It was a crazy week of learning

It was a busy week in kindergarten and I had so much fun working with my teacher friends. We planted corn and lima beans with the kids in little greenhouses I created for them. Usually we put in damp paper towels and the lima bean behind the greenhouse and place it in a window. This year one of my teacher's decided to add soil and just spritz it lightly with water. She soaked the beans and popcorn ahead of time. The students were exploding with enthusiasm for this activity. The corn grew in just a few days and the kids were thrilled to see this. I was pretty over the top myself.

Once we saw that corn worked so easily the teachers decided to let their classes plant a few seeds in a clear cup so they could see the root system grow. I made the greenhouses much smaller this time, put their picture in the middle, and used a label with their name on top. I also laminated them in case they got wet .Colorful tongue depressors are just the right size to use as the stick. This made an adorable garden marker. I got this idea from a group of teachers I love at another school who did not have space for the big greenhouses and put these outside in the sun. I thought this was precious and so did my teacher friend. These went home with the kids after Open House. Parents were told to take pictures of their plant's progress. The kids were over the moon with excitement.

Students also worked on a cut and paste little book called My Bean Garden which I created to teach what is needed for a seed to grow. They could not wait to show me their beautiful work. I loved listening to them read the words. The teacher also wanted an emergent reader about spring which the students completed with ease and many could also read. Spring is blooming in this classroom for sure.

My teacher friend loves to grow butterflies in the room at this time of the year and students watch this process with amazement. Naturally, I made them a sight word game with butterflies and they are having so much fun with this. Watch out because I have a flower hiding behind a more challenging word!

This week I better work on an emergent reader about butterflies just to keep up with all the learning going on in this classroom. 
What are you doing to celebrate Earth Day and Spring? Any ideas for me to add into the mix? What are you growing?

Planting More Freebies On My Blog

I know when I go on Pinterest or cruise around on other blogs I often see a brace map that is adorable and is presented as an art project that is a cut and paste activity. I love how beautifully these turn out and appreciate all the skills that go into creating them. However, (deep breath) now that we are on the Common Core train our thinking has shifted a bit and our students are being asked to think like  "scientists" and to draw the parts of a plant themselves (visual imprinting) which is a way for a young students to record their understandings and build knowledge. This can be done in large or small group settings and allows children to label each part with an appropriate word, building academic vocabulary. When doing this you want to encourage children to make the parts to match the "whole" plant on the left side. I talking about putting the pieces of a puzzle together to make the entire picture. Are you on board for this?

Cards can be used to guide student thinking and can help them learn to label these parts more easily. I love making these and using them in my Morning Message, in a pocket chart, on a word wall, or as part of a literacy station. I will post these later as a freebie in my TpT store. Leave a comment if you would like these plant materials for your classroom.  Click on any picture to take you to my freebies. Leave a comment if you can and become a follower!

Take A Look At This Folded Book

My kids LOVE these little folded books and I am giving them this little one on Monday. It is very simple and I am hoping they can fill it in with very little effort. It can even serve as a quick and easy assessment for me  and they might "think" it is fun! KISS: Keep It Super Simple... right?
I can't spend too much time on this because we are heading for a unit on Patriotism. I love those pacing guides!!! Hummm , the flag and plants. How can I blend those together? Just kidding.

A Room With A View

Here are some of the projects we have been working on in my room. The children love all the science projects and are learning so much vocabulary associated with this. I can't wait to put some of these up on the walls. Thank you Mrs. Larremore for reminding me of the flower art using real sunflower seeds. Your post on plants was so helpful to me. If you are not familiar with this site it is fantastic but allow yourself plenty of time to look around!

What's Blooming In My Room?

I never get tired of watching their reaction when they come back to school the following day to see what happened to the flowers... so cute.

Now we dye the celery and learn to predict about the change in color. I am amazed that this is not more obvious to some children but today  all of them will make the connection!

We tasted the celery too and made a large bubble map together.
Now we will practice reading these words and creating our own map by tracing our words and cutting them out. I can post some tomorrow.