I was so glad that this group was interested in rocks and crystals! My group last year was also into them and we had just started investigating when our school buildings were locked up and we were thrown into teaching through a computer in a pandemic. Well, this year, these kids have been showing me rocks all year and wondering about them so I brought out my huge rock, mineral and crystal collection again. I am a total rock geek and have collected them all my life! I showed them some during our whole group meeting and told them the memories that went with each one. Every rock I had told a story of someplace that I went and the people I shared the experience with. So many math and science standards were used and practiced as they explored! We build math vocabulary by practicing our learning standard of comparing sizes and noticing which were taller/shorter, longer/shorted, and heavier/lighter. We also sorted by attribute. Here they sorted by color, but they also sorted by size and type. They put them in groups that were similar such as crystals, geodes, lava rocks, fossils, etc. They also sorted by texture such as rough/smooth. It took them a while to figure out what salt is! A friend looked at it through a microscope and declared they looked like crystals! We investigated further by using the iPad and found out salt is a crystal and a mineral. They thought it was weird that we put crystals on our food! This group was very fascinated with the geodes so I put some agate out for them to explore and inspire some art! They loved putting the salt on the watercolors! Some were interested in volcanoes so I set up an area for them to create stories and investigate volcanoes through some books. Some kids had a rock collection but many did not so we decided to start one by making some scribble rocks! Their favorite part was washing and scrubbing the rocks they found in the dirt on our playground. They used acrylic paints to paint designs on them. Because of their love of geodes, I ordered some small ones on Amazon for them. We took them outside and each friend got to break their geode open with a hammer! Every geode was filled with crystals inside! During this inquiry, they had collected a few rocks. We kept them in a bag and at the end of the inquiry, talked about the memories/stories that these rocks had! The painted rock would remind them of their kindergarten friends who painted the rocks together. The fool’s gold would remind them of when the leprechaun visited out class room and mixed everything up, then left us the fools gold in our traps! The rose quarts would remind them of me, their kindergarten teacher, and the geode they would remember the experience of breaking them open on the playground with a hammer and the joy of finding the crystals inside! Now they all have a rock collection started that they can add to as they make more memories! I only get a group once in a while full of rock hounds so I’m always very excited when it happens! This was a very fun investigation! Next, we investigate the sky....stay tuned!
Learn to recognize and complete patterns in this Complete The Pattern printable worksheet.
This week started out with another cool box creation! My neighbors brought me another box, and the cardboard corner pieces begged to become a ball track. We rolled ping pong balls (yes, I rolled some too,) whenever the box was available. I finally retired the bean box midweek, when all the beans were spread all over the floor. Twenty-one ping pong balls are easier to pick up than 3000 beans! One of the things I wanted to include this week was more science. We started learning about trees by brainstorming what the children know or think they know. This is called activating prior knowledge - basically, if they're thinking about something, it's easier to add new knowledge onto what they already know. We made models of trees; a half art, half science activity. As they painted we talked about the parts of the tree, and I introduced the word "trunk" - I was surprised no-one knew that word when we made our chart! We talked about making the roots under the ground as big as the branches above, and that roots branch out too. Here are our finished trees, with all the parts labelled. Another tree project we did was one with concentric circles for leaves. We looked at Kandinsky's paintings of concentric circles, then made our own. The oldest kiddos cut out their own circles, the younger ones had precut circles. We talked about shapes a lot this week! You can see all our beautiful concentric circle trees at www.artsonia.com. Here's what the children knew about trees a couple of days later. They were very impressed to know chocolate comes from beans on a tree! They learned new vocabulary - trunk, learned about more products from trees (cardboard, hockey sticks, rubber, maple syrup), and learned that green leaves breath and make food for trees, and make oxygen for us to breathe too! I'm impressed with how much these 3-5 year old kiddos know! We also learned a lot about turtles this week - mostly sea turtles. We did an awesome art project: On the first day we water colored an ocean background with cool colors. The kiddos worked very hard to cover their papers with color! The next day they painted the turtles. I showed them a model of a sea turtle, and we noticed the shape (oval), counted flippers, and noticed that the front flippers were long and curved. They followed step by step directions to make beautiful turtles. When they were dry the teachers cut them out, and the children glued their turtles onto the ocean background. Beautiful! You can see all of them at www.artsonia.com. Our turtle study wouldn't be complete without acknowledging a certain group of 4 teenaged turtles. I knew TMNT would engage the kiddos, particularly some of the boys who often wear turtle clothes to school, but I didn't want a day of Ninja wars and t.v.-related pretend. Here's our compromise: I made a chart comparing Ninja Turtles to sea turtles, and the children told me all the answers for Ninja turtles. Next, I read a beautiful realistic fiction book about a loggerhead turtle: One Tiny Turtle, by Nicola Davies. As I read, the children listened to find out what loggerheads eat, where they live, how big they grow, and other cool facts. The kiddos remembered all the relevant facts! We finished our turtle theme with a snack that looks like one. I put peanut butter on Ritz crackers, and the kiddos added almonds for heads, cashews and peanuts for flippers, and topped it with another cracker for the carapace (shell). Of course, we did our usual activities: upper and lower case letter crafts, hand and foot prints, and our abc albums. Some of the hand and foot print art doesn't require much work from the children, and I've been thinking that perhaps I need to change that. Painting hands, and especially feet, this week, reminded me of what a fun sensory experience it is for the children to feel the brush as it spreads the paint, and the lovely squishy feeling of paint between their toes. They love this activity, and that is enough sometimes! For more hand and foot print ideas, check out pinterest. Finally, here are some trains we made while talking about and reviewing the names of shapes. This clever idea came from Counting Coconuts.
