Bring on the Fun–Day 1/2

Today we will be reading Bring on the Fun by Karen Mitzo Hilderbrand and Kim
Mitzo Thompson. This will be a two-day activity. Read the book first and circle 12
facts! Then, go tell your brother or sister your 3 favorite facts you learned from the
book!

Bring on the Fun–Day 2/2

Last day for Bring on the Fun! Go through this book again, but this time, underline
as many 2-vowel teams as you can! So, these are words with “oo,” “ee,” “ea,” “ie,”
“oi.” For example, on the first page with the title “Puppies” on the left side, there
are words with two vowel teams! Words to underline on this page are “sleep,”
“feed,” “weeks,” “great,” “learn,” “voice,” “trained,” and “people.” There are many
words with two vowel teams, so if you don’t find them all that’s ok! But try your
best! Remember, being a hard worker and putting effort into your work is more
important than being correct! We learn by making mistakes, and that’s a good
thing! 

Olivia Goes to the Library by Lauren Forte

Today we will read Olivia Goes to the Library by Lauren Forte! First read the book,
then in your Findings Journal, answer these questions:
What happens in the story?
What is the problem of the story?
When was a time you lost something? How did you find it? Where was it?

Olivia Plays Soccer: Day 1/2

Read Olivia Plays Soccer by Tina Gallo out loud to your favorite stuffed animal and
answer the following questions in your Findings Journal:
What happened in the story?
Why was Olivia upset?
What would you do if you were Olivia?
It’s important you know all the words in this story and the answer to these
questions because you are going to do something very special in the next activity
with this book  If you need to read it more times, that’s ok too!
Olivia Plays Soccer: Day 2/2
Today you are going to be the teacher and read this story to your brother and
sister! In order to have a larger class, gather a few of your favorite toys and stuffed
animals to be a part of your class too! Read the book aloud to them like your
teacher does with your class. At the end of the book, ask the three questions you
answered when you read the book for the first time:
What happened in the story?
Why was Olivia upset?
What would you do if you were Olivia?

Reese Math!
Today, we will be dividing some Reese’s Pieces (before eating them!). Find the
Reese’s Pieces box in your learning kit, your Finding’s Journal, and a flat, clean
surface. You can put a plate or paper towel down as well. Dump out all the Reese’s
Pieces on the clean surface, plate, or paper towel. Your first goal is to separate
them by color. So, put all the same colored Reese’s Pieces in the same pile. Write
down how many of each color there are in your findings journal. Make sure to
label what those colors are too!

Next, put all the Reese’s Piece’s back into one big pile again! This time we’re going
to divide them in half. In other words, make two piles with the same number of
Reese’s Pieces in them. Write down this number in your Findings Journal. It doesn’t
matter what color is in each pile this time.
After you have finished splitting them up, ask your mom to check your work. Then,
you can eat them! (Make sure you ask your mom first before eating them all–you
don’t want a tummy ache! )
Adventure Day!
This next activity is an adventure! Grab your coat and boots and go outside! Find
sticks, rocks, grass, and other things found in nature to write the words listed in
your Findings Journal. Break the sticks/grass/etc. to make it easier for you to make
the letters. For example, if you wanted to write the letter “A,” you could take two
sticks and make them into a point and then a long blade of grass to cross over the
sticks to make the “A.” You can use a rock for an “O.” Be creative! Once you have
made a word, put a check in the box beside the word in your Findings Journal.

Constellations
A constellation is a grouping of stars that make a shape or picture. For example,
many people easily find the little/big dipper in the night sky. One of my favorite
parts of summer is sitting in the grass and looking at the stars at night. Today, we
are going to make our own stars and constellations! Find the black construction
paper and the push pin. Find the list of words that is with the black paper. You will
take the push pin and make holes with the push pin to spell out the word. There is
an example with the construction paper as well.

