L for leaf

More on unit 3 'L for leaf'. Such an interesting and meaningful unit!

This topic teaches kids to live and grow in Jesus, using the leaf to illustrate the importance of relying and remaining in the plant. The object lesson of a leaf breaking away from the plant enables a child to grasp the concept of depending on the plant for survival. Really love this real life lesson! It's not just speaking to Zech but to me as well.


Zech's pressed leaves collection...

Whenever we do Bible memorization and story, I use my trusty Elmo puppet to engage in dialogue with me. Zech loves Elmo and often reminds me to take him out. It helps him to listen more attentively and speeds up the time required to memorise the Bible verses. The puppet is a very effective tool!

Other fun activities for the leaf unit...

Making tree snack for tea. My fav! Got the idea from preschool.com.
A simple leaf experiment to show trees and plants lose water through the leaves.

See the water droplets?

At the end of each unit, book time is recommended. This time I chose 'Caps for sale' from the book list. How I love the story!

Designed a post-reading activity. Zech did one to one correspondence. Then I showed him how to use the leaves to make a tree man. I was inspired by the book 'Leaf man' . Can you spot the tree man Zech has created in the photo above?

Recently, I've started making my own word cards based on the unit and books.  After going through the cards, I put them in the sensory tray, hid them in the rice and Zech searched for the word I call out.

 

For most of Zech's craft and work, I displayed it on a wall outside his room alongside his creation pieces from day 1 to day 7. Realised what's most useful about the display is giving Zech a chance to review. Sometimes he would retell the creation story several times to me or his papa.

Progress of the bean plants. 

 

Very exciting for Zech to see the bean plants growing taller every day. Great resource to teach the different parts of a plant as the roots, stem and leaves can be seen clearly.

 

Recently, I've built in outdoor play to our daily schedule. Though sometimes we can't make it outdoor due to some reason or another, we try to do this at least twice a week. This makes my boys really happy. Zech on his balance bike and Nathanael on his tricycle, making our way down to the roof garden is now an almost daily affair.