What if I was in a snow globe?

This was the prompt I gave my class in writing one day last week. I asked my students if they knew what a snow globe was. Only about half knew what it was. When we began describing it, I had several "Ooohhh!"s.  I showed them the shape that a snow globe is - a big circle with a trapezoid base. I had my kinders think about what they love to do in the snow (which takes some imagination since we don't really get snow in our little section on SC!). They got to share their idea out loud, something I don't always allow for fear of idea-snatching! ;) I then encouraged extra hard beautiful hand-writing, good spacing, and periods.
The next day, I had my kids put on their coats and hats and gloves if they had them and sit on the rug. (What?) Then I read two winter stories at a time and had the kids act out what they wrote! 
I took the photos with two kids and cut them apart as you will see below (to save paper!).

Then, I cut the pictures super close and glued them into the snow globe!

Lastly, I let the kids finger paint show!

Pinpirations found here! Thank you so much!

http://www.mrsjumpsclass.com/February.htm

http://www.ashleigh-educationjourney.com/2011/12/winter-wonderland.html

Hopping into First Grade!

Sooo, here we are. The last two weeks of school! (My class graduates kindergarten on May 29th! Oh my!)

We LOVE the Froggy book series in our room! (If you are unfamiliar with the series, I highly recommend any and all of them and guarantee that you and your kiddos will fall in love that little guy as we have!)

This picture will take you to an author profile for Jonathan London and all things Froggy!

We have been reading the Froggy books all year long, and I put out my summer read aloud basket a few weeks ago and the kids were particularly interested in one book called Awesome Amphibians!

So, we read Awesome Amphibians and a few more Froggy books and then made our very own frogs! (I got the frog pattern from a friend and fellow kindergarten teacher at my school.) So I had my kinders color their giant frogs as morning work and then write a story about the frog (or toad, as some of them noted the bumps on the picture!).

 "My frog is jumping on a lily pad and it went in the water."

"My frog is loving the water because it lives in the water. If it doesn't go in the water, it will die." 

"My frog is poison. Do not touch my frog because it's poison". 


I couldn't resist sharing this, too! I was assigned a School Buddy this year since it is technically my second full year. This is what I found on my door handle last week. :) 

 So cute!

And this my message board that I use to display some of my gifts from my students! I also added my School Buddy's note! :)

The Lorax and Earth Day

Our field trip this year was to the movies to see The Lorax! SUPER cute movie, by the way! We went today as a wrap-up to a week or two of Earth Day studies! Perfect! I found so many great ideas on Pinterest and used several in the last week as part of the unit.

Here is the hallway display:

      "The Lorax talks tot he trees."                                          

I found this little guy is on TPT:                 And the Truffula Trees I pulled 
                                                             from this unit (also on TPT):

                                            

                                           

Spring Writing

I found this cute Bee Craftivity on Pinterest: 

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Bee-Craftivity-and-Tree-Map

They came out really cute!

I found a great website that has lots of different shapes for writing and drawing paper (paper with lines and without). This picture will take you to that site.

I printed off several, just so I would have them on hand and ready to copy. Today, I used the kite pattern. For each student, I copied one kite with writing lines and one without lines. We had been learning about weather and now we are onto plants. I thought, What a Springy way to mix the two! I gave the prompt: "If I plant a seed, I will plant ________." I had my kids write what they would like to plant and then illustrate that on the "cover" (plain) kite. We staples the two together to make a mini-book and added a streamer for a tail!

They sure make the hallway look happy!

"I will plant a rose for my teacher." (How sweet is that?)

"I will plant a apple tree."

Our teacher cadet from the local high school!  He is doing a great job helping us out int he mornings!

Dr. Seuss Activites

For Dr. Seuss week, I found a glyph (I think it came from The Mailbox  years ago) to use to decorate the classroom door! (Glyphs are great following directions activities!)

 On March 2nd, the class got to wear their Cat in the Hat hats to lunch! 

 "What would you do if Thing One and Thing Two were loose in your house?"

I got this idea from a Pin on Pinterest!

Left: "I will feed them and kick them out!"   

Right: "I will play with them and sleep and kick them out."

 Here they all are in the hallway!