Whoo Loves Kindergarten???

We had a great week in kindergarten last week as we studied owls.   We've been BUSY, BUSY!   As a matter of fact... I've been so busy that I haven't had time to write a fresh post about it.   

But have no worries! This is where we all fall in love with...

FLASH from the PAST posts!

Below you will find two of my posts from last year on our owl adventures!  Hope you can find a few nuggets of inspiration in them!

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Throwback OWL Post #1 --

Whooo loves kindergarten?   

I do!  I do!  Teaching kindergarten gives me so many opportunities to be creative and  just a little bit crazy! As most of you know, "Dr. Science" comes into my classroom regularly to teach my kinder-kiddos about science.   ("Dr. Science" is one of my very best friends and co-teachers who dresses up like a mad scientist and helps me carry out my science lessons.  She is crazy!  She tucks in her upper lip, busts out her lab coat and kicks the learning level up a notch whenever she gallops into the room!)  This week our science studies focused on learning about OWLS.

Take a peek at some of our owl fun... and few other peeks from last week! 

Create your own free slideshow design

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Throwback OWL Post #2 --

I hope you had a chance to view my owl adventure slide show in my last post.   If you haven't....I really do think it would be worth your time to take a peek!   It's filled with some fun ideas for fall...and learning about owls.  :)   One thing I did NOT include in the slideshow was the final product of our owl art project.   (In the slideshow, you can sneak a peek at the kiddos in action as they work on the project....but it doesn't show the completed version.)  When I posted them in the hallway this week, I was shocked at the number of class-stopping interruptions I got!  I mean staff and parents literally walking into my room and interrupting instruction just to tell me how much they LOVED them!   AWWW!  It made me feel so good!   And the kinder-kiddos felt so special and talented.   :) 

So, I thought they may be worth posting for you!  Take a peek!

I was inspired to create this project by combining a couple different ideas I had found on Pinterest.  I took the different parts I liked from both...added a little of my own creativity... and Wa-La!

The first step in this project was giving each student a black sheet of construction paper.  I used the standard "large" size (12 x 18)... but then trimmed an inch of the sides because I knew I would want to "matte" them on a 12 X 18 fall color at the end.   I passed out brown paper and had the kids cut out a simple branch shape.  Next, I passed out a small piece of yellow paper upon which I had drawn a circle.  The kids cut out the circles for their "moons."  They glued those on and then were invited to Q-Tip paint on ten stars as many stars as they chose.  (LOL!  I really did tell them 10...but obviously many were so engrossed in painting that they forgot to count!) We set those aside to dry.

Next, I gave each kiddo a white piece of paper. Then I led them through basic directed-drawing instructions to draw an owl.  (I just made them up!  I started with an oval shape for the body, then circles for the eyes, etc.) They used PENCIL first....then when finished, traced their pencil marks with back Sharpies.  After that, I TAUGHT THEM how to correctly use watercolor paints as I painted an example.   Then the kiddos painted their own. We cut them out carefully, and added them on to the backgrounds by gluing. Then I "matted" them onto a fall colored paper to make them pop.

What I love the most is the way that each child's owl drawing totally gives each owl his own "personality!"    They are just adorable, aren't they?  The kiddos did a GREAT job! 

The second grade teacher next door told my class that she loved them so much she hoped we left them up all year and just added accessories...like a Santa hat, a leprechaun hat, Easter bunny ears, etc.   Hee! Hee!   (At least if I get too busy to change my hall bulletin board I've got options!  LOL)

Blessings to you!

It was a Patriotic Week!

It was a PATRIOTIC week, my friends!

Last weekend I posted some great resources for honoring 9/11 and celebrating this great country in which we live. {Click HERE to see that post and all of the “planning” details.}  I had a few requests to post some pictures of how things turned out…. So here ya’ go!

{A few pics of our decor.}

Lady Liberty and Uncle Sam (me!)
I know you LOVE my pants! LOL

A HUGE shout out to my friend, Deanna Jump, for sharing so many of her GREAT patriotic ideas with me!   Check out some of them in the pics below!!

Want more details??  Click HERE to see her AMERICA unit.

