Songs

Facts About Rabbits (can be turned into a True or False Game later)

Rabbits live in groups, in burrows, underground.
Rabbits weigh from 2 to 11 pounds
Rabbits live for about ten years.
Rabbits are faster than cats! They can run 35 miles per hour.
Rabbits like to nibble on food like carrots, tree bark, bits of lettuce & vegetables.

The Following Activities Ascend in Levels

Discussion Questions

Why is Mama Cottontail searching for wild lettuce and sweet red clover?
What else do you think rabbits eat?
What is your favorite food?

Activity: Little Cottontails Vegetable Soup

Name vegetables to put into Little Cottontails imaginary soup. (Identify starting sounds in foods as they are named) Stir them in with a chant!

(Older children can think of another food or word beginning or ending with that sound)

Children remember, then clap the rhythm of each vegetable now in the soup.
Choose four which create an interesting rhythm pattern.
For example: (Say and clap together) Broc - co - l i, Cab bage, Po - ta - toes and Yam!

Encourage children to explore combinations of claps, knee slaps and or stomps to accompany the vegetable name they are chanting.

Activity can be further extended by asking children to use a gesture or movement to accompany the names of vegetables.
For example: car-rots (two beats shoulders shake/word)
The group will imitate movement and all do together.

Make an orchestration called "Little Cottontails Vegetable Soup". The teacher or parent begins, repeating her/his chosen word pattern & gesture. One at a time, the teacher points to each child, and he/she joins the rhythm orchestra. The orchestra ends when the teacher again points to each child to stop. The teacher whispers the last vegetable name.

Divide into three groups, each with an adult (if possible). Choose the name of a vegetable, rhythm with which to chant it, and movement to accompany the word chant. (locomotor movement patterns are fun) One group begins, the next joins in chanting their word rhythm at the same time.
For example:
(Zucchini) "Zo ooo ooo ooo cchi ni"
(Sweet Potato) "Sweet Po Ta To
(Peas) Peas, peas, peas, peas
Children can play with pitch (high to low) or melody to express this word.

Discussion and Art

Who else might live in the Great Green Meadow?
If you lived in the Great Green Meadow, what animal would you like to be? Why?
Who do you think are Little Cottontail's friends?
Draw the Great Green Meadow, Wind and Clouds, and/or animals who might also live in the Great Green Meadow.

Activity: Little Cottontail's Turtle Mail

Have you ever missed someone? Perhaps a pet, friend, a teacher, or relative?
Write a letter to Little Cottontail (younger children as group w/teacher) telling him about the friends, pets, and family you miss.

Activity: Name That Crafty Rabbit

Create a rabbit from a recycled plastic bottle and construction paper or recycled clothes.
Each child names his/her rabbit.
The next day:
In small groups, plan the habitat and relationship of rabbits to create a story.
Story Development requires:

• Beginning (who and where are they)
• Middle (what do they want to do and what problem comes up to hinder them)
• Ending (a solution to the problem is found)

The following day:
Children talk about their story, making changes or more details. They "act" the part of the character they have developed. "Act " the story again.
Perform each story for the whole class.

Math: Counting Raindrops

Cut paper clouds of different shapes.
Show children beans or bingo chips which will represent raindrops.
Children pair up or divide into triads and estimate how many raindrops will be needed to fill each cloud.
They will work together to "fill" each cloud to confirm their guesses.
Class will order the clouds according to the number of raindrops in each group.

Math: Mam's Bundles Math

If Mama Cottontail collected 2 pounds of sweet red clover on Monday and 3 pounds on Thursday, how many pound would she have total?

Mama Cotton tail picked 6 pounds of wild lettuce and Little Cottontail picked 2 pound. Then a gusty wind blew over the basket and carried away half. How much wild lettuce do you think they had left?

Math: Windy Path

You need roll of string and ping pong ball(s)
Lay down two long pieces of string on the floor, parallel to represent a path.
Divide the path into sections, each approximately one foot long.
Each child takes a turn being the wind and blowing one large blow to move the ball from the beginning of the path as far as possible.
The distance traveled will be measured.
Give the wind another chance to blow the ball farther.
Measure and compare the difference.

Discussion Questions

How do you think Little Cottontail is feeling at the beginning of the story?
What makes you think so?
What is a symbol?
How are symbols used in this story?
Have you ever missed a pet, a friend, or a family member?

Word Play

How many words can be made with two key words in the story?
Divide into small groups. Using small letters brainstorm how many words each group can make.

Word Study

In large or small groups, brainstorm and make word clusters about L.C. and Mama.
List Words associated with Nature Elements (i.e. Wind, Clouds, Water, etc.)
Alphabetize a list of vegetables Rabbits might eat.

Activity: Rabbit Salad

If weather permits, collect plants and wild grasses as a group. If not, have children bring vegetables.
After examining, pick a specific plant to draw.
Imagine a plant that might grow in The Great Green Meadow.
Create a name your plant.
In partners or triads, create a recipe for a salad.

Extended Activity: Drama in The Great Green Meadow

In quads, using drawings of imaginary plants create characters who might eat these plants. Who are they? Where do they sleep at night? What do they love to do? What do they not like to do at all? Imagine how they know each other.
Develop the play:

• Beginning (where are your characters and what are they doing?)
• Middle (what do your character's want? Create a problem that stops the characters from getting what they want)
• Ending (resolve the problem).

Creative Writing

Write a letter to L.C. about someone you have missed.

Or write a story, using at least three of the vocabulary words, about a rabbit who travels by cloud to visit someone he is missing.

Reader's Theatre

Each child writes a sentence in the book (also writing the sentence before and the sentence after their "line". Teacher helps children number their parts and get into a circle in that numbered order.

Children practice saying each sentence as a group to inspire expressive delivery.

Prepare a Readers Theatre presentation for a younger classroom (script available by e-mailing the author).

Science

Creating a Cloud in a Jug. (This activity is a Teacher / Parent Demonstration)
You need: an empty glass apple juice jug (ith an old fashioned mouth), candle, and matches.

Parent or teacher lights candle (or can use Bunsen burner)

Turn the jug upside down and hold its mouth over the flame for ten seconds, no longer as the glass will get too hot.

Immediately put your mouth inside the opening of the jug to make a seal. Blow, hard into the jug and then remove your mouth. A cloud will form in the jug.

Cloud Facts

Clouds can come in all sizes and shapes.
Clouds can form near the ground or high in the atmosphere.
Clouds are groups of tiny water droplets or ice crystals in the sky.
Clouds make different kinds of precipitation, depending on the atmosphere's temperature.

The shape of a cloud depends on the way the air moves around the cloud. If air moves horizontally, clouds form spread-out layers. Clouds grow upward if air is moving vertically near by.

Clouds are classified by height and appearance.

Common Cloud Classifications use Latin words to describe the appearance of clouds from the viewpoint of someone on the ground. There are four principals components of this classification systems: