St. Patrick's Day and an Experiment

Hello! I'm so glad you dropped by to read how we celebrated St. Patrick's Day!

I made salt dough shamrocks for the kids to paint green for St. Patrick's Day.  The sneaky Leprechaun turned them gold!

When we got back from our scavenger hunt we found a beautiful rainbow that the Leprechaun left for us.  If you want to read more about the scavenger hunt check my last years post.

This has to be one of my favorite art projects!  They turned out so stinkin adorable! I got the idea for these on the blog The Art of Teaching: A Kindergarten Blog.

Here is a simple experiment to teach kids about primary colors.  All you need is a blue, red, and yellow marker, 3 cups of water and pre- cut strips of paper.  I taught my kinders that by mixing different combinations of the three primary colors we can make secondary colors like green.  My class was excited to try to figure what two colors make green.  

Partners worked together to create new colors.  First, we decided that we were going to see if mixing red and blue would make green.  One partner colored red onto a strip and the other colored blue.  Together they put the strips of paper into the water to see if it made green. 

Next, they tried red and yellow but had no luck making green.  

Lastly, they mixed blue and yellow and wah lah the water turned green!

Here is a snap shot of the lesson I created on my SmartBoard to keep track of our findings.  

Miss H.

An Ocean Adventure

Hello Friends! It's been quite a while since the last time I blogged. Spring in Kindergarten is a  busy time filled with field trips and TONS of learning! Over the past month my Kinders became experts on the ocean habitat.  

We read many different books about the ocean. The book pictured above has beautiful illustrations of what sea creatures live in the sea.

My class enjoyed being able to explore the different shells.  I found a book that allowed them to match the shell with the picture and find out what animal used to live inside it.  Obviously this center was hit!

We learned this song to the tune of, Take Me Out To The Ball Game.  Then we added it to out poetry books.  I found this song on the blog Welcome to Room 36!. 

Here are a few of our favorite ocean books! 

We read many books about scuba divers, and recored our new learning on the chart pictured above. My class used this chart to make super sentences about scuba divers.  

We diagramed the tools that a scuba diver needs.  My class did the same in their journals.  

Since we couldn't go scuba diving we did the next best thing... make life size scuba divers of ourselves! I love how they they turned out!  

We read many non fiction books about animals that live in the ocean habitat.  We recorded our new knowledge on the chart below.  

We read the Rainbow Fish And The Big Blue Whale and Bright Stanley.   

                            

We fingered painted the two main characters of the books.  Love how they turned out!

We wrote an intriguing book called Fun in the Ocean.  

The text reads, "When I went diving in the ocean I saw shells."

"When I went diving in the ocean I saw a seahorse."

Here is a picture of one of the ocean themed centers that was out this week.  The kids had to complete the sentence by picking an ocean animal.  Then they completed the worksheet below.  I found this wonderful center on the blog Welcome to Room 36!.

Fishing for Math is a game that allows them to practice their addition and subtraction skills. 

Word searches can be a great way to get the kids reading and practicing their spelling.  I found this word search on the blog Welcome to Room 36!. 

Check out this cool floor puzzle I found!  

We practiced our ar words by putting on a eye patch and reading the words as fast a possible before the sand timer ran out.  I found the idea for the pirates map on the blog Babbling Abby.

We learned how to make sand pudding.  I got the idea for this on the blog Welcome to Room 36!

This sequencing sheet was a freebie!

Here are all the materials you'll need to make sand pudding.  The kids loved it!

One last activity that we did was to watch the Monterey Bay Aquarium live web cameras.  The class really enjoyed this! Also, Brain Pop Jr. had a great video about the oceans.  After we watched it I showed them where all the oceans were located on a world map.  

Miss H.

Sink or Float?

Mission:  To see what objects sink or float.

The scientist in my classroom performed an experiment to see what items would sink or float.  The results were staggering!!!!

Before my little scientists could begin their experiment they had to learn a few key concepts to develop an understanding of why some items sink and some float.  We discussed what the words heavy and light meant, and predicted what objects on the chart  (MacMillan McGraw- Hill) pictured above would sink or float.  

Each pair of scientists were given a tray with a tub of water and different objects to experiment with.

They recorded their observations of the worksheet pictured above.  

At the end of the experiment I encouraged my scientists to freely explore the objects.

We wrapped up our experiment by watching a BrainPop Jr. titled Sink or Float.  

Miss H.

Winter in Kindergarten

 

Here is a picture of my winter bulletin board.  I modeled it after the book Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson.  

We read many books about the winter season and then recorded what we learned on the chart pictured above.  The snowflakes were made with watercolors and glitter.  I love how sparkly they are!

On this cold winter day we painted snowmen.  After they had dried I had the kids estimate how many cubes high their snowman was and then measure to see if they were correct. I found this idea on Mrs. Lee's Kinderkids blog. 

Here is a picture of our winter words.  My kinders use these words for writing in their journals.

My class learned about penguins.  Here is a glimpse of what what we did.

We read an array of non fiction books.

I always love how this art project turns out! If you want an explanation on how to make this check my post on Penguins. 

My kinders loved this movie I found on You Tube about the Emperor Penguins.

 We recorded what we learned on this anchor chart.              

Here is the poem we added to our poetry books.  We made up fun movements to help us remember the

 words.

We diagramed the parts of a penguin.

I'll leave you with one last movie I found on You Tube about the Emperor Penguins.  Trust me you'll love it!

Miss H.