Saturday, April 28, 2012

Plants & Frogs

We finished up learning about plants today in Kindergarten. Some of the plants grew quite a bit while others didn't. Here are are some of the bigger ones!


Here is the document I created for labeling their pots!

We discussed the parts of the plants and their roles. Using a sheet from Mailbox Magazine, we glued them into our science journals and labeled the parts of a flower. Here is what this activity looked like!




My first graders have been learning about the life cycle of a frog this week. We started this unit out by reading in our Scholastic News. We also read Growing Frogs! by Vivian French to further study the metamorphasis of the frog.
Finally, we completed this adorable life cycle from Mailbox Magazine. You can find the sheet to copy from Mrs. T's First Grade Class

I also recently finished a unit on Frogs & Toads and it's available at my TPT store. Click the picture to check it out! It's 21 pages and $5.25.
I hope you all have a great Saturday! I made the mistake of taking a late evening nap, which could be why I am wide awake at 3:30 am listening to the pouring rain outside. Why are the weekdays full of cloudless skies and the weekends full of rainstorms? That's not fair!!

Cindy


Sunday, April 22, 2012

Winner!

I had a terrible time with the Random Number Generator. It wouldn't let me put the widget onto my blog with the Result. UGH!! However, congratulations to Heidi from My (Not So) Elementary Life on winning the Earth Day unit!! She's new to blogging, so check out her blog!! Thank you to all who entered.

True Random Number Generator



11

Last Chance Giveaway & Giveaway at All Students Can Shine

Today is the last day for my Earth Day Giveaway!


Click the picture to find out how to enter!
Also, All Students Can Shine is having a FIVE day giveaway in celebration of the upcoming birth of her baby!


I am almost done with my Mother's Day Literacy Unit. Unfortunately, I can't finish it without a book that is currently at school. Look for it soon! I hope you have a great Sunday!
Cindy

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Earth Day Giveaway!!!

I just updated my Earth Day literacy unit. It took me hours because I moved it from MS Word to PowerPoint. I also added some more stuff. I hope it will be worth it!!! Anyway, I am going to giveaway one for free since I'm still awake burning the midnight three a.m. oil.

This Earth Day Literacy Unit is 27 pages & includes the following activities:

It's Earth Day! Fact or Opinion Game w/ answer key
Making Words with "RECYCLE"
What Helps and Hurts the Earth?
"Our Tree Named Steve" main idea & details graphic organizer
"The Earth" is, has, needs chart
Happy Earth Day! reader with writing component
Vocabulary word cards
Hard & Soft C & G Word Sort
Earth Day books list
Click the picture to see it in my TPT store!

This giveaway will end on Sunday 8 pm EST. I will choose the winner by random draw. You will receive 1 entry for each of the following:

1. Follow my blog
2. "Like" my FB page
3. Follow my TPT and/or TN stores
4. "Blog" about or "Share" this giveaway on FB
5. Get a friend to become a new follower of my blog

Be sure to leave a comment for each entry with your email address!! Good luck & thanks for entering! :)

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Adventures in Kindergarten: It's GIVEAWAY Time!


Click the link for a great giveaway with a a first and second place prize. First prize is your choice of a $25 giftcard to either B&N, Target, or Amazon! Second prize is a spring unit. Check it out!!

Monday, April 16, 2012

Using Powerpoint & Plants

Holy Monday! Today was the first day of FCAT testing in the State of Florida and it was a very long and "off" sort of a day. Of course I'm sure the whole week will be like that since we all have to be silent quiet until about noon!! Anyway, one thing that I'm thankful for is my friend and co-worker, Lori, from Teaching With Love and Laughter. She introduced me to the wonderful world of PowerPoint today and oh my goodness was she right when she said it was sooooo much better to use than MS Word!!! Thanks Lori! If you haven't checked out her blog you definitely should!! She's also involved with not one, but TWO giveaways.

Here are the first two items I created using PowerPoint. Click here to go to my TPT store. They are both word sorts for hard & soft c & g. One has Earth Day clip art and the other is Smarty Pants Kids. Both are $2.25.






Another positive thing was that my kindergartners' seeds started growing!! They were so excited and so was I! I'm just happy that we didn't end up growing dirt nothing.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Science

There are so many science things to do around this time of year! My kindergartners have been learning all about seeds, plants, and flowers. Today we read "The Tiny Seed" by Eric Carle. They just love books by him and who doesn't? Anyway, yesterday we planted lima beans. Hopefully they will grow or the kids will be C-R-U-S-H-E-D!! I put some in a plastic bag with a wet paper towel just in case the plants don't grow. Today we investigated some lima beans that I soaked in water overnight. We used some of our senses to feel, smell, and look at the seeds. We opened the seeds up and used magnifying glasses to look at the seeds closer! The kids really loved finding the sprout that had started to grow inside. Here are some pictures of the activity!




Here are the labels I used for the plant "pots".

 
We also read about the water cycle in our second grade Scholastic News issue this week. I found the Ziploc bag activity on Pinterest. I had each table draw and label the water cycle on a quart sized bag. We filled it with some water and taped it to the window. Today some condensation had formed and by the end of the day, there was some precipitation.

Classroom Pictures

It's hard to believe that we are two weeks into the final quarter of the school year! My kindergartners have really blossomed these past few months and I love seeing the growth they have all made in reading. That being said, I'm finally posting some pictures of my classroom. Haha, the school year's only almost over, but never late then never!! :) Please let me know what you think!

View from the front left corner
 View from the front right corner
 Classroom Library
 Reading & Listening Station
 Five Star Behavior Board
 Clip Chart
 Table Points Board
 Focus Board
 Left Side of Board
 Reading Strategies Board
 Phonics Board (This thing is my teaching Bible!)
 Think Alouds
Station Board
carpet
calendar, specials schedule, leader of the day
Birthday Board
Word Wall
I'm Done jar

Monday, April 2, 2012

Winner!!

Congrats to L. Raines for winning my "Cloudy" unit and thanks to all who entered! I definitely felt the love from all of you! :)

True Random Number Generator
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