Resources for April!

I'm so glad to see the calendar finally turning to April! 

March has always been a long month, but April has a whole lot of fun learning to be had! 

Here are links to blog posts for many of the events happening in April!

I've got plenty of April Fool's fun ideas in THIS blog post!

• 8 Ways to Spice Up April Fool's Day

Looking for Science and Social Studies ideas for April?  

• What to do with Leftover Jellybeans

Easter is right around the corner. Here are a couple of blog posts to help you out! Easter Stories, Books, Music, and Fun Resources and An Easter Warning and an Easter Tradition.

Don't forget spring! Although we have snow predicted for this weekend here in New England, spring truly is trying to work it's way through this nasty weather! Be sure to check out these Spring Resources!

Plus, baseball season is starting up! If you have any baseball fans in your classroom, you'll have to checkout Baseball Fun!

For ideas and resources for Earth Day, see THIS link.

 

Many of my friends and coworkers agree, March was a very long month, but it's April, and there's a whole lot to look forward to! Maybe you can start the month winning some great stuff!

What Does a Bunny Have to Do With Easter?

Did you ever wonder where the bunny came from? Or, for that fact, baby chicks? Or eggs? 

What do all these things have in common?

I often wondered that, so I looked it up, and it all made sense. Rabbits, chicks, and eggs all represent new life.

It is also appropriate that the date of Easter is close to the Spring Equinox. Again, we're talking about new life: rebirth, the world comes back to life.  

It all goes together, doesn't it?

Here are a few books about Easter that I found!  

• The Easter Egg by Jan Brett
• Rechenka's Eggs by Patricia Polacco
• It's Not Easy Being a Bunny: An Easter Book for Kids
• Pete the Cat: Big Easter Adventure
• The Story of the Easter Bunny: An Easter and Springtime Book for Kids

Here are a couple of books with a Spring focus!

• When Will it Be Spring?
• When Spring Comes
• It's Spring
• Spring is Here: A Bear and Mole Story

What post about Easter would be complete with this classic?

• The Velveteen Rabbit

or this one?

• The Tale of Peter Rabbit

Happy Easter!

This blog post contains links to items on Amazon. These are affiliate links. If you use them, I'll make a small profit from your purchase, but it won't affect what you pay Amazon!  If you use them, THANK YOU! (It's not much, but every bit helps!)

An Easter Warning and an Easter Tradition

Wow, it's almost Easter already! 

Nowadays I don't do as much as we did when we were kids, but we still do eggs, Easter dinner with family, and the Easter Bunny still gives my daughter a basket. Yes, she's an adult and probably thinks it's dorky, but I love that the Easter Bunny still visits!

I have an Easter story from my past I'd like to share that comes with a warning: Count your eggs before they are hidden!

When we were kids, the Easter Bunny always hid eggs for us to find. This particular spring, my sister and I managed to find most of the eggs, leaving our little brother a few. After much hunting, we were sure we'd found them all, so we went about our Easter business: getting decked out in Easter clothes, church, comparing Easter baskets, dinner with the family, lots of Easter candy, and general family enjoyment!

We'd long forgotten that spring morning the following November when the first snow came. We dug out last year's snow gear, and got ready for school. When we were leaving, my sister had trouble getting her boots on. She realized there was something in the boot. Imagine our horror when she pulled out a very old Easter egg. No, not the plastic ones, but a colored, hard-boiled egg!

Needless to say, we didn't open it, but we learned our lesson:  Always count the eggs!

I also want to share my family's Easter tradition. We call it the Polish tradition since it came from my Dad, but we really have no idea where it came from. It all comes from the principle that when two eggs are clicked together, only one will crack! (I've never seen it fail, and I've been doing this for over 50 years!)

At the Easter dinner table, everyone chooses a hard-boiled egg. Pairs click their eggs together, and the one who holds the uncracked egg moves on in the competition. Finally, a winner will emerge!

I am a lover of tradition. I don't think Easter would be Easter without the traditional egg-cracking contest! Feel free to try this at your Easter dinner!

And remember to count your eggs!