Winter, Winter Everywhere...almost!

We have been working, writing, creating, and learning to get ready for the winter break. I have one student that keeps reminding me that it isn't officially winter yet, as the official beginning of winter is not until Dec. 21. Well, winter has already begun in our classroom. We have been learning about the winter season and snowmen! Who doesn't love a nice, big, friendly snowman? We have read many different winter themed books including "The Snowy Day" by Ezra Jack Keats. We created a snowy picture and imagined what activities we would do in the snow.

We also read "There was a Cold Lady who Swallowed Some Snow" by Lucille Colandro and, of course, our old lady swallowed all those items and hiccupped out a fully dressed snowman! We then completed a group writing project in which each student wrote what his/her old lady swallowed including chocolate, a car, a sock monkey, and Santa Claus--just to name a few!

We read "Pip & Squeak", which is a cute short story about two mice on an adventure to find the perfect gift to bring to their friend's party. One mouse thinks cheese is the best while the other mouse has a different idea for their rabbit friend.

After reading, we discussed why one mouse thought cheese was the best gift for their friend. Then we talked about what we might give to a friend. The students then used play-doh to mold the perfect gift.

Students then used this experience to write about the gift they created for their friend. The students wrote what the gift would be, why they chose that gift, and then made an illustration of the gift.

The students also decided they wanted to make a snowman sculpture for our classroom. The first step in creating the sculpture was to plan. We brainstormed what materials we could use from our classroom to build a snowman. Here is what they came up with: 

We then experimented with solid figure blocks and balance to decide which shape and size should come first, next, then, and last.

Next, students drew out a plan for what our snowman would look like when completed. Only one student drew a snowman with a box design instead of the traditional round body. We chose his drawing as the guide for our sculpture. Finally, construction began.

He is visualizing what the snowman will look like when completed. 

They added details (including a mohawk) and Snowy was complete!

Our sculpture was now our friend. Snowy helped us come up with many ideas for writing stories involving sequencing skills. Snag this writing freebie from Dana Lester here at TPT.

We have written narratives of the adventures of our snowman. We have described him using adjectives and even listed verbs that he would probably do/does at night. We have had many learning experiences from Snowy. Today we incorporated him into our math lesson. We measured Snowy to find out his height. We discovered he was 65 cubes tall (including his mohawk, of course). Then I separated the students into pairs using awesome animal group sorting cards similar to these from Chantel Johnson. I couldn't find my exact set but these cards were a quick and easy way to sort the students. Here is where we predicted how tall he would be: 

We measured him.

Then the students split into their pairs and measured each other using cubes. They recorded their findings on data sheets I created. You can download them for free from Kinder Gardening by A. Scrivner. 

The students worked very well together.

       

                                       
                                      

I am so proud of how much they are learning and growing. I can't wait for our Winter Snowman Party tomorrow to celebrate a successful 1st semester...and Snowy will be the guest of honor!

For lesson planning: I noticed that this activity was a little more advanced for some groups. It would make a great 1st grade or enrichment activity.

Project Based Learning Leading the Way

Project based learning is defined by Edutopia as "a dynamic classroom approach in which students actively explore real-word problems and challenges and acquire a deeper knowledge" through these experiences. I have been working to create a project based learning classroom from the beginning of school. We began with the task of creatively introducing ourselves and becoming authors through story bags, the first project of the year. Each student brought in and presented items from a plastic bag (teacher provided bags and instructions at parent orientation) that represented themself. Students then decorated a book cover to tell their personal stories. They took turns sharing their items, book covers, and stories in class. We also connected our classroom to the national and global community with our Ginger Friends, see Traveling Gingerbread Friends post here.  As the 2nd 9 weeks began, I followed our district pacing guide and started a project based on ALCCRS learning target K.G.5-[I can] model shapes in the world by building shapes from components (ex. sticks and clay balls) and drawing shapes. We learned all about geometrical shapes and solid figures. Inspired by Kinder World Way's Blog on PBL, the students started to plan their learning experience. We decided to design, construct, and map out our own classroom city. My kinders brought in 3D figure-shaped empty containers from home (cereal boxes, shoe boxes, oatmeal cans, empty toilet paper and paper towel rolls, etc.)   We brainstormed types of buildings and establishments that cities need to function. The students decided that a city would need a house, school, park, library, church, airport, hotel, and two restaurants (Little Ceasar's & Panda Express). I divided the students into pairs and they picked the buildings they would like to construct from the list they created. Here they are working together to design the blueprints for their buildings.

