Qq is for quill

Step 1: take your dried out markers and put them in a little water overnight
Step 2: take some quills, dip in your new ink, and do some writing.
Step 3: repeat and enjoy!

Some observations:
*Qq can be a tricky letter to write, but this was a fun way to practice. (After writing our names and some Qqs, everyone got to draw/write whatever they liked)
*We learned that writing with a quill can take a lot of effort; most of the class said they were glad that we now have pencils and crayons and markers
*After being in water overnight, the markers seem revived and may actually be usable again. We'll see how long that lasts.

Teachable Moments

Oh no! Some sight words mysteriously 'fell' out of the morning message. We had to figure out the missing words and put them back in. Some were easy because of the number of letters, but 4 of the words had 2 letters, so they were a bit trickier.

When we put all the words back in, we read the morning message, stopping at the end of the sentence to check if it made sense. at is a short day did not make sense, so we had to switch some of the words around.

I told the class I was glad someone had mixed the words up, because it gave us extra practice in checking if things make sense and helped us learn. (Plus it's always good to drive home the message that it is okay to make mistakes)

Ending the wintery fun

Today we did a few fun movement activities I picked up at the conference yesterday. They're good for a break from all that hard listening work, and they enhance the general attitude of the classroom. The favorite was probably the penguin dance. As one student noted, "It's like Father Abraham" (except sillier). You can see it performed by Jack Hartmann here.

At the end of the day we had a special end-of-winter-theme activity. We removed all the nametags, table group names, etc. from the tables and then I gave each child some 'snow' (shaving cream). We practiced the letter Kk, since a few children had difficulty with it earlier this week. Then they just drew and wrote whatever they wanted. They were so excited about this. Some children noticed that if they clapped their hands together, it looked like it was snowing, because the shaving cream would fly everywhere. I have heard that shaving cream is beneficial for cleaning tables, but I remain unconvinced because of all the residue it leaves. Oh well, it was so fun that it was worth it.

Just one picture

Here is a new game in our classroom: Spell or Spill (thanks to Heather Price's blog). It was lots of fun. One child read a sight word card (example: will), and another had to put bears on the tray while saying the letters (w-i-l-l : 4 bears). This is the only group who managed to fill the tray without spilling!

Friday

Here are a few snapshots of Friday morning. This one utilizes some fine motor activity to clip up the mittens, as well as reading to build a sentence.
Here is a sight word game I semi-invented (I modified it). Roll the die, read the word, move the corresponding car. Guess what? The boys loved it :)
Lego, because it was Ll week. Also good for fine motor :)
And here was our morning message. After we found all the Lls, we boxed some special sounds we could read and circled our sight words. Then we sat back and admired how much we had learned.

Drawing Club

Did any of your children come home and tell you they were in drawing club today? Do they come home and talk about anything besides recess and centers? :)

I don't think I've explained drawing club before, so this is how it started. I realized that a few children could use some specific instruction in how to draw things (because all their people and animals look the same: little circles with 4 lines coming out). Additionally, there are always Kindergarten children who could benefit from fine motor skill development, so any writing or drawing is beneficial.

Rather than just pulling one or two children to work on some of these drawing skills, I invented "Drawing Club" (once a week, during center time). A few children are mandated to attend, but since they have come voluntarily so far, they are currently unaware of their obligation. It's amazing how exciting something is if you call it a club.

Personally, I'm not very gifted at drawing, but this summer I was talking to an artist friend of mine who has taught art to young children, and she recommended a few good websites. One of them, Art Projects For Kids, has some great step-by-step instructions for drawing various things.

I try to mix it up a little, so the first week we drew snow bears and colored them with markers, last week we drew gingerbread people and colored them with pastels. This week we drew cardinals and then painted them (some children just stayed for the drawing part, and that's fine). I think the most exciting part was drawing invisible snowflakes with white crayon and then watching them appear when we watercolor painted the sky.

Enjoy a few pictures from this week:
This child asked if they could make the sky black. Well, of course! I am usually in favor of trying new ideas.

Children and Goliath

A few weeks ago in chapel, Mr. Gross was talking about the story of David and Goliath to illustrate the power of the name of the Lord. As a visual, he brought in his daughter's Bible project, a cut-out of Goliath, as tall as the Bible says he was. Everyone was impressed.

Day 101

Today we made necklaces with 101 Froot Loops (well, technically they were Fruity Os or something like that). First everyone had to count out 100 pieces with the aid of a 100 grid. Then came the fabulous fine motor task of stringing them. Lastly was the fun part: eating!
And in case you ever need to know, a 12 oz box makes 12 necklaces with a few pieces to spare.

David and Goliath

It's amazing what happens when you give children the choice between regular and BIG paper... the enthusiasm grows exponentially and some children then spend a much longer time working on their pictures. This was our art project from Monday: draw part of our Bible story about David and Goliath (there was a sample on the board, but since it was my artwork, it was not stellar). I loved how they turned out and had a hard time just choosing 1 or 2, so here are about half of them.

I love that Goliath is a stick person with shorts and either clouds or muscles on his arms.
This child spent a long time working
Great detail!

Goliath's speech bubble says "I summon"
This Goliath just makes me laugh. I love it!
I think this is the only child who included part of the Israelite army behind David

100 Day!

Math this morning: we had 3 jars, labeled A, B, and C filled with unifix cubes. We had to estimate if each one was 100, more than 100, or less than 100. Then we divided into groups to count the blocks, first grouping them by 10s.
Our 100 day collections: pennies were popular this year.

These looked and smelled really yummy!



10 rows of 10




I learned what gogos are...these:

Getting ready for our 100 day snack - yummy!
10 pretzels
+10 pieces dried fruit
+10 Cheez-Its
+10 goldfish crackers
+10 peanuts
+10 craisins
+10 m&ms
+10 raisins
+10 chocolate chips
+10 marshmallows
= 100 things to eat!
We read 100 letters and words together! (the blocked out part is names of students/teachers)Movement time: taking (trying anyway) to take 100 baby steps 100 giant steps100 jumpstossing a ball with a partner 100 times
End of the very busy, very fun, counting-full day, wearing our 100 day badges and hats with 100 stickers.
On the agenda for tomorrow, making necklaces with 101 Froot Loops!