Cooperating with Little Red Hen
(original lesson created by Missy Jones)

Grade: K - 1

Educational Standards: Download Indiana State Standards (*.doc)

Available: September 5 - December 7 & Spring Semester

Pre-Visit Activity: The Huntington University students will visit the classroom to read and discuss The Little Red Hen (if scheduling permits).

Description:  This program is created for primary grade students to help build cooperation skills.  The children will be introduced to an old fairy tale classic while learning the importance of cooperating with one another.  The students will be involved in cooperative games, cooking, math activities,  and science activities following state standards for primary students.  Possible activities include:

• “The Little Red Hen” play

• “Who Will Help Me?”  (using teamwork to fill a bucket with corn)

• “All Around the Barnyard” (passing a hula hoop around a circle)

• “”Red Hen Relays”

• “We All Cluck for Ice Cream”

• “Fox Attack”  (working with a small group in a relay race)

• “Henhouse Hunt” (using directional clues to find barnyard animals hidden on the trails)

Optional Activities: Sequencing events from the story; Memory Game                                                               

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Once Upon a Time at Thornhill
(original lesson created by Jan Collins, Grace Friesen, Melissa Jones, Nancy Troyer)

Grade: K-1

Available: October 10 - December 7 & Spring Semester

Pre-Visit Activity: The Huntington University students will visit the classroom to read and discuss Goldilocks and the Three Bears (if scheduling permits).

Description: In this program, the “three bears” introduce the children to their home in the woods while the children use the skill of observation to discover their surroundings. The children will  utilize measurement skills to make porridge in the kitchen facility.  The students will also be actively involved in measurement and classification skills.  Possible activities include:

• "Goldilocks & the Three Bears" play.

• “Classifying with Goldilocks” – students will classify a variety of objects by different attributes.

• “It’s Just Right”  -  students will use a balance scale to compare the weight of various objects to the weight of Papa Bear, Mama Bear, & Baby Bear

• “Mama Bear’s Porridge”

• “Measuring with Papa Bear”  -  students will observe differences in nature as they predict & then measure and record the circumference of trees  & lengths of other objects found on the nature hike;  objects will then be compared & ordered

• “Measuring with Baby Bear”-  Use a cut-out bear (non-standard unit) to measure the length & width of various objects in the nature center.  Record measurements.

• “Going on a Bear Hunt”  

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Into the Woods with Red Riding Hood
 (original lesson created by Missy Jones & Eva Webb)

Grade: K - 1

Available: September 5 - December 7 & Spring Semester

Pre-Visit Activity: (if scheduling permits) The Huntington University students will visit the classroom to introduce fairy tales and Little Red Riding Hood.  A story map could be used to reinforce the basic story elements of this fairy tale.

Description: This program is designed to incorporate activities using the five senses in several small stations.  The children will be involved in cooking, math and science activities, and a “walk to Grandma’s house through the woods.”   Possible activities include:

• “Red Riding Hood” play

• “Grandma’s Great Granola Bars” (following a recipe & measuring ingredients)

• “You Go That Way, I’ll Go This Way”  (following a map & comparing routes through the woods)

• “What Big Eyes You Have!”  ( 5 stations for each of the senses)

• “Character Puppets” (time permitting) 

Optional Post-Visit Activity: Huntington University students will visit the classroom & have the children retell the story’s beginning, middle, and end.  Alternate endings could be created. The “character puppets” could then be used while the story is retold.

Different versions of Little Red Riding Hood could also be read and compared as a pre-visit or post-visit activity.

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Cutting Loose with Mother Goose
(original lesson created by Missy Jones)

Grade: K

Educational Standards: Download Indiana State Standards (*.doc)

Available:   September 5 - December 7 & Spring Semester

Pre-Visit Activity: Huntington University students will visit the classroom to read and discuss the various nursery rhymes that will be the basis for the activities at Thornhill.  (if scheduling permits)

Description: This program is designed to integrate literature, math and science for the primary student using the classic nursery rhymes as a basis for the activities.  Possible activities include:

• “Little Bo Peep Has Lost Her ABC Sheep” 

• “Jack Be Nimble, Jack Be Quick, Jack Go Under the Limbo Stick”

• “Humpty Dumpty is All Cracked Up” ( matching rhyming words)

• “Little Jack Horner’s Pie Activity”   (identifying a letter and the sound it makes)

• “Counting Sheep with Mary and Her Lamb” (numerical order, one more, one less, etc.)

• “Hickory Dickory Dock Clocks” (shapes, telling time)

• “Mary, How Does Your Garden Grow?”   (patterns)

• “Fetch Some Water with Jack and Jill” (volume)

• “Sharing the Pie” ( creating equal groups)

• “1,2,3,4, 5, I Caught a Fish Alive” (addition & subtraction story problems w/ fish crackers)

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Winter Survival

Grade: 2 -3

Available: November-December & February

Pre-Visit Activity: Huntington University students will visit the classroom to read and discuss Time to Sleep by Denise Fleming & create “My Book About Hibernation.”

