It's Almost October! Can You BE-LEAF it?

This week in Room A-1 we're going to start our thematic unit on Leaves!  I know.  Can you BE-LEAF it?  We'll be reading lots of great fiction and non-fiction books about leaves.  Here's a little list of some the books I'm planning to use this week!

We're Going On A Leaf Hunt by Steve Metzger

Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert

Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert

Why Do Leaves Change Color?  by Betsy Maestro

I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves by Lucille Colandro

I Am A Leaf by Jean Marzollo

We're going to do a fall tree craftivity on Friday!  That will be lots of leafy fun!  We'll be doing lots of leaf exploration, leaf rubbings, leaf science experiments and we'll create some beautiful leaf people!

Last week I did begin working on pulling small groups for guided reading!  I think my boys and girls are almost ready because the kiddies are almost able to work in Centers by themselves.  It's been a little tricky because they were getting used to the idea of working in Centers, getting to know the routine and the way the class functions within our structure.  I'm happy to report that they are doing much better since Day 1.

Lots of things to do this week!  I hope you have a fun Monday!
Kimmie

If You Give A Dog Something, Then He'll Want More!

As you know, we just did our Laura Numeroff study last week.  One of the things that I put together as a writing craftivity to go with her Doggie Donut story was this doggie-dog cut out and fill in sentence frame.  It's so cute! 

Every doggie is different and very special!  Then we wrote 2 words.  One was to tell what kind of drink this doggie would like and the other was to tell about what kind of snack the doggie would like to eat. 

 

Each person told me what they wanted to write on the blank lines and I helped them to achieve that goal!  

 

Every picture is unique!  They're all so stinkin' cute!  Loaded with personality! 

 

I hope you have a "dog-gone great" week! 

 

You deserve to have a little fun!

Kimmie

 (doggie frame:  http://www.thatdoggieinthewindow.org/DogBoneFrame.jpg)





Meet Our Classroom Visitors!

Well, here they are!  A few sweet visitors have come to hang out with us in Room A-1!  Our high school Science teacher is kind enough to share the snake and the turtles with us for a few days!  The kiddies are so interested in them!  They have lots of great questions and we're learning about Living and Non-Living things so they fit right in! 

 

This is my classroom fish!  He's very beautiful and he swims around most of the day just checking out the boys and girls!  Every day our Pet Caretaker (That's a great job!)  feeds him his special food. 
His name is Jack Benny.  Now that's a great name for a sweet blue Beta fish! 

 
 Here's another visitor in Kindergarten!  This is Miss Kelly from our Public Library!  She comes once a month to read to our kiddies!  She also promotes the great programs and activities that are available at the library!  The boys and girls LOVE having her come and read and I LOVE that she is so great with them.  She brings books that they love and songs that they can easily learn and sing! Yeah!  Thanks Miss Kelly!  You are awesome!

 

 I hope you're having a fabulous week!  It's starting to feel like Fall!  I love Fall!  It's my favorite season! 

Kimmie

 

When the mouse goes to school, he wants to do Science!

Hi Everyone!
This week we were doing an author study of Laura Numeroff stories!  We read many of her great books and we did this Science experiment as an activity to go with the story, "If You Take A Mouse To School."  This is the Science experiment from the story!
You can find the recipe for the goopy puffy paint and the recording sheet at:
http://www.makinglearningfun.com/themepages/MouseIfYouTakeScienceExperiment.htm

As a whole group, we followed the Scientific Method, coming up with a question, constructing a hypothesis, doing the experiment and recording our observations, discussing our conclusions and then answering our original question.  It was great the see the kiddies so excited and engaged! 

 We put the ingredients into this glass bowl so that everyone could see it!   We mixed it all up and added food coloring to make it purple. 

 Everyone got a chance to add some of the purple puffy paint to the recording sheet!  Each person got to scoop out some of the puffy paint and apply it to the recording sheet.  We talked about our 5 Senses and how we used them to investigate the puffy paint.

Thanks for stopping by to read about (and kindly comment) our interesting science experiment!  I hope you'll also do this experiment with your students once you see how easy it was and how much fun it was to learn about the Scientific Method!

Have a wonderful week at school! 

Kimmie



Gigglebox Productions Comes to School!

What a treat!  Gigglebox Productions - Karie Gipson, Puppet Master - came to school last week to perform for our students!  She gave an excellent show with a message about Anti-Bullying!  Karie brought life size puppets and engaged some of the students in the audience to help her tell a story and give a very positive message about the 4 Olweus Anti-Bully School Wide Rules!  The boys and girls all enjoyed the show and the positive anti-bullying message that Karie offered! 

 

What a great show!  Gigglebox Productions gave our students a wonderful show and a great experience and message about the anti-bullying program that we're implementing this year at school!

Karie does travel to local Cincinnati schools!  Let me know if you want her to come to your school and I'll help you get in touch with her!

Have a great week!
Kimmie

 

I Just Gotta Tell Ya......

Mercy me!  It's been a few days since I've posted and I'm sorry about that!  Woooo-wheee.  It's been a busy start to this school year and lots and lots and lots of work.  Here are a few pictures of my classroom this year!  This is the Mailbox Spot and the Partner Reading Area. 

 

This is the view from about halfway into my room.  I use this long table for Cut and Paste Center, Create a Puppet Center, Make a Book Center and other centers that need table space to work.

 

 

This is the Calendar Corner and Whole Group Time Space.  I made that groovy Chicka Tree from the long cardboard tube that my rug came rolled up on!  I wrapped the tube in brown felt and added black marker lines to look like a trunk.  The leaves are laminated paper and the letters were precut with an adhesive backing.  The letters come off easily and I use them to teach letter identification and sight word recognition.

 

These are some of my Center shelves.  I also have another Center cabinet (in the second picture) that I use for Center activities.  You can see my Word Wall, Poetry Place and 123Math Wall. 

 

 

This is my work in progress shelf area!  It has all of my Math manipulatives and the white tubs hold my most frequently used books, materials and resources.  I have plans to add a fun, creative, colorful band/wrap around ribbon to each tub.  I do have that plan.  I do.  I just have to plan for the time to get it done!  LOL!

I hope you're having a great start to your school year!  I also hope that you're taking a little time for yourself everyday! 

Tomorrow's Friday! 
 Yahoo!
Kimmie!