. Feel the texture. Cut it open, squeeze a wedge and collect
the juice in a cup to taste (just dip in one finger). Smell the lemon too!
Look for other yellow things. Have yellow paper on hand to cut out paper
lemons.
L is for leaf! Gather some real leaves to show your child
while you are at the kitchen table. Throughout the week, pay special
attention to the leaves you see growing outside. Look at flowers, bushes and
trees up close. Gather some leaves to trace. Use masking tape to decorate
your Butterfly School area with real leaves. You can gather
our special leaf outlines to trace or view our collection
of leaves at our parent site www.shininghours.com
L is for love! We have a heart shape featured on one
of the caterpillar's sheets. Share the heart shape with someone you love.
Fold a sheet of paper in half. Cut out a construction paper heart and let
your child decorate it to send to a parent at his or her workplace, a
grandparent or a special friend!
L is for ... Make an "l" word collection
all week. Add new "l" words each day!
Questions for Corinne: corinne@shininghours.com
Coordinated resources:
We have mini-posters that feature the weather theme. For this week, take a look at our weather words. It helps build your child's vocabulary when you make a game of describing the weather. Use as many words as you can to capture what is special about today's weather -- the color of the sky, the speed of the wind, the smells in the air!
Here are some vocabulary suggestions: weather.