Next, I allowed each pair to choose their building materials. They were able to choose 4 items from our supply pile. (We had a surplus of toilet paper rolls, so after everyone had their 4 materials, they were able to come back and get more rolls if needed.) Then construction began. 

The students worked diligently, guided by their blueprints, to construct the model buildings for our new city. They planned and stacked then brought the buildings to my table to be hot-glued and taped together. Over the next few days, we integrated a lot of art aspects, one of which was painting our buildings. 

The students decided their buildings needed labels and signs to let people know more about them. So they decided on names and made signs, windows, and doors. (Pardon the outfits, it was "dress like your favorite character day" for Red Ribbon Week.)

This group wanted to add plenty of details so "the people in the city will know about their school."

Next it was time to decide the best placement for the establishments and to add roads in the city. Students discussed things like: Should the school or the hotel be nearer to the airport? Should the library be close to the school or across town? They were all in agreeance that the park should be in the middle of the city and there should be roads and parking lots. Here is the city ready to be mapped.

Finally, it was time to learn about maps and create a map for our city. After teaching about maps and guiding the students to decide what maps are for and why they are needed, I modeled drawing a map of our Kinder City on the board, including a map key. The students were then set free to map out our  city. They were to include a map key, buildings, roads, and labels when possible. Some students changed the name of the city once they drew it and began to take ownership of their work by  creatively adding other buildings (gas stations, Wal-Mart, etc.) Here are some of the finished maps.

Over the course of this project, my kindergarten students took on the roles of architects, designers, engineers, contractors, artists, topographers, and more all while working cooperatively with one another. They tackled challenges, discussed options, and compromised when necessary to build a one-of-a-kind Kinder City community while learning important Math, ELA, Social Studies, and Art skills. 

They were all so proud of their creations!

My students did so well with this whole class project! I'm looking forward to incorporating more project based learning experiences with my kinder kids. If you have any great learning projects you have been a part of, or PBL ideas and sources, please share them with me by leaving posts and links in the comments below

Johnny Appleseed Freebie, Field Trips, and Red Ribbon Week, Oh My!

Our class has been super busy this fall. We have been checking the mail everyday for our gingerbread friends and have received most of them back to our classroom safely (update coming soon). We had Johnny Appleseed Week where we learned about the letter A and Johnny Appleseed. We ended the week with Apple Centers. There were 5 centers: Apple Tasting and Seed Counting, Painting Patterns with Apples, 10 Apples Up on Top-Numeral Order and Picture Stack, Apple Design Creation, and Compare and Contrasting Apple Cider Survey and Apple Juice.  Apple Survey Freebie Here

We've been on two field trips so far. We were able to see Sid the Science Kid learn and teach about our 5 senses plus our special 6th sense--creativity/imagination (boy are we getting good at using that one). I introduced the 5 Senses before we went to the show with Caitlin Clabby from Kindergarten Smile's 5 Senses Pack. We also traveled to Tate Farms Pumpkin Patch where we rode a tractor/hay ride, pet baby animals, bounced on a huge inflatable pillow, played on the playground, rolled in the corn crib, and each of us got to pick our own pumpkin. We wrote and illustrated our own class book about our adventure. It is currently getting published through http://www.studentreasures.com/ school publishing!

We also celebrated Red Ribbon Week with different themed days. Monday was, "Be a Superhero, Have the Power to Say NO!" Spiderman even visited our classroom! 

 

We ended Red Ribbon Week by dressing as our favorite book or movie characters to "Show Good Character by Staying Drug-Free". We had a lot of fun and of course, our class pumpkin and Mrs. Scrivner both got a Bad Case of the Stipes! 

