Monday, May 30, 2011

Kindergarten is Out of This World!

I have so much to blog and I don't know where to start!  Our last two big units of the year were on space and dinosaurs.  I took so many pics that I am going to break them down into two separate posts. 

We started our space unit with our mystery box.  I gave the kids clues about what could be in the box.  They had to infer, using my clues, what was in the box.  Clues: 1. I am very hot. 2. I am made of gas. 3. Some people think I twinkle. 4.  There is a song about me.  Did you guess?  Of course it is a star.  The kids love figuring the mystery out and I think it is a great way to introduce our unit.

We then charted our schema.  This picture does not show how we added our new learning.  Forgot to capture that picture!







Each day I took a different aspect of space and we talked and wrote about it. Using an idea from Mrs. Will's space unit I added our learning to a large piece of black butcher paper.  After writing our information on the butcher paper the kids wrote their information in their own space books.  They had to draw a picture and then write three facts they learned.

For the sake of time I combined the information on Earth with planets and moon with astronauts.    That left me with a day for the kid's favorite part: Aliens!





 We started our our day by reading Aliens Love Underpants.

The kids love this book!  (Of course, they love anything that says underpants!) After reading we made an alien bubble map.  We took our information off the bubble map to make sentences describing aliens.  The kiddos wrote their sentences on their white board, checked it with me for proper sentence structure and then wrote and illustrated it on their paper.  These turned out really cute!










If an alien came to visit I would give her underpants. (gotta love the lipstick!)

If an alien came to visit I would give him underwear.

If an alien came to visit I would kick him to the wall. (love this one!)

If an alien came to visit I would kick him out of the house.
Next we made our paper aliens.  This idea came from Deanna Jump.  These were a big hit hanging in the hall way. They made their aliens and then wrote about what they would do if an alien came to visit.  Loved the results! Our last thing was to make our super cute space helmets.  I use the pictures from these to add to the end our our kindergarten video with the title, "Blasting Off to First Grade!" 

This ended out space unit!  Next up... Dinosaurs!

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Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Pray for Joplin

Like many of you I have watched the scenes from tornado hit Joplin with a feeling of horror and helplessness.  Joplin is only about 240 or so miles from here.  I was grateful our area was safe - yet horrified at the devastation they received.  Like many of you I plan on donating items and money but the best gift I feel I can give is prayer.  Please pray for Joplin.  The people affected, the rescue workers and volunteers all need our prayers. 

I know this is a non-teacher related post, but I just felt like it was needed.

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Sunday, May 15, 2011

Farm Fun

Like many of you I can been up to my eyeballs in end of year assessments!  I just haven't had time to post anything!  So I am forcing myself to sit down and at least post some pics of our farm unit.  The kiddos had a great time learning about various farm animals and recording their learning.  I love to see what they can accomplish at this point in the year!

We first read a book on farm animals.  I used these from Scholastic. It is a series of five books.

We then decided on what information was important and recorded it.  



Next the kiddos chose a few facts to add to their farm fact book.  I put an image up on the smartboard from the book and the kids used it to draw and label a picture of that animal.  Many of these ideas are adapted from other, wonderful teacher bloggers out there.  Thank you Mrs. Wills, Mrs. Jump and Mrs. Lee!  Your ideas make me a better teacher!






It was amazing how quiet and focused the kiddos were completing their page each day! 

Now all that is left is Solar System, Dinosaurs and end of the year items!  Almost finished!

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