Winter Olympics

The Olympics start tomorrow! Will you be discussing the Olympic Games in your classroom? We are going to spend all next week on the Olympics. My kids are so excited to start all the fun! I'll be back with lots of pictures from the week. Here is a little preview of what we will be doing.

Grab the freebie by clicking the picture below!

Get the whole unit here!

 

Researcher's workshop

We started a mini inquiry unit on Antarctica during our penguin study. My kids loved exploring this continent. I wanted my kids to be able to ask questions and wonder about information. I also wanted them to be able to read with a question in mind. I modeled how to ask a question and how to record the answer. Then I got my kids to ask their own questions and find the answers. I listed the questions on our chart below.

 

Now the kids are ready to ask questions and wonder about information.

This one says, "I wonder if whales live in Antarctica?"

Here is one of our read-alouds we used to learn new information.

  Grab your own copy of the research form below.

January wrap up!

We made it to February! Oh how I love February! Here are a few of my favorite books to read in January and some of the literature response activities we did.

Here is just one of the activities we did with this book. We worked on building oral language for winter clothing. Then we made a circle map of winter clothing. 

 

Mittens or gloves pictograph

We discussed how animals stay warm in the winter. Here is one of our anchor charts. We circled the animals the kids thought hibernated. Chart inspired by First Grade Schoolhouse.

Hibernation chit-chat message to review what we learned.

Martin Luther King chit-chat message to review what we learned.

We made snow caps and wrote about what we like to do in winter.

Winter bubble map

Have you ever played in the snow graph.

When we returned from Christmas break we made these new year kids and wrote our resolutions. Idea inspired by Julie Lee.

We made snowmen and wrote about what our snowmen would do at night. Idea by Deanna Jump. Love how these turned out.

 

Christmas is coming! ^^post just a little late^^

If you are in need of something quick and easy to give your kids for the holidays here are a few ideas. In the past I have given them reindeer noses, elf pillows, and Grinch dust. You will need milk duds or whoopers and cherry sours for reindeer noses. For elf pillows grab a bag of soft peppermint puffs. I give out Grinch dust on Grinch day. Just a bag of green sprinkles. To get your own labels just click the pictures below! or here!

My kids make these cute reindeer ornaments for their parents.

I like to read this book to my class before the holidays.

Then we did this little text to self connection readers response sheet. Click here to grab a copy!

^^^^I hope everyone has a very merry Christmas and a happy new year!!^^^^

needs and wants

I have had this blog post just sitting as an unfinished draft for a while now. I am finally getting around to publishing it! In November we worked on needs and wants. Although this unit is Thanksgiving themed it will work for anytime of the year.

We read different versions of The Three Little Pigs and compared the story elements. Then we did this craftivity. They got to pick what material (straw, wood, bricks) they would build their house out of. I used straw, mini craft sticks, and sponges dipped in red paint. Then they finished the sentence prompt, "I built my house out of . . ."

Then we made a kindergarten neighborhood. The kids did this all on their own. First we looked at different types of shelters all over the world. Then they drew a shelter with a black crayon. They painted their shelter using water colors.

I read all the pigeon books by Mo Willems to teach needs and wants. The books are so fun to read and the kids love them. I also used the Pigeon Perfect unit by Sarah Cooley. The kids made the pigeons using blue paper scraps.

After learning about needs and wants we discussed how do people get what they need or want. We discussed saving and spending money. So then I let them save up pretend money for good behavior and doing class jobs. Then they spent their money on different craft items to "stuff" their thanksgiving turkey.