Level 2: Spring Unit Study

• North and South: A Tale of Two Hemispheres by Sandra Morris (If you have this book from our Arctic Unit, you can pull it out again to discuss the different seasons in different hemispheres this week!)

Two things that affect the seasons are the earth’s tilt on it’s axis and its revolution around the sun. These things affect the amount of daylight we get at different points in the year. Let’s bring this to life with this printable activity. Start by finding the average daily hours of sunlight in your area for each season. You can find this with a Google search, or use the sun calculator on this website. Next, use page 3 and 4 of the printable to review and discuss how the tilt of the earth create our seasons. (The book and the video in today’s lesson will help to teach the science.) Finally, use page 2 of the printable to create a model of the sun, the earth and the moon. Here’s what your orbit model should look like when it’s put together:

While we’re discussing seasons throughout the year, let’s also review the months that make up each season with this sequencing activity.

We’ve done a lot of serious mental work today—let’s end the day by working out some wiggles with this spring-themed gross motor movement cube activity! Feel free to repeat throughout the unit, especially if any spring showers keep you and your child indoors this week.

Let’s take a closer look at seeds, where all of this plant life begins! Use this printable to learn the parts of a seed. Next, craft a felt puzzle using the printable as your guide. Finally, use the printable for copywork.

Time to take our new knowledge into the real world by dissecting a seed! We recommend using lima beans for this. Start by soaking a few beans in water for the dissection (20 minutes should be long enough—but you may want to set this up in advance so it’s ready to go when you begin lessons.) Give your child a cutting board and a child-safe knife, or you can help them cut. Use the print-out from the previous activity to identify each part. Your child can color and label them on the printout as well.

Finally, let’s do some germinating! Use these instructions to grow bean seeds. You can use paper towels or cotton balls as your “soil,” but if you want to replant the bean sprouts in the ground later, it’s best to use real dirt to germinate your seeds.

(+) Want to upgrade into an experiment? Try different materials for soil and see which one grows the fastest. You could even try keeping one cup in dark cabinet to see how it grows in those conditions.

Now that we’ve learned so much about worms, what they eat, and their life cycle, let’s raise some worms of our own! Spend part of today setting up your worm farm if you purchased one. Alternatively, you could create this DIY worm observation jar version.

Let’s use worms to work on estimation and measuring with this activity.

Worms can even help your child with literacy! (Well, at least this one can. 😉) Click here to download this wormy beginning blends game for some play-based reading practice.

Dancing worms activity.

Do you know the difference between a rabbit and a hare? What about a bunny? Let’s find out in this video. After watching you can review the differences with a Venn diagram. Print ours here and work with your child to review the differences and similarities they remember.

Of course, there are lots of animal prints you might start seeing in the mud in the spring. Let’s explore (and measure) a variety with this activity. Measurements needed include the length and width of each animal print. We suggest using a ruler with centimeter measurements. (Page 9 includes an answer key.)

Finally, let’s learn a bit about the most famous hare in the fine art world! Albrecht Dürer was a German artist who painted “A Young Hare.” (If you have the A Child’s Introduction to Art book, you can learn more about Dürer and this painting on pages 24 and 25.) Albrecht Dürer was one of the first fine artists to paint an animal on its own, and this painting received even more acclaim because it is so strikingly realistic. Even more amazingly, it was painted with watercolor, which can be very difficult to paint details with. Nevertheless, Albrecht Dürer was able to achieve a very detailed texture on his hare by using small brush strokes.

Let’s look more into how to create texture in our own artwork in this craft.

Let’s make a hopping rabbit with this fun STEM project.

Has your child ever heard of George Washington Carver? He was a botanist and inventor who had a major impact on the farming industry—and gave people a whole new perspective on the humble peanut. This short video explains more of the science behind his discoveries and the challenges he overcame to make them.

One great way of putting nitrogen back into the soil is by composting (or using kitchen scraps and organic matter to create new soil), but it’s not always possible for everyone’s living situation. Let’s reap some of the benefits with this composting “tea” recipe that you can use to feed your garden or house plants.

George Washington Carver was an amazing botanist, but he is equally as famous for being a brilliant inventor. When he was finally successful in encouraging farmers to plant peanuts for a year to save the soil, a new problem arose: What to do with all those peanuts?? Carver then invented about 300 ways to use the peanuts, including in shampoo, lotion, paper, insulation, medicine, and more! (source) What do we learn? Sometimes the best inventions come out of necessity! For today’s STEM activity, we want you to encourage your child to come up with a solution of their own. Have them to try invent something that would make use of something your family normally throws away, encouraging them to instead reuse and upcycle it into something useful. There is no wrong answer to this activity, so let their imagination flourish!

Of course, one of our favorite ways to use peanuts is in food! Let’s make this Peanut Noodles recipe. The recipe is simple, so let your child make as much of it on their own as they can. (Can’t eat peanuts? Feel free to substitute for a different nut butter, sun butter, chickpeas, or soy butter.)