St. Patrick's Day

We started off the week with St. Patricks day measuring.  Students saw how many cubes fit in between the dots on St. Patrick's Day themed materials.  I downloaded the document as a Google Doc, but it does not have a source page and I am having trouble tracking it down.  Until I find the original post, I cannot post the document.  


In small group, students took turns rolling the dice and using the bingo dotter on the correct number.  Students enjoyed the bingo dotters!  I found the Kate blog: Fun in ECSE.  I printed the roll and cover 2 to a page to give them more opportunities to stamp numbers. They were still a good size.

We introduced the CD player in the listening center. Students learned how to put the cd in correctly, pick which number they want, push play, and follow along in the books with their reading finger.  The book I introduced this with was There was an old Lady who swallowed a Clover.  Students really love the There was an Old Lady books!

Students had the chance to rip up various paper and make rainbow.  The rainbow was labeled with the color word.  Students practiced early literacy skills of sounding out the first letter and thinking of what color makes that sound first. They also used the Color words on the wall to reference.  Which one looks like the one on their paper and then what color is that poster.  These are great problem solving skills and literacy skills to have!  The rainbows look great and will be going on our ceiling soon!

Some students had the opportunity to do lucky charms tasting (5 senses), created by 2teachingmommies.com (printable pack) Not all students got to this area as we are having a few troubles with our listening ears and being quiet on carpet/clean up time so that we can get to play time and have enough time to do all the fun play time. I hope to keep helping them work on these important skills of stopping and listening to the teacher when needed so they can be successful in kindergarten.

We also had the chance to have a  Leprechan visit our room.  I did not intend to make this an activity, but after reading, The Night before St. Patrick's Day, students got very excited to build traps and write letters to the leprechaun   Since this gave them an imaginative direction to the block center and a reason to write, I welcomed the idea into the classroom. 

All Day on Monday and Tuesday, students spent time writing letters and building traps! 

Friends making a leprechaun trap!

The Leprechaun tracks up to the empty letter drop box!  and a note!

 On Wednesday, the leprechaun left us a note: 

Thank yee for very much for the notes and letters, but I won't tell yee where me treasure is,  not yet!

But I want to give you a clue to magic you may have never seen....
What colors do you mix to make me favorite color green?

Upon reading the note, I gave the students the supplies they needed to go and discover what colors to mix to make green! We got it!  Blue + Yellow = Green!  We even have a song!  Blue and yellow make green, Blue and yellow make green, Mix them together, Blue and yellow make green! (melody to Farmer in the Dell).

On Wednesday, students spent the day writing notes to the leprechaun, answering his question about colors, and other various things.  They continued to build traps.  

On Thursday we got a new note!  It sent students on a magic treasure hunt with clues (under the teacher chair, under one of the traps, under the discovery table and finally to the treasure: hiding on the top of each of their cubbies!  Students were delighted to get the gold!

Go to where your teacher sits to teach, the first clue is in your reach. 

You found the first clue, that is true.
Next, you have clue number two.
In the center you created traps, when you
find your clue you will get lots of claps!

This led the students to my teaching chair.  Hanging on my chair was another note:

This led them to the block center, in one of the traps they had created the day before.  Inside was another note: 

You found clue number three, I didn't
think you would catch me!
At school, the best part is all the stuff
you discover.  Under this table you
can take cover!

This led them to the Discovery center table, where a note was taped at the bottom of the table.


There they found a note that read:

Now all of you QUICK! go back to your
seat, I think you all have earned a treat.
Sit in your seats ready, with zero sound.
Look at the top of your cubbies and your
treasure can be found!

Students were told they could not touch the gold because it had magic on it and if they touched the leprechaun would take it back.  This helped them from going over to their cubbies all day.  They were so excited to take the gold home, they told any person that walked by--even parents of other students they didn't know!

All in all, the kids had a fun this week.  I am noticing the spring fever and the need for spring break to come soon!  We had a slight warm up and some rain the last few days so we were all excited....until we woke up to THIS Saturday morning, 2-3 inches of SNOW! Ugh, I know we are from Wisconsin, but this day last year was 78*!  Spring, come soon--for all of our sake!!