D., need, steep, sheep, meet, lead, please, eat, meat, choice, noise, point, coin,
coat, moat, toad, boat, choose, boots, field, believe

Last Day of School Cookies

Happy last day of school! A tradition in my house is to make homemade cookies on
the last day of school, so I wanted to share my tradition with you! Find the cookie
mix and ask your mom for help. I’d like you to be as involved in making the cookies
as possible, so measure, stir, and watch the time. After putting the cookies in the
oven, record in your findings journal how the process of making the batter went.
Once the cookies are done, write how long it took to make the cookies and how
many cookies you made. Also, record how the cookies changed in appearance
(what did they look like before you baked them and what do they look like after
they are baked?). Once the cookies have cooled, try one. Write down what they
taste like in your findings journal with as many adjectives (describing words) as
possible.
Fly Swatter Phonics
Find the bag of balloons and the fly swatters. Each balloon as a different sound
written on it. Blow up one balloon. Throw it up into the air and hit it with the fly
swatter. Each time you hit the balloon with the fly swatter, say the sound. After
you’re done with that sound, blow up the next balloon and do the same thing. You
can play with multiple balloons at once, but make sure you say the sound that goes
with each balloon every time you hit it! Try not to let the balloons hit the floor!
There are three fly swatters so your siblings and family members can play too!

Map of My House–Day 1/2

In your Finding’s Journal, make a map of your house. Label the rooms and be as
detailed as possible. You can use the colored pencils to make it in color too!

Map of My House–Day 2/2

Count how many steps it takes to get from the front door to another part of the
house and write it down in your Findings Journal. You can add other rooms to the
list and record how many steps it takes to get there too!

D.’s room
The living room
The kitchen
The bathroom
Other___________

Nature Walk: Day 1/2

Go outside and write as many describing words as you can about nature in your
Findings Journal. So, if I were sitting in the woods, I could say quiet, peaceful, and
beautiful. See how long you can make your list! If you want, you can even draw a
landscape (what you see outside) in you Art Journal after you make your describing
list!
Nature Walk: Day 2/2
Time for another adventure! Go outside and find a bug. Now watch it for a little
while. Write in your Findings journal what it looks like, what it’s doing, if it’s eating
anything, and anything else you notice.

Finally, write a story in your Illustration Journal about the adventure the bug is
going on. Is it going to see it’s family? Go on a vacation? Shopping? Use colored
pencils to illustrate your story too!

Illustration Journal Day 1/10

Find your Illustration journal. Read the sentence on page 1, and with colored
pencils, draw an illustration that is appropriate with the sentence. With a pencil,
underline the 2-vowel teams in the sentences.

Page 1. Once upon a time, there was a mermaid named D.. Her favorite thing to do
was swim around with her mermaid friends.

Page 2. D. and her friends loved to search for seashells, coral, and seaweed to
make mermaid crowns. They also looked for tiny starfish to wear as earrings.

Page 3. One day, she saw that her mermaid friend, Mary Jane, was crying. “I lost
my favorite seashell crown!” Mary Jane cried.

Page 4. D. decided she had to help Mary Jane. She asked her mermaid friends if
they could all help her look for Mary Jane’s seashell crown.

Page 5. First, D. the mermaid lifted a large rock, and the mermaids looked under it.
It wasn’t there.

Page 6. Then, D. looked in the seaweed. It wasn’t there either.

Page 7. She was so upset she couldn’t find it. Suddenly her crab friend, Carlos,
came up to her.

Page 8. Carlos said that Mary Jane may have lost her crown in the sand dunes, big
hills of sand.
Page 9. D. swam over to the sand dunes, and she found it behind the biggest dune!

Page 10. D. swam back to her cove and gave Mary Jane her crown. Mary Jane was
so happy to finally have her crown back!

Harvest Day!
Each time you harvest berries, record how many berries of each kind you pick in
your Findings Journal. Also record what they taste like!

Gardening Fun!
Your mom told me that your family is planting a garden this summer! Record the
types of plants you have in your Findings Journal, and each week, take the ruler
and measure how tall each type of plant is. You can watch your plants grow and
see how fast they grow! Also, write down how they taste once you harvest them
during the summer!

Rainy Day Word Search!

Complete D.’s Word Search 1. The word search key is in the bag as well to check
answers and make sure you found them all! (& if it isn’t rainy, take it outside and
complete in the nice weather!)

