We are Ready for Spring!

After yet another snowfall, we are ready for spring! Today, we took down our Valentine's Day bulletin board and put up a spring bulletin board. We water-colored rainbows for the board. They turned out great! I have quite the little artists in my class.

Water-coloring the rainbows




Welcome Spring!

Results from our Egg Experiment

Today, we took our eggs out of the soda and observed what happened to the eggs. We discovered the eggs turned brown! I showed the students a plain, white egg and held it up next to the brown egg. I explained to the students that this is what their teeth would look like, if they didn't brush their teeth. They learned it's not good for sugary foods and drinks to sit on their teeth. I also gave each student a toothbrush. They put toothpaste on the toothbrush and brushed their eggs. It was really hard to get their eggs back to white. I really think they learned the importance of brushing their teeth. :-)
We also had Muffins for Moms this morning, and we celebrated D's 6th birthday. He brought in cool cupcakes with plastic bugs on the top. They loved them!
Brushing their eggs




This shows the hypothesis they wrote from yesterday and the results they wrote about today - these are on display in our hallway




Muffins for Moms








Happy 6th Birthday D!


Here is a picture of one of the friend's bugs from the cupcakes:

Egg Experiment

Today, we read the book "Show Me Your Smile: A Visit to the Dentist." In this book, it talked in detail about what happens at the dentist. Also, the book emphasized the importance of brushing your teeth twice a day. The book explained to them that cavities could happen, if they didn't brush their teeth. They learned exactly what a cavity is and how it is fixed. They decided they did not want any cavities after hearing about them. After the book, I showed the students a white, hard-boiled egg and a cup full of soda. I asked the students to predict what would happen if I placed the egg in the cup of soda and left it there over night. They had many great predictions including:
1. The egg cracking
2. The egg turning yellow
3. The egg turning brown
4. The egg changing to all different kinds of colors
5. The egg getting a cavity
While the students wrote down their predictions, I called each student up to place their own egg into a cup of soda. We checked on the eggs later on in the afternoon and discovered they were already turning brown. We can't wait to see what they look like tomorrow!
The school counselor also came today for our weekly counseling session. She's been talking to the students about different kinds of jobs. They learned a fun poem today. They were each given pieces of paper with pictures of different jobs. When their job was called, they had to tell Mrs. Hayes whether or not they would like that job. They had a lot of fun with it, and I was able to record two great video clips of it! By the way, some of our friends were in ELL and there were 2 absences. That is why there were quite a few empty seats in this video clip. :-)
The cups containing our eggs

A friend holding up her egg later on in the afternoon

A special graph we made about losing our teeth

Having fun with our school counselor:

Cavity Fighting Shields

We have started dental health month activities. Today, we read a story called "Make Way for Tooth Decay." In this book, we learned lots of ways to protect our teeth from cavities. Afterward, we made cavity fighting shields. On each section of the shield, we wrote/drew ways we could help protect our teeth. Here are the 6 ideas we came up with from the book:
1. Brush your teeth 2 times a day
2. Floss your teeth
3. Use mouth wash
4. Go to the dentist 2 times a year
5. Not eating a lot of candy and sweets
6. Eat more fruits and vegetables
Here are a few friends holding up their shields:





Here's a close up of one of the shields:

Sorting and Graphing Sweet Tarts

Our favorite lesson of the day had to do with Sweet Tarts. I gave each student a worksheet with four hearts on it. Inside each heart was a color word (red, blue, green, purple). The students read the colors and colored the four hearts the appropriate color. Then, I gave each student a small baggie filled with Sweet Tarts. The students sorted their Sweet Tarts onto the hearts (each student's bag had a different amount of each color). After we sorted them, the students graphed how many they had of each color. They did awesome! Of course, we enjoyed the Sweet Tarts after we were all finished.
We also reviewed our four seasons by reading a cool book. After we read it, I gave them a piece of paper divided into four sections (one for each season). We drew pictures in each box showing all four seasons. It was a lot of fun! There pictures are now proudly displayed in the hallway.
Lastly, we celebrated C's 1/2 birthday today! :-)

Coloring the 4 hearts

Sorting the Sweet Tarts onto the hearts


Graphing the Sweet Tarts



Two friends holding up their finished graphs


A few of the friend's 4 seasons pictures



Happy 1/2 Birthday C!

Valentine's Day Party!

We started our day by decorating white paper bags for our valentine goodies. We used markers, foam hearts, and stamps to decorate the bags. They looked awesome! Later, we passed out our valentine's day goodies. At our party, we decorated sugar cookies. The students spread on the strawberry frosting with plastic knives. Then, they decorated the cookies with sprinkles and M&M's. Lastly, we enjoyed the cookies with some fruit punch. We also enjoyed some cupcakes, and they had many delicious goodies from their friends to take home.

Decorating their Valentine's Day bags




Decorating the sugar cookies




Enjoying our cookies







Look at all that loot!

Looking through her cards

Enjoying some other treats from her bag