Scarecrows

     As the weather gets cooler and the Wisconsin days get shorter, we can tell that fall is here.  Fall is the time for scarecrows.  Of course, many gardens have scarecrows in them all summer long.  The scarecrow is a symbol of the harvest season.  When visiting the pumpkin patch there is a wide variety of scarecrows on hand.  

     You may want to incorporate scarecrows with another theme, but I like to have them as an individual theme.  Our scarecrows will be in our room until Thanksgiving.

     This unit is organized a little different than other units on my site.  It is arranged by activity rather than divided by days.  I hope you enjoy the scarecrow unit as much as my class does!

Vocabulary - scarecrow, harvest, field, garden, corn

Vocabulary Activities

- write the words in a pan full of kernels of corn or other seeds

- students will place beans, corn, etc. on large outline letters to spell each word (this would make a great center!)

- students draw pictures to show each picture

- use water to paint the letters of each vocabulary word on the chalkboard

- put the words in ABC order

- hide the word cards around the room, students search to find the cards

Language Activities

- Read The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything - Students can tell their ideas of what the lady was not afraid of, example:  The little old lady was not afraid of two boots that go stomp, stomp.  Write these creative sentences on sentence strips.

- Create a book -  Title page: _________ Who Is Not Afraid of Anything (insert student's name).  Pages:  __________ is not afraid of __________.  Students will complete the pages with their names and something they are not afraid of.  Example:  Charles is not afraid of a brown cow.  Stacy is not afraid of three baby kittens.

- Build a classroom scarecrow - supply clothing, shoes, hat, gloves.  Stuff the scarecrow with lots and lots of newspaper (you may want to add large dowel to help him sit up).  Make his head out of a stuff paper bag.  Give him a wonderful scarecrow face.  Have Mr. Scarecrow sit in a place of honor for the month.  While building the scarecrow be sure to talk about: the various body parts, sharing materials, polite words (please and thank you), etc.

- Add to Mr. Scarecrow scene - supply the class with a variety of items - many items to support the theme, a rake, colored leaves, bale of straw, garden produce, corn stalks, etc.  Be sure to include some items that are not generally associated with scarecrows, a computer disk, a baseball, a book, etc.  Lead the discussion to what do you think you really find with Mr. Scarecrow.  Students will include the items in the scene.  Take pictures of the students in the scarecrow scene.

- Incorporate building compound words into the scarecrow unit.  Print out this activity from http://www.abcteach.com/Scarecrows/matching.htm .

- Poetry book page: (I try to have the students add a poem or two for each theme unit to their poetry books.)

- Print out a scarecrow coloring page.  After the children color the page have them write or tell you to write descriptive sentences about the scarecrow picture.

- Make a scarecrow puzzle.  After the children color a scarecrow picture, cut the paper into various puzzle shapes.  Give the children lots of opportunities to put the puzzles together.  Have the children glue the puzzle to a piece of construction paper after they put it together.

Cooking Activities

- scarecrow face - toast bread, cut out a circle, using peanut butter 'glue' chow mein noodles on for hair, 'glue' on M&M eyes, raisin nose and licorice whip smile!

- This recipe was found at http://www.marshmallowpeeps.com/recipes_main_n.html#Anchor-Halloween-11481 

Make a pumpkin faced scarecrow:
Flatten one Peeps Pumpkin to create a 1 ½-inch round pumpkin face. Set this aside and allow it to harden a bit. Secure one pretzel stick 1-inch down across the top of the pretzel rod. Using the point of a knife, dig a whole into the lower left hand side of the cereal base just large enough to fit the pretzel rod. Position the pretzel rod into the whole at an angle and secure in place with a dab of glue or royal icing. Secure the flattened pumpkin face on top. Use a small swatch of fabric to create a bandana for the scarecrow and a small circle of burlap pinched and tied at the center for a hat. Mold the black jellybeans to resemble crows and secure them onto one arm of the scarecrow. Arrange the remaining marshmallow pumpkins on the ground around the scarecrow and secure in place. Sprinkle the ground around the pumpkins, the hay wagon and along the sides of the pathway leading to the barn with all of the remaining toasted coconut and scatter green jelly beans on top around the barn and all around to cover the exposed cardboard edge. Secure in place.

- Scarecrow Cupcakes at http://www.favoritebrandrecipes.com/Finder/SearchLists/410.htm Check out the tons of recipes for holidays!

Art Activities

- Shape scarecrow - cut out a circle for the head, square for the body, rectangle arms and legs, and triangle hands and feet.  Children will add face details with markers.  Add a few strands of yellow yarn for straw coming out of the legs and arms.  Supply several cloth patches for adding more details.  Don't forget to make a hat, cut a square, then add a longer thin rectangle for the brim!  Makes a great fall bulletin board!

- make a necktie scarecrow http://www.dltk-kids.com/members/mscarecrow.htm

- make a paper scarecrow http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/thanksgiving/scarecrow/

- make a Wee Scarecrow http://familycrafts.about.com/library/projects/blpscarec.htm