Rainy Day Word Search!

Complete D.’s Word Search 2. The word search key is in the bag as well to check
answers and make sure you found them all! (& if it isn’t rainy, take it outside and
complete in the nice weather!) (There are 3 more word searches that are a little
harder if you want to try those too. You can do those whenever you want just for
fun.)
Hide and Seek Phonics
This is a game played with two or more people. Person A hides the ducks (with
words on the bottom) somewhere around the house while Person B closes their
eyes. Once Person A has hidden all the ducks, Person B goes and finds the ducks.
When they find a duck, they have to say the word(s) on the bottom. After all the
ducks are found, Person A and Person B switch jobs.

D. the Artist: Day 1

In D.’s Art Journal, you will create different masterpieces in the style of famous
artists. The first piece you will recreate is Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh.
Fun facts about Vincent Van Gogh:
1. He painted 860 oil paintings and over 1,300 watercolors, drawings, and
sketches.
2. Vincent painted Starry Night in France. It was the view outside his
window.
3. Vincent was the oldest of 6 children
4. His original painting of Starry Night is at the Museum of Modern Art
(MOMA) in New York, New York.
5. Van Gogh was very emotional and upset a lot, and he used art to calm
down
6. His mother had thrown away many of his art pieces after he died
https://www.biography.com/people/vincent-van-gogh-9515695

Look at his painting below. This was the view outside of his window. If you looked
out your window, would the sky look like this? No. And neither did his. He FELT the
sky looked this way and added artistic elements like the swirls and short brush
strokes (the little tiny lines of color that make up the entire picture) to create what
he felt. Look very closely at all the tiny little lines in the picture below.

Now comes the fun part  You are going to use the oil pastels to create your own
Starry Night from your imagination. Experiment with the tiny lines, shapes, colors,
and swirls to create a beautiful night sky!
To see other first graders’ Starry Night creations, go to
https://youngartlove.wordpress.com/2014/09/11/1st-grade-starry-nights/
D. the Artist: Day 2
Today we are going to learn about watercolor! One of the most famous watercolor
artists is Claude Monet. He is known for his painting of water lilies.

Fun facts about Claude Monet:

1. He was born in France
2. His first name really may have been Oscar
3. He moved to Paris in order to do more art
4. Monet created many paintings of lilies
5. Monet was very curious about light and how it made different objects
look different at different times of day
https://www.biography.com/people/claude-monet-9411771

Before anything, get a small bowl of water and some paper towels. Set them off to
the side. In your Artist Journal, use oil pastels to draw the bridge and the lilies. We
will add the watercolor in a little bit. Make sure to draw the lily pads larger at the
bottom of the page and smaller at the top of the page. This makes it seem like the
smaller lily pads are farther away. Next, take the clean paintbrush and dip it in the
water. Put the clear water on the page in all of the places you want to add the
watercolor to make the pond water. Next, dip the paintbrush in the water again
and put it in the watercolor paint you want to use. It will turn into a liquid! Then
take some of that color and put it onto the water part of the paper. If you want to
use other watercolors, clean your brush in the water and dry it on the paper towel
before using another color. This will keep your watercolor set nice for a longer
time. If you want to add some texture to your painting, sprinkle some salt onto the
painting while the watercolor is still wet on the paper.

After you are finished, set it aside and clean up your art supplies. It is very
important to clean your paintbrush so it stays nice. To do this, take a little bit of
soap in your hand, swirl the paintbrush in the soap in your hand, and then swirl the
paintbrush in your hand under the water. Then let it sit to dry or put it back in your
watercolor kit.

