Shape Mural Follow Up!

So we've been working on our Shape Mural of the ocean for a couple of weeks in our Math Center.  I left it out so that the kiddies could work on it and then revisit it over a several days.  The results are in and it now looks like there are lots of sea creatures in out little ocean! 

Here's the before!

 

 

Here's the after!

 

I love all the work that they put into making this an ocean full of sea creatures!  The "worms" and "long swimmy fish" are so fun and really creative!  I think they really enjoyed adding lots of interesting shape creatures to the mural!

 

Hope you're having a great week!

Yesterday it was sunny and beautiful and in the 70's and today it has been snowing!

Can you believe it?

 

Enjoy the day!

Kimmie

Yay! It's A 3 Million Strong Sale!

Wow!  3 Million Strong!  That is really something to get excited about!  I'm jumping in to the sale too!  Today, February 28th you can save 28% on everything in my TpT store!  Just enter the Code TPT3 at checkout!  You can click on the link below to go right to my store and shop all you want!!

My TpT Store

 

Thanks so much!  I hope you find lots of fun things for your kiddies!

 

Kimmie!

Good Vibrations!

Isn't it fun and interesting to do Science experiments with Kinders?  I know!! I love it!!

We've been learning about sound in Room A-1 and today we did a very fun and easy experiment to help the kiddies "see" sound vibrations.

I got 2 metal pie tins and in the first one I put a thin layer of salt.  (You could use sugar or sand too.)
In the second pie tin, I put enough water to cover the bottom.  Then I used a tuning fork to show the kiddies how to "see" the vibrations!  We followed the Scientific Method starting with a question to try and figure out what we wanted to know.  Then we made a statement, our hypothesis, to state what we thought would happen.  Next we did the experiment and followed the procedures to use a tuning fork. Finally we discussed what happened and drew our conclusions.  Then we talked with our partners about what happened.

Here are some pictures of the tins! 

 Salt

  Water

 Using the tuning fork to see vibrations in salt.

Using the tuning fork to see vibrations in water.

 

Here's a little video clip of part of our experiment in action!

 Tomorrow we're going to "feel" the vibrations!  It should be another interesting and fun 1Science experiment! 

I hope you had a wonderful Monday!  Enjoy tomorrow!
Kimmie

February Fun - I Need To Catch Up!

February has been such a busy month for me, my family and my boys and girls!  So I must apologize for letting time go by since my last post.  Hopefully, things will settle down a little bit in the upcoming weeks!  Birthdays, holidays, teacher evaluations, after-school classesil, a field trip to see a show at the Children's Theatre and extra Spinning classes have left me a little tired and have kept me away from the computer!  It's time for me to reevaluate my time and rewrite my personal schedule! 

Here are some of the things I've been up to this month!

Groundhog Day!

I love Groundhog Day!  It's a great time to learn about weather, shadows and the legend that surrounds Groundhog Day!  It's fun to talk about Punxsutawney Phil and Buckeye Chuck!  The kids got a big kick out of calling groundhogs, "whistle pigs and woodchucks." Here's a picture of a little craft that we did to show that Phil saw his shadow this year and we could expect another six weeks of winter!

 

100th Day of School and Valentine's Day!

 The 100th Day of School was during Valentine's Week this year because we have had several snow days that kept moving it back!  It was a great day and we did some simple and fun activities to celebrate!  We did:

100 jumps

100 seconds of Silent Reading

100 Steps to the Gym

100 Bears Hidden in Room A-1

100 Counting by 1's and 10's

100 Pieces of Things to Make GORP

100 Day Hats

100 Dot to Dot Pictures

100 Day Poem

100 Day Stories

 

Valentine's Day Celebration!

 

It's always wonderful to get a beautiful handmade valentine from the kids in my class.  This sweet heart brought tears to my eyes!  I'm keeping it forever!

 

Sounds in Science!

