Valentine Art with this week's Sight Word

I wanted a quick and easy art project for stations this week. I checked out pinterest of course. I saw a cute painting inspired by Robert Indiana's LOVE painting and sculptures. The directions called for foam.  I had none. I also didn't want to use fingerprints. Hmmm.  What to use instead of foam? I thought I had some plastic folders that might work.  While hunting for that I found a box of blank transparencies.  Well, I sure wasn't using those anymore (thank you document camera). I cut the film in six inch letters - making three sets for stations. I needed painters tape and my husband helped me out there. I cut a 12 X 18 piece of white construction paper into a 12" square. Here's what it looked like before the kids painted.

We were able to reuse the letters without reattaching the tape each time. In my hunt for plastic I also found a box of "dabbers." Perfect.  So easy to use. The kindergarteners used up to 4 colors on their paintings.  We were careful to cover all the edges of the letters so the letters would be clear when we removed the transparencies.

See some of the dabbers on the table.

The kids and teachers were so happy with the results.  We will add a "frame" too!

Did I mention our Sight Word this week is LOVE! 

Gotta LOVE it!

Here's a link to the fantastic original idea LOVE

Some of our Penguin Puppets

 Our book buddies helped us make Penguin Puppets. We chose from 5 different types.  We traced, cut and glued. Our buddies made sure we had all the right pieces in all the right places.

Later we set up a puppet stage (sideways table).  Everyone got a chance to try out their puppets. Some were funny, some informative and some quite active.

Snow Poem and Snow People

This week we combined our Writing and Art Stations to make this wintery project. At the Writing stations students wrote an acrostic S N O W poem.  We had lot of winter books for inspiration. I was impressed with their determination and imagination.

At the Art Station we started by mixing some white glue and shaving cream in a small cup. The kids stirred with a craft stick which was FUN.

Next the students "plopped" the mixture on small blue construction paper. They thought the "plop and spread" method was best. They spread a layer of snow across the bottom and then up the side to make the snowman.

The students added detail with hats, buttons and faces. They picked from fabric scraps for scarves. There really were over 4 choices of fabric but I must have liked the bones since that fabric is featured in all the photos. Sticks for arms of course.

Snowbord      New sled     Oh no there is a storm     Wish

Snowflax     Next summer     On Chrismis     Warm clothes

We glued the pictures and poems to black construction paper. So cute (and soft).

Penguins Return

Hello 2014.
I've posted about penguins multiple times (cause I love them) so if you are interested check out January 2012 and 2013.
What can I do different this year? How about posters for what we know, what we wonder, and what we learned.

Ready for comments/

We wrote some comments together and now the FDKers can add comments as we learn and wonder more.

Added the word penguins to the display - helps the kids when they are writing.

            This little guy (life-sized Emperor penguin on classroom door) is pinned a lot on Pinterest.                                          This year the kids marked their heights on the penguin or door frame.

 

It was pretty funny to listen to the students talk about their height and the height of the penguin. The kindergarteners didn't tend to have a realistic idea about their height.

This week we will make some puppets and perform with them on Friday. Can't wait.

Free Stuff for Thanksgiving Week

Okay, I admit it - I tend to post things AFTER anyone else really needs them. These freebies aren't earth shattering but you can use them right away.

If you've purchased my Native American writing and coloring pages OR if you have your own, you might want to use these sentences for handwriting practice or student inspiration. My students chose one of a pair of sentences for each or the Native American areas we studied: Native Americans of the Plains, Native Americans of the Northwest, Native Americans of the Southwest and Native Americans of the Northeast (Wampanoags). They copied the sentences, colored the Native Americans and then combined them all for nice little booklets.  Get the sentences and the title in a google doc.

link to D'Nealian pages

Link to Ball and Stick pages

TPT Native American coloring and writing pages

After a lesson on writing lists, the students wrote a list of things they were thankful for. Check out the link for the title and list page.

I must admit I like the way this student used the list upside down thus numbering the list on both sides. And why not? We will display our lists during our Thanksgiving Feast with our parents on Friday.

Here's how great our little pots turned out.  The kids painted them with q-tip dots of paint left over from our math project (which I got from pinterest and will post later this week with free sheets). So thankful for model magic clay - no breaking on the way home.

New Magic E Freebie

This is the Magic E foldable that I use in my classroom.  Here's the link to a previous post about this: Magic E post

Start of Native American Studies

My "fire" still works - barely.  This year it fell from the top shelf in the storage closet onto my head and then the floor.  The lone remaining light bulb fell out.  I put it back in and it worked but I failed to notice the big crack in the pot. While we were sitting around our campfire discussing Native Americans across the United States - it would go out and then go back on again.  Uh oh. I haven't seen these for sale since I got it many years ago. Better keep my eyes open. It is always a big hit.

A long time ago I was lucky enough to go to a workshop at the Field Museum in Chicago about Native Americans and teaching about Native Americans. I remember talking to members of the Haida tribe and other scholars. I hope I am still true to the philosophy they advocated. I try to use authentic information while keeping the fun and learning kindergarten appropriate.

Next week we move from Native Americans on the Plains to Native Americans of the Northwest.