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Stepping Stone School
Supporting Families & Learning at Home
May 1st
At Stepping Stone School, our mission is to offer not only exceptional nurturing and education for our students, but also extraordinary support and care for all parents and families! Many families are finding new and creative ways to engage and educate their children while at home! We compiled a list of fun and educational activities and resources for you to use with your family! 
WE ARE IN THIS TOGETHER!
Our YouTube Channel features over 60 videos of our beloved teachers reading stories from our Classic Literature Library, Teaching Daily Lessons, ASL annd Spanish vocabulary!
Tune in to learn about S.T.E.A.M education, Superhero Movie Reviews, unicorns, and a variety of interesting topics chosen and produced by our School-Age classes!
Community & Cultural Awareness
Kitchen Table Kindness Ideas
All of the following projects can be done by children of all ages, and you likely have most of the supplies in your home (or can easily order them online for delivery).
  1. Write letters and cards for children who are being treated in the hospital. You can send them to Cards for Hospitalized Kids or Send Kids the World. Send Kids the World allows you to search a database so you can direct your letter to a specific child. The Cards for Hospitalized Kids website includes important guidelines on appropriate language to use in your letters (for example, you never want to say “feel better”). The use of glitter and glue should be minimized. Construction paper and crayons or markers are all you need to work on this easy and meaningful project.
  2. Similarly, your children can make colorful birthday cards and send them to the Confetti Foundation which supplies birthday parties for hospitalized children.
  3. Do you have some fleece fabric sitting around? Consider making no-sew blankets for Project Linus, which provides hand-made blankets for children in need, or donate them to a local nursing home to be used as lap blankets.
  4. Fleece scraps can also be used to make chew toys or pet blankets for donation to your local ASPCA or animal shelter. Ideas and instructions can be found online.
  5. Do your children love to draw? Check out Color a Smile which distributes cheerful drawings to senior citizens, our troops overseas and anyone in need of a smile. You can download printable coloring sheets from the website and let your children go wild. Once you’ve collected a stack of beautiful drawings, send it along to Color a Smile which has given out over a million smiles over the last 25 years.
  6. Order an arts and crafts kit from Stars of Hope. Stars of Hope is an organization that grew out of the tragedy of 9/11 which empowers people to share messages of love and hope through hand-painted wooden stars. Each “Box of Hope” includes 15 wooden stars, paint, brushes and instructions. After your kids have painted the stars, you can box them up and send them to a community that is recovering from a natural disaster or other tragedy.
  7. Take a look around your own neighborhood. Is there an elderly, homebound or ill neighbor who might need some groceries, some help or just a phone call to check-in? Can your children spend some time on the phone, Skype or Facetime with a far-away relative who hasn’t seen them in a while? Think about the people in your family who might appreciate hearing from you, who would enjoy sharing a laugh or a warm word of affection during an anxious time.
Art & Creative Expression
 Painting with Transportation Vehicles
Show your child different types of vehicles. As you hold up each one, ask them if they are used on the land, in the water, or in the sky. You can set up the paint on a paper plate, add paint and cars and watch as they create!
Even very young children and infants can experiment with non toxic paint!
Highway Mural
You can provide brown butcher paper or a cardboard box flattened, tempera paint, brushes, water, and smocks. Invite your child to design a road or highway.
  • Ask them to recall different types of roads they have traveled on. "Will they make a straight or winding road?
  • Will it be a highway surrounded by towns, farms, cities, or mountains?
  • Will it have two lanes or many lanes?"
  • Once dry you can use it with blocks and cars!
Toy Washing Station: A Quick & Easy Activit y
Now that you have some "dirty" cars what better idea than to open a car wash!
  • Two sensory bins
  • Tear free bubble bath
  • Scrubbing tools
  • Plastic toys that are OK to get wet
This activity has more to offer than meets the eye!
  • Sensory activity – playing with water and bubbles
  • Fine motor skills – working with their hands to clean
  • Imaginary play!
Writing and Literacy Readiness
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!
Written and Illustrated by  Mo Willems
A book that engages the young reader in following the bus driver’s instructions not to let the pigeon drive the bus while he takes a break. The children are in charge as they respond to the pigeon’s pleas to let him take over.
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus Word List
The following list of words can be found in the book  Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus . These words can also be found on The Reading Machine App. This app is ideal for beginning readers who need decoding and phonics support.
Freight Trai n
Written and Illustrated by  Donald Crews
In simple language and brightly colored illustrations, author Donald Crews explains how six cars of a freight train are pulled along the track by the black engine. With smoke coming out of the moving engine, the train travels through tunnels and past cities until it reaches its destination.
Mathematical & Scientific Concepts
Ramps & Cars
To get started gather a variety of different items from around the house.
Materials:
  • variety of solid wood and hollow wood blocks including triangular, wedge, and ramp blocks of different sizes
  • two boards of equal length
  • items that will roll down a ramp including plastic cars, large and small wooden cylinders, markers, pencils, and small balls
  • items that will not roll down a ramp including small square or rectangular blocks, paper, shells, paper clips, and a small doll
  • paper and marker
Objective: Children will develop science and math skills as they use a variety of materials to build ramps and learn how angles affect the speed of different objects.
ACTIVITY  
1. Set up a ramp using a large wedge-shaped hollow block or place a board on a stack of blocks. Engage children in a discussion about the ramp. Ask if they have made ramps during block play and encourage them to describe what they did with the ramps.
2. Place the suggested items that will and will not roll and invite your children to sort the materials into two piles, those that will roll and those that won't. Encourage them to discuss why they are making their choices.
3. Invite your children to test the objects. Place all objects that rolled down the ramp in one pile and ask the class to describe the objects' similarities. Ask them to do the same for the objects that did not roll.
