Read Across America Day!!!

Today was Read Across America Day!! We also started to celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday today. This morning, we read "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish". Then, we made red and blue fish using tissue paper, glitter glue, and googly eyes. In the afternoon, we read "The Cat in the Hat" and did a glyph that asked us questions about that book. For instance, it asked whether or not we liked Thing 1 or Thing 2. You'd be surprised how many liked them. :-) During the last hour of school, they went to the computer lab and played Dr. Seuss games on the Smart Board. Then, they went to the library and heard more Dr. Seuss books and ate a snack that looked like The Cat in the Hat. Lastly, judges came to look at our door, but we won't know the results until Monday.

Gluing the tissue paper on to their fish


Decorating with glitter glue


A few friends with their fish



Playing Dr. Seuss games on the Smart Board


A volunteer reading them a Dr. Seuss book in the library

Holding up her Cat in the Hat treat

The Glyph directions and a few completed glyphs

Hippo Hand Puppets

Today, we made hippo hand puppets. They colored in their hippo and their hippo's mouth. Then, they painted teeth in the hippo's mouth. Lastly, we glued the hippo and his mouth to the bag. When the students open up the bag, you can see the hippo's mouth with his pearly, white teeth. They had a great time making and playing with the puppets. We also made a fun graph today!

Painting on the teeth

Holding up their hippo hand puppets (a very silly picture)

Our graph

Zap!

We learned how to play a new sight word game called, "Zap!" Each table had a bag with all of the 38 kindergarten sight words plus 1 first grade sight word (they loved that). They passed the bag around the table and each student pulled out a sight word from the bag. If the student could read the sight word, they got to keep it. The person with the most sight words at the end of the game was the winner. However, there were also "Zap!" cards in the bag. If a student pulled out a "Zap!" card, they had to put all of their sight words back in the bag. They enjoyed the game and it's a great way to practice their sight words. They were learning from each other by hearing other students read sight words that they might not know. We will definitely continue to play this game in class. If you want, you could even create this game at home.

Playing the game "Zap!"



Wow! Look at all of those sight words he read!

Domino Math and a Decorated Door

Today, we practiced addition facts with dominoes in math. We also played a domino game with partners. The partners placed their dominoes face down. Then, they both flipped over one domino and counted the dots on their domino. The partner with the largest number got to take both dominoes. The person with the most dominoes won the game. Some of the dominoes had very large numbers (1-20), but they did a wonderful job counting and figuring out which was the largest number.
We also completed our door for the Read Across America contest. Each classroom was given a pretend i-pod. We were instructed to decorate our door with a book theme. On Friday, people will be coming in to judge our doors. They will hand out several prizes to the most creative doors. We decided to create our own class "book" playlist. Each student picked their favorite book. Then, they drew a picture showing what their book was about. Unfortunately, I could only fit 9 of their illustrations on the door, but everybody's favorite book is on the i-pod. We are looking forward to the contest and the many fun activities we will be participating in on Friday's Read Across America celebration.

A set of partners playing the domino math game

Here is our completed door:

Results from our Egg Experiment

Today, we took our eggs out of the soda pop and found very brown eggs! I told the students that this is what would happen to their teeth, if they ate and drank but never brushed. I gave them toothbrushes and toothpaste and told them to brush their egg. I explained that they should try to get the eggs as white as possible. However, they soon realized it took a lot of hard brushing to get them white. I asked the students if they would ever let their teeth get that brown. They said, "No way!" I think they are learning the importance of brushing their teeth twice a day. We also have read several books about teeth, so they are becoming teeth experts! :-)
We also played a fun, math game today. We sat in a circle and took turns rolling a large dice with animal pictures on it. We tallied the results on a piece of paper. We rolled the zebra and the lion a lot, but hardly ever rolled a duck. It was a lot of fun!

Brushing our eggs



He was able to get the whitest egg!

Playing the math game with a large, animal dice


Counting our tally marks and writing the totals

Muffins for Moms and an Egg Experiment

This morning was Muffins for Moms, so I tried to get some pictures of the students with their moms. Later in the day, I read the book, "The Berenstain Bears Visit the Dentist." Afterwords, we discussed the importance of brushing your teeth. We talked about how everyone should brush their teeth twice a day. Then, I showed the students a hard-boiled egg. I asked the students what would happen if we put an egg in a cup of sodapop and kept it there until tomorrow morning. They had many different responses such as the egg turning brown or cracking. I told each student to predict what would happen to the eggs in their journals. They also drew a picture showing how the eggs would look tomorrow. While the students were completing their journal, I had each student place their egg in a cup of sodapop. The students enjoyed looking at their eggs throughout today. We can't wait to see if any of our predictions were right tomorrow.

A few friends at Muffins for Moms this morning






Here are a few of the student's predictions from their journals:
"The eggs are turning brown."

"I think it is going to look like a yellow egg."

"I say the egg is going to crack."

"It's going to change colors."

A student checking on her egg in the afternoon

Another student peering at the eggs

Valentine's Day Party!!!

Today was the day of our Valentine's Day party. In the morning, we decorated our bags that would later hold our valentines. They used markers, stamps, foam stickers, and stickers to decorate their bags. Later, we used the same materials to create a big valentine card for someone special. In the afternoon, we passed out our valentines and had our party. C's mom read a very entertaining story about a mouse who made a paper heart for Valentine's Day. However, her friends keep coming to her house, and she starts nibbling around her heart in order to give them hearts too. It was a very silly story and C's mom was a wonderful storyteller. She had us all laughing. Afterwords, we ate apples with caramel, cupcakes, and drank juice. They even received candy necklaces from B's mom and cute, homemade magnets from T's grandma. All in all, I think they had a wonderful day. :-)

Decorating our bags




A few of them wanted to show off their bags for the camera :-)



C's mom telling them the story

Eating their treats at the party