<p>We often talk to children about the importance of being flexible and adapting to new situations. This lesson about mastodons focuses on how physical adaptations help animals live in different environments. By looking at the different body parts of both a mastodon and a modern day elephant, children are able to see similarities/differences and predict why these traits changed from the ice age period to present day. What about these physical traits help the animal in their environment? By observing and predicting, children are practicing their critical thinking skills and gaining deeper understandings than if they were simply told the answer.</p> <p>Designed as part of the Get a Head Start with the Smithsonian collaboration with the National Head Start Association, these activities support the following Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework (ELOF) standards:</p> <p>- Goal P-LC 1. Child attends to communication and language from others.</p> <p>- Goal P-LC 2. Child understands and responds to increasingly complex communication and language from others.<br></p> <p>- Goal P-ATL 11. Child shows interest in and curiosity about the world around them.</p> <p>- Goal P-ATL 13. Child uses imagination in play and interactions with others.<br></p> <p>- Goal P-SCI 1. Child observes and describes observable phenomena (objects, materials, organisms, and events).</p> <p>- Goal P-SCI 2. Child engages in scientific talk.</p> <p>- Goal P-SCI 3. Child compares and categorizes observable phenomena.</p> <p>- Goal P-SCI 5. Child plans and conducts investigations and experiments.</p> <p>- Goal P-SCI 6. Child analyzes results, draws conclusions, and communicates results.</p> <p><strong>Goals for Scaffolding for Infants/Toddlers:</strong></p> <p>- Goal IT-LC 12. Child comprehends meaning from pictures and stories.</p> <p>- Goal IT-ATL 7. Child shows interest in and curiosity about objects, materials, or events.</p> <p>- Goal IT-ATL 8. Child uses creativity to increase understanding and learning.</p> <p>- Goal IT-C 1. Child actively explores people and objects to understand self, others, and objects.</p> <p>- Goal IT-C 2. Child uses understanding of causal relationships to act on social and physical environments.</p> <p><br><br></p> <p><br></p>

<p><em>Talk with Me!</em></p> <p>Having conversations with young children contributes to their thinking and language development. All conversations are good, but research shows that the quality of words children hear matters more than the quantity. Further, what’s best is an exchange; in other words, talk with children, not at them.</p> <p>The Talk with Me Toolkits give parents and caregivers thematically organized high-quality, authentic materials to make children their conversational partners in discussions that matter. Each online toolkit features captivating videos and real-world photographs, as well as intriguing paintings and other artworks to observe and discuss through conversation prompts.  Hands-on activities and books complete each toolkit. Simple instructions appear right in the toolkits, so you can jump right in. See what interests your child and get started. There’s a lot to talk about!</p> <p>To read more, see, from the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Usable Knowledge site, <a href="https://www.gse.harvard.edu/uk/author/bari-walsh/517480" target="_blank">The Brain-Changing Power of Conversation</a>.</p><p><br /></p>

<p>A learning lab for Preschool & Kindergarten educators discussing six ways drums are used in different cultures across the globe and throughout history. The lesson provides various objects, resources, and activities from Smithsonian museums & Affiliates. The goal of the lesson is underscored by a foundation of anti-bias education: "same but different". While all drums are an object one uses to make a sound, they vary in many ways across time periods, cultures, and contexts. Students will walk away from this lesson with an understanding that there is not one correct way to use a drum, nor is there one correct way to use or do anything. This is exciting because differences are what make us interesting, and we must be curious to learn from others. The lesson also touches on topics of spirituality, inequality, and activism. <br></p> <p>#SAintern</p>

<p>OBJECTIVES:<br /></p> <ul><li>Explore the differences between the positions up and down</li><li>Imagine what it would look like to float high in the sky</li><li>Identify the parts of a hot air balloon—basket and envelope </li><li>Experiment with hot air balloon design</li><li>Be inspired to create own fabric design</li><li>Discover that the flame heats the air causing the balloon to float up</li></ul><p></p>

<p>This collection provides an introduction to the art of weaving practiced in Guatemala.</p><p><br /></p><p>This collection was created by Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center faculty member. #SEECStories<br /></p>

<p>Objectives </p><ul><li>Identify objects that help to prevent fires </li><li>Learn what to do if they hear an alarm </li><li>Identify objects that are fire hazards</li><li>Learn to stay 3 feet (two big steps) away from fire hazards</li></ul>

<p>Objectives:</p><ul><li>Learn about firefighting dogs</li><li>Walk by a working fire station and make observations</li><li>Practice identifying different scents </li><li>Explore the sense of smell   </li></ul><p><br /></p>

<p>Objectives: </p> <ul><li> Learn that firefighters are people who help keep you safe</li><li> Discover that firefighters use fire trucks to help them get to the fire quickly</li><li> Compare familiar firetrucks to the less familiar hand pump fire truck in the museum</li></ul><p></p>

<p>Objectives:</p><ul><li>Be exposed to pirate motifs (eye patch, parrot, jolly roger flag) </li><li>Learn that pirate sail ships    </li><li>Talk about ideas of fair and unfair, hero and wrongdoers </li><li>Learn about Anne Bonny and Mary Read two famous women pirates </li><li>Explore through play fair and unfair and hero and wrongdoers </li></ul>

<p>Explore the vast resources on dinosaurs that the Smithsonian has to offer. </p><p>This collection was created by Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center faculty member. #SEECStories<br /></p>

<p>How do you communicate? Through words? Body language? A look? Explore this collection to see how people, and animals communicate.</p><p>This collection was created by Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center faculty member. #SEECStories<br /></p>