Flowers

We are learning about plants in our class.  We have read about plants, sang songs about plants, painted a plant, and labeled plants.  While learning about plants we painted plants using pattern blocks.  The kids got a kick out of it, and they practiced their shapes while painting a flower.  We also labeled a flower as a class.  The wrote the sounds they heard when we read.  It was a whole lot of fun.  We also have planted beans and next week when they start to grow we are going to read and retell Jack and the Beanstalk.  Below are some photos from projects we have done.

Caterpillars and Butterflies

During our Unit on growing and changing we did a lot of research on caterpillars and butterflies.  We read several nonfiction texts as well as The Very Hungry Caterpillar and The Seed of the Milkweed.  Our big project was completed in several steps.  We started by talking about symmetry and made symmetrical painting.  Then the next day we made caterpillars.  After that we cut out the butterfly wings and added the caterpillar to make the body of the butterfly.  We also made milkweed plants, which is what Monarch butterflies and caterpillars eat.  Below is the display we created.

The Love of My life

This little girl is the love of my life, my favorite student, my constant joy.  Meet Kendall, my brilliant daughter.  She has made me a better teacher and a better person.  Last year she began school as a pre-k student, and this year she is in full day kindergarten.  It has been such a joy to watch her grow and learn. 

A great iPad app

Have you heard of nearpod?  It is a great app for iPad.  You create an account and make these quizzes, assessments, activities with slides and then you send them out, the kids submit their answer back to you and at the end you have a report sent to you.  They are fantastic.  With my little guys we mainly use the draw it slides and students write the answer with their finger, or circle the answer with their finger, then they hit the send and yes button and on my screen I can see who has answered.  I love it, the kids love it, and I get great data from it.  Here is a photo of one of my students using nearpod in a recent activity we did.  Students had to count the number of windows on each house and circle the number of windows.  I made the pictures using power point and then saved the slides as pictures.  It was quick and easy and we all had a good time.