"Intriguing, classroom-tested activities…The playful spirit throughout the book is so enjoyable."
"I have been teaching preschool for the last 20 years and thought I knew it all. I feel renewed and want to go back and try out some of your ideas. In fact I can almost visualize the excitement in the kids’ faces…"
BIG FEATURES
- More than 300 classroom-tested activities aligned with the standards set by the National Academy of Sciences, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, the International Reading Association, and the National Council of Teachers of English.
- Innovative techniques to support understanding and remembering new vocabulary words such as using American Sign Language.
- Suggestions for using recycled materials.
- Open-ended questions to promote discussion.
- Strategies for incorporating student assessment into each activity.
- Annotated lists of fiction and non-fiction books for each theme developed by an experienced children’s librarian.
- Tips based on real-life experience.
Connecting Science, Math, Literacy,
and Language
BIG activities engage preschoolers and elementary school children with this complete curriculum for science, math, literacy, and language. Inspire children’s natural curiosity while building a strong foundation of skills and meeting national standards. See how you can immerse children in topics ranging from seeds to rainbows to inventions, just like we do at our school, the Mountain View Parent Nursery School, a parent coop in California.
WHY THINK BIG?
BIG
is powerful. Children want to be BIG. They want to do BIG
things. BIG activities help children see, touch and do.
Kids learn more when they are totally immersed in a topic.
BIG activities build community. Kids learn to share and negotiate when they work together to turn the sandbox into the surface of the moon. They practice problem solving.
BIG activities strengthen the school-home connection because kids love telling their families about their BIG projects at school.
BIG activities expand children’s sense of what’s possible. Thinking BIG helps them dream BIG.
THINKING BIG IN ACTION
Thinking
BIG means making small things-- like seeds and spiders-- BIGGER, so
children can see and explore them. BIG creations like a giant spider
web are more fun, more memorable, and therefore, more educational.
Thinking BIG also means making BIG things—like wind-- child-sized so children
can experience them. When kids compare fanning packing noodles with cardboard
to blowing the noodles with a straw they see the power of moving air.
Thinking BIG means connecting many subjects in a topic like the moon —through math games where children leap from crater to crater, art projects like gravity painting, cooking activities preparing astronaut food, dramatic play acting out the moon landing, and wonderful stories.
