Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Thanksgiving Cookbook



We had a great Thanksgiving feast in kindergarten.
Yes, We painted our hands to look like turkeys. 
I think you HAVE to do that in kindergarten. Isn't it in the common core or something?
But we had some other fun too! Look at one of our "Mashed Potatoes" :)
Mr. Potato head will be so happy when this holiday is over. Must be terrifying for him.

 ANd look at these cute little turkeys :)
We spent WAY too much time pasting them together with chocolate frosting.




We also used iMovie to record a hilarious gobbling contest. 
They are such turkeys!

But my favorite Thanksgiving project was the cookbook that we wrote. 
Here is a sampling of the recipes :)








 Happy Thanksgiving!


Monday, November 12, 2012

Veterans Day



We had a beautiful Veterans Day assembly today, complete with these wonderful vets that come to help our students understand what this day is all about.


The older students talked about what Veterans Day means, while the younger kids just soaked it all in. Even if you didn't understand any of the words today, you could feel that this was something special.

Everyone sang along. 
Agh, a room full of 400 kids singing God Bless America... their voices were so sweet.

One of those times that made me proud to be an American, 
and honored to be able to share this  day with these kindergarteners.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Imagination Station- Grocery Store

The afternoon in kindergarten is full of opportunities for the kids to learn and play. Learning and playing are nearly inseparable when you are 5 years old.

Our playroom activities include a puppet storytelling center, ABC center, art center, building center, and the imagination center. The imagination center has been a place to play house so far this year. The kids love playing with the little plastic plates and baby dolls, but today we put all of that away to turn the imagination center into a grocery store. 

This was all set up by my WONDERFUL teaching partner.
Families helped by sending in empty boxes to stock the shelves.

Students had a great time filling up their carts and taking their purchases to the cash register.

 Pretend grocery shopping is expensive, too!!!
$11,401,077? Whoa! Is the federal government buying this stuff?

The kids cart their purchase back to restock the shelves and start all over again. 

I have to say that this is a lot more fun than REAL grocery shopping, which I had to do on the way home from school today. I'd much rather shop in the playroom! 

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Trick or Treats



What a crazy Halloween!
We went to the library at our regular 9:50 time (actually, it is the first time I've been on time this year!), sat down to hear a Halloween story, and the lights began to flicker and then -- no electricity. 

The kids took their costumes home in a whirlwind of early-dismissal activity, and we came back on November 1st for our Day-After-Halloween party. We started with an all-school costume parade and then played a bunch of games in our classroom. What a fun day!

There was a ring toss



A Halloween matching game


LOADS of Halloween books to read



A Penny Pitch game





 GHOST  Bowling




And a snack station with BEAUTIFUL cookies made by a parent


We had a great time, and got to extend Halloween one more day! 
And, yes, I have started planning the Thanksgiving Feast :)