For Earth Day I thought it would be a great time to talk about waste, recycling & composting! Magic School Bus Meets the Rot Squad is one of my favorite books for teaching about decomposition and a lesson that my kids LOVE! 

	M	T	W	Th	F
Religion	Read ‘The Brave Queen’ story of Esther	Comprehension questions**	Cover the Esther worksheet with tissue paper	Make tortilla starts	Remember When**
Language (2)	Letter X Sandpaper letter	Cover X mat with blue & green playdough	Letter X binder	Color by letter we will do the last one since we are working on X	X Miniatures
Language (4)	Trace the words & intro sight word did – spell with magnets & then write on dry erase board	Practice blends that end in ING + sight words	Practice blends that end in NG + sight words	Hidden sight words (we have not practiced all of these yet so I will change some to our recent sight words)	“Recycle King” of ING
Math (2)	Count out 17 green & blue fruit loops then make an AB pattern	What Comes Next & Which is Different	Use shaving cream to draw the number 17 and make 17 dots. You can add paint to color green and blue	Cutting practice	Write 17 on the top of a piece of butchers paper then have child paint 17 lines underneath with a jumbo paintbrush
Math (4)	This week we will intro time: Parts of a clock (hands, numbers)	1hr = 60 minutes; Hour hand & minute hand	Half hour & Quarter hour	5 minute intervals practice	AM/PM
Art/Sensory	Make a recycled boat (at the end) or paint some recycleables (at the beginning)	Go for a walk in the forest/ park and look for natural breakdown (mushroom or fungus, broken down decay, soft ground etc..)	playdough and sticks, worms, leaves wood, flowers etc..	Do some composting – if you don’t compost at your home, you can make a simple compost system like this	Pollution activity
Science Geography History	Types of recycling sort	Introduce decomposers & the idea of composting	Parts & needs of a worm	Trash, Recycle, Compost sorting	Learn about pollution

Comprehension Questions: 
Name the people in the Bible story. 
Who was Esther? 
Who did Esther save? 
How did Esther have courage? 
Esther had courage to do what God wanted her to do. What do you need courage to do? 

“Remember When…” 
God took care of Esther and Mordecai.  As a family talk about times that God took care of your family in the past.  Start each moment with the words, “Remember when….”  It may take a few examples from the adults for the child to think of an example.   End the time with a prayer of thanksgiving.