I've been working in the garden

Spring is in the air, the temps & sun are gorgeous: It's time to go a'plantin (That is a real word, right?) hehe This year we planted carrots & we tried our best to get them in pretty rows too (laid a yard stick down in the box)

get the soil broken up and ready to plant the seeds

Maddy using the magnifying cube to check out a leaf

We found a worm while we were digging

trying to find some things to put into our magnifying cubes





Day Eighteen

Today our chicks are on their eighteenth day of development. Over the four day weekend the incubator sat on a end table in my living room (the eggs need turned 3 times a day) and Maddy helped me turn them each day.
This afternoon Miss Barbara, from Franklin County 4-H, came into our room to continue to talk to our classroom about the chick's development and growth. She read them a story then showed them pictures of chicks on various days of growing. She brought us in jars that showed actual chicks that were caught in various stages of development and then died (these pictures are kinda disgusting and not the best quality)







I am happy to report that even though one egg was not fertilized and three have stopped developing (through NO fault of our own), the other 26 chicks are developing nicely! While we took our time looking through the jars, Miss Barbara called up the tables to take turns candling the eggs to see inside.

We are continuing to draw and document our chick's growth in our journals

Over this weekend, they will begin to peck through the air sac to get to the egg shell and you will be able to hear them peeping inside the incubator (too bad we won't be here to hear it)

On Monday they will begin to hatch :-)



Practicing Sight Words

Dear Families:
The more sight words children know, the better readers they become. Sight words are words that appear frequently in print. The same words are among those used most frequently by children in their writing. When children build their sight word vocabulary, they become better readers and spellers. Try these easy activities for strengthening your child's sight word vocabulary.
Here are some fun and easy activities to play to get your child to practice their sight words. Remember just a simple 5-10 minute time block can make a huge impact.

1.      Skip count with words: Start with the first word on the list. Say it, skip the next, read the next, and so on. Repeat the activity, this time starting with the second word on the list.

2.      Say each word, then spell it, clapping once for each letter.

3.      Give each letter in the alphabet a number from 1 to 26. (i.e. a=1, b=2, etc…). Guess which sight word on the list will be worth the most points.

4.      The next time you are going somewhere with your child, play a sight word game. It’s easy – just have your child find as many sight words as he or she can on billboards, signs, and so on. You can play this game in a car, on a walk, even in line at the grocery store!

5.      Copy sight words onto small cards. (you can cut index cards in quarters or cut sturdy paper into pieces) Place the word cards in an empty container. Invite your child to shake the container, spill out the words, and read the ones that fell face up. Place the remaining words back in the can and shake and spill again.

6.      Play a game of “I’m thinking of...” One player starts by giving a clue about one of the sight words (i.e. “I’m thinking of a word that starts like horse and has three letters”) The other player looks at the list and tries to identify the word.

Tic-Tac-Toad

As I am sure your child has told you all about, here in kindergarten we LOVE Junie B. Jones and the many adventures she gets into while we read through her books. The last book we read was Junie B. Jones and the Yucky Blucky Fruitcake

In this specific book, Junie B. and her grandpa Frank Miller play "Tic-Tac-Toad" (in Junie's words of course) and she is trying to convince her bestest friend, that Grace, that she is the "bestest game winner" so they start playing "Tic-Tac-Toad" on the bus

"I GOT X's" I hollered.

"I GOT O's" she hollered.

"I GO FIRST!" I hollered.

"I GO SECOND!" she hollered.

Then me and her played Tic-Tac-Toad.

"TIC-TAC-TOAD! THREE IN A ROAD!" I yelled very fast. "SEE GRACE? SEE? I TOLD YA I'M THE BESTEST WINNER!"

That Grace looked at the paper.

"But your X's aren't in a row, Junie B.," she said.

I did a huffy breath at her.

"I know they are not in a row, Grace. That is why I made a curvy line to connect them."



The kids got an absolute kick out of Junie B. playing "tic-tac-toad" so I made them their own boards to play in the morning or during inside recess



Dr. Seuss

Yes, I am definitely a week late in wishing Dr. Seuss a "Happy Birthday". At least we aren't celebrating the day a week late at our school.
Last Friday, our students (in the whole school) got to rotate around to the different classrooms to particiapte in listening to stories, fun activities, and visiting Seussville in the computer lab in honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday! (If he was still alive he would be 108)

tracing then cutting out our handprints to create a giant tree

Miss Neil reading All About Seeds

the kids visiting Seussville

inspecting our seeds to get ready to plant them

Mrs. Johnson reading I can name 50 trees!

Mrs. Bowman reading The Lorax in the 1st grade classroom

A truffula of trees

(each leaf states about a way to help the earth or a way to show kindness to someone at New Franklin) 

our tree made out of the whole school's handprints

In our own kindergarten classroom, we did a little more celebrating

Riley wanted to try on my Dr. Seuss hat



Even Kinder Bear joined in on the celebration

Mrs. Connie Kelly came into our classroom as a guest reader from the Rotary Club and read There's a Wocket in my Pocket

Growing plants and minds

The past few weeks Miss Miller has been creating and teaching a unit on seeds, plants, plant part, and how to grow and care for plants. The children have been truly excited about this unit and have been sucking up all the information like sponges!!

Miss Miller's bulletin board teaching the kids the parts of a plant

her anchor charts

(one is plant vocabulary, the other is a KWL chart)

the kids name posters for the hallway

Our newest project

Well ladies and gentlemen,
Our big announcement: The chicks have arrived (no, no not in that way - they are still in egg form)
Yesterday was Day One when we used a pencil to mark our initials on all the eggs (not only does it give the kids each an egg, it helps us keep track when we have to start turning them 3 times a day tomorrow) and then gently placed them inside the 98 degree incubator.

All of the supplies we need to hatch chicks:

a candling light, chick feed, a heat lamp, and a box to keep them in :-)



We have become documenting their growth in our journals and some of us even wrote about our excitement later on during Kid Writing time

Katy's story:

"We are doing a new project and it is hatching baby chicks! I got one too! My friends got one too!"

Our chicks should begin hatching on March 26th & 27th

Scar?

Riley (at the table this morning): "Ouch, this button hurts! (one of those buttons inside the kid's pants that help make the waistband smaller)

Me: "Do you want me to losen the strap?"

Riley: "No, it isn't too tight, it is just rubbing against my scar"

Kamden (without missing a beat!): "Like on the Lion King?"

hahahaha