Description: This program is designed to integrate literature, math, and science to teach children about the challenges plants and animals face in the winter as their habitat changes.  Various activities will be used to compare how plants and animals use different strategies to survive the winter.  The children will also prepare two animal treats (one to be left at Thornhill & one to take home).

Possible activities include:

• “Survival Categories” (What Am I?  Animal identification & categorization)

• “Help the Birds Survive” (pinecone feeders)

• “Walk the Trails” (identification of survival tactics)

• “Cottontails & Coyotes” (foraging & survival game)

• “Dressed for Winter” (relay race)

• “Look & Find”

• “Storing Food for Winter” (following a recipe to measure ingredients for a winter survival trail mix)

Optional Post-Visit Activity: Huntington University students will visit the classroom in the Spring to read and discuss Bear Wants More by Karma Wilson.

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Winter Wonderland

Grade: 1-3

Educational Standards: Download Indiana State Standards (*.doc)

Available: November-December; February

Description: This program is similar to the “Winter Survival” program, but is geared for younger students.

Possible activities include:

• “Help the Birds Survive” (pinecone feeder)

• “Scavenger Hunt on the Trails”

• “Cottontails & Coyotes” (foraging & survival game)

• “Dressed for Winter” (relay race)

• “Winter Story Time” (enjoy hot chocolate while listening to winter stories)

• “Snowflake Art” (symmetrical snowflakes used to create a snowman)

• “Snowman Addition” 

• “Snowflake Match” & “Snowman Memory”

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Wonderful World of Weather
(original lesson created by Cindy Crist & Nancy Troyer)

Grade: 2 - 3

Educational Standards: Download Indiana State Standards (*.doc)

Available: contact program director

Pre-Visit Activity: Huntington University students will visit the classroom to read and discuss The Reasons for the Seasons by Gail Gibbons and/or literature related to a particular season. (if scheduling permits)

Description: The Thornhill Nature Preserve will be the focus for students to observe weather, construct weather instruments, identify characteristics of the season, and participate in hands-on activities relating to weather concepts.

Possible activities include: 

• “Water Cycle”

• “Wind Socks”

• “Cloud Types”

• “Thermometers” (make own thermometer)

• “Temperature Hike” (read thermometers in different locations & record temperature)

• “Weather the Obstacles” (obstacle course with a weather theme)

Optional Post-Visit Activity: Huntington University students will lead the children in writing a “Five Senses Weather Poem or Riddle.” 

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Coming to America - A Visit to Ellis Island
(original lesson created by Jeffrey B. Webb)

Grade: 5          

Educational Standards: Download Indiana State Standards (*.doc)

Available: contact program director

Pre-Visit Activity: Huntington University students will visit the classroom as direct descendants of immigrants coming through Ellis Island.  They will share their stories of immigration as told to them by their ancestors. 

The HU student will also lead a discussion about the positive and negative reasons for immigrating to the United States. 

Excerpts from Journey to Ellis Island by Carol Bierman and ...If Your Name Was Changed at Ellis Island by Ellen Levine may also be shared and discussed.

Prior to the Thornhill (Ellis Island) visit, the classroom teacher should divide the students into family units & class.  Each family should pick a new surname based on their country of origin.  They must fill out one manifest per family and one boarding pass per person & bring these with them to Ellis Island.

Description: This program dramatizes the importance of mass migration to the United States from the early 100's to the present day.  Upon arrival at Ellis Island, students will be greeted by immigration officials and directed off the “boat” into the registry room.  Each family will rotate through the Medical Exam, Mental Exam, and Manifest Area.  If a person fails one of the tests, they may be sent to detention.  Each family must also take the Citizenship Test followed by the recitation of the Oath of Citizenship and the Pledge of Allegiance

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The Adventures of the Three Little Pigs
(original lesson created by Missy Jones & Eva Webb)

Grade: 1 - 2

Available: Contact Program Director

Pre-Visit Activity: (if scheduling permits)  Huntington University students will visit the classroom to read & discuss The Three Little Pigs.  A story map will be used to reinforce the basic elements of a fairy tale.

Description: This program is designed to incorporate literature, math, and science for the primary student.  After watching a play of The Three Little Pigs performed by the HU students, the children will be divided into small groups for various activities.  Possible activities include:

• “Three Little Pigs” play

• “Construction Activity” (building structures & testing to see how far they blow)

• “Tangrams” (based on Three Pigs, One Wolf, and Seven Magic Shapes)

• “Pig Games”

• “Blowing Activities”

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