Best from the Midwest!

Being from the Midwest, I like to read blogs by other Midwest teachers.  It is amazing how different teaching is around out nation, so it is often nice to see what people in your own back yard is doing! That being said, these Awesome Minnesota Bloggers got together, had a great time, and are hosting an awesome Midwestern style blog hop & giveaway! Click on the image for more details!

Pets

We started the book reading: The Perfect Pet.  It taught is a variety of pets you could have.  We then made a list of all the animals they could have as pets.  We also went into a discussion on all it takes to take care of animals such as cleaning their cages, litter boxes, and the back yard.

We did the animal leg sort and alphabet match from my Pet Pack.  Students did
really well with leg sort.  Some students simply counted the legs they could see (though I tried really hard to make it so you could see each leg), and others used their deeper thinking and knew how many legs many animals had.  They did very well though!

The alphabet sort went well. Even the kids who did not know on their own, did use the tools in the room to match (alphabet on the wall in the room, word wall).  Problem solving skills are good in 4k too!

I re-did our dramatic play area to be an animal shelter and vet office.

Add caption

Waiting room and sign in sheet.
Also a phone for the secretaries
to answer and magazines to read
while you are waiting.

I LOVE seeing the students using the center the correct way!

 We live in a rural community in which many of the students come from farm families.  Since we are discussing pets, many students see the farm animals as pets.  One of our students has a small goat farm so she brought in her twin baby goats (3 weeks new!) for us to see!

Sensory Table was shredded paper I found in my parents' basement over spring break.  I told them it was like pet paper and they need to dig in it like hamsters to find the letters (capital and lowercase) to either sort by capitals and lower case or to match the letters to each other.

I used littlest pet shop in the blocks area.  They are building cages and
saving animals.

Students also made the spring blossoms for our seasonal tree.  I am
taking the snowflakes down ASAP!  I think they are jinxing us!

The second week of pets we did another page from the Pet Pack--the dog food addition.  Students had fun with this activity!

We did our Pet Emergent Reader (freebie!). Students really enjoyed coloring the pictures and working with the animals!


We have finished our Letters of the week.  Please see the letters of the week tab for details!  Though I thought the students would enjoy watching the videos of the letters while doing their handwriting sheets, I never guessed they would love it so much! They loved it so much I got a great idea!  Since they love to watch the videos over and over, what better way to practice handwriting (how they exit carpet when their name is called) than give them the choice to write from memory or push space bar (play) and doing WITH the video!  They loved it and letters looked great! Check out my Letter of the Week Page!

We are going to start on writing the numbers next!

Valentine's Freebie

For my reading with the stars night, I needed an activity that would be fun for kids to do after reading a valentine's story, something they could do with their families, and something that would also help them learn. Well, candy heats are fun, they are valentines, and you can take them home when you are done!

I created this FREE Printable on TpT to help them measure, graph, and count.  This can be made into centers for my students who do not attend the reading with the stars night as well.  If in a center, I would instruct students to NOT EAT THE CANDY.  

Enjoy!

Please follow my blog for more freebies, more preschool/4K activities, and weekly/theme ideas!

mrsgloudmansteaching.blogspot.com

Groundhogs Day-Shadows

Monday we did an activity about the groundhog and his shadow. Students first cut out the clipart from:My Cute Graphics.  There were many curves and it was tricky cutting.  I did discover I had to trace on the outside border with a colored pencil telling them to only cut on the colored pencil and black line because they kept cutting on ALL lines...cutting of hands and heads.  We took a sample from the small group working on it and put it on an overhead projector.  First it was on and he saw his shadow, "AHHHHH! Go and hide, we are having more winter!" Then the projector was turned off, there was no sun, and, "Phew, no shadow.  It is safe to come out and eat and start spring." We then taped it face down on black paper.  Students then painted with white "sunshine" to leave a shadow. He then, "popped" out of his whole and was glued up looking at his shadow, Oh no!
Inspiration from TpT Groundhog Activity

We read a book about shadows from Scholastic: What Makes a Shadow?  I felt this did a great job explaining shadows to this age.

We also read Who will See Their Shadows This Year?  The students got a kick out of it.  A fun read about shadows as well as weather and groundhogs day.

Students enjoyed Double Trouble Groundhogs Day.  It was a funny story, and we began so important reading skills.  What is a burrow? Can we find out by reading?  What is the vocabulary word we learned for long winter nap, etc.  We have just begun getting into books this way so this was a great book to do it with.




We watched this video.  The kids loved it!  It does a great job introducing shadows as well.  The thought the chicken was very funny.

During our free choice time, I gave students the opportunity to make their own shadows in the discovery center with the overhead projector.  Some used it correctly, some did not. They really enjoyed using the center and for one of the first times there was a line for the center!

Opening work on Wednesday was to start by sorting the tangrams (colored wood shapes) that were dumped on the table. They were then told to make shapes out the the shapes we had poured all over the classroom tables. Students did well with this and initiated a lot of shape conversations and vocabulary!

