180! Wow!

As a group the kindergartners can identify 180 bird species!  They also know many things about birds too.  Get them out to see birds, if you can.  You may want to consider putting a bird feeder or heated bird bath in your yard to attract birds for you and your child to see.  Winter is a great time to feed the birds!
 

Zoo Mobile

The Zoo Mobile from Sioux Falls visited school today.  The K-2 students were the first to hear Becca talk about the animals she brought.  The kids were beside themselves with excitement!  They even got to touch some of the animals.  The presenter discussed the characteristics of the six main classes of animals: Invertebrates, Reptiles, Amphibians, Fish, Birds, and Mammals.  At the end, I had her tell them about her job, so that they could give that some thought as an occupation some day.  It was a great presentation!

The students got to touch a Hissing Cockroach 
from Madagascar.  This animal is an invertebrate meaning 
it does not have a backbone.

They did not have to touch the animals, but 
many of them did.

This is the Bearded Dragon, which lives in the 
deserts of Australia.

This reptile was very spiny and rough feeling.

There was even a bird today!  This is a full grown, red 
morph, Eastern Screech-Owl and they live right 
here in our area.

The Chinchilla was a very, very soft mammal.  
They are native to the Andes Mountains in Chile.  
This cute little mammal can jump six feet into the air!

The fur on this animal was very thick!
 

As you can see, there were smiles all around!

The students were asked to pet the animals 
using two fingers.  They could pet three of the 
animals, but not the owl.  She gave them a bit of hand
sanitizer before they left.

The Sunshine State

Here is a photo of our weather chart.  Every morning the "star" of the day colors in the correct box which show the weather for the day.  We did not mark windy because we were going for sky conditions.  You can see why our state is often called the sunshine state!

 

Turkey Art

The kids made some Thanksgiving turkeys for art on Friday.  They enjoyed it!

Owl Display for the Hallway

I taught a step-by-step owl drawing lesson to the kids 
and the kindergartners drew these cute owls.  Then we 
made a hall display to help teach others more about owls.

Veteran's Day Art

I traced bird shapes on paper plates and the 
kindergartners decorated them with their red and blue 
markers.  Then I assembled them. They are hanging in 
the multi-purpose room at school.

Journal Writing

Today it was all about the birds.  They used their backyard birds field guide to choose a bird to write about.  They were very intent and I thought they did a good job!