Pinay Homeschooler is a blog that shares homeschool and afterschool activity of kids from babies to elementary level.
Image 7 of 47 from gallery of Kindergarten Terenten / feld72. Photograph by Hertha Hurnaus
Isn’t it funny how little ones are just curious about everything and totally don’t have that grossed out reaction that we have as adults? I have to admit bugs creep me out, so I was totally not excited for this week’s theme. I tried my best to contain my feelings about insects so Madelynn could […]
Check out this Insects Printables and Insect Activities for Kindergarten! I am so excited to introduce teachers to the easy-to-use Insect Print & Play
The kids learned all about weather a few weeks ago so I wanted to show you all of the fun activities we did! To start, we brainstormed all the different kinds of weather we knew of after watching a weather video and reading a weather book. We read many different weather books including Weather and Seasons, Four Seasons for Little People and The Wind Blew. For the whole week, we tracked the weather in our science journals by writing the date and drawing a picture of the weather outside. The whole week consisted of a bunch of suns! :) The next day we made our own weather book where each child illustrated the different kinds of weather. The next day we talked about what kind of clothing we would need to wear in each type of weather. The kids drew what they would wear in their science journals in each type of weather. Next we talked about the four seasons (Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter) and what the weather USUALLY is like in each season. Of course, living in Texas, we talked about how summer seems to be the longest season! :) It took me almost the whole Science time to draw these four pictures. My kids were just amazed at my drawings. They told me I should draw for "a living!" HAH! So Sweet. On the last day of our unit, we reviewed the types of weather and seasons and we made a class book of our favorite seasons. I was amazed that at least 3 or 4 kids chose each of the seasons. Their illustrations turned out wonderful! Unfortunately we ran out of time and couldn't make my cute weather crafts! Fortunately I get my kids for 2 years so I'll save these for next year! Today we had a meterologist come talk to the kids about weather and how she uses maps and technology to help her predict the weather. The kids absolutely loved it! She filmed some of it and they will be on the news tomorrow morning! I can't wait to see them! Please click on the picture below to check out my weather unit! :)
If you are studying Hibernation this winter, this ELA unit will be a great addition! Here is a look inside. Hibernation ELA Unit Animals in Winter- Use the word chart to support writers as they write about animals in winter. There are several readers discussing animals in winter. Get up and moving with this hibernation write the room activity. There are 5 Hibernation Themed Literacy Centers: Bear Cave Ending Sound Sort CVC Mix Up- Unscramble each CVC word. Bear Blends- Cover each picture with a bear counter. Feed the Groundhog Sight Words- Feed the groundhog sight words. This no prep spin and cover is also included. Snowy Substitutions- Spin and substitute the beginning sound for each word. There are 5 read aloud book recommendations, with a reading comprehension skill and writing prompt. I hope this can help with your ELA plans this winter!
Looking for fun Preschool Zoo Theme Activities for kids? Check out these 16 Hands-On Preschool Zoo inspired Learning Activities and Crafts for Preschool or Kindergarten.
Seven Kindergarten winter activities you can easily setup in your classroom that will transform it into a winter wonderland.
Over 35 seed activities for teaching toddlers, preschoolers, and kindergarteners about seeds. Includes ideas about planting seeds, sensory activities, seed art projects, seed crafts, cooking with kids, and learning activities as well as seed lesson plans for preschoolers and ideas to teach about seeds for kids.
Good morning, Friends! I am so excited to share today's packet with you! Several years ago, I published a Down at the Pond Packet for Kindergarten and First Grade. It was the first themed Kindergarten and First Grade packet that I created, so it's a bit...dated. ;) Since my girls and I are reading about the Pond next week, I wanted to give it a nice face lift! Note that the new and updated packet is for sale in my shop, however, you are certainly welcome to download the original Down at the Pond Packet for free! Also, in the
The Best Animal Habitat Activities for Preschoolers and Kindergarten, STEM for Preschoolers, Building animal habitats with preschoolers through Reggio Provocations, Animal Sensory bins and animal research for kids. STEM Activities for Kids with Hands on Activities
Little Learners are captivated by science! In this post, we're talking all about the Little Learner Science Curriculum and hopefully answer the questions you may have about it. First things first, the science curriculum has been designed specifically for preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten using the NGSS standards, various state standards, as well as current research. Research tells us students learn by doing, feeling, touching, and examining, so that's just what this science curriculum is packed full of! I have included hands-on science activities that are appropriate for little learners.
