Plants

  

Hello! I can now say that my kindergarten class are experts on plants! Here are a few highlights of our plant unit.

My class had a ball planting grass and vegetables. They also enjoyed watching the roots sprout on the plants above. 

My kinders learned about the different parts of a plants, as well as, what a plant needs to survive.

They drew their own plant and labeled the parts.

After learning about plants we filled about this chart.  I got the labels for this chart from the blog  Golden Gang Kindergarten. 

My kinders filled out this worksheet using the chart from above. I found this worksheet at Golden Gang Kindergarten.  

            

Here are the plant books that I read to my class. I love the beautiful photographs in these books!

My kinders learned all about vegetables and fruits!  They came up with many great fruits and vegetables to add to our chart.  

My class learned how they eat the flowers, stems, and roots of plants! We made a chart to show the vegetables that fall into each category.  

To wrap up our plant unit I came up with a fun activity to test their knowledge on fruits and vegetables.   I gave each child a book that I called, "My Fruit and Vegetable Passport." Partners walked around the classroom looking for pictures that answered the questions in their passport.  

Once they found the picture they recored the name of the fruit or vegetable, and gave themselves a stamp.  Many of the class referred to our Fruit and Vegetable anchor chart to check their answers. 

My kinders gave this activity a two thumbs up!!

Miss H.

States of Matter

Welcome back! Today I'm going to share a few highlights from my states of matter unit. 

 I used an activity from the blog Learning Ideas- Grades K-8 to introduce the 3 states of matter.  As you can see from the photograph below I put an example of a solid, liquid, and gas inside Ziplock bags.  

I started out the lesson by passing around the baggies that had a solid inside.  As the class  passed around the baggies we talked about what is a solid.  I asked them if  a solid takes up space, keeps its size, keeps its shape, have weight? Next, I asked if they could tell me an example of a solid.  I repeated the same process with liquids and gases.  

  

Day 2  We reviewed what a solid, liquid and gas is by filling out this anchor chart.  I found pictures of the examples of solids, liquids, and gases that they came up with the day before.  I put the class into small groups and gave each group a picture.  They had to decide if it was a solid, liquid, or gas.  Each group shared what state of matter their picture was, and glued it onto the chart.  

Day 3  I asked my class if they could help me solve a problem.  I told them I wanted to turn a liquid into a solid, but I wasn't sure how to do it.  In partners they came up with different ways to solve my problem.   I was amazed at the ideas they came up with- one set of partners thought that I could take orange juice and freeze it to make it solid!!  We decided that the easiest way would be to put water into a container and put it into the freezer.  

After the liquid turned into a solid I had them discuss with their partner about how could we turn the solid back into a liquid.  The class decided that they should take the containers out of the freezer and sit their containers on their desks so that the temperature of the room would melt the ice.  My class loved this simple experiment!

My class also learned about how water takes the shape of its container.  I got the idea for this experiment from the blog Under the Alphabet Tree.  I showed my class a bunch of different sized containers that I filled with colored water.  Each container had the same amount of water in it but the size fooled the eye.  I asked them which container they thought held the most water.  Most of the class thought that it was the tall vase that had the red water in it.  To find out if they were correct I used a container that I drew a line on to measure the water.  When we finished all the containers had the exact same amount of water! 

Miss H.

Weather

Hi Everybody!! It's summer break and I have absolutely no excuse to not post.  My little blog is going to be neglected no longer!! I have a lot to share with you all, so sit down, grab a snack, and enjoy the highlights of our weather unit.  

                               

If you have read my blog you know that I am always on the search for interesting non fiction books.  The books pictured above were a great introduction to weather.

My kinders brainstormed about the different types of weather and I recorded it on the chart above.

                          My class made mini books about the different types of weather.  

          Good nonfiction books about clouds for this age level are hard to come by!!! So you can imagine my elation when I found these... I seriously feel like I hit the jackpot LOL!

My kindergartners learned about the different types of clouds.  The picture above shows my large science notebook that came with the science curriculum.  

My class came up with so many great adjectives to describe clouds! I recored their amazing adjectives on the chart pictured above.  Abby at The Inspired Apple came up with all of these adorable cloud anchor charts.

My kinders learned the names of each cloud and how to identify them.  We looked up real pictures of what the clouds looked like so we could spot them.  

I used this FUN cloud experiment (courtesy of the blog Learning Ideas grades K-8) to wrap up our weather unit.  I paired up my class and together they observed what happens when a cloud fills up with water.  My kinders LOVED this experiment, and I loved hearing their conversations about why it rains!

Lastly, we learned about the water cycle.  We used this simple experiment to demonstrate how it works.

                                        Don't forget to check out BrainPOP jr.'s video on the water cycle! 

Miss H.

National Symbols

Hello! We just completed our unit on National and State Symbols.  Here are some of the highlights...

Here is our National Symbols anchor chart.  

                        

Here are a few of the books I read to my class.  

We learned the song, "You're a Grand Old Flag" 

I taught my Kinders about our beautiful state's symbols.  I got the idea for this chart from the First Grade Parade.  I decided to use real pictures of the symbols to build their schema. 

I included money in this unit.  We learned about each coin by making a little book.  I found these books on the blog Klassy Kinders they were a freebie! Also, my Kinders explored each coin by doing coin rubbings.

Here are the poems that we added to our poetry books. I found these poems on the blog Eberharts Explorers.

After learning all about the coins we made this anchor chart to record our new learning.  

Check out this You Tube movie called, Show Me the Money by Harry Kindergarten.  My class loved it.  

Miss H.

Spring & Easter Fun

Spring is here! Here are some highlights of what we have been up to...

We read many non fiction books about spring.  Here are some of my favorites.  

We reviewed the 5 senses by thinking about what we could hear, taste, touch and see in the spring. I recorded their thoughts on the chart above.  They used this anchor chart to write about spring.

"Spring is here! In the spring I see flowers."

"Spring is here! In the spring I touch ladybugs."

This art project always makes me smile! I love how it turns out, and the best thing is it is so simple!

We celebrated the arrival of spring with a hat parade.  My kinders and their families made a hat for them to wear in the parade.  

The kids weaved their own basket.  Here is what the finished product looks like. 

My class finger painted chocolate bunnies. 

My kinders each dyed an egg to put in their basket.  

Hope you have a great day!  Thanks for stopping by my little blog!

Miss H.