ZOO/wild animals

I couldn't wait until next week to post these. We made the most awesome elephants today and drew the cutest giraffes. It is amazing how children's art looks awesome no matter what. I am all for them doing things independently. Makes it more meaningful when it is their own!

I am having a ball with Deanna Jump's unit on wild animals. Have you ever heard of close reading? I hadn't until I went to a conference last month. I am pretty sure it is basically what I've always done, plus a little more, just never called it close reading. Amazing how much the kids have absorbed.

We measured a 6 foot trunk for the elephants and did a directed drawing of a giraffe.

Mother's day

I am planning my mother's day program (featuring the book I'm Making Breakfast For Mother) for my class this year and thought why not make it a mother's day/end of the year program? I had a mom ask if I was doing the dvds again this year and I hated to tell her there is no way! They took a lot of time and for the same kids..I have decided to just make one slide show this year and present it to them at the mother's day program. I have found some awesome songs to put on it. Stay tuned and I will work on uploading the one from last year on here later today!!

The Very Hungry Catepillar and Insects

4K 2013-This was my unit on The Very Hungry Caterpillar last year. I give them a lot of credit for all of this. They were asked to put the story in order on a sentence strip AND write the name of the food! We made the CUTEST caterpillars out of paper and also with paint using a balloon. We also made caterpillars using the letters in our name! I paired them all up to write what he did on Saturday, you can see some of them on the far right. What a great book to incorporate so many learning opportunities. My favorite blogger gave me such a great idea for next year using Eric Carl. I can't wait!

We learned all about Butterflies

We compared Butterflies and Dragonflies using a venn diagram!

...And Dragonflies

Who knew what kids could make out of patter blocks. I was amazed at some of the insects they were coming up with. Then we graphed our results! 

We created insects using food with our 4th grade reading buddies. SO MUCH FUN! When you heard their explanation of what they created, it made them that much better!

This one was a bee with 7 stingers!

This one was my favorite butterfly

Treats for my PEEPS!

Just wanted to show you that I didn't totally ignore easter in my classroom this year. Mom made the cutest little treat bags for all my kids!

These are the Easter projects we made last year in 4K. Stain glass (tissue paper) eggs, we got to use colored pencils to color in an easter egg (who knew colored pencils were so exciting), and we made bunnies out of paper plates (I let them make their own bunny face, they all turned out so different. I think it is much better when they get to be creative!)

Field Day Fun!

Yesterday was Field Day and the last day before spring break!!! What an exhausting day. We had so much fun though. They really enjoyed the Colleton football team playing with them. What an exciting opportunity for everyone.

T is for Transportation (2012)

We painted turtles!

 4K T week/Transportation (2012)
I've always tried to incorporate other learning into "letter of the week" ideas. I am a strong believer in children learning their letters using things that they can relate to! You would be amazed at what they remember using their names.

(Via Facebook--We were very busy walking like trains and tip-toeing everywhere! We had a lot of fun talking about all different forms of transportation and how we get to school. Learning is Terrific!)

Geometry, language arts, and fine motor skills in one! 

We used hot wheel cars to make Tracks and made Trucks out of Shapes

This was at the VERY beginning of the year in 4K. Notice the different stages of coloring!

Fall in 4K- Fine motor skills at work!

Farm Days in 4K..

(Via Facebook post from last year--Last week my little friends and I were so busy down on the Farm. Making little red hens, 3 little pig houses, and muddy pigs! We had to add an extra day just for F is for Frog (and his Four Fly Friends). We even painted the water with a Fork! Learning is Fun!)

We read the Little Red Hen and made this adorable picture. I try to incorporate quality literature into everything we do!

Aren't these muddy pigs just the cutest? It was funny to watch them get messy, some not as much as others!

Notice the 2nd one got really into it!

The one on the far right was very careful about getting her pig muddy!

                                      

                This little boy was SO creative!

We read the 3 Little Pigs and made their houses out of milk cartons!

A lot of catching up to do!

I am going to post once a day until all of my 4 year old kindergarten pictures AND 5 year old kindergarten pictures are up. I have A LOT of catching up to do. By the way, if you don't already know, I taught 4K last year and looped up with my kids to 5K this year. Didn't exactly go as planned (only 12 of my 24 kids are actually my originals, but we made the best of every day!), who knew Colleton County was so transient? 

Here are my little darlings from 4K (2012). We LOVED field trips. What a great opportunity for these children. This is the day we went to the pumpkin patch in October. Only had one throw up on the bus on the way there and a grandma got bit feeding a horse on the hay ride! 

Everyone else is doing it...

I finally broke down and decided I must start a blog before something newer and cooler comes along. So here I go...
Oh and if you think of a better name let me know!