I know this book was published in 2001, but it is new to me! I ordered it from a recent Scholastic Book Order, and I have loved reading it to my grandchildren! There are lots of ideas of activit…
Itec lanceert ultrasterk commercieel vinyl op rol in nieuwe dessins en trendy kleuren. Met een revolutionaire toplaag: strakker en sterker dan ooit.
Little Learners are captivated by science! In this post, we're talking all about the Little Learner Science Curriculum and hopefully answer the questions you may have about it. First things first, the science curriculum has been designed specifically for preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten using the NGSS standards, various state standards, as well as current research. Research tells us students learn by doing, feeling, touching, and examining, so that's just what this science curriculum is packed full of! I have included hands-on science activities that are appropriate for little learners.
A few years ago, I decided to implement a few NEW things in my daily classroom routine. Morning tubs was at the top of this list and I'm glad I did it! My
A collection of books about trees for preschool and kindergarten. Perfect tree books for reading to kids on Earth Day, Arbor Day, or any day.
Image 11 of 32 from gallery of KPIS Kindergarten / Please Feel Invited. Photograph by Piwat Shevakittekun
Learn all about how butterflies change and grow with this life cycle of a butterfly poem, butterfly craft and FREE butterfly life cycle sequence strips!
Kids will have fun exploring animal habitats with this FREE printable science game for kids of all ages to learn about biomes!
A Question of the Day for preschool or kindergarten helps build reading and math skills as part of the morning routine. Find out how here.
Learn about seeds in foods with this fun science activity for kids. Compare seeds from everyday foods to observe and discover with hands-on play and learning.
Classroom tips, teaching ideas & resources for primary classrooms- Strong focus on kindergarten & first grade
Combine name recognition and art with this Hidden Name Art Preschool Name Activity and sensory bin for preschoolers and kindergarteners learning their name
This is The Best Kindergarten and Preschool Bird Theme, lovely Montessori Bird Activities and bird theme printables that include How to Teach About Birds, bird science activities, Math Activities, Art, Bird 3 part cards, bird Life cycle, Parts of a bird and a complete Kindergarten Bird Unit Study
Since the kids were so interested in apples, I figured they would be interested in looking closer and learning more about pumpkins so I set ...
It's almost Spring - though we are expecting our first big snowfall of the season this weekend... Yikes! Regardless, I love Spring and th...
Each time I teach a novel, I try something different. I love teaching Lord of the Flies, and this past year I decided to give island challenges a try. Let me tell you… best decision I made for teaching this novel! I taught the novel out of class and hosted book clubs each Friday. (See more about my book clubs here.) Fridays, then, were when we did our challenges, discussions, and quizzes. I’m so excited to be sharing these Lord of the Flies island challenges for each chapter with you. I worked really hard to select and design challenges that would connect either with the theme or conflict of the chapters, so they wouldn’t just be “random” fun things to do. I really wanted the Lord of the Flies island challenges to be both meaningful and fun. They are also a blend of mental and physical challenges, which we found to be perfect for a mixture of winners due to so many different abilities in the class. Because there are 12 chapters in Lord of the Flies, I’ll be breaking my traditional “Fast Five” format to
Built by Moriyuki Ochiai Architects in Tokyo, Japan with date 2015. Images by Atsushi Ishida. We designed a playful and exciting environment suitable for implementing this kindergarten's educational policy, whic...
Need a fast -n- fabulous kindergarten lesson? You might wanna try these Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus creations on for size. In the following video, I demonstrate using a bingo dauber. I know yo
Next week we are back to school and we are scheduled to visit the Pumpkin Patch for our first field trip of the year! This is always a favorite activity and we will be gearing up for it by learning all about pumpkins. I have created some awesome centers and activities to go along with our pumpkin theme for the week. We will be learning about the parts of a pumpkin, exploring the inside of the pumpkin, and learning all about the life cycle of a pumpkin! I have been reading a lot about the importance of teaching subitizing, so I included a fun subitizing center activity. The activity can double as a fun classroom racing game! We played the game in class last Friday. Have the students stand with their backs to the pocket chart. When the teacher says go the students turn, flip their cards, and see who can find where to place their card first! My pumpkin pack includes other great activities for counting, ordering the ABCS, building sight words, etc! You can check out this pumpkin pack in my TPT shop! Here is a pumpkin FREEBIE! Thanks for stopping by! Just click the picture to find the freebie in google docs!
