NATIONAL RUBBER DUCK DAY is JANUARY 13

National Rubber Duck Day—January 13 



Link to Free PDF Printable



What is yellow, squishy, easy-to-grasp, and provides an instant smile? A rubber ducky, of course!

For most children, bath time or backyard pool time experiences are enhanced by the simple plastic (not rubber) cartoon version of the famous water fowl. From the ever-familiar Ernie and his tiny rubber ducky to the giant smile maker created by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, rubber ducks have a way of creating positive memories.

January 13 is National Rubber Duck Day. Why not celebrate by bringing a dozen or so of these cute creatures into your classroom to create positive educational memories for the little ones in your life?

Below is a list of Rubber Duck-themed Activities to use to celebrate National Rubber Duck Day with the fanfare it deserves:

1. Conduct an internet exploration of the story of what happened to 28,000* rubber ducks in 1992.**

A brief summary of the event:

In 1992, a cargo ship from China was transporting a container with 28,000 plastic bath toys—ducks, frogs, etc, to the United States. The container fell overboard, spilling the plastic animals into the Pacific Ocean. Since that time, the rubber ducks have appeared all across the globe. Many of them, however, continue to be trapped in the North Pacific Gyre, a vortex of water that circulates between western North America and Asia.

Link to story

*Many online resources state that there were 28,000 ducks. However, upon further research, I have found that ducks were only part of the set of plastic animals that were lost at sea.

**This is a great opportunity to discuss how myths are often generated from facts. Encourage children to establish credibility of the source. For example, one site listed the ducks as originating from Japan. They began their journey in China, not Japan.

2. Using the images provided with this resource or a set of rubber ducks and a world map, practice identifying the continents and countries where the ducks have been spotted. Children can match the international ducks to the region or use the ducks to trace the path the ducks took to reach their destination. List the oceans that the ducks traversed to get to their final locations.

This is another opportunity to demonstrate the connection between oceans.

3. Conduct an internet search to identify locations where the giant rubber duck created by Florentijn Hofman has been displayed. Mark those locations on a globe or map.

Link to Florentijn Hofman's Website

*There are some great videos of this giant duck. Most recently, the giant rubber duck was in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

4. Use the information obtained with the internet search in number 3 to compare the size of the ducks children play with to the giant rubber duck. This activity can be easily modified for different levels. For example, estimate how many small rubber ducks it would take to equal the height of the giant rubber duck. For younger children, provide the estimate and practice rote counting. For older children, measure the ducks and calculate the answer.
5. Give a duck to each of your children. Ask them to track the path the duck takes to run an errand. For example, how many left and right turns does it take to go from home to the grocery store? Instead of listing oceans, list the street names where their duck traveled.

6. Read 10 Little Rubber Ducks by Eric Carle. This book addresses the following concepts:

·        Counting

·        Ordinals

·        Positional words

·        Compass directions

·        Comparing items (living ducks with rubber ducks)

·        Target audience: Pre-K-1

7. Provide each child with a rubber duck to write a story about where that duck could travel.

8. For older children, connect the great rubber duck disaster to environmental awareness. Conduct an internet search to learn of other items that are trapped in the North Pacific Gyre. Create a list of ways to reduce the impact humans make on the world in which we live.

9. Use the rubber ducks or printables to practice math concepts.

 

 

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A New Year is Here~TIME TO GET YOUR DUCKS IN A ROW

It’s official! The New Year has arrived. Across the country and around the world, January 1st signals the official end of the holiday season and a return to a noses to the grindstone time of year—in the workplace and in the classroom. The start of a new year, fresh with energy, is the perfect time to conduct a mini unit utilizing the new calendar.

Below you will find some of the many ways that a calendar can be used to teach, reinforce, and review essential skills. Many of these suggestions can be easily modified to meet age and ability levels. They can be used as center activities, small group review, or as a homework activity that involves the entire family.