 Some pics from our directed drawing activity.  

Check out some of my kinder-kiddos creations!   

Seriously, INCREDIBLE!!!

Next came our science experiment!   Why is the Statue of Liberty green you ask?   It IS made of copper, after all.   Check out the AMERICA unit link at the end of this post for experiment details!

{It MAY have been a little stinky!}


Just how BIG is Lady Liberty??   I made a visual of exactly how LONG her foot is.  We made predictions on it's length before we saw and measured it.   Can you believe that 25 kinder-kiddos and one teacher EXACTLY equal the length of the statue's foot?!   

 {I just LOVED painting those toenails green!}

We also wrote letters to our local police officers and firefighters, thanking them for their service.  

We are so blessed to have brave men and women who are willing to risk their lives to protect us.

Thank you, Erica Bohrer, for these awesome templates!

{Click here for the link!} 

We had a great week!  
I feel felt especially blessed this week to be teaching in a Christian school where I could specifically teach my students that God seeks to bring good things from even the worst situations.  

9/11 was a terrible tragedy...
But from it we learned what TRUE HEROES really are.
We came together as communities...and as a nation.
We were reminded to appreciate our freedoms and cherish our loved ones.

May God bless America.

Remember to check out Deanna's unit!  It's a MUST HAVE for your patriotic studies!!!

Planning for Patriot Day {September 11th}

Every year as September 11th {also known as Patriot Day} approaches, I find myself pondering how I can appropriately honor the date as a teacher of young children.  The tragedy that occurred on September 11th, 2001, is something that is beyond the comprehension of a 5 year-old brain...yet as a teacher, I feel that it's important to somehow "teach" or honor the date in a special way.  I knew I could not spend the day recounting the graphic details of the tragic events of that day.  {It's obviously MUCH too much for a little person!} However, I felt that I could honor the lives lost, the firefighters, police officers, and countless other brave heroes of that day by teaching my students about the incredible country in which we live. 

I have been collecting my thoughts and ideas and have been working to develop a plan for next week. Initially, I was planning to blog about this AFTER I taught about it...but the more I thought about it, I realized it may be MORE helpful to others, perhaps to YOU, if I shared my ideas BEFORE the date too! That way, if any of YOU are looking for ideas to honor the date... perhaps you can find some ideas/resources here.

To get started, I began by looking at my kindergarten social studies standards.  I teach in Indiana, so I am responsible for teaching the following social studies standard that I knew would be a perfect fit for next week's lessons:

Students learn that they are citizens of their school, community and the United States; identify symbols of the nation.

Foundations of Government 

K.2.2 Identify and explain that the President of the United States is the leader of our country and that the American flag is a symbol of the United States. 

I don’t have my lesson plans finalized yet…but I do have a collection of nice resources that I can share with you!  Here is a glimpse of what I have planned so far!  {Hope you can use some of these ideas and resources!}

"Setting the Stage 2 Engage!"  

My dear friend, Hope King (Elementary Shenanigans), wrote an INCREDIBLE ebook called "Set the Stage 2 Engage" this summer highlighting the importance of setting up your classroom (environment, atmosphere. etc) in order to ensure maximum student engagement.  

{She also taught an EPIC session at the SDE Vegas conference on this, which blew me away!!!} So, I knew my next step was figuring out a way to "flip" our regular classroom environment into something that would be theme related and GRAB the attention of my kiddos the second they walk in the door.  My goal is to have them turn the corner in our hall and say, "WOW!  What are we doing today?!  It's got to be something GREAT!" The theme of "Patriot Day" wasn't quite as easy to brainstorm decorations for as last week's SUPERHERO Day (Click HERE to view our "flipped" SUPERHERO classroom!)...but I knew I could do something cool and attention getting!  So, I did some bargain hunting and found some of these goodies:

 

Plastic table covers/backdrops are inexpensive and go A LONG WAY in decorating the walls of your classroom and hall!  Be creative!!!

Dollar Store/Craft Store two sided stars can be used on windows, walls and as hanging decorations for just a few bucks!

