GATHERING TIME

9:55-10:10 a.m.
Transition
The song Hot Potato (RR2, CD, Y1) will be played. We will form into a circle with tape on the floor and
dance like they are touching something hot until all of the children are at gathering time and the song
is over. Then we will move onto the next activity.
Activity Name
Description
Materials
1. Melting Crayons
Say We are going to watch something melt
5 crayons (IWP)
(Objects can
today. Have you all seen ice melt before? I know Foil (RR1 counter)
melt with heat,
I have seen ice and snow melt outside when it
Hair Dryer (IWP)
and freeze when gets warm enough. We just had all of our snow
Classroom Easel
they get cold
melt for the year with the warm weather we
Butcher Paper
enough.)
have been having. Did you know that we can
melt other things besides ice and water? We
can! I think that we can melt other objects like
even crayons. Lets try melting crayons together.
What can my hair dryer do to help me melt the
crayons? (ask a child if they know then pull out
the crayons and hair dryer) I can use the hair
dryer to heat up the crayons so much that they
start to melt. (Show melting crayons on easel.)
Objects can also be frozen when they get cold
enough. I can freeze something by putting it in
the freezer, or leaving it outside when it is a really
cold night. How have you frozen an object in the
past?
2. What is Hot and
Say Who knows what it feels like to touch
Move Fast, Move Slow by
Cold?
something hot? (pick a child to tell about
Jack Hartmann (IWP)
(Everything thing something hot they have touched) There are
is made up of
also things that get very cold too. I have
18 Scarfs (WR, Cabinet 6)
tiny parts (called touched both hot and cold objects before, but it
molecules).
can dangerous if they are too hot or cold. That is
When the tiny
why we have to be careful. Everything is made
parts in
up of tiny little parts, they are called molecules.
something have
Can you say molecules? When the tiny parts
more energy, it is inside an object get all excited and full of energy
hot. When they
it makes the object hot. Just like all of you! You
have less
get full of energy too! Lets get full of energy for a
energy, it is
minute (allow them to wiggle and move). Lets
cold.)
come back together now. When the molecules
inside an object have less energy, then it
becomes cold. Can we move like we dont have
a lot of energy? We do this by moving slowly, let
me see! That is what makes something hot or
cold! We can practice moving fast like we are
full of energy and slow just like we dont have
very much energy just like the molecules inside
everything. Lets Dance!
Play the Move Fast, Move Slow song and dance
with the children switching between moving fast
and slow.