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! 

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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.