Another class did this exact same activity. Here is what their looked like! To learn
more about their project, go to
http://elementaryartfun.blogspot.com/2015/04/claude-monets-garden-1st-
grade.html
D.’s the Artist: Day 3
Fun Facts:
1. Picasso’s first word was lápiz, which is “pencil” in Spanish
2. He created his first painting when he was 9 years
https://www.pablopicasso.org/picasso-facts.jsp

One of Picasso’s most famous art forms was cubism. Lots of different shapes are
put together to make a picture, usually cubes and other geometric shapes such as
triangle, circle, rectangle, diamond. Look at the picture “Seated Woman” below.
Look at all the different shapes and lines. Look at the background too! Say out loud
all the different shapes you see. Now it’s your turn to create! Take the colored
construction paper and the scissors and cut different shapes out. In D.’s Art
Journal, take the glue stick and glue the construction paper onto the page to
create a picture of a person! This can be a person you created in your head, a
friend, or even yourself! Use a lot of color! You can make the person’s face pink!
Or the ears green! Make it crazy, just like Pablo Picasso’s cubism work!
Sidewalk Chalk Targets
Draw 5 large circles on cement. Write (with sidewalk chalk) one of the following
words in each circle:
Bounce
Shriek
Dance
Twirl
Leap

Take the sponges and get them super wet. It might be helpful to take a bucket of
water out with you. Take the wet sponge and throw it into one of the targets. Once
you get a wet sponge in one of the targets, you have to say the word, and then do
what it says! You will probably have to rewet the sponge and/or re-draw the chalk
targets.

Tea Party: Day 1/2

Today, you are going to plan a special tea party! You will need to plan
- what materials you need (mugs/tea cups, tea, snacks, table, table cloth,
napkins, silverware?)
- when you are going to have the tea party (Morning? Lunch time?
Afternoon? Dinner time? Evening?)
- where you are going to have it (Living room? Kitchen? Outside?)
- who is invited (Brother, sister, parents, grandparents, friends?)

In your Findings Journal is a table to help you plan. In this envelope there are also 5
tea bags to get you started. When it comes time to make the tea, make sure to
have your mom or dad help you! There is also some paper and envelopes in this
envelope for you to make invitations to send to your guests.

Tea Party: Day 2/2

Today is the day! Gather all your materials, set up your space, and get ready to
host your tea party!
Letter Writing: Day 1/2
In this envelope are letters. You should write these in the proper letter format like
this:

April 14, 2018

Dear D.,
For this activity, you are going to write a letter! This may be to a friend, a
grandparent, or even a neighbor. In the letter, you can tell them about what you
did that day, what you hope to do, what your goals are, or anything else you want
to tell them! Put your letter in the envelope and write their address on the front of
the letter. You will need to put a stamp in the upper, right-hand corner of the
envelope so the post office will send it and a return address in the top left-hand
corner (this is your address!). Then put it in your mailbox and put the flag up so the
mailman knows there is mail to be delivered.
I hope you have fun with this activity!
Sincerely,
Miss Wilson
Letter Writing Day 2/2
Remember when you wrote letters a couple weeks ago? Well this time you are
going to write a letter to me, Miss Wilson! For the letter you will write to me, there
is already an envelope ready with my address, a stamp, and your return address
that I got from Knox Elementary. Remember to write the letter in proper letter
format like this:

April 14, 2018

Dear D.,
In this letter, I want you to tell me about your favorite activity from your
Summer Learning Kit. I also want you to tell me other fun things you did with your
family. Are you excited to go back to school? Tell me all about your summer!
I hope you had a great summer and had fun doing activities from your
Summer Learning Kit!
Sincerely,
Miss Wilson
Pinch Pots
You might need Mom or Dad’s help with this activity 
Today we are going to make pinch pots! Pinch pots are small bowls made out of
clay! Find the clay in your bin. Take about a mandarin orange-sized amount of clay
(we’re going to use the clay for another activity, so don’t take too much!) Roll it
into a ball. Then stick your thumb right in the middle of it, but not the whole way
through! Take the thumb that is in the clay and your fingers and widen the bowl to
make it wider. Make sure the clay doesn’t get too thin or it will break. Let it dry,
and then you can use it to hold jewelry, as a flower pot, or anything else you want!
You can also paint it after it has dried if you want too!

*If the clay starts drying out when creating the pinch pots, get your hands wet and
smooth out the clay. Be careful not to get it too wet though!

