100th Day

100th Day and Valentine's Day...back-to-back!!! Whew it was a busy week! 

The children entered Wednesday morning to a sign much like this (Thank you Pintrest and Ms. S from First Grade Fresh). I have seen these popping up all over Pintrest, so I just had to create one! 

Last year I made these wacky hats and found they were not worth all the time. Thus, this year we purchased special crowns from Really Good Stuff. They were a hit.

I don't know about your Kinders, but mine always need cut and paste activities. I cannot remember where I found this idea but it is a blast. Even my students who lose focus quickly LOVE these. 

Ice cream scoops. Count by 10's to 100! 

In my classroom we have some serious allergies and bringing food into the classroom is really tough. My teaching partner did a super cool 100th Day Snack mix. I still wanted to do something fun, so I went with Tootsie Pops and Life Saver Gummies. We even made the number 100 with them! They were a huge hit! 

Last but not least....my favorite 100th Day activity! 100 year old students! 

These crack me up every year! The children were even laughing. 

I love the hair on the sides. This student also made a tie! How precious! 

This one below is my FAVORITE! 

Hope you had a great 100th Day of School!

Oceans Intro & Wk 1: Dolphins

Jellies, sharks, and dolphins.....OH MY! 

Last week, we ventured to our local Aquarium for a field trip surrounded around all things ocean related. We are kicking off our two month unit of Oceans. Here student will apply math, reading, and writing skills to fun aquatic animals. We will be covering dolphins, jellyfish, seahorses, sea turtles, sharks, crabs, and many more ocean animals. 

Three of my students enjoy an underwater view of the dolphins. I just LOVE this picture! 

Students learned all about dolphins from trainers in a live FREE show. 

The week following our big trip, we dove into a week long study of dolphins. 

On Monday afternoon, we gathered both Kinder classrooms for a short time to learn together about dolphins. 

We first talked about what we already knew: Our Schema. 

We wrote these on blue post it notes and posted them on our large anchor chart. 

I did not get a picture of this anchor chart completed, hence you cannot see our 'New Learning' post-it notes. 

Next I used a powerpoint presentation to teach the students about dolphins. Download a free copy of this HERE. 

Please note: Images are from Google Images. I am not the owner of these photos, simply using them to teach children. 

Over the course of the week we enjoyed many fiction and nonfiction books about dolphins. 

My favorite was: 

This book is worded beautifully. It explains mammals, dolphin families, and basic dolphin characteristics. 

We created a dolphin diagram mid-week and students did fantastic. 

Here is a copy of the diagram HERE. 

I forgot to take a picture of the student's completed diagram, but I will on Tuesday. 

Lastly, did you know the Orca or Killer Whale is a part of the dolphin family. I learned something new this year. 

We also read about the Killer Whale and created this super cute orca from Deanna Jump's  Ocean Unit. I love their unique personalities shown through their work. 

Did you know an adult orca is a long as 8 children stretched out from head to toe? We loved seeing how big orcas really are! 

Week 2 starts next week. My teaching partner will be teaching all our students about Jellyfish next week. 

A Month of Penguins

January has come and gone!

We have enjoyed a month of penguins: Emperors, Adelies, and Rockhoppers. 

Here is how we broke it down: 

Week 1- Penguin Introduction 

We made a penguin book to hold all our activities. 

The book is made with a large sheet of blue construction paper. All you have to do is fold part of the bottom up to form a pocket. Then we used a hole puncher and bound it with yarn. 

This pocket contained general penguin fun! 

Readers have been blossoming in our class and we practiced many sight words in this book. See a few pages below. (I do not remember who created this book, though I'd love to give credit) 

I love the picture!

Diagram of a penguin. 

Don't you just love Kinder spelling! 

Penguin Bubble Map

(From Deanna Jump's Penguin Unit)  

Parts of a Penguin

Colored, cut, glued together, labeled. 

Emperor Penguin Pocket

Life Cycle of the Emperor Penguin

(From Teacher Created Resources) 

Emperor Penguin Fact Sheet

(Created by ME) 

Emperor Penguin Brace Chart 

(Created by ME) 

Are you taller or shorter than an Emperor Penguin? 

(Created by ME) 

Adelie Penguin Pocket

Where do Adelie penguins lay their eggs? 

(Template from Teacher Created Resources, Writing Idea from ME) 

Interior of the egg

"Adelie penguins lay their eggs on a nest made out of rocks." 

Symmetrical Adelie

Students used tracers to make the penguin. 

Math focus: Symmetry

Adelie Penguin Fact Sheet

(Created by ME) 

Directed Drawing Rockhopper Penguin

(Drawing book) 

Aren't they too cute? 

Rockhopper Penguin Fact Sheet

(Created by ME) 

Rockhopper Nonfiction Book Page 

(From Deanna Jump's Penguin Unit) 

Tacky Homework

Decorate a penguin and write 3 sentences describing him/her. 

Lots of photos, lots of fun! 

Valentine's Planning!

I know we have been seeing candy hearts since Christmas, but it is time to jump on the bandwagon and get cracking on Valentine's Day.

Today I brought my big tub of February Goodies to school and my LOVELY assistant and I got to work.

First, Valentine day card holders....is there a better word?

Last year, we created these cute bees and we want to do them again! I got the idea from here.

I made word documents for the "Bee Mine" Get it FREE here.

We went step-by-step and they turned out so cute! Then I attached the bee to a white gift bag and slapped a cute name tag so we could tell the difference between each child's. 

After school I went to Michael's to pick up a small container of glow sticks for my Valentine cards.  These are so easy and the children LOVE them! 

More to come tomorrow! 

Aren't they the sweetest? 

MLK Recap

Last week we honored Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

I introduced Martin Luther King by reading Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King by Jean Marzollo. This is a perfect book for Kinders. It is simple and reaches them on their level. I do leave out the part that says he was shot...

The children were SHOCKED when they heard this story and could not believe people were treated so unfairly. I honestly do not think children this young see 'color.' They see friends and fairness. 

Students then watched part of Dr. King's "I have a Dream Speech" on YouTube. Click here to see it. 

Then as a class we spoke about our own dreams. I told the children how my dream was to become a teacher. I told them about how my friend's older sister played school with us and then how I too had a school of my own. I made worksheets and had my very own chalkboard. I told them DREAMS COME TRUE to those who work hard. 

I found this idea on Pintrest, (link), and then made it my own. It was my first year doing this activity and I think it turned out pretty cute! 

Opened to see a little bit of writing:

Some precious writing: 

"My dream is to be a doctor because I like pads of paper to write information about the person." 

This cracked me up: 

"My dream is to become a singer because I like to sing 'Call Me Maybe" and to be famous." 

Next year I want to have the students bring in an item to represent what they want to be when they grow up, so I can take a picture. 

I love teaching Kindergarten! They are the sweetest!