Activities:

1. Begin the unit with a quick review of the months of the year in order. Enlarge and print the monthly calendar to use for this activity

2. Provide each child a copy of the calendar to use for the following activities.

• Guide the children in finding and coloring the block on the calendar that corresponds with their birthday.
• Play the “Standing Up for my Birthday” counting game where the children orally point and count each day of each month. When the month and date match the child’s birthday, they are to stand up and shout. “Hey! That’s my birthday!”
• Take turns reading the months of the year and having each child with a birthday that falls in the month stand up. Record those numbers on a page printed with the months listed in order.
• Use the bar graph template (provided) to create a bar graph based on the number of birthdays that occur each month.
• Practice left-to-right tracking and the concept of rows by pointing and reading the days of the week or dates for a particular week of each month.
• Practice the concept of columns verses rows by finding and reading the column in each month that begins with 7. This is great to provide a foundation for multiplication and skip counting.
• Locate and color the dates for important holidays.
• As a homework assignment, use the calendars to locate and color the block that corresponds to each family member. Remind children to use a different color for each one.
• Create a bar graph with the number of months that have the EXACT number of days—28, 29*, 30, 31. (See silly duck joke)
• Cut the calendars out and laminate to use in a learning center. Create task cards to place in chronological order, sort by season, sort by total number of days, etc.

 

 

*The calendars are also great additions to the morning warm-up folder for your children. They can be used to mark each day that has passed, identify weekend days, record the daily high/low temperatures, or provide sticker incentives and rewards. The possibilities are endless.

Christmas Is Almost Here~Time to Slow Down!



Link to Bead Crochet Pattern

December 16th—where oh where has the month gone? In fact, where has 2013 gone? Nowadays, time certainly does seem to move faster for all of us, young and not-so-young. With busy schedules, many commitments, and the often self-imposed pressure to be all and do all, there is often little time to merely sit down, relax, and do a bit of nothing.

This year I decided, with a bit of coaxing from a coworker, to spend time doing some activities that seem to make time slow down. In other words, after a nearly 3 year break, I picked up my crochet hook and dragged my sewing tools out from the back of my closet.

Just as we adults often feel overwhelmed this time of year, the little ones in your lives probably feel the same way. As Christmas is just around the corner, one of the best gifts you can present to your children is the gift of time. Slow down and spend a few hours each day doing something that is slow-paced and relaxing. Watch some holiday shows. Read a few picture books. Play family games. The activity is irrelevant. The time you spend together is what matters most.

If you do decide to watch some holiday shows as an activity, why not help yourself relax and unwind even more by picking up your own crochet hook and knitting needles? Both have been known to lower blood pressure as well as lower the resting heart rate—a gift you can definitely offer to yourself this Christmas season.

The image at the top of this post will take you to a link to a pattern I created several years ago for a local newspaper. The link will take you to Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood’s blog where the pdf of the pattern is stored. The child-size purse takes about 2-3 hours to complete while the doll-sized purse can be whipped up in a little over an hour, about the time it will take to watch Rudolph, The Grinch, and A Charlie Brown Christmas-three of my favorite Christmas classics.

This post will be my last post for 2013. I hope to SPRING back into blogging action by mid-January.

 

Needle Felted Snowman Creation Based on Vintage Christmas Card...I LOVE snow!

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Merry Christmas, Everyone! Thank you for reading my blog this year.

Last Minute Christmas Tree Craftivity & Mathtivity

The holiday break is almost here. Whether you are counting down the days until winter break or you are counting down the days to Christmas, practically everyone is counting down to something this time of year.

In this mad rush to finish the shopping, trim the tree, grade the papers, and find something to do for the kiddos in your life, the last thing you need is yet another thing to add to your list. ~Unless, of course, it is a quick, inexpensive, and easy craftivity sprinkled with a math lesson that will keep the kiddos busy while you are finishing the shopping, trimming, and grading papers.

This Christmas packet from Rainbows to Snowflakes includes an easy-to-make tree craft created with ribbon and pony beads. Also included are two math worksheets to use either as a follow-up to the craft project or as homework.

Skills addressed:

Fine motor skills

Counting with a 1-to-1 correspondence

Duplicating a pattern

Creating and solving addition sentences with answers less than 20

So put on some holiday music and have fun crafting and mathing with the kiddos.

Merry Christmas, everyone! 

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ONE Snowflake Among Billions

How do you pay tribute to the ones that you have loved and lost? From Thanksgiving through the end of December, people everywhere pay tribute in many ways. In the United States we remember those that risked everything to settle our country by welcoming loved ones to share a meal at our dining table. In December, we celebrate the birth of Jesus by donating our time and money to help those less fortunate than us. We present gifts to loved ones to remember the ultimate gift that Jesus presented to us. There are countless ways to honor others and help out the community at the same time.

