I'm ALIVE! & Looking...

I don't even think attempting to catch up is possible.  I have been so busy getting moved, starting a new school year, helping hubby start his FIRST school year (as a teacher at least), helping my kids get settled in in a new area, with new friends to meet, and a new church to attend.  Add to that my mother in law moving in and construction in the basement to get her space set up and ready.... which should FINALLY be done in the next 2 weeks!!!  Whew.  I am still not all unpacked (because well we closed the first week of school on our house of course)  I have just been in survival mode, it was all the energy I had to teach, keep the laundry done, dishes clean, and food in the fridge.  

Why has this change been SO HARD for me???  Oy!  Anywho...  I am loving my new school, I am LOVING my cute classes, and I am loving our new home!  My little kids are loving their new preschool and my BIG girl is beyond happy with her fabulous first grade teacher... all is well!  Since backing up and telling you all that my kinders and I have been up to this year is just NOT happening here is a peek at what we did TODAY.

We read this Book:

Have you read it?  It is MARVELOUS!  In my new district we teach Journeys, which is great (it is taking some getting used to switching from Treasures to Journeys, but they are both good programs) sorry, tangent.  Anyway in Journeys this week we are learning about our 5 senses, perfect intro to science and the scientific method!  So we read this fantastic book to enhance our 5 senses study and THEN...

We put on some of THESE:

Do you see what this cute face has on?  They are just 3D glasses, sans lenses, perfect "lookers" once they were all wearing a pair of "lookers" we went out "looking".  The kids had so much fun looking and then writing about what they could see.  I honestly believe that class should take place outside more often than it does!  How do you introduce senses and science?  I would love to hear your ides (that is is any of you are still out there what with my prolonged sabbatical and all.)

On an unrelated note my student teacher starts tomorrow, I have not decided as of yet if that means I will have more time or less time on my hands... but from what I can tell she is beyond fantastic and I am very excited to get to know her better!

Dinosaurs, Big as Trees...

... dinosaurs, brains like PEAS!

My kiddos LOVE this song, every year!  They BEG me to play it again and again, so I do if they earn it... yep, they have to earn it and then they sing along!  The fifth grade teacher who shares a wall with me will be so glad to have someone else in my room next year who is not SCREAMING,
 "brains like PEAS!" 
I sing A LOT with my kiddos and honestly it may be a bit annoying to have a classroom next door to me!

Needless to say we studied Dino's this week as part of our Amazing Creatures Unit.  

We wrote about Dinosaurs...

"How is the Ice Cream?"  "Good but I have a ice cream mustache."

Read about Dinosaurs.  (By the way I LOVE this book... the kids have the best discussions about what the dinos would do if they came back and it leads to a great discussion about fantasy vs. reality)

We were paleontologists and uncovered a few dinosaurs.

This was our last week of centers for the year!  WHAT!?!?  Yep, next week we have graduation program practice and then the first week of May is kinder graduation, testing, and then FIRST GRADE baby!  I can't believe my kinder kids are going to be moving on... it is harder this year because this kinder kid is moving on...

Oh how I adore her!  It has been pretty amazing to have her with me this year!

But it is also my last year at my school... I love my school.  Ending this year and knowing I am not returning in the fall... ughh.  

I know we all think we teach at the BEST school ever so it comes as no shock that I feel the same way, our faculty is AMAZING!  I have been so blessed to begin my teaching career here.  I have grown and developed as a teacher and I now feel ready to take on a new challenge!  But I am still going to cry my eyes out on my last day... guaranteed.

a little metamorphosis...

We have been learning all about insects.  Our caterpillars have been growing and changing right before our eyes.  Of course they chose the weekend to finally create their cocoons, they always do!  So in preparation of what I knew the students would miss we watched this:

These are the same caterpillars that we have in our room, which made watching the video even more amazing to the kiddos!  I am happy to report that as of now all 10 caterpillars have successfully made it to the pupa stage!  Woo Hoo!  Last year we lost a couple during this critical transition!

Enjoy the below pictures of our caterpillars as they have grown and changed:

I can hardly wait for us to watch as they emerge as butterflies (just don't let them all emerge on the weekend, please!) 

To make our study of insects even more enjoyable we enjoyed this great yoga story when it was too chilly and windy to go outside last week... love watching the kids do yoga, adorable!

If you haven't done Cosmic Kids yoga with your little one's yet it is a MUST!  Perfect for an indoor recess day!  My kiddos beg for yoga.  I love that they are moving their bodies and listening to a story.  

