Dinosaur Week! (Monday)

The dinosaur theme is one of my absolute favorites. First, the kids love it. Boys and girls get excited talking and learning about dinosaurs. Second, the learning opportunities are endless! So many fun science experiments can be added to the curriculum for the theme. It can be really hard to choose what activities you want to do!

Things to talk about at home: 

Vocab words like herbivores, omnivores, carnivores

Biggest to smallest

Letter H word/sound recognition- Point out everyday items that start with H! 

Today we introduced the letter H and discussed what sound it makes. Each student came up with a word that starts with the letter. They practiced writing the capital letter and colored a worksheet depicting items that start with H.

We then enjoyed water colors! I love making paper plate animals. I decided to do one of the most popular dinosaurs- the T Rex. We painted the plates and while the plates dried we ate snack. Then, while the kids were outside I cut the parts to the dinos out. Later the kids were able to put together the pieces with brad fasteners.

After our outside time we came back to the table and cut out our "D is for dinosaur" puzzles and then glued them in order. Already I have seen huge improvements in the kids cutting skills. I love these puzzles because it combines so many skills into one activity. They cut the strips out and then have to put them back in order from 1 to 10. Afterwards I have them practice counting and number recognition by counting the numbers.

After finishing our plate dinosaurs, we had just enough time to update our calendar and then discuss fossils. The students talked with partners about what they thought fossils were and where they have seen fossils. The consensus from the group was that fossils were bones turned into rocks. I asked if they thought other things could turn into fossils. And to answer that question we watched a short clip and learned that fossils can also come from other things, like plants. Many times I like to supplement our discussions and readings with a short clip. So many of them are plugged into tv and it helps reinforce what we are talking about in class. Here is the cute clip we watched today: 

It's a new year!

We've officially begun a new year. Everyone has settled in and get our routine. I am thoroughly enjoying my class. They are all so eager to learn and I have many "people pleasers" in my class. So far these year is proving to be a great group of sweet kids that are good listeners and hard workers. I am quite excited to see where this year leads us! 

This week I introduced journaling to the students. Each child received their own notebook and pencil. After brainstorming words to write on the board, they spend roughly 10-15 minutes writing in their journals  every day. I have explained that there is no right or wrong way in these journals. I just want them to try and write the words or any letters they want. I do ask that they write their name at least once for practice. Many of them have already conquered this so therefore I will be introducing last names as well. They seem to be enjoying this activity even though it has been a bit difficult for some to understand that they can write whatever they want. I want them to use their imagination! :)

We are on our farm theme and it was fun to see their expressions when we learned where milk came yesterday. I love this theme because I have a short 1-2 minute video for each farm animal we learn. They love using any type of technology. I get begged daily to read to them but use one of the books from Scholastic's eStoria. It cracks me up! I think one of my favorite things to do in this theme is
"milk" the glove udder. I'll update with pictures!