Storms and Rainbows

 As part of our study of weather, we wrote about different types of weather, listened to and imitated the sounds a storm makes, wrote about a sequenced storm, worked with color words, and read many books.   

  

     We also painted storms with watercolor and topped the paintings with a rainbow painted with acrylic on Duralar clear paper.  We made batik weather flags by making designs with washable school glue on fabric, painting rainbow colors of watered down acrylic over the glue designs, and then washing the fabric.

      This year, I found some old watercolor postcards and used these as well.  We looked at several art prints that depicted weather.  Then, children painted a weather scene on one side using watercolors and white crayons for resist if they wished. The following day, students wrote a note to someone about the weather.  When finished, I displayed the cards front and back under some suspended clouds made by sewing fishing line through batting material and pillow filler.   We think the work and the display turned out super!

Enjoy!

     Molly and Laura

Character Study

     We use this lesson with Peter and the Wolf, but any story with full characters would work.  First, we learn the story and characters well.  Then, we begin discussion about the characters.  Together we list some of the traits that might describe each character.  

     Then, students decide what character they would like to describe.  They quickly glue the character picture inside a folded piece of writing paper. I have pictures of the characters available and writing papers folded. 

Next, they write clues about the character.  I asked them to write 3 clues last week describing their character.

     Finally, we read our clues to others and ask them to guess what character we were describing.  This is so motivating!

Here my photos will not come in right side up!  One child writes about the wolf - It has sharp teeth.  It has hair.  It likes your taste.  Another child writes about the hunters - manly, strong, happy.





     As extensions, we also visit and learn about musical instruments with our school's band class.  And, we draw musical instruments for a display.

  

Enjoy!
     Molly and Laura

St. Patrick's Day

     The leprechauns visited for St. Patrick's Day!  They did a little mischief (switched calendar numbers, turned a few sight words upside down,  moved a bench ...) and left a note saying that each child could find 20 pieces of gold and 1 coin.  The children quickly found 20 pieces of gold (pebble stones sprayed with gold paint:) and a plastic coin from the dollar store.  We had cute little green striped envelopes to keep our collections in and to take them home.

     We learned about leprechauns and mischief reading Eve Bunting's book, That's What Leprechauns Do .  It's a great story to help children understand the supposed duties of leprechauns and to understand what mischief might be - a little trick that doesn't hurt anyone or thing rather than something that is mean spirited.

Our centers included green painting on green paper, color words, collecting 50 pieces of gold by rolling a dice and collecting groups of 10 yellow unifix cubes, and rainbows. 

May the Luck by With You,
     Molly 

Addition and Subtraction Fact Fluency

     Most of our students now understand basic addition and subtraction.  We are now working toward developing flexibility and fluency with this skill.  This week we tried, "I Know the Number, What's the problem?"  Children worked with a partner or by themselves to find the problem that matched the answer given by the teacher.  Our students now understand how to play the game and loved it!  We'll use this often in the coming weeks!

     Find this lesson and over 20 others in our lesson book, Understanding Addition and Subtraction. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/A-Year-Full-of-Kindergarten-Lessons-for-Understanding-Addition-and-Subtraction-1617989 

       Enjoy!       Molly and Laura

Self Portraits

     Along with writing a personal narrative, we like to have our students complete a self-portrait.  This year, we were fortunate to have an artist, Amy Nack, work with our class on these.  She taught us a new technique!

     We bought Smooth Bristol Paper and taped the edges prior to the lesson.  She talked to them about what a portrait is, then helped them with drawing by showing a few tips about head shape, adding shoulders, eye/ear placement ...  Our students drew themselves in pencil and then traced over their important lines with black permanent marker.  During the next session we added color to the portraits by rubbing chalk pastels on sandpaper, then using our finger to pick up the chalk and color the portraits.  They turned out amazing and were very engaging for our students.

 

Enjoy!

     Molly & Laura

Personal Narrative Writing

    

     Each year we are amazed with the work and writing we get as our students approach their Personal Narrative Project.  Students bring in photos of themselves and write a story about something that happened in their life.  This year my students wrote about winning a golf tournament, visiting the Oregon Coast, going on  a roller coaster ride, dance recitals, and visiting a small town just north of us for an ice festival.

     This lesson can be found detailed in our lesson book, Kindergarten Writing Activities.  It is available at our Tpt Store:  https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Right-To-The-Core-Kindergarten

     This year's writing was notable for their pre-writing and revision work - sharing their stories with peers.  They told their stories using their picture during class time, but I also heard them talking about the events at recess and during other opportunities.  The following day, they approached their draft with enthusiasm.  For a peer review this year, I gave them a couple sticky notes that could be used to indicate places where their writing could be made better.  Some children placed the notes, others wrote on them, and a few drew pictures as well.  Some of these ideas were reflected in their final draft, but the process was so worth while for all!

Enjoy!

     Molly and Laura

Dr. Seuss

     Each year on March 2nd I look forward to bringing out my large stack of Dr. Seuss books.  Reading his prose, laughing at his fun, and marveling at his creativity could be enough of a celebration!  

     This year, I gathered my books and these few activities for our look at Dr. Seuss.

     Scholastic's Let's Find Out publication included a graph for choosing a favorite book.  I thought this could be a good way to anchor our exploration, talk about graphs, and talk about an opinion and "because" to support opinion writing.  An older Let's Find Out had a great picture of him and some interesting facts about his life.

    

      One day we read The Cat in the Hat.  Then, we tried our hand at drawing "The Cat".  I saw a picture of direct drawing technique on a pin by Fairy Dust Teaching www.fairydustteaching.com . This technique makes it a bit easier for children to follow and the character is still recognizable.  

     The next day we read, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.  Along with the story, we made some math mats based on an idea from Mrs. Ricca's blog http://mrsriccaskindergarten.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2013-04-21T17:09:00-07:00&max-results=7

       I wanted my children to draw and write addition and subtraction stories, so I make these up quickly.  Feel free to copy them.

   

     For our last focus story, Green Eggs and Ham, we simply responded to a question in our writing journals.  I wrote, "Do you like green eggs and ham?".  Students were asked to respond whether or not they like them.

     We really enjoyed our exploration of Dr. Seuss and his wonderful books - hope you do too!

Enjoy,

     Molly