Art Feeds

Art Feeds is a non-profit group that comes to our school once a week for 30 minutes.  It was created after the May 22, 2011 tornado as a form of therapy through creative expression.  Our kids L-O-V-E it!  Today, my kiddos were learning about how record album covers gave you an idea about the music within.  (Hmmm...possible Writer's Workshop mini-lesson....)

They listened to the Beach Boys' "California Girls" and talked about how they thought it should have waves and people in bathing suits on the cover.  Then with The Jackson Five's "ABC", it made them think about school and learning.  The Art Feeds ladies then had the students think about their favorite song and draw a picture of what it made them think of.  Here are a few of my favorites...

 

 Blak I pez (Black Eye Peas)

 

 

The River (sorry, I couldn't get it to rotate!)

 

 

And my favorite...

Sexy and I Know It

He told me he was so hot he was on fire!  Note the people in the flames!

 

 

Here's mine. 

 

I will pick one name from those who guess it correctly, song and artist, and they will win my newest pack, my Frog Life Cycle Emergent Reader and Retelling cards.  You have until tomorrow night at 9 CST.  Good luck!!

 

For more information on Art Feeds, visit www.artfeeds.org.



Egg-stra egg-citing!

Last week was a blur! Not only was it the week after our Spring Break, but it was a short week due to Easter. We spent the week beginning our life cycle studies with a look at oviparous and viviparous animals. One of our SpEd para was extremely impressed with the fact that not only could my Kinder kiddos define those words, they could say them correctly!

Our poem for the week came from Deedee Wills' March Poetry pack titled "Eggs! Eggs! Eggs!".  The kids loved reading it and naming different oviparous animals that would fit each description.  The only problem is....I forgot to click a picture of it!  Just go here and buy it yourself.  A truly awesome resource!

 While you're there, check out her egg math stations.  My kids are loving her Alligator Babies and The Oviparous 10 games in our Math stations!

 We used a lot of literature in our studies.  Here are some my favorites!

We began our discussion of life cycles.  The students used the retelling cards from my Chicken Life Cycle Pack to recreate the life cycle.  

 Afterward they read the coordinating emergent reader.

 Click on the picture to check this pack out for yourself!

When I was a kid, my grandma used to call jelly beans 'jelly bird eggs'.  It's kinda stuck with me so I always make sure to include some jelly bean activities during the week.  First we read this book.  I LOVE IT!  It always cracks me up!

 We did the usual sort and graph...

 ...with a twist!  I added a Jelly Bean Addition sheet that the students completed after they finished their graph.  They used their sorting sheet and added together two colors.

What's an egg unit with a few hundred Easter eggs floating around your room?  We played my Cracked! game.  

You should have heard the groans when someone got the Easter Bunny card and they had to give up an egg!  My kids are very competitive!

Ok, imagine this scenario.  It's the day before Easter Break.  It's rained for two days.  We are going to have our Easter egg hunt that afternoon and my desk is PILED with candy that I wasn't going to use.  Every 5 seconds I hear "When's our hunt?"  Then we go to our monthly SOAR (school expectations) assembly where we get this surprise...

the high school mascot, Eddie the Eagle, and our Bright Futures Sunshine Squad brought every student in our school an Easter basket!  Well, let's just say, we lost everyone after that and it was 8:30 in the morning.  Can you say extra long recess?

While we were in the assembly, our Kindergarten Early Lit teacher was gracious enough to hide (and by hide I mean throw on the ground randomly) our eggs for our hunt.

Such a doll!
So we grabbed our bags...

 headed out...

and chaos began!

             

If you look closely, the little guy in the picture has a strip of paper in his hand.  I couldn't just let it be just an egg hunt.  Each student had a strip with a number of eggs on it.  On each egg was a color word that let the student know what eggs to gather!  Fun, yet still (a bit) educational!

Our week was short, but jam packed with some egg-ceptional learning!

 

Giveaway winner!

Thank you to everyone who entered, blogged and commented on my giveaway!  I am so blessed to have this outlet to share my classroom wanderings and ramblings!

Our winner is....

a Rafflecopter giveaway Amy, leave me your email address and I will get your prizes to you! Congrats!

Life Cycle Studies

**Don't forget...my 100+ Followers giveaway ends at midnight tonight!**

 

Where did Spring go?  We here in SW Missouri woke up to about 2 inches of snow and gusty winds.  Ugh!  I want my 75 degree temps back!!

