Dear MB Families,
The activities last week provided opportunities for children to explore relative location by describing the positions of people, objects and places using terms such as above, below, up, down, over, under, and between as well as directional terms left and right. This week the focus is on what are known as CARDINAL DIRECTIONS. These are north, south, east, and west, abbreviated as N, S, E and W.
Remember to pick and choose the activity or activities that work best for you and your child.
Please tell your child that Mrs. Wint misses them more than soap misses water!
Stay well!
Faith Wint
The activities last week provided opportunities for children to explore relative location by describing the positions of people, objects and places using terms such as above, below, up, down, over, under, and between as well as directional terms left and right. This week the focus is on what are known as CARDINAL DIRECTIONS. These are north, south, east, and west, abbreviated as N, S, E and W.
Remember to pick and choose the activity or activities that work best for you and your child.
Please tell your child that Mrs. Wint misses them more than soap misses water!
Stay well!
Faith Wint
ACTIVITY #1-SIMON SAYS
Turn your child into a “compass kid”.
You may want to use at the Compass App which is standard on many phones or can often be downloaded for free.
Label walls in your home or a room where you plan to be north, south, east and west. You can use the letters N, S, E and W.
Ask your child to stand up and face north. Next with their arms extending outward, show them that when they face north, the direction east will always be to their right, west will be to their left and south will always be behind them. Practice turning towards each direction. Then play Simon Says with cardinal directions. For example, Simon Says take 3 baby steps north…5 giant steps east…4 jumps to the south.
After they get the hang of Simon says, try this additional activity.
Sit down and plan a map of steps and directions. Pick an object in the room and find out how many steps in each direction you may need to get from where you start to the object. Write down the directions then, see if you can duplicate it. Take a piece of paper out and try to make each step a dot for a small step or a dash for a giant step. Give it to someone else to see if your map works.
Turn your child into a “compass kid”.
You may want to use at the Compass App which is standard on many phones or can often be downloaded for free.
Label walls in your home or a room where you plan to be north, south, east and west. You can use the letters N, S, E and W.
Ask your child to stand up and face north. Next with their arms extending outward, show them that when they face north, the direction east will always be to their right, west will be to their left and south will always be behind them. Practice turning towards each direction. Then play Simon Says with cardinal directions. For example, Simon Says take 3 baby steps north…5 giant steps east…4 jumps to the south.
After they get the hang of Simon says, try this additional activity.
Sit down and plan a map of steps and directions. Pick an object in the room and find out how many steps in each direction you may need to get from where you start to the object. Write down the directions then, see if you can duplicate it. Take a piece of paper out and try to make each step a dot for a small step or a dash for a giant step. Give it to someone else to see if your map works.
ACTIVITY #2-THE COMPASS SLIDEPractice your cardinal directions with some upbeat dance moves. This is something fun for the whole family to do. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw07DjfQ48g
ACTIVITY #3 MAZES
Mazes are fantastic tools for helping children understand routes and directions. Use the suggested mazes below or find others. When your child completes the maze, have them use directional terms to guide you through the correct route on the maze they completed.
HINT label the top of the paper N for north, the bottom margin S, for south, the right E for east and the left margin W for west. Once the maze is completed talk about how you would give directions to someone who is lost. “ Go east until you hit the wall. Turn north and go to the next opening, turn west there.”
Below are some free online mazes.
1. Fun Maze: Stick with the current level of the online maze or switch to a more difficult one.
2. Medium Maze #1: Use your mouse as a pen to get from the start to the finish of this online maze.
3. Medium Maze #2: Another intermediate online maze where you'll need to get to the finish by using your mouse.
4. Green Maze: Get the red ball to the yellow star. See how fast you can go!
Mazes are fantastic tools for helping children understand routes and directions. Use the suggested mazes below or find others. When your child completes the maze, have them use directional terms to guide you through the correct route on the maze they completed.
HINT label the top of the paper N for north, the bottom margin S, for south, the right E for east and the left margin W for west. Once the maze is completed talk about how you would give directions to someone who is lost. “ Go east until you hit the wall. Turn north and go to the next opening, turn west there.”
Below are some free online mazes.
