Fall Art

Has anyone else found some great art ideas on pinterest?  Here is another great idea I found.

I painted the students hands and arms brown and had them make a print on black paper to make it look like a tree.

Then, we went outside and I used white paint to paint each of their feet, to make a foot print.  The kids actually did well with this part and my first grade girl made a great helper washing everyone's feet and my three first grade boys did a good job helping the kindergarteners put their socks and shoes back on and tieing their shoes.

The students turned their footprints into "monsters" or "ghosts".

Then, they cut out their footprints and glued them to the tree paper.  They also used small bowls to trace circles onto yellow paper, to make a moon.

Here's some of their finished work.

Leave a comment below with a link to your favorite fall art project! 

Fun Friday!

A mother of one of my students gave me this Montessori 100 board a couple years ago.  The kids love putting the numbers on it.

Our kindergarten program is only a half day program.  It saves the parents money and it allows me to focus on teaching kindergarten in the morning and first grade in the afternoon.  This year, I have anywhere from 3 to 6 kindergarteners, depending on the day of the week, that I have to watch in the afternoon while I teach first grade.  One of my kindergarteners took an hour or so to put this whole board together this afternoon.

One of my kindergarten girls using a pocket chart to put the numbers 0 to 20 in order.

Match the paintbrush to the right paint can.

A kindergartener put the number words in order on another pocket chart.

Math Corner

Putting the letters in order is always a popular activity.  It might have something to do with earning a big buck for doing it correctly :)

Inside Cover of Fall Journal

Journal Entry by a kindergartner.

Journal Cover

Exciting News!

I'm proud to announce that Miss Jackie will be a new contributor to my blog.  Miss Jackie and I went to college at Bob Jones University together.  She got her degree in early childhood education and I got mine in Emotional/Behavioral Disabilities with a focus on elementary education.  Miss Jackie teaches two sets of preschoolers each day.  Her morning class has 18 students!  I am looking forward to her contributions! 

Join our blog on the right to keep up with our blog!

If the Shoe Fits

Came across this book at the library while I was looking for books for our Nursery Rhyme unit.  It starts out talking about the old woman who lived in a shoe with her children, and they decide to move out.  Each new place that they try out has to do with a different nursery rhyme.  My students loved predicting which nursery rhyme would be on the next page!  I highly recommend this book!

                                    

Fun Friday!

I had a lot of activities planned for Fun Friday, but the kids really got involve with the first project, so we really didn't get a lot accomplished, but it was great to see the kids take such an interest in a project.

A student's finished fall project.

 We also did a measurement activity outside to go with our math unit.  I put the kids in groups of two and gave them paper and a pencil.  I took them to the basketball court and had them stand on one of the black lines.  Then, I had them jump as far as they could and we marked it with chalk.  I gave them different materials like blocks, markers, snowflake blocks, paintbrushes, etc to measure how far they jumped.  Then, they recorded their answer and their partner's answer on their paper.

Two boys comparing their jumps.

Nursery Rhyme Story Problems

We started a new unit on nursery rhymes this week.  The kids and I have been enjoying it.  For math class, I have left notes around the classroom, written by various nursery rhyme characters.  For example,

Dear Class,

I started out on the ground.  I climbed up the waterspout 3 times and down the waterspout 2 times.  Am I at the top or the bottom of the waterspout now?

  Just Hanging Around,

    The Itsy Bitsy Spider

 The first day, I "found" two notes written to the class.  One was by Jack and one was by Jill.  One of the boys in my class insisted that the notes were not written by Jack and Jill, but by some other kind person since Jack and Jill are not real people!

Check out my store on   to download your FREE copy of all of the story problems.
Thanks for stopping by,
   Miss Rachel

Fun Friday!

I try to set aside part of the day or all of the day on Fridays for "Fun Friday." 
The students have fun and they don't necessarily know that they are learning from the fun.  Here's a look at what went down yesterday for "Fun Friday"!  

Pattern Blocks

Working with Magnets

Spinning Tops to Build Fine Motor Muscles

Dress up Clothes

Counting pictures and matching them to numbers and number words.

Find the Apple Sight Word Practice

Here's a great idea that I ran across to review sight words.  The kids love playing this game!

I hid a red apple (pom pom) and a green apple (pom pom) under five cups with sight words written on them.  We would read the five sight words and then I would call on students to guess which cups the apples were under. 

Link to your blog and let me know how your practice sight words with your students.

The Very Busy Kindergarteners

Back cover of a book, made out of glue and glitter.

Last week we talked about spiders.  One of the spider books that we read was "The Very Busy Spider" by Eric Carle.  After we read the book, I had the students make their own books.  Here are some examples of their work.  This year, I have been impressed with my students' drawing and writing abilities.

"Joey wanted Austin to go get some ice cream, but Austin was very busy studying his spider."

Front cover, inside pages and back cover, before I put a student's book together.

Last week we talked about spiders.  One of the spider books that we read was "The Very Busy Spider" by Eric Carle.  After we read the book, I had the students make their own books.  Here are some examples of their work.  This year, I have been impressed with my students' drawing and writing abilities.

This and That

Morning Message- We sing the following song to the tune of the Farmer in the Dell and then I pick a student to read one of the columns to the class.  The other students use thumbs up or thumbs down to decide if the student at the board read the word right.

  Our words are on display, Our words are on display,

Choose the column you'd like to read,

Our words are on display.

I use this game to reinforce number recognition.  First, we use the pumpkins to count from 11 to 40 and then I call on students to guess which numbers the two spiders are hiding behind.

Learning about magnets

Coffee Filter Fish

Here's a look at the fish we made out of coffee filters today in class.

Step 1:  Color flattened coffee filter with markers.

Step 2: Spray with water bottle.

Step 3: Dry completely.  Trace fish pattern onto filter and cut out.

Step 4:  Use sequins, beads, eyeballs, etc to decorate.

Apples! Apples! Apples!

Apple Game:  Use red and green pompoms to put the correct number of apples on the apple tree.

Apple Game

Apple Worm Game:  Use the apples to practice counting to 20.  Have a student call out a number.  Turn the apple over and check if there is a worm under the apple.  Game is over when students find all three apples.

A Look at Last Week

We talked about dentists, doctors and keeping healthy last week in kindergarten.  I got this idea off of pinterest and modified it a little to talk to my students about eating healthy.  They really enjoyed the vegetables and cheese!

In kindergarten, we also did an experiment with milk, soda, and hard boiled eggs to see what kind of effect milk and soda have on our teeth.  We used hard boiled eggs to represent our teeth and put on in a cup of milk and another one in a cup of soda.  Then, we made predictions about what might happen to the egg.  Some of the predictions were, ahem, a little unrealistic.  After a couple of hours, we checked on the egg.  The egg in soda had turned brown and the egg in milk remained white.  After seeing the results, we had a discussion on the benefits of drinking milk and the dangers of eating alot of sugar and soda.

Some of the students in both classes were spreading a rumor about one of the first graders, so in our combined Bible class, we talked about being a good friend.  We listed characteristics of what kind of friend they would want, and then we talked about being that kind of friend to others.

In first grade phonics, we are learning about a penguin named Pip, so we made a penguin snack using oreos, Hershey kisses, and candy corn.

In first grade reading we were reading a story about a fox that wished she had a friend to share a snack with, so we had a tea party on Fun Friday and I shared a snack with them.  Also, a kindergarten parent came to pick up their child and dropped off donuts right before our party!

Well, thanks for stopping by! 
     Miss Rachel