Small group work sheet (available TpT) on shadows. This was done as a small group.  Students looked at the shadows on the overhead projector and answered questions about them.  They did well with this activity and worked a large variety of skills including: fine motor skills, reading readiness, shape identification, listening skills, observational skills, and the scientific concept of trial and errors.  I did  notice I had to teach the concept of a question, the answer goes below it.   I figured out if I had then point to the first question, ask it, and then tell them to put their answer under it, they did well.  Turns out, filling out a worksheet is also concept we improved upon.

Our Igloo has seen better days.  Students were just to rough playing in there and the "back door" they just put in just turned into a "no back wall."  It still stands, so they still play in it, but its not quite the appeal it used to have.  But then I go an idea......

Valentine's day buckets!  I remember making one when I was in school, We could make our Valentine buckets out of milk jugs and recycle even further!  Then, I got an even better idea: What if other teachers did want to as well?  Well, I asked and they all wanted some!  Yes!  Now I have a way to recycle 90 milk jugs even further, and teach a lesson about sharing and caring!

Here is how to make a milkjug Valentine bucket (pre-child-decorations of course!)

1. Poke a hole with the scissors (open) between the circular opening and the handle.

 2. Cut from that hole down a little less than half way.  Then cut from that down angle to the corner.  Make your way around the square and come back up the side of the handle.  Cut back up to your original slit.

 3. Top view, pleanty of storage room!

 4. I heard (from the other teachers that got their special deliveries ;) ) that glue had a hard time sticking to the jugs. I decided to make a little slip cover for the jugs.  I cut a rectangle piece of paper out just a slight amount larger than the circumference of the jug.  I wrapped it tight and taped. I squeezed a little glue between the paper and jug to have it stay on.  Student then could much easier apply their decorations to the jug.
(Check back for Valentine's week to see their decorated ones!)

And then we delivered them to the classrooms down the hall (students are pushing an old produce sorter from a grocery store.  My family friend works there and she got it for free!)

Talk about Team work!  They worked very hard to push this down the hall and made a great team making sure every one could reach. They were very excited to drop them off and hand them out!

Holidays

Construction continues on the igloo.   Students help by holding the jugs together while they dry and then help bring them to the wall to put on.  We are three rows up and will begin the doming of the igloo next!

We played a game as a "team."  

Students took turns rolling the dice, counting the dots as the roller points, and then the whole team colors the spot on the gingerbread man that matches that number.  This game is now in our center area after we have practiced it as a class.  The game is available on TpT and my Freebie Page.  There are 5 different forms (so they cant peek at their neighbors')

TpT Link

On Wednesday, we worked on our presents for the parents!  We made our own wrapping paper, present, and card. 

The making of the wrapping paper worked on their fine motor skills, expressing self creatively through art, and following directions of increasing complexity.  

Making the present consisted of fine motor skills, expressing self creatively through art, and the mathematical skill of shapes, and counting.  

The card worked on fine motor skills, expressing self through writing, and the understanding letters make words, words make sentences, and that all tells somebody something.  I wrote the words on the lines on the board and the students wrote it on their paper.  They did so well I am so proud of them!

We had a snow day on Thursday (and no classes on Friday) so parents were not able to get their gift.  They will receive them on the 2nd of January.  

With the CT tragedy, I received this letter on facebook from a friend: 

If you know a teacher, or have kids in a school, please pass on:

A building has been designated to house the students from Sandy Hook Elementary School. They are in the process of transporting desks, chairs, supplies and so forth to this location.

My neighbor is the president of the Newtown PTA and we met tonight discussing what we can do to make these children feel comforted upon their return to school.

Please join us in "The Snowflake Project".

We are asking your students to make and decorate a snowflake. We will hang them in the hallways at the stark, new building where the Sandy Hook students will be returning. PLEASE NO WORDS! We want just a cheerful, happy (glitter and sparkle) environment for the students entering the new building.

Please pass on to any teachers you think may want to participate.

When you send your snowflakes, please include a note to tell us where they are from (your school, class, town, etc) to display along with your snowflakes. You can send them to me directly, and I will give them to our PTA.

Bonny Marsicano

22 Pine Tree Hill Road

Newtown, CT 06470

Thank you so very much!

  Though we are not talking about the tragedy in our class (due to their age as well as our school believing it should be up to the parents to decide how much their young child knows), I thought it would be still very nice for these students to have this gift.  I told the students that some kids are getting a brand new school and they are not getting a snow storm like we are.  We are going to make some snowflakes to make their classroom and school bright, shiny, and fun when they come to their first day of school.  They were excited about it.  I will be shipping them out tomorrow.

Herbie got into quite the mischief this week.  On Monday, he built himself a little fort and played in there.  Tuesday he was reading the book about him!  He was open to the page about him going to Santa and telling what he sees and it is up to Santa to decide what list to put the students on.  I wonder if he was spreading a message?  One Wednesday, he was  hanging from the ceiling on our tree house sign!  Birds eye view of all that was happening in our classroom!