Look Up, Look Down, Look All Around

We went to a class at the nature center last week to learn about “who lives in a tree”.

We went outside at the beginning and observed trees, looking for nests and talking about the different animals, insects and birds that make their homes in trees.

Then, the teacher had the kids go on a scavenger hunt for rubber bugs she had hidden in and around the trees in a small clearing.

“Look up, look down, look all around,” she chanted as the kids ran from tree to tree searching for these treasures and hoping to be the first to find them all.

Cute.

Joe and Jake loved this hunt so much that I adapted it for a sight word lesson.

The boys are big time sticker fans, so I grabbed a few packages of superhero stickers: Ninja Turtles, Spiderman and Captain America. I hid them around the yard with a sight word card under each sticker.

“Look up, look down, look all around.”

There were 24 cards and I hid 6 at a time. I didn’t want to overwhelm them and make them lose interest too soon.

We ended up playing 4 rounds. They couldn’t get enough of the game!

“Look up, look down, look all around.”

I asked Joe what the sight word was and when he told me, or at least tried to sound it out, he got to keep the sticker.

Jake got to keep his sticker if he asked Joe to tell him what the sight word was and repeated it back.

“Look up, look down, look all around.”

After we’d gone through all the sight words, I gave the boys a blank sheet of paper so they could stick their superheroes on…at least the ones they hadn’t stuck to their shirt, pants and coat.

The words Joe didn’t know on sight, he was able to sound out. I think it held his interest for three reasons.

1. He likes a good scavenger hunt.
2. He loves stickers.
3. He discovered that  enjoys ‘teaching’ his little brother.

When Jake brought him a card and he was able to tell him the word, I could see the pride in his eyes at being able to ‘teach’ Jake something new.

I’m sure he saw pride in my eyes too.

Look up and look down
And look all around
Find all of the words
Repeat what you heard