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April 30, 2015

May Character Development: Confidence


Unstoppable Me!: 10 Ways to Soar Through Life
Dr. Dyer
The 10 important lessons in this book include the value of taking risks, dealing with stress and anxiety, and learning to enjoy each moment. Each point includes an example showing how a child might apply the concept in his or her everyday life.  


Ish
Peter Reynolds
Ramon loved to draw. Anytime. Anything. Anywhere. Drawing is what Ramon does. It¹s what makes him happy. But in one split second, all that changes. A single reckless remark by Ramon's older brother, Leon, turns Ramon's carefree sketches into joyless struggles. Luckily for Ramon, though, his little sister, Marisol, sees the world differently. She opens his eyes to something a lot more valuable than getting things just "right." Combining the spareness of fable with the potency of parable, Peter Reynolds shines a bright beam of light on the need to kindle and tend our creative flames with care.


I Don't Want to be a Frog
by Dev Petty
Frog wants to be anything but a slimy, wet frog. A cat, perhaps. Or a rabbit. An owl? But when a hungry wolf arrives—a wolf who HATES eating frogs—our hero decides that maybe being himself isn’t so bad after all. In this very silly story with a sly message, told in hilarious dialogue between a feisty young frog and his heard-it-all-before father, young readers will identify with little Frog’s desire to be something different, while laughing along at his stubborn yet endearing schemes to prove himself right.

The Mermaid and the Shoe
by K.G. Campbell 
Each of King Neptune's 50 mermaid daughters boasts a special talent, except for little Minnow, who seems to be good only at asking questions. When she finds a strange object, Minnow follows her questions to a wondrous place and finds answers, including the answer to the most important question of all: Who am I? A gorgeously illustrated story about finding one's purpose.

I Think, I am! 
by Louise L. Hay
Within the pages of I Think, I Am! kids will find out the difference between negative thoughts and positive affirmations. Fun illustrations and simple text demonstrate how to make the change from negative thoughts and words to those that are positive. The happiness and confidence that come from this ability is something children will carry with them their entire lives!

What do you do With an Idea?
by Kobi Yamada
This is the story of one brilliant idea and the child who helps to bring it into the world. As the child's confidence grows, so does the idea itself. And then, one day, something amazing happens.
This is a story for anyone, at any age, who s ever had an idea that seemed a little too big, too odd, too difficult. It s a story to inspire you to welcome that idea, to give it some space to grow, and to see what happens next. Because your idea isn t going anywhere. In fact, it's just getting started.


I am Cow, Hear me Moo!
by Jill Esbaum and Gus Gordon
Nadine can talk a blue streak, and one day she tells a real whopper: she isn't afraid of anything--no siree! Then her friends call her bluff, and Nadine must enter. . .The Deep. Dark. Woods. Only the woods aren't so scary after all, until the sun sets, that is, and Nadine can't find her friends. What is this boastful bovine to do? Run around in blind terror? Plummet off a cliff? Crash into a stream? Check, check, and check. But is all lost? Doubtful. After all, she is cow, hear her MOOOOOOOOO!




April 29, 2015

Writing Lesson: Editing "How To" Books


We are currently work on step-by-step "how to" books in our writing unit.  Students are wrapping up their first "how to" book, so we are talking about the editing process again.  For this lesson, we started by bringing our books to the carpet and using our magic pencils to help us edit.  To use their magic pencil, they use the eraser to read their writing and help them find spots to add or change their writing.  They then flip their pencil over to the writing side and fix it.  





The second part of this lesson was using a partner to help us find places to add more detail.  We partnered up and took turns reading our "how to" book to our partners who had to act out what we were saying.  We had to only do what they said! This leads to lots of "No...wait, you're supposed to do this!" When we say that to our partner, we know we need to add another step or more details. It's very silly to see our partners acting out our "how to" books!







Pillows and Potholders

We have finished our two big fabric unit projects in science! Student wove their own potholders using a loom and fabric loops.  They also decorated, sewed and stuffed their own felt pillows.  The kids were so proud of their work and they turned out really cute!









April 22, 2015

Alpaca Visit & Fiber Artist

Today we had a group of alpacas and a fiber artist visit our classroom! The alpaca woman taught us about the alpacas, let us feed and pet them and then showed us how they are sheared.  The fiber artist showed us how the material is turned into yarn.  We got to practice weaving with real yarn from the actual alpacas that visited, so cool!




April 21, 2015

Currently...

We are so busy with testing and getting ready for our play!  Here are some of the projects we've been working on lately. 

In reading, we are reviewing the different ways we can read a book.  I wanted to show the class just how many heart words we've learned so far, so we highlighted all of the heart words that we knew in a short passage.  They thought it was crazy how many that we've learned. 



In science we are diving deeper into our fabric unit by weaving potholders and sewing our own felt pillows. 







In math, we are working on telling time.  We made paper watches and wrote a time on it.  All day we were asking each other "What time is it?"


April 15, 2015

Lego Addition


I saw this idea on Pinterest to use Legos to stamp addition problems, so I made a worksheet to use for a station.  It would work a little better with foam underneath, but we used a few sheets of paper towels to make the stamps show.  They would use the lego as a stamp, then put it into the problem and solve it. 






The Very Grouchy Ladybug

Before I started teaching kindergarten, I had the chance to observe our principal's wife in her kindergarten classroom.  I saw the cutest project on her bulletin board on Eric Carle's The Very Grouchy Ladybug and I knew I wanted to use it in my own classroom. This year I finally found time to do the project and it was so much fun.  Thanks Mary for the idea!

We first read the book and then reviewed all of our reading concepts like setting, characters and describing characters.  Then we talked about what makes us grouchy and wrote that in our speech bubbles.  



"When I don't get food."

"When I have to brush my teeth." 

When my sister is grumpy."

"When people make mean faces."

"When I go to bed." 

"When my brother is mean."

"When I have to take a shower."

"When my brother lies to me."

April 14, 2015

Silly Notes


The class got on a roll today with their message station and their notes were SO SILLY.  They were cracking me up! I must say, their handwriting, finger spacing and independence with writing is impressing me more and more every day.  

"Spiders may be small, but spiders may be scary too."


"I think you are like Ms. Honey"
 (We are reading Matilda, this is the sweetest compliment ever.)

"You have white hair."
(?)

"Kiss your dog 100 times."