Plants, Birds, X marks the spot and Frog Cycle

I have loved my classroom the last couple of weeks. We have had so much fun doing science and I love the smell of dirt and flowers in the room. We worked on our plant unit for a few days. We talked about seeds and how there are all different colors and shapes. We had fun sorting them into groups. 

We also made our own sunflower. It looked a lot like a daffodil but I wanted to have a little cup in the middle for them to try some real sunflower seeds. They really loved this art project and loved the snack that went along with it. We discussed the 3 things plants need to grow. Water, air, and sun. They liked telling me all the different parts of the flowers and the order that they grow.

Finished Product. 

They even glued a real seed on the paper before adding the roots. 

 I love this book. It is a great book that talks about all the different things that come from seeds and all the fruits and vegetables that grow from the seeds.

These are our grass heads before they started growing. Now most of them have a full head of hair and are ready for a haircut. I had a few that just won't grow so I started them all over. Hopefully they will catch up quickly to the others. 

We watched the video of the book The Tiny Seed. Then we did a shared writing assignment. It was such a fun story and they loved putting kids in the class in the story. After we wrote the story I gave them each a piece of paper and let them draw a picture from something in the story. They loved taping their pictures up next to the story.

 For letter X day we had a blast! I found this cute idea on preschoolalphabetblogspot.com

I told the kids that I had planned a treasure hunt for them, but they would have to do a few things first before they could find the treasure box.

We started with a bunch of pictures of places to look for clues. If the clue wasn't there they had to put an X on the picture.

When we found the clue they had to trace lots of x's for their next clue. 

The next thing they had to do was make x's with popsicle sticks. 

Then we had to do lots of eXercises.  We did jumping jacks that looked like x's. We did sit ups with our arms crossed like and x on our chest. We crossed our legs like x's and touched our toes. And then we did scissor cuts with our arms that looked like x's. 

 Next we found a treasure hunt map that told us to do lots of silly things. We had to crawl under the table and leap frog up the stairs, and we found the treasure box right on top of Mrs. Julie's piano. The kids were so excited to get a fun treat.

We learned lots about birds as well one day. We talked about all the different things bird do compared to mammals. They have 2 feet, they have feathers, they lay eggs. We looked at lots of different pictures of birds and discussed the food birds like to eat. They loved making a bird book with pictures of woodpeckers, blackbirds, sparrows, and a hummingbird.

We made some bird puppets.

 And we made a bird feeder. Just a bagel with peanut butter, and birds seeds. So far, mine has just been blowing a lot in the rain and wind. Hopefully it will attract some birds this week.

Frog Cycle: I have included a link of what we did this day. I just forgot to take some pictures this day. We discussed all the different stages the frog goes through, and then played a game and made a fun frog treat. 

Frog Cycle Day Link

It has been a great couple weeks! I can't wait for our field trip this week and I have ordered our caterpillars as well as some lady bug larva that should be here next week! My job is the best. :) 

T,U,V and Easter Fun

I am so excited that I was able to complete the mural I have wanted to do since we moved into our new house. My good friend Coley sketched this and painted it for me. She is so good and I was so excited when it was done. I kept going downstairs to look at it over and over again because I love it so much! Thanks Coley. :) 

T is for Tower

T is for Trees

My favorite book!

We talked about all the parts of the tree.

And made a little snack to go with it. I tried to find the alphabet cereal to go along with the book Chicka Chika Boom Boom but couldn't find it anywhere. Let me know if you ever see some. :)

I love this tree, she drew all her family underneath it having a picnic.

T is for transportation. 

 We had fun playing a number game. I would call out a number and they had to park their car in the correct stall.

We also got dirty making tracks with all of our different vehicles.

Afterwards we gave the cars a car wash in the bathroom tub.

We played a version of red light, green light for PE. I would call out an action they had to practice (i.e. hop on one foot, jumping jacks, crawl like a snake, etc.) and would flip the light back and forth. We even sang our ABC's with it. They loved this game.

T is for Turtles

We read the fable "The Tortoise and the Hare" and discussed the moral, Slow and Steady Wins the Race .

Afterwards we made these fun turtles out of coffee filters. 

This recipe is SO EASY! and YUMMY! You should make it sometime. Turtle bread is always a favorite. I made the dough the night before and added some green food coloring. Then stuck it in the fridge overnight. We just had to shape the dough and let it rise and then bake it.

Turtle Bread Recipe

U is for Underground

We made a list of all the things we could think of that lived underground. They even thought of things I didn't. I love that some of them even included pipes and water. We practiced cutting grass and then made our own underground pictures. 

A new book I got. It was pretty funny.

Our Underground snack. Always a favorite. Dirt pudding cups.

Easter

We had a really fun week, and even had an egg hunt. Here are just a couple of the things we did. 

Practiced Lower and Uppercase letters matching eggs. 

Learned all about the Chicken Life Cycle and made a diagram to show each phase.

The kids filled up the warm fuzzy jar. It is a jar that they earn hearts for doing good things that make Ms. Julie feel warm and happy inside. So they got to make a fun little Chick treat at the end of the day.

We also watched this fun video about the book called Rabbit Duck

Rabbit Duck Video

Afterwards we made our own predictions of what we thought the picture was.

Then we made a bunny, duck craft. I love doing this one and the kids love that they get to make both of them. 

We attached a little poem.

V is for Volcano

Volcanoes are always a favorite! We made letter V volcanoes. They loved putting lots of lava on them. 

Finished products.

Then we made our own mini volcanoes. Just a pan of baking soda and cups of colored water and vinegar. They used eye droppers and watched them start to erupt.

At the very end we dumped the rest of the cups in and then they really started to fizz. This was for sure a favorite activity.

We made Strawberry Volcanoes for a snack. We dipped the end of the strawberry in melted chocolate and then I had cut open the tips. We put some whipped cream erupting out of the strawberry. These were super yummy. They would be fun to make for a party.

We have been having so much fun! It is hard to believe how quickly this year has gone by. I love the excitement they always have and how much they help me to still feel like a kid.