Groundhogs and Shadows! (Q, 14, Gray)

Our theme last week was "Groundhogs and Shadows" and  we focused on the letter Q, number 14 and color gray.

**This winter is killing me! We had TWO snow days this week! We got a lot of our projects done, my kids were really good about me having them do more more activities than normal.. they had fun with it!**

We read this week: Where's My Hug? by Amy Hest
                               Bear Feels Sick by Karma Wilson
                               The Quiet Book by Deborah Underwood
          *I also had planned to read*
                               Llama Llama Time to Share by Anna Dewdney
                               If You Give a Moose a Muffin by Laura Numeroff

Our question of the week was "What would you NOT like 100 of?" Some of these were very interesting!

For our theme of the week, we did talk about Groundhog day and what it stand for. I asked them if they really thought that the groundhog could predict our weather, and my class was pretty split on the issue. It made quite a fun discussion!

I found this project on Pinterest, and my kids loved making this. They thought it was cool to make the flaps.

I also had the kids "hibernate" in the gym. We talk about the activities of a groundhog throughout the different seasons. Then I call out seasons and the kids act like groundhogs. When it comes time for winter they all quick find a place to burrow and sleep. It truly is just as fun for me to watch as for them to do it. =]

We talked about the color gray, and we sang "Three Gray Mice"

"Three gray mice, three gray mice,
oh how nice, oh how nice.
they ran around the house at night.
They found some cheese and had a bite.
The farmer's wife turned on the light.
as three gray mice, ran from sight!"
I got it from here!

When we focus on a color I love to do "color hunts" in our classroom. Each child takes a turn to walk

around the classroom and bring back something that they found that is gray. We ended up having a lot more than I thought we would. I started to get a little nervous that there was only a few things, but my class sure did search it out! Here is what we found for the color gray.

When we worked on our number activities, we practiced writing the number and word for the number 14.

I made these worksheets that reinforces the one to one concept. The kids practice writing the number and have to color a square for each picture that they see.

From one of my books I had the kids work on this page where they have to match the number of items to the numeral.

For our letter activities, we used our handwriting sheet for the letter Qq from this book.

And we practiced recognizing the letters.

The students wrote in their journals for the letter Q.

I love to make quilts with a class. Each child gets a square to draw their picture. Then i hole punch and tie together with yarn to make a quilt! 

We made a book about the different quilts that a queen had.  This is from a MailBox Letter of the Week book.

We talked about what would be a loud snack (carrots, chips, pretzels) , and what would be a quiet snack (blueberries, cheese and chocolate). Then we made a quiet snack! Each child measured out 1/4 cup of mini marshmallows, 1/8 cup of raisins (I prefer golden raisins) and 1 Tbsp chocolate chips.

We turned a Q into a Quail! This book is great.

For our alphabet wall we made quails!

Here are the words we came up with this week!

Up next week: "Be My Valentine" and a focus on the letter Rr, number 15 and color pink.

The Harvest! (J, 7, Star)

Our theme for the second week of November was "The Harvest" and we focused on the letter Jj, the number 7 the star shape.

We read this week: The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons
                              From Seed to Pumpkin by Wendy Pfeffer
                              Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper
                              Oliver Finds His Way by Phillis Root
                              Possum's Harvest Moon by Anne Hunter

Our question of the week was "What is one word to describe you?"This was such a TOUGH one! We got through it though and most of the answers are pretty accurate for my class this year.

For our theme of the week, we discussed as a whole group what a harvest is and the kinds of things that get harvested.


I drew pictures of the different stages of a pumpkin vine. After we read "From Seed to Pumpkin", I called small groups to come over and challenged them to put the cards in order from start to end. When the cards were put in the wrong order it was so great to hear them talk through what had to change and why.

I dyed some pumpkin seeds with vinegar and food coloring (my kitchen still faintly smells of vinegar =]) and challenged my kids to sort them onto the pumpkins that said the color. They then had to count how many of each color seed they had and write the number next to the pumpkin. We then tried to glue the seeds on, but they just popped off after the glue dried! So i had to use tape, not as pretty, but just as functional.

We painted with pine cones.

And had a great time outside "harvesting: leaves, sticks and acorns."

We talked a lot this week about the shape star, and we sang "Twinkle Twinkle."

"Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

how I wonder what you are.