Hope you had a marvelous weekend, I have!  My daughter and I went bike shopping (she just graduated from her training wheels, yep, she rode her bike without training wheels for the first time this weekend!  I said my weekend was marvelous!)  Now she and I can hit the town on our new bikes, she being so big and all!  Spring in Southern Utah is heavenly.  I only wish the weather were this nice in the summer time when I have time to fully enjoy it.  By the time summer hits it will be 110 degrees and I will want to seek refuge in my air conditioned home!  Every summer we have a day when the power goes out or the A/C unit ices over and I wonder how people lived here before electricity!  uggh!  I guess we better get our bike riding in while we still can!  I love it!  

Life Cycles...

These arrived yesterday at lunch!  We start our insect unit on Monday so their timing was PERFECT!

When I left school they looked like this:

See those teeny tiny caterpillars?  Well when I got to school this morning they had doubled in size...

I can't wait to see what they will look like on Monday.  I love watching our caterpillars change as much as the kiddos do!

Here is a sneak peak of one of my favorite life cycle activities:

Pasta Life Cycles!  It is a MUST!  Just dye your pasta using rubbing alcohol and food coloring, let it dry, and voila!  Colorful pasta for your life cycle worksheet!  We will be doing this next Friday and I cannot wait!

Watching something living change and grow right before your eyes is magical, I love this time of year more than anything!  It is such an exciting time for the kids!

Penguins, Penguins, Penguins!

We have been learning about penguins that last two days.

 The kiddos have had a great time.

We spent some time on National Geographic Kids

We read books:

Made a 'Penguin Craft', completed a tree map, and wrote sentences about penguins.

I love the kiddos sentences... they did such a great job!

Completed Penguin Centers:

Penguin Sight Word Slider

Ordering Penguins 1-30

Penguin Write the Room

Penguin Listening Center

Penguin Accordion Book (how a penguin grows)

All Penguins Book (focusing on sight words)

Penguin Word Web (combined with a Penguin National Geographic Kids magazine from 2005)

Of course I didn't take a single picture on Thursday... which means not all centers are pictured but the kiddos had a great time, hopefully learned a lot, and guess what we are learning about next week???

Yep.  That's snow!  I have been looking forward to this for a VERY long time.  Last year after our winter unit I saw a blog post about Sno Wonder.  I was dying to let my class get their hands on that stuff.... only our winter unit was over and I did not have the funds to start buying snow post Christmas... fast forward to last spring... our PTA gave each grade level SCIENCE money for the next year.  I was thrilled and knew immediately that we had to have snow.  I convinced the other kinder teachers that we NEEDED snow.  It arrived just before Christmas this year.  I think I squealed with delight when I saw the box.  It was an early Christmas gift.  

I had to whip up a batch after school today just so I could see it for myself... it is so cool.  My own kids went NUTS.  I think the kinder kids will like it too.

Rocks, rocks, rocks, oh rock!

We are studying RoCkS in Kinder and had rock rotations on Friday.  I have to admit it is one of my favorite days all year! Each of the teachers take a topic and the kiddos rotate through.  I get to do Erosion, love it!  We get to use the scientific method to help us complete an erosion experiment.
We begin by learning  the Scientific Method Song:

(to the tune of 10 Little Indians)

Ask a scientific question,

Gather data,

Form a hypothesis,

Plan an experiment,

Try it again,

Draw up a conclusion.

We go through the song a line at a time and complete the scientific method as we sing.

Scientific question:  How do rocks or mountains change?

Gather data: We watch the following videos

Form a Hypothesis: If we put water or wind on our mountain, then it will change shape.
(we have been talking about predictions with our language arts program so we easily tie them together, a prediction is a smart guess using words and pictures from the story, a hypothesis is a smart guess using the data we collected.)

Plan an experiment: We will go outside to the sand tables (I pull all 3 of our sand tables outside, so my room isn't a disaster) and build mountains with the sand.  We will then apply water and wind to see if our mountains change.

I divide the kiddos into groups and they gather around the sand tables.  Once their mountains have been formed I give them straws to blow on their mountains and notice the changes.
Then I pass out water bottles (with pop tops) I purchased refillable ones from the dollar store.  The kiddos take turns pouring water on their mountains and noticing the changes.


Try it Again:  (we try it again)

Draw up a Conclusion: Wash our hands and talk about the results.  What happened?  Is our hypothesis true?

the other rotations are:

Rock Reports (discuss the different types of rocks and how their features)

Magic School Bus Rocks (here is a snippet) I do have to admit this rotation at times makes me jealous, I kinda think it would be easy peasy to show a movie 3 times but I love my rotation, I really do!

Overall we have a great day and our kinder kids go home knowing lots about rocks!  Hopefully some of these ideas can help you as you teach about rocks!