Wordless Wednesday: Life Cycle of a Plant

I'm linking up with Christina over at Sugar and Spice for Wordless Wednesday! 

 Are you talking about the life cycle of a plant with your kiddos? I'd love inspiration on activities for young learners! 

Wordless Wednesday: Science Fair

I'm linking up with Christina again over at Sugar and Spice for Wordless Wednesday! 

These are pre-k's Science Fair experiments last year. What experiments do your youngsters particpate in? I'd love new ideas! 

Mrs. Plemons' Kindergarten Giveaway

I am so excited to announce that I am a participant in Mrs. Plemons' Kindergarten giveaway! She put together this HUGE giveaway to celebrate her 30th birthday! Enter below!  

a Rafflecopter giveaway
"Hop" on over to her blog for more chances to win!

Five for Friday

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs, on my first day of Spring Break, for Five for Friday!

This week we have been talking in depth about caring for the earth.  To name a few... we completed a schema chart, read/viewed/discussed several books, played games on the computer, and made an earth craftivity. On Tuesday, we had "Clean Campus Day", where the each grade is broken up into groups and the children rotate to 4 different stations within the school. My students planted seeds, made bird feeders, watched an Earth Day video, and made posters about how to care for the earth. They had so much fun and really have gained a wealth of knowledge and curiosity about ways that they can participate in reducing, reusing, and recycling at school and home!

More pictures of my class this week...

We continued to talk about graphing...

We continue to work on rhyming, which I find one of the most difficult things to teach in pre-k. Some students just "get it" right away, while other students struggle to hear the ending of words. We have been working on rhyming for a good portion of the year with nursery rhymes, games, interactive SMART Board activities,  activity pages and sing-alongs. How do you help your little ones with rhymes? I'd love to hear input on creative lessons/activities that can help my kiddos who still struggle with it! 

The classroom parents came in on Wednesday and made these adorable bunny crafts with the kiddos! The room was filled with giggles and excitement! 

How was your week? Are you starting spring break or coming back from it?! Link up with Doodle Bugs to share with others!

Wordless Wednesday: Earth Day

I'm linking up with Christina over at Sugar and Spice for Wordless Wednesday, her oh so cute and simple linky party! 

How are your youngsters celebrating/learning about Earth Day? 

Share your ideas with me below! 

Five for Friday

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs for a quick version of Five for Friday!

Today was "Kindergarten for a Day"! My kiddos spent some time in the kindergarten classroom meeting the teacher, seeing the classroom, participating in a hands-on math center, listening to a read-aloud and making an spring craft. They follow the trail of rainbow footprints from our class to the kindergarten class. How cute is that?! They were just a ball of excitement today!! In addition, we are still working on teen numbers, so the children sang "count and move". What an adorable song! I love me some YouTube!

More with teen numbers and double ten frames...

A peak at my kiddos during free-choice centers... don't mind my desk... it's been a hectic but fun week!

I'm blogging about this again, because I would love some more advice! I'm ready for a change in my Listening Center! My students enjoy the listening center in our class, although I am personally tired of it, so I need some advice! We have a cassette player, with a jackbox and headphones. Only 3 of the 8 outputs in the jackbox work. What do I need to use my class CD player and the headphones you see in the picture? I typically use my CD player to play sing-along songs and calming music during nap, although I have some great audio book packs. I would like to be able to set up this CD player with 4 students at a time, so that they can listen to audio books. I have seen a Belkin 5-way splitter online, but does that work with these older headphone I have? Also, besides Scholastic (which I love), where do you get your CD audio books? I wish I had i-pods, but that just isn't in the budget right now... so I'm moving on to the good ol' CD :) 

With my little readers, we are working on the _ap family words by watching/singing along with this video and with this Cut, Say, Paste, and Write activity page. 

How was your week? Link up with Doodle Bugs to share with others!

Five for Friday

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs for Five for Friday!

This week, my kiddos were provided many hands-on opportunities to practice teen numbers. The pictures above show students "playing" on the SMART Board. At the tables, students were playing "I have, Who has" and tracing and writing teen numbers, using Scholastic Match, Trace, and Write Numbers Mats. At the computers (2), the children were "playing" Number and Counting Fun Factory Interactive Game.

On Friday, we had another Super Secret Reader come in to read The Story of Ferdinand. What a charming story about a bull, Ferdinand who is the world's most peaceful little bull in Spain. While all of the other bulls snort, leap, and butt their heads, Ferdinand is content to just sit and smell the flowers under his favorite tree. I remember this story as a little girl, and it truly is a heart-warming classic.

On Tuesday, I stopped at B&N to get a new book to read on my down time, to continue to 'perfect my craft' and keep up with what is going on in other elementary grades. Of course, I couldn't begin to browse until I treated myself to a Starbucks treat I ended up buying The Daily Five Book: 2nd Edition by Gail Boushey & Joan Moser, because I know so many school districts are using the "Daily 5" and many of my fellow bloggers, blog about it! Have you read this book or the first addition? How was it?! Are there any other books you think I should read in the future, especially for the early elementary grades? Think: "buzz words"! I want to be ready if I ever switch a grade! I'd love to hear your input!!

If you saw my Facebook post, I'm ready for a change in my Listening Center! My students enjoy the listening center in our class, although I am personally tired of it, so I need some advice! We have a cassette player, with a jackbox and headphones. Only 3 of the 8 outputs in the jackbox work. What do I need to use my class CD player and the headphones you see in the picture? I typically use my CD player to play sing-along songs and calming music during nap, although I have some great audio book packs. I would like to be able to set up this CD player with 4 students at a time, so that they can listen to audio books. I have seen a Belkin 5-way splitter online, but does that work with these older headphone I have? Also, besides Scholastic (which I love), where do you get your CD audio books? I wish I had i-pods, but that just isn't in the budget right now... so I'm moving on to the good ol' CD :) 

Last Thursday, students viewed the video, Curious Cat- How Paper is Made, and then we discussed the long process of creating paper and the importance of recycling it. This week I showed the students Curious Cat- How Glass is Made and we continued our discussion about recycling. Since my  eager learned enjoyed these videos so much, they asked for more "Curious Cat" and I showed them Curious Cat- How Wool is Made.

I'd love to hear from you! How was your week? Link up with Doodle Bugs to share with others!