*Make sure the lid is tightly put back on the clay so the leftover clay doesn’t dry
out.
Toad Abode
You will probably need Mom or Dad’s help with this activity 

Today, you are going to make a Toad Abode! “Abode” is another word for “house,”
so you are going to make a toad house! To make the toad abode, we’re going to do
the same thing you did with the pinch pot, but much, much bigger, so a toad can
live inside! Grab a large chunk of clay from the bin. This time it should be apple-
orange sized or even a little bigger if there is enough clay. Roll it into a ball and
stick your thumb into it just like before. It’s going to be more difficult since there is
more clay, so take your time and use your fingers to make it into bowl-form. With a
toad abode, you’ll want to make it taller. So don’t make the sides too wide.
Once you are done with the bowl, you are going to take a spoon and carve out the
doorway in the top rim of the bowl. Make sure it’s pretty big so a toad can easily
get in and out of it. (This part is not shown in the pictures below.) Take your fingers
and smooth the doorway out. Flip it over and make sure it’s the way you like. If you
want, you can LIGHTLY push little pebbles, seashells, or gems you have on hand
into the clay. Let it dry, and once it is completely hardened, you can paint it if you
want. Then, take it outside and put it near a tree or a damp space where toads
might like to hang out.

*If the clay starts drying out when creating the toad abode, get your hands wet
and smooth out the clay. Be careful not to get it too wet though!
*Make sure the lid is tightly put back on the clay so the leftover clay doesn’t dry
out.
Library Fun
You and your mom have told me that you love going to the library! Choose a book
you are currently ready from the library or one you have read in the past. In your
Findings Journal, explain what happened in the story and what your favorite part
was!
Canton Field Trip (Parent Assistance Needed)
Whoo hoo! Time for an adventure. Whenever you have a day where you and your
family need something to do, take a road trip to the Canton Art Museum! Make
sure to take your Findings Journal and write down your favorite art pieces. Write
down the title of the work and the artist. You can even draw a little sketch of the
art in your Findings Journal. When you get home, you can recreate it in your Art
Journal using the oil pastels, colored pencils, pencils, or watercolor paints. If you
aren’t able to go to the museum, you can also view their artwork on their website.
Here is the link: http://www.cantonartcollection.com/
Exploring Alliance (Parent Assistance Needed)
On a nice day, take your family to Silver Park in Alliance! In the reviews, it is rated
4.5 stars out of 5. Laura C. says that there are multiple playgrounds and paths to
walk on. She also says there are beautiful sights for photography. Desiree M. says
that there are two parks with play equipment and that you can feed the ducks or
fish at the pond. There are also pavilions. They are open dawn until dusk.
Address:
2930 S Union Ave
Alliance, OH 44601

Phone:
330-821-2260
Exploring Alliance (Parent Assistance Needed)
Take a field trip to the Huston-Brumbaugh Nature Center. This nature center is
owned by Mount Union and is free and open to the public. It is 120 acres of
walking trails and a nice welcome center that has planned activities scattered
throughout the summer and information on the wildlife. There is a page of some
events they have scheduled from their spring newsletter in this envelope. Plan to
attend an event or go for a walk with your family on a trail!
Ps. There is also a barn with a few animals to see and a pond!
Huston-Brumbaugh Nature Center
16146 Daniel St NE
Minerva, OH 44657

Their nature center hours are:

Tues.-Fri 9am-4pm
Saturday & Sunday 1-5pm
Monday- closed
But the trails are open dawn until dusk
Slap It! Card Game
Today we are going to learn about even and odd numbers. This is a second-grade
skill, so it might be a little tricky, but that’s ok! I think you’re up for the challenge!
You will take the cards from inside this envelope and mix them up! Then you will
put them in a pile facedown (stripes on top), so you can’t see what the card is.
Take the top card and flip it so you can see what number is on the card. Make sure
it lies flat on the table. If it is an even number (2, 4, 6, 8, 10), stick your tongue out!
If it is an odd number (3, 5, 7, 9), slap the card. If it is a smiley face, make a silly
noise, like “oink!” “beep!” or “squeak!” Keep doing this until you run out of cards.
You can play by yourself, with your friends, and even with your parents!