We've been learning about sound this month and here are some of the instruments that my kiddies created to play in class.  We've done some great experiments to explore sound and sound vibrations.  The kiddies came up with their own ideas about what instruments they wanted to make and they did an awesome job!

Look at these beauties!

 

Shape Mural!

We're learning about 2-D and 3-D shapes this month as well! 

My class decided to create an ocean mural using flat shapes to create and design the scene.  It's a work in progress and each day they add to it.  I'll post the finished mural this week but this is the mural after the first day.  The kiddies use shapes to make boats, fish, sea creatures, clouds, a sun and other creative additions to the mural.  They also decided that they could use markers to add to the shapes so that it would be easier to show what they were trying to make with the shapes.  I'm always interested to see what they come up with and how they decide what they want to create!

 

 



Thanks for taking the time to check out what's been going on in Room A-1 in the last few weeks!

I think I'm all caught up and ready to get back on my posting schedule!

 

Have a GREAT week! 

It's Dental Health Week in Room A-1!

We'll be working on lots of Tooth-a-licious Activities this week!

 

Kimmie

 

THE GINGERBREAD DISASTER! OH MY...

It started out just like any other Friday the 13th.  Everything was great!  Show and Tell was awesome and the kiddies were excited to bake Gingerbread Cookies!  We were getting things ready.  We wrote this recipe....

 

and set out our ingredients.....



and mixed up our dough.  I always tell my kiddies, "Remember that everyone gets a turn to do something, but not everyone gets to do everything."  So we measured and mixed and stirred and folded, taking turns until we got this delicious dough ready to become the gingerbread cookies we had waited all week for!  (Yes, that's my old school, hand-me-down mixer!  It's probably 30 years old!  I burned up the brand new one that I bought to use at school this year! )

 

 

So now comes the tricky part.  We have to shape the dough into the ginger-kids that we want to make.  Here's where the disaster part comes into play.

 

After careful instruction and several teacher demonstrations,

Cookie Shaping 101 just went downhill.

Look at these sad little, uhmm, "cookies?"

I'm beginning to get a little worried.

 





 

And then..........

 





Wow.  Disaster.  Gingerbread Disaster!  LOL!

 

We've played with Play-doh.  We've created geometric 3-D shapes with Play-doh. 

We've cooked and baked other things this year in my classroom. 

 

I think we need a little more practice on sculpting skills!

We couldn't bake those "cookies."  Those little crumbs would burn immediately!

 

So, they ate the part they wanted to eat and tossed the rest!

 

Do over.

 

 

 

 

 

I quickly made another batch of cookie dough during my lunch.

For the sake of time, I made round cookies with 2 eyes and a mouth
and put them in the oven to bake.

Sweet and happy ending to a Gingerbread Disaster! 

We will try again another day.  We'll work on our fine motor, artistic sculpting skills. 
We have to.  We don't want another disaster like today!
LOL!

I just love Kindergarten!  It's always an adventure!

Have a great weekend!  Enjoy the season!
 

Kimmie!

 

PS - That's not a real recipe in the picture above.  It's the one that my kiddies created to make the cookies!  We used a real recipe that is Vegan so that they could sample the dough without the risk of raw eggs.  Don't try to make that one at home!  Hahaha!

Just In Time For The Holidays! Reindeer Science And A Freebie!

I wanted to get this out before you were all on Holiday Break after next week!  This Science activity is available at my TpT store!  There's also a FREEBIE!  The activity is aligned to the Common Core for Kindergarten Science!  Reindeer Science is all about looking for the sun, moon and stars at different times of the day as well as different seasons.  Your boys and girls will also love learning a little bit about shadows!

 

Here's the link to my store for the Reindeer Science Unit, as well as the Reindeer Science Freebie!

Please consider leaving me some kind feedback!  I really appreciate that!

I hope your boys and girls enjoy this Science activity as much as mine will next week!

 

This is the "I Can" Statement Freebie!