 

Next week I will start my favorite time of year, theme-wise...life cycles, plants/seeds/

mud/worms and animals, including insects, frogs and zoo.  I stayed up late last night and worked all day today to create these two mini packs to help me include some more non-fiction in my day.  Click on the covers to go to my TpT store. 

 

This week is all about eggs...one of my most favorite units to teach.  Here are a few products that would work great in your plans!

My newest little game...Cracked!  A "Egg"cellent Sight Word Review Game

All About Chickens-A Mini Unit from Kaci at Mrs. Hoffer's Spot. 



The Incredible Egg-Oviparous Math Stations from Deedee at Mrs. Wills Kindergarten



Then it we will be going "buggy"!  Here's some things that your kiddos will love!

Caterpillar, Caterpillar Pocket Chart Poetry from Maggie at Maggie's Kinder Corner

Bugs! Bugs! Bugs Math Work Stations from Deedee at Mrs. Wills Kindergarten

All About Butterflies-A Mini Unit by Kaci from Mrs. Hoffer's Spot

 

After that, it will be plants and frogs.  Emergent reader and retell card packs for those are in the works so stay tuned!  I am dying to use my dear friend Debbie Clement's song Polliwog!



 

100+ Followers means a GIVEAWAY!!

What a wonderful week (sans the snow storm we are supposed to be getting) this has been.  Rest, relaxation, fun times with friends and family and meeting a milestone!  Sunday, I got a comment from my 100th follower.  What?  100?  I can't believe it!!

As a thank you for everyone who has encouraged me and followed me along the way, I have put together a giveaway of some fantastic products from some fantastic ladies.

Ignore the title...I teach Kindergarten therefore I can't count!

This giveaway will run from Friday until Monday at midnight.  Good luck!!


  


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Wow...what a weekend!

What happens when you mix 4 ladies that are passionate about kids, blogging, TpT, shopping and fun?  A complete and utterly fabulous weekend!

This last weekend was our Midwest Blogger Meet-up.  Here we are! 

These lovely bloggers are (left to right) Elizabeth from Mrs. Hodge and Her Kinder Kids, Kaci from Mrs. Hoffer's Spot, Jennifer from Herding Kats in Kindergarten and me. 

We started out eating at my absolutely fav restaurant, Chili's.  For 2 hours, we gabbed and traded "insider" secrets.  Believe me, I soaked up every bit of their knowledge!  Then it was off to Mardel's for a little teacher shopping.  I was so excited to snag one of these pocket charts that Kaci had guest blogged about.  Click on the picture to read all about it!  I'll be off to the Dollar Tree today to pick up some of the nifty envelopes.

Then, I got to share a wonderful place for teachers with my new friends...

If you've never been and are near one...GO!  Here's a picture we snapped inside. 



This picture does not do it justice!  The front half is divided into Constructive Playthings (dramatic play, blocks, etc) and teacher resources and the back half is entirely Oriental Trading.  We'd died and gone to teacher heaven!  We got there 30 minutes before closing, so it was a quick trip.  If you go, plan on at least an hour and a half. 

 

Then it was back to some serious non-school related (ok almost non-school related) retail therapy.  We spent the rest of the evening at Legends Outlet mall. 

I would venture to say we made a small dent.  This is 3/4 of our loot at the end of the night.



One of the restaurants is a neat place that I would have taken Little Miss called T-Rex.  Outside are cool fossils and skeletons.  Jennifer was fearless, climbing up for a closer look.  Notice the small sign in the background that reads "Do not climb on the rocks".  Ha! 

At TJ Maxx, we hit the biggest score of the night.  These games usually sell for $15, but we scored them for $4.99 a piece.  The lady at the registered asked if we were teachers and if we had cleaned them out!

How else would we end our weekend but with one more lunch, some great laughs and a little bit of facial hair?

Thanks to these lovely ladies, I laughed so hard I cried and snorted, my face muscles hurt and I had a much needed break from everyday life.  I'm so glad I did it!

 

Not only did I get to start my Spring Break right, but after returning on Sunday, I had a comment on my blog from my 100th follower!!!!  YIKES!!  How did that happen?  I was so excited!  So, check back on Friday when I'll be announcing my first giveaway, just to say thanks for following me.

 

Have a great week!