Our second week in England had us exploring castles and we had so much fun! Here are the plans that I used for this week.

Passport Pals England – Castles

Sing Welcome Song — Come on everybody and clap your hands . . .  stomp your feet . . . jump up high . . . get down low . . . spin around . . . hop on one foot . . . sit right down . . . watch me spin the globe . . . on the way to Passport Pals.

What country are we studying this month? England! What continent is England on? EUROPE! Let’s do our Continent Cheer.

Continent Cheer (GGM #3)

Suitcase — castle, crown, flag, stone, hat

This week we are going to talk about CASTLES!  Let’s start off by taking a look inside a castle!

Read “Look inside a Castle” by Jenny Moss

Who lives in a castle? Let’s do this fun action rhyme about the people who live in a castle! (Have the kids do the actions with each verse)

“I am the king of running,

I run and run and run.

My subjects all run with me

And we have so much fun!

I am the queen of jumping,

I jump and jump and jump.

My subjects all jump with me

And fall down with a bump!

I am the prince of turning,

I turn and turn and turn.

My subjects all turn with me,

It’s an easy thing to learn!

I am the princess of dancing,

I dance and dance and dance.

My subjects all dance with me

And sit when they get a chance!

Who lives in the castle in England today? The QUEEN and her family! England still has a queen . . . her name is Queen Elizabeth and this is what she looks like today. (At this time I showed a picture of Queen Elizabeth).  She also has a son, who will be the king when Queen Elizabeth is no longer queen. (show picture)  And this is her grandson and his family (show a picture).  Let’s read about a day when the Queen lost her hat.

Read “The Queen’s Hat” by Steve Antony

Craft: Make a crown. Have kids put the crowns on their heads while you read the next book. There are lots of crown crafts you can use, but this is the one we did.

A long time ago, there was another Queen named Victoria. She wanted to be able to go swimming, but she had a problem. This fun book is going to tell us what happened.

Read “Queen Victoria’s Bathing Machine” by Gloria Whelan

Song: “I Took a Bath in a Washing Machine” by Jim Gill #4

Now let’s work together to make a castle! Use blocks to make castles, play music while you work. (I played Dr. Jean’s nursery rhyme cd while the kids worked together to make castles using blocks that I got from our children’s play area.)

Stamp Passport