Bulletin board paper from your supply closet can be used to make just about ANYTHING!   I made some three-foot USA letters out of poster board (similar to the ones above) and plan to put them in my classroom windows too. I'm also picturing a GIANT flag like this...

OH! And if you know me, a theme day is NEVER complete without a fun costume!

 I will be wearing this striking suit:

{YES!  It IS a boy’s youth costume…but it was CHEAPER!  Hey! I’m a bargain hunter!}

And my side-kick, Mrs. Kidd, will be sportin' this beauty:

{Oh yah.   We rock the costumes!   You'll have to wait 'til next weekend to see our actual-factual photos! And yes..."Someone" might have a specific portion of her TPT earnings earmarked to purchase crazy costumes.  #iamnotcrazy #iamENGAGING }

Be sure to stop by my blog NEXT weekend to actually SEE what it all ended up looking like!

Awesome Patriotic Resources!

Well, I KNOW y'all already know how incredibly EPIC the legendary Mrs. Deanna Jump is! {And if you don't...go ahead and climb on out from under that rock!  #JK}  

But seriously, if there happens to be anyone who doesn't know about this sweet, southern inspiration...check her out by clicking HERE...RIGHT NOW!  DO NOT DELAY! {Poof!  Instant inspiration for any K teacher! #thankmelater}  Of course, Deanna had the PERFECT resource for scaffolding my plans... and here it is:

Using this baby, and a few other resources that I will list at the end of this post, my plans are coming together in an EPICALLY AMERICAN way! Here are some highlights of my planned activities:

In an age-appropriate way, I am going to talk to the kiddos about why September 11^th is an important day in our country.   I plan to use this PowerPoint presentation as part of my introduction.  It is great for young children…not “too” many details.

Then I am planning to share how we can honor this day by thinking about and being thankful for our great country and the community heroes that serve and protect us. 

I plan to highlight how important it is to recognize and show appreciation for our service men and women and community heroes.  Here are a few resources that I plan to use!

This is a nice little freebie which includes lots of neat coloring pages about American heroes.  LOVE the “Not all superheroes wear capes” page!  Perfect  9/11 connection!

Check out this FREEBIE by the awesome Eric Bohrer!  It includes both writing and picture templates for making thank-you notes for our community heroes!

Then I plan to connect to our social studies learning standards and teach about the American symbols.

 This video is an excellent mini-movie which tells all about the American Symbols.  Check it out!

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3auxqCEUyU 

Here are a few of the EPICALLY AMERICAN activities that I plan to use too…

Statue of Liberty Activities 

1.   “Why is the Statue of Liberty Green” Science Experiment {Deanna Jump’s America Math and Literacy Fun Unit} 

2.   “Is our class as long as the Statue of Liberty’s feet” math and measuring activity.  LOOKS like so much fun…AND will make an awesome visual display outside your classroom!  {Deanna Jump’s America Math and Literacy Fun Unit}

3.   Directed drawing activity of the Statue of Liberty {Deanna Jump’s America Math and Literacy Fun Unit}   These turn out sooo cute!  Check out just one example!  

Bald Eagle Activities 
1. Bald Eagle Craft-ivity and Info Chart Activity {Deanna Jump’s American Math and Literacy Fun Unit}  
2.  Bald Eagle Cams (Watch 5 bald eagle cams hosted by National Geographic!) 

 http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/03/140306-animals-bald-eagle-cams-environment-endangered-species/

Here are some other great activities that I plan to use to review all the things we learned about American Symbols:

1.   Make an American Symbols Booklet (Elizabeth Hall) 

2.   Make and read an American Symbols emergent reader. {Deanna Jump’s America Math and Literacy Fun Unit}

3.   Play the “American Symbols Interactive Pocket Chart Game” by  GrowingKinders

4.   How about playing a "Four Corners" type of P.E. game…but use American symbol posters in each corner for your “calling spots??”  Sounds fun!

And what thematic study would be complete without a yummy snack??  I’m thinking about trying one of these…

I’m looking forward to making 9/11 {Patriot Day} a special and meaningful day for my kinders.   If you do something special to honor this day, please share it with us in the comments below!