 

This is the Reindeer Science Activity!

 

 

Have a great week!  Stay warm and enjoy!

Kimmie

The Christmas Questionnaire Link Up! So Fun!



Hey, Hey and Ho, Ho, Ho!!



 

I'm linking up with my friend Michelle of Fabulous in First

to answer some holiday questions! 

I love, love the idea of meeting some new friends, learning about what others are up to during the season and getting some great ideas for Christmas!

 

Thank you Michelle for inviting me to play!

 

 

http://fabulousinfirst.blogspot.com/

So without further delay, here are the answers to the holiday questions! 

Hot Chocolate or Eggnog?
Neither.  Unless the Hot Chocolate is made with Almond Milk and Vegan Dark Chocolate!  Can't get that at the drive-up window! 

Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them underneath the tree?
When I was a little girl, my parents didn't wrap presents.  They waited until we went to sleep, got everything out and arranged things in piles, one for each kiddo.  Then as soon as mom and dad passed out from exhaustion, we were up, running around and screaming like crazy birds, about all the wonderful things that Santa brought! Sweet chaos!

I wrap all the gifts for my girls.  I always make sure that they have the same number of gifts so that when they take turns opening, neither is left without a gift turn.  Sometimes I save silly boxes and put their gifts inside!  I've wrapped jewelry in empty Wheat Thins boxes or gift cards in Mike and Ike candy boxes!  Hilarious!

Colored lights or white? 
White lights are best!  I like to decorate my tree with different colored ornaments each year.  I have mostly red ornaments on my tree this year.  Next year I might use white on white!



When do you decorate?
Whenever I can wrestle my girls into helping me!  Usually it's the week after Thanksgiving because I'm exhausted from cooking for 2 days to get ready for the holiday!

Real or Fake Tree?
Fake now.  We used to have a real tree.  I love the smell of a real tree.  We would go to the Tree Farm in the town where we used to live and trudge around in the frozen mud to find the perfect one.  We'd cut it down, drag it to the car, load it up and then feel guilty for cutting down such a precious and beautiful tree.  One year when the girls were little, we had a Blue Spruce in our yard that was growing sideways and needed to be cut down.  We waited until Christmas so that we could use that sweet little tree in the house.  After that year, I bought a fake tree!


What Tops Your Tree?
A star.  It's kind of folksy.  It looks good!

Favorite Christmas Memories or Traditions?
Cookies, cookies, cookies. We always baked thousands of cookies, cakes, pies and candies!  My mother was a baker at heart!  We made such wonderful treats, some to keep but most to share.  I'm sure that's how I came to love baking so much! 

Do you remember your favorite gift as a child?
I remember I always got a doll, every year.  I do remember one year getting a cool, light blue, manual typewriter!  It came in its own case!  I know!  I thought it was the greatest!  Here's a funny connection!  In high school, I won a medal for typing! LOL!

Do prefer giving or receiving? 
Giving!  I love to give to others!  It's something that brings me so much joy!

What is your favorite Christmas song?
!I have so many!  Hands down, #1 Charlie Brown Christmas CD, The Linus and Lucy Song! 
 #2, Baby, It's Cold Outside and #3 almost all of the Christmas music performed by Dave Coz!
Followed by, Disco Santa and James Taylor singing, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas!

Candy Canes. Yuck or Yum?
Yummy!  I also like Peppermint Coffee!  And toothpaste!  And Cookies!

Favorite Christmas Movie?

Charlie Brown Christmas

Do you shop online or at stores?

Both!  I love to shop!  I love to shop with my friends and we often meet at different stores just to shop and talk and drink a fountain soft drink together!

Photo Cards, Letter or Store Bought Card? 

I usually send a store bought card, but I love to get photo cards! 

 

Wow!  That's a lot of information!  And it was pretty fun!

 

I hope you have a wonderful holiday season! 

 

Thanks for taking time to read this holiday question post!

Kimmie