Before Thanksgiving, readers of this blog participated in a memorial project that encouraged remembrance and selfless giving. This project was in memory of a man that none of the readers nor I had ever met--Roger Mulder from West Michigan. The participants in this project, both young and old, remained anonymous, only providing their first names and states in which they reside. True gratitude and caring was evidenced by the readers’ willingness to help shine the light on a kind and caring man that helped many many children have a brighter Christmas for 10 years.

The blog readers and their children selected toys were donated to the Salvation Army Angel Tree in Virginia and Michigan memory of Roger Mulder.

The blog readers and their children created or selected a very special angel to photograph for this project.

The blog readers helped continue Roger Mulder’s generosity.

I am certain that many readers wonder about the significance of this blog’s title--Rainbows to Snowflakes. Both rainbows and snowflakes are amazing examples of God’s gifts to us. When we take the time to study and admire the beauty of something as small and insignificant as a drop of water that becomes a snowflake-ONE among billions, our eyes and hearts are opened wide enough to allow us to see the splendor of a rainbow, the combination of billions of drops of water. Roger Mulder was ONE of those beautiful and amazing drops that formed a snowflake. When the readers of this blog paused long enough to take note of this man’s great acts of generosity, I am certain that their own personal rainbows became brighter.

The blog readers gave selflessly by participating in this project. And, a selfless act is the most precious gift we can present to ourselves.

Thank you to the many people that took time to snap a photo of an angel, create an angel, or select a very special angel and shine the light on an angel in Heaven--Roger Mulder.

Please take a moment to view the photos that are the conclusion of this project—each image ONE droplet, ONE snowflake of the beautiful rainbow of humanity.

 

 These toys were donated in memory of Roger Mulder:

 

 

 

 

The 15 Ducks of Christmas & a Snowman or 2, TOO!

 

CLICK HERE TO GET A FREE PDF OF THESE IDEAS FROM TEACHERS PAY TEACHERS

What do silly rubber ducks and Christmas have in common? They both provide a wonderful and fun avenue for learning important skills. Today’s post is all about having fun and learning at the same time. And, what better way to do it than with Christmas-themed rubber duckies? While you can easily print and use the images I am posting below, you can definitely add to the fun by getting a set of ducks for your math tubs. I found mine on Amazon. So, let’s get quackin’ and have some rubber duck fun.

The best way to begin is by adding new lyrics to an old familiar song-The 12 Ducks of Christmas is sung to the tune of The 12 Days of Christmas, with the same ole’ dragging out of the words.

 

After you practice the song with your little ones, why not add to the excitement by using either the printable or your own rubber ducks to practice using positional words. In fact, where else can a duck go—in a stocking, under a present, etc?

What would Christmas be without a little silly duck humor?

 

 

As a reminder that winter is almost upon us, another changing of the seasons, I am reposting (by request) my Seasonal Snowman poem.

 

Happy Holidays, everyone!

 

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MINTY MATH FOR KINDERGARTEN & FIRST GRADE

Welcome to December—the eternally busy month where it seems as if there are never enough hours in the day, enough hands to do the work, and enough dollars to do it with.

As refreshing as a peppermint, the posts this month will provide activities and ideas for those that are somewhat busy, those that are very busy, and those that are—Are you kidding? When will I ever find the time to do that?! busy. If you are too busy to read this blog, don’t worry— these posts will still be here in January when the whirlwind of December is behind all of us.

If, however, you fit into the first category, take the time to drop a peppermint into your cup of cocoa and check out these ideas to use that winter-fresh candy with the little ones in your life.

Whether they are the real starlight mints and candy canes or the printable versions, these sweet treats provide wonderful opportunities to practice many math skills.

Included below are printables and suggestions for practicing math skills that include counting, single-digit addition, identifying shapes, sorting, non-standard measurement, comparing numbers of objects, sequencing, and more. Created by Rainbows to Snowflakes, this candy cane and starlight mint themed resource will provide ideas and materials to use in math centers, as warm-up activities, and small group practice for kindergarten and first grade.

 

 

 

 

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