Begin the class with a little physical exercise. Talk about animals that leap and let your students move around and imitate those animals. Think about frogs, kangaroos, squirrels, rabbits, deer, and more. Talk about the meaning of the word leap.
Then teach your students about Leap Day. Here are some ideas to get started.
Leap Day Facts
- Every four years is a Leap Year.
- The last Leap Year was in 2008.
- Some of your students may have been born during the Leap Year in 2008.
- February 29th is Leap Day.
- Some children are born on Leap Day.
- These children have a birthday every year, but they can only celebrate it on February 29th every four years.
- We add a Leap Day every four years to the calendar because each year is about 365 days and 6 hours.If we miss six hours every four years, then our calendar is off by a day.
- Leap means to spring or jump forward.
- There are some animals that leap like frogs and kangaroos.
- Some toys like pogo sticks leap too.
Get out a calendar and look for Leap Day on February 29, 2012.
Next, you can integrate art, writing, and math in a cinch and have a great take-home project or decoration for your classroom bulletin boards. Just add a glyph.
Instead of putting together a pre-made product like those foam stickers, students make choices based on how they complete a glyph question form. For example, a question could ask students if they know of anyone who was born on Leap Day or if they are born on Leap Year? If they answer yes, then they would, for example, make their leap frog look like it is leaping. If they answer no, then they would make the frog's legs set straight. The questionnaire process continues as the child builds his unique creation!
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| Frog created using glyph questions |
But wait! Didn't I saw something about math? Yes, now it's time for math, but shh, don't tell the students! Learning should be fun and glyphs are a way to make that happen. Student then use a glyph key to analyze their classmates creations. For example, they could look at the Leap Frog's legs and create a graph that illustrates how many of their classmates know someone born on Leap Day. How cool is that? They can even create graphs of each element on the Leap Day Frog.
You can add more math skills and give students two Leap Day Frogs and ask them to complete a Venn Diagram. Even better, ask them to write about their bug, a classmate's Leap Day Frog, or even compare or contrast two Love Bugs.
You can make your own glyph projects for any topic! It's fun. I also have a 17 page Pre-K and Kindergarten Leap Day Leap Frog Project download available for sale HERE for just $3.00.
For first grade through fourth grade, I've also written a 28 page proejct guide with glyph patterns, glyph questions, writing prompts, math graphs, and Venn diagrams HERE for $3.50.
Robin
