Igloo Estimation

We have been working on estimation. Since it is winter, I made an igloo out of blue paper and taped it to the board. I put one square "ice block" on the igloo and asked the kids to estimate how many ice blocks it would take to fill up the whole igloo.

The kids made some estimations and then they helped me fill the igloo with ice blocks. It took 24 whole ice blocks and 6 half ice blocks to fill up the igloo (27 ice blocks altogether). The closest estimate was 21 ice blocks.

Try this activity using small ice blocks, medium ice blocks, and then large ice blocks and discuss why the kids' estimates change for each size.

Advent Wreath

This past Sunday was the first week of Advent so we made paper Advent wreaths. The kids are going to add a flame to one candle each week until all the candles are lit.

The kids' Advent wreaths will look like this at the end of Advent.

I think next year I will have the kids add leaves to their wreaths.

Jesus Fish Craft

We have been learning about how Jesus is God's only son. We did a cute craft that I found online. First, I took black paper and used glue to draw a Jesus fish on the paper. Next, I let the glue dry. Last, the students colored the paper with chalk. It made a beautiful Jesus fish picture. The pictures were a little messy so I sent them home right away. If you zoom in on this picture, you can see the fish outline.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Activities

Each year I have one day when the incoming kindergarten students come to class and see what kindergarten is like. They spend four hours in class. This kids do journal, a religion activity, centers and small group time, snack and recess, read aloud and calendar, centers and small group time again, recess again and then they go home. I call this day Kinder Camp. The parents are welcome to stay and watch or they may drop their students off and pick them up at noon. During Kinder Camp we do activities centered around the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. The kids make Chicka Chicka Boom Boom trees.

This is a sample of one of the trees. The kids put their coconut tree together and fill out the information on the paper below the tree. Then the kids put the letters in their name on the tree using stickers. They are allowed to put the letters anywhere on the tree. This child chose to put his name in the correct order instead of randomly putting the letters all over the tree.

I created activities for my centers that had a palm tree or jungle theme. This is from the math center. The kid had to match the top piece of the palm frond to the bottom piece of the palm frond. The top part had stickers on it and the bottom had a corresponding number.

In this activity, the kids had to put the coconuts in number order.

The frogs were used to make patterns.

I created this palm tree labeling activity for the science center. The kids had to use the picture on the left to label the picture on the right. They used the words outlined in black and taped them onto the palm tree on the right.

 I created this coconut labeling activity for the science center as well.

I made this alphabet matching activity for the language arts center. The kids had to match the capital letter to the lowercase letter.

 I found this cute activity on Teachers Pay Teachers for free. It was a coconut tree rhyming pack. The kids had to match the picture on the tree to a picture on the coconut that rhymed with it.

I had coconut painting set up at the art center, but I forgot to take a picture of it. I just put a coconut in a tray of paint and the kids dipped the coconut in the paint and dabbed it on white paper. 

I also created a coconut labeling activity that the kids did for a science lesson. Here is our anchor chart.

This is my sample.

Here are some samples of what the students made. They did an awesome job!

Getting the Classroom Ready

Hello everyone! I have been busy getting my classroom ready for the new school year. I had Kindercamp this past Monday and the kids brought their supplies. I finally got the supplies organized and put away.
                                     

The Vice Principal made these cute survival kits for the teachers. It was a nice surprise to receive at our back to school meeting.

Here are the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom trees that the kids made at Kinder Camp.

 Here is a tour of my classroom. This is my class jobs bulletin board and the behavior chart.

 This is the calendar bulletin board.

 This is the front of my room.

 Here is our word wall.

 Here is the writing wall. I display the students' writing here.

 This is a picture of the religion and language arts centers.

My classroom is set up and I can't wait to meet my new students on Monday!

Treasure Box

During silent reading time, I look for the quietest table of students who are reading. The students at the quietest table get to choose an item out of the treasure box at the end of the day. Yesterday, I was at Michaels Arts and Crafts Store and I found these grab bags. I decided to try my luck and buy two of them in the hopes that I would end up with a lot of awesome items for my treasure box.

Here is what came out of two bags.

I got 60 items for $4.00! I got note tablets, note cards, glitter letters, buttons, cards, treat bags, paper crafting embellishments and much more! Most of the items are perfect for my prize box (I did not put the lip gloss in my prize box).

If you have a Michaels store in your neighborhood, I definitely recommend going and picking up a few of these grab bags before they are gone.

Book Jacket Puzzles

Last weekend, I got some new books for my classroom. I usually take off the book jackets and just throw them away because they get mangled by the kids anyway, but this time I decided to laminate the front cover of the book jacket and cut it apart to make puzzles for my kindergarten students. The students love putting together these book jacket puzzles when they are done with their work.