P.S. Happy Note---WE GOT OUR DONORS CHOOSE PROJECT FUNDED!!!!! YAY!!!! CELEBRATION HAPPY DANCE!!!! Our class will soon have a brand new listening center! Thank you for all of your support!

Traveling Gingerbread Friends

We have had a great (and early) start to school.  I have a new class of 18 excited 5-6 year olds that are ready to learn! We began the year reviewing colors and shapes.  We had a theme color for each day and ended the second week of school with RAINBOW DAY! There were plenty of tie-dye clothes and crazy color combinations. We also had an adventure with our friend the gingerbread man.  We read and retold his story using sequencing cards I purchased from the Kindergarten Lifestyle, you can find them here. We then brought the story to life by decorating our own gingerbread man (thanks to my talented teaching partner) using a variety of colors and, of course, RAINBOW sprinkles!

Our Gingerbread Man

We then took him to the lunchroom to be baked.  We have a great lunchroom manager (Ms. Glenda) who always begins our adventure with such enthusiasm.  We went to lunch and art. After art we returned to the lunchroom to see if he was finished baking. Well, what do you know, Ms. Glenda opened the oven and the gingerbread man was GONE! Thankfully that tricky little fellow had left a note as a clue to his whereabouts.  As it turned out, he had left notes leading us all around the school until we were led back to our classroom to find him and his final note.  It was quite the adventure!

Our gingerbread man and the final note. (Please ignore the end-of-the-day messy table!)

After we snacked on our gingerbread friend (because he invited us to enjoy), I introduced our very own gingerbread friends. You can find the template I used to create our friends by tpt seller Brenda Barron here http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/The-Gingerbread-Man-Shape-Book-and-Template-430452. Each student designed his/her very own gingerbread friend. Some added hair, hats, clothes, and buttons.

I plan to laminate these for more travel protection.

I also sent the Traveling Gingerbread Friend Project parent letter home to explain our idea.  You can find the parent letter and project here: Traveling Gingerbread Friend on my TpT.  We will mail our Ginger Friends to friends/family members around the state, U.S. and maybe even world as soon as I receive addresses from the students' parents.  The children are excited about their little Gingies and can't wait to receive envelopes and packages addressed to our classroom.  Our class will learn about different places and connect with people via their Gingerbread Friends.  We will extend this class project with presentations, writing enrichment activities, and maybe even a class book!

Please comment if you have any great enrichment activity ideas you would use to extend this project. Thank you!



Click here to see an update on our adventures!

"Mrs. Scrivner, what can I do now?"

You've heard it over and over and over again, "(Insert your designated classroom teaching title that echos in your mind both day and night), I'm done, what can I do now?" or "What do we do next?" or "I'm finished...I'm bored."  Have you ever heard any of these?  No, of course not!  You are the picture of teaching perfection keeping your students unquestionably engaged for every second of every 420 minute school day.  Buuuut, if you are like me, and have recently found yourself in a moment where your genius students have exhausted all of your challenging and captivating activities and found themselves wondering what they should do next, I have some suggestions.  While searching through classroom ideas on Pinterest and scrolling through some amazing teachers' news feeds on Facebook, I came across and was inspired by this picture:

You can buy the labels and activities here:

 http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/All-Done-Now-What-activities-for-fast-finishers-858156 .

So, I created my own version:

 I just need to spruce mine up with some cute labels!

I used the book "Teacher, I'm done! Now what do I do?" to find some enrichment activities perfect for my kindergartners.  I also made a drawer for cutting practice pages and handwriting practice.

Find the book here at Amazon.

The middle drawer has Highlights Visual Puzzle Cards and magnifying glasses to keep kids stimulated and challenged.  This new Enrichment "What Next?" center goes into action first thing tomorrow morning.  I will update this post soon to let you know how much easier my life has become and how much happier and smarter my students are because of it.

Here are some other great ideas for early finishers:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/What-to-DO-when-Im-DONE-Display-Cards-FREE-793204 (This one is FREE!)

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Im-Done-Now-What-Task-Cards-FREEBIE-737071 (also FREE!!!)

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Im-Done-Now-What-Early-Finishers-Jar-454385