4. Provide materials to build a second ramp with the same proportions. Invite children to set up races to find the objects that roll the fastest down the ramps. "Which items roll the farthest away when they reach the bottom?"
5. Encourage children to notice the weight, size, and material of the objects they are testing. Ask the following questions: "Do plastic materials move faster and farther than wooden or metal objects? How does the weight of the object affect the speed? What will happen if they change the angle of one of the ramps, making it higher or lower? How does that affect the speed of the objects?"
Character Development
Fred Rogers, the host of Mister Rogers Neighborhood, testified before the Senate in 1969 discussing the need for the continued support of public broadcasting. Towards the end of his testimony, Rogers quotes the words to his song, What Do You Do with the Mad that You Feel? His statements before the Senate describing the need for educational and developmentally appropriate programming in which children can learn that feelings are mentionable and manageable earned Public Broadcasting $20,000,000 in funds for continued work.
The last stanza of Rogers’ song describes the ability to control one’s emotions and behavior choices.
I can stop when I want to Can stop when I wish I can stop, stop, stop at any time.
And what a good feeling to feel like this
And know that the feeling is really mine.
Know that there’s something deep inside
That helps us become what we can.
For a girl can be someday a woman
And a boy can be someday a man.
Children will learn that they are in control of their feelings as Fred Rogers so powerfully states.
Here are some ways, we can work together to support children’s understanding and development of Ownership:
  1. Identify and discuss feelings. When we help very young children identify a feeling by stating, “I can tell you are feeling frustrated…” it allows the child to release that feeling and start figuring out how to resolve the problem. As they grow, they will be able to identify their own feelings and with support to learn how to calm down and find a solution.
  2.  Connect the Dots. Help children see how their choices have supported a given outcome. â€śYou stepped in a puddle, now your shoes are wet.” Or “You kept practicing and you got the ball in the basket.” Helping children to see the cause and effect of their choices helps them to recognize what they need to do to reach a desired outcome in the future.
  3. Read Books about Ownership and Personal Responsibility. Books like Mercer Mayer’s I Just Forgot and Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola provide opportunities for children to identify what the character should have done in a given situation in order to demonstrate ownership for their actions.
Providing children with the words to identify their feelings and the understanding of how their actions determine an outcome, allows children to develop a sense of ownership for their actions and behavior
Physical Development
You can practice these yoga poses with your child as a fun imaginary travel yoga journey! Here are some transportation activities to spark your child’s imagination:
1. BOAT – BOAT POSE
Sit down with your arms and legs straight out in front of you, in a V shape. Keep a straight spine and open chest. Then pretend to rock in the water like a boat.
2. SURFBOARD – PLANK POSE
From  Downward-Facing Dog Pose , come forward to balance on your palms and on your bent toes in a plank position. Keep your arms straight and your back long and flat. Pretend to be a surfboard gliding through the water.
3. SAILBOAT – TRIANGLE POSE - From a standing position, step one foot back, pointing your toe slightly outwards. Take your arms up parallel to the ground, bend at your waist, and tilt your upper body to the side. Reach your front hand to gently rest on your shin and reach your other arm straight up. Pretend to be a sailboat gliding through the water. Switch sides and repeat the steps.
4. TRAIN – STAFF POSE - Sit with a tall spine and your legs straight out in front of you. Move your hands like the wheels of a train going down the track.
5. MOTORBIKE – LUNGE POSE
From  Downward-Facing Dog Pose , step your right foot forward to rest just inside your right hand. Keep a flat back and open your chest. Pretend to be a motorbike cruising down the road. Switch sides and repeat the steps.
Cognitive & Phonological Development
Sorting, Counting, and Graphing for Children
Make a giant color graph, and sort, count, and graph toys or other objects!
This color graphing activity will provide opportunities for counting practice and conversations about more and less and which group has the greatest number of items.
 You can use sheet of poster board to make a giant color graph, and then simply add a bucket of cars!
What will we graph next? Here are more ideas for graphing:
  • Crayons/markers/colored pencils
  • M&M’s (see what color is the greatest in number from your package)
  • Legos
  • School supplies
  • Building blocks
Emotional & Social Development
The Inner Me Activity Express how you feel about yourself!
This is an activity for two people. You will need paper and crayons or markers.
  • With crayons or markers, create a picture of yourself to show what you look like and how you feel. (or describe yourself for a grown up who can write down your words).
  • Next, create a picture of your partner. Show how you think your partner feels.
  • Together, compare all four pictures. There'll be two of each person.
  • Talk about what's the same or different between the way you see yourself and the way your partner sees you.
  • Talk with your child about all of the wonderful qualities you see in the drawings!
Transportation Snacks:
  • Graham Cracker Stop Lights â€“ Start with graham crackers broken into 4 rectangles. Then spread peanut butter on top and place red, yellow, and green colored m&ms down the center.
  • Apple/Cheese Boats â€“ Cut up a few apple slices and balance on the peel side on a plate. Press cheese triangles onto toothpicks and stick into the apple slices for a sail.
  • Banana Plane w/Marshmallow Clouds â€“ Start with a banana sliced in half the long way and place on a plate. Add small banana slices for wings and an apple wedge for the tail. Use Cheerios for windows and marshmallows for clouds.
  • Graham Cracker Build a Train â€“ Start with 2 graham cracker rectangles, and a square for the main body of the train. Add Wheat Chex for the smoke stack and window. Add vanilla wafer cookies for wheels, mini marshmallows for smoke, and pretzels for tracks. Cut up Tootsie Rolls for coal and place in the train car.
  • PB Jelly Car with Cucumber Wheels â€“ Cut a PB & J uncrustable in half. Add halved cherry tomatoes for wheels, halved baby carrots for a road, and carrot/cucumber pieces for the car windows and bumpers.