Up above the world so bright,

like a diamond in the sky.

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

how I wonder what you are."

I drew stars, hearts, triangles and circles and asked the kids to color each shape it's own color. I was so impressed with how well they did!

When we worked on our number activities, we practiced writing the number and word for the number 7.

I made these worksheets that reinforces the one to one concept. The kids practice writing the number and have to color a square for each picture that they see. (I forgot to take a picture =[)

For our letter activities, we used our handwriting sheet for the letter Jj from this book,  and the sheet that helps work on letter recognition that I got from this book,  The students also wrote in their journals for the letter J.

We turned an J into an Jaguar! This book is great.

The kids jumped like jumping jelly beans to music. Super fun and a great way to get all that energy out.

Speaking of jelly beans, I gave the kids each 7 jellybeans (our number of the week) and they had to color the jelly beans on their paper the colors of the real ones they had. Love that one-to-one correspondence practice. The best part? They got to eat them after they colored them!

 I have a few kids with nut allergies, so i sent their jelly beans home with the nutritional information panel. Better safe than sorry!

The kids practiced their coloring and cutting skills to make this awesome booklet that tells all the different places that a jet flies. This is from this Mailbox book.

For our alphabet wall we made jets!

Here are the words we came up with this week!

Here's an update from our "planted" pumpkins! We planted them the week of Halloween, and we got a sprout!!

Up next week: Number review week and "Native Americans, Pilgrims and Turkeys".

Farm Animals! (I, 6, Heart)

Sorry I'm a little behind on posts, life has a tendency of getting in the way every once and a while. =]

Our theme for the first week of November was "Farm Animals" and we focused on the letter Ii, the number 6 the heart shape.

We read this week: Humphrey's Farm Adventure by Igloo Books
                               Duck for President by Doreen Cronin
                               Little Oink by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
                               The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle
                               Barnyard Banter by Denise Fleming

Our question of the week was "What would you grow on your farm?"

For our theme of the week, we danced the chicken dance, sang "Old MacDonald" and pretended to be different farm animals with a game of charades.

I painted a picture of a farm scene with no animals and hung it up on the wall. The kids were all very intrigued as to what we would be doing with it. Well, we turned their hand prints into farm animals. I love this craft. They get to choose what animal they want to make, we paint their hand and with some eyes, ears and a mouth we have a farm animal! The kids and the parents love when this mural is hanging on the wall. =]

We talked a lot this week about the shape heart. To the tune of "I'm a Little Teapot" we sang,

I found it here! 

I drew hearts, triangles and circles and asked the kids to color each shape it's own color. They did a great job with it!

When we worked on our number activities, we practiced writing the number and word for the number 6.

I made these worksheets that reinforces the one to one concept. The kids practice writing the number and have to color a square for each picture that they see. (I forgot to take a picture =[)

For our letter activities, we used our handwriting sheet for the letter Ii from this book,  and the sheet that helps work on letter recognition that I got from this book,  The students also wrote in their journals for the letter I.

We turned an I into an Insect! This book is great.

I found this worksheet that has words with different vowel sounds. The kids have to color the pictures that have the short i sound in them to make the fish. I did this in small groups and gave each child a choice between a word that did or didn't have the short i, then the group would color the short i word that was picked.

We watched a short video that I found of a young boy learning how to make an igloo. The kids really love this one. Then I gave them a blue piece of paper, white squares that I cut out ahead of time and a glues stick. We talked about how the boy built the igloo, how he layered it from the bottom, how it has a door, a curved roof, and then set them free to create their own.

We played a category game and sat in a circle naming different ice cream flavors. Next time I do a category game I'll write down all of the things we come up with so that they can see it.

We practice cutting with "The Insects are In" The kids had to color the insects, cut them out and put them "in" the right container.

For our alphabet wall we made fingerprint insects.

And with the I addition, our wall now looks like...

Here are the words we came up with this week!

We had a special visitor come this week. A local girl scout made display boxes for our school nature trail and came to talk to my class about the different things that we could put in them. She gave us deer bones, tree cookies and we even got to meet a baby box turtle! She talked to us about worms, foxes, chipmunks and different kinds of trees.

Another teacher and I went out to the nature trail the next day and put some of the things she donated in the displays. (We also added some things that we found in the woods :])

Up next week: The letter Jj, the number 7, star and "The Harvest".