1. Fun Maze: Stick with the current level of the online maze or switch to a more difficult one.
2. Medium Maze #1: Use your mouse as a pen to get from the start to the finish of this online maze.
3. Medium Maze #2: Another intermediate online maze where you'll need to get to the finish by using your mouse.
4. Green Maze: Get the red ball to the yellow star. See how fast you can go!
ACTIVITY #4-READ WITH BOOKFLIX AND EPIC
Try this book on Bookflix
www.bookflix.digital.scholastic.com/
We Need Direction by Sarah de Capus
Try one or both of these books on Epic! https://www.getepic.com
Compasses and Cardinal Directions by Ellis M. Reed
North, South, East, and West by Meg Greve
Try this book on Bookflix
www.bookflix.digital.scholastic.com/
We Need Direction by Sarah de Capus
Try one or both of these books on Epic! https://www.getepic.com
Compasses and Cardinal Directions by Ellis M. Reed
North, South, East, and West by Meg Greve
ACTIVITY #5-K-2 ENGINEERING CHALLENGES
YOU CHOOSE! Pick any one or two or a few!
1. CREATE A GAME
Use recyclables to design your own game. Create rules for your game and teach your family how to play.
2. DESIGN A PAIR OF GLASSES
Use materials you have at home to design a stylish pair of glasses. You can imagine you give your glasses special powers to see things. What would you see with these glasses. Would they be X-ray glasses to see through walls? Perhaps telescope glasses to see things far, far away? What other special powers can you give your glasses?
3. DESIGN A FUTURISTIC PHONE
Create a blueprint or plans of a futuristic phone design.
What can your phone do?
What can your phone do that phones do not do now?
Are there some things that all phones need to be able to do no matter how modern they are?
What would you name your phone?
Phones have changed so much over the last 140 years. Take a moment to look up old phones on the internet. Can you imagine what it would be like to use a phone 100 years ago? Here is one place to start looking https://telephone-museum.org/daily-artifact/
4. MAKE A PAPER AIRPLANE
An easy simple airplane is made from a single sheet of rectangular paper.
Place a piece of paper on a table or other flat surface.
Follow the folding instructions. This diagram may help.
YOU CHOOSE! Pick any one or two or a few!
1. CREATE A GAME
Use recyclables to design your own game. Create rules for your game and teach your family how to play.
2. DESIGN A PAIR OF GLASSES
Use materials you have at home to design a stylish pair of glasses. You can imagine you give your glasses special powers to see things. What would you see with these glasses. Would they be X-ray glasses to see through walls? Perhaps telescope glasses to see things far, far away? What other special powers can you give your glasses?
3. DESIGN A FUTURISTIC PHONE
Create a blueprint or plans of a futuristic phone design.
What can your phone do?
What can your phone do that phones do not do now?
Are there some things that all phones need to be able to do no matter how modern they are?
What would you name your phone?
Phones have changed so much over the last 140 years. Take a moment to look up old phones on the internet. Can you imagine what it would be like to use a phone 100 years ago? Here is one place to start looking https://telephone-museum.org/daily-artifact/
4. MAKE A PAPER AIRPLANE
An easy simple airplane is made from a single sheet of rectangular paper.
Place a piece of paper on a table or other flat surface.
Follow the folding instructions. This diagram may help.
Take the paper and fold it in half the long way. Open it up.
Fold two corners on the short side of the rectangle into the middle, making diagonal creases, fold them again. Fold the paper in half the long way. Fold the wings.
Throw the paper airplane to see how far it will fly. Think about how you can make it fly even farther!
You can make design experiments. Make the wing folds different sizes. Try adding weight such as tape or a paper clip to different parts of the plane.
If you complete any of these challenges, let me know! Send me a note, a picture or video. I would love to see your creations!
Fold two corners on the short side of the rectangle into the middle, making diagonal creases, fold them again. Fold the paper in half the long way. Fold the wings.
Throw the paper airplane to see how far it will fly. Think about how you can make it fly even farther!
You can make design experiments. Make the wing folds different sizes. Try adding weight such as tape or a paper clip to different parts of the plane.
If you complete any of these challenges, let me know! Send me a note, a picture or video. I would love to see your creations!