Winter

Do you remember the fun times you had during recess when you were young?  I sure do.  This day was one of those days for the kids.  A huge, shallow ditch was filled with 1 1/2"thick ice and the kids broke it apart, so that they could collect it and build with it. They had such a fun time!

Groundhog's Day

Today I taught the children about a mammal called the groundhog or woodchuck.  I taught them about the tale of the groundhog seeing his shadow and predicting when spring would arrive.  Then they made a puppet and learned a cute little poem about a groundhog named Phil.

On February 2nd, Phil Groundhog pops out to see,

Just how much winter there's going to be.

If it is cloudy, he plays outside, 

But it is sunny, he pops back to hide!

Freddie Frog's Fantastic Flapjacks

I really enjoy doing fun, educational projects with the kindergartners that incorporate many standards.  In this way children are learning while having fun. 

Today I taught them a bit about cooking and how you have to have the correct ingredients and the correct amounts for the recipe to turn out.  I had them follow a recipe and make their own flapjack/pancake in a cup.  They enjoyed flipping their flapjack too. They thought that their flapjack was delicious and that they were a pretty good cook!  I think they really enjoyed it!  Read below to see all of the lessons that were incorporated into one project.

The kids were very well behaved for this project!

Here they are stirring the ingredients together in the cup.

It is safer for me to empty the batter onto the hot griddle.  
Later I help them flip the flapjack.  They have to say, 
"Flap, Jack, flap!"

The flapjacks were delicious!

Here is the recipe - although I now substitute all-purpose flour.

We discussed many things during this lesson:

• how to read a recipe
• about cooking "tools" - tablespoon, teaspoon, etc.
• electricity and how to safely plug in a cord {for the griddle}
• being safe around hot things
• following directions was really emphasized
• some foods come from animals: milk, eggs and honey were used today
• all about wheat and how it is grown
• how wheat is changed into flour
• what other foods are made from flour
• what steam is - that was rising from the pancake
• I read the "Little Red Hen" book earlier and we saw how she raised wheat.

As you can see...many small lessons and standards can be covered with one project! 

Thank You to Fairway Seeds

A big thank you to Fairway Seeds for donating two bird books to our classroom and for giving each child a couple of bird tattoos!  That was very generous and we all were so happy to receive such a nice surprise!

Behavior Chart

As the kindergartners mature, I am seeing a few spats now and then along with some bickering and messing around when they should be working. Some students are just not following the rules like they did at first. I am going to try using this behavior chart to help encourage them to make better choices.   If I catch them being especially good or following the rules when others are being a bit wild, I will pin them up.  If they do not obey or break the rules, they will pin down.  We hope to have everyone towards the top by the end of the day.  Each day we start over from the middle section.  Here's hoping it works! 

Words and Birds

Kindergarten teachers know that you need to keep the kids moving or they get bored and don't learn as well.  One crazy thing I cam up with is "Words and Birds".  Kindergartners must walk on the balance beam crossing over the alligator ridden swamp on their way to the trampoline.  While they are jumping on the trampoline, I show them flashcards of words and then birds.  They tell me the names of them.  Actually, I took a class that said it was a good idea to have kids jump on the trampoline and try to read words because it helps their eye muscles.  Anyway...it was a hit!  After they finished, they were a bit breathless, so they are getting some exercise too!

December Journal Entries

The kindergartners are doing a nice job of sounding out words and using punctuation correctly.  There is so much to learn during the kindergarten year.