Caterpillars!

We got our caterpillars on May 6th! We watched them grow and by Monday May 12th they had made cocoons! Our other five caterpillars are going a little slow but it helps us to see the process of them growing!

 

One week later our first cup of caterpillars turned into cocoons. We were very excited to see them come out. Our second cup of caterpillars were still growing but on May 19th they too made cocoons!!

Finally we had butterflies! We watched them fly, fed them oranges, and watched them in their basket. 

Spring Fun and Trees!

The day before students went on spring break Ms. Connie, the cafeteria manager, setup a fun egg dying activity for students to do. They got to see the reaction the dye pellets had with the vinegar water. Then they placed a hard boiled egg into the dye and watched it change colors. At lunch students were able to eat their egg. It was a quick activity that the kids really enjoyed.

Later on in the day students colored in an egg that we turned into a bunny rabbit! We also wrote about what our silly bunnies could do.

When we got back from spring break we jumped right in to our DCAS pep rally! For the pep rally we sang 'Roar' by Katy Perry. All kindergarten and first grade classes had to prepare a cheer or song to inspire the older kids in the school that were taking the state test. 

Our class did an AMAZING job! They looked very cute up on stage in their animal masks singing along to the song.

During our first week back we also wrote about what we would do if we were butterflies. Each student had to write at least 3 sentences. 

Lastly, we got our trees!! For participating in the state Arbor Day poster contest each student got a pine tree sapling to take home! No one in our class won the contest, however, the kindergarten winner in the state was from Mrs. Williams class! Even though we didn't win all the kids were excited that someone they knew did win.

Check back soon for more updates!

Plurals, Verbs, and Nouns

Before spring break we were learning about nouns. Students learned that a noun is a person, place, thing, or animal. After that they were able to make a noun plural. They learned that green light words are those which they can easily add an 's' to. Yellow light words are ones which they need to slow down and think about such as words ending in zz, ss, x, ch, or sh. Students worked on this concept through word sorts and writing activities on the SMART board, whole group activities in which they had to make a word plural and independent writing activities. 

Once students were able to grasp the concept of nouns and how to make them plural we were able to move on to the subject of verbs. To help cement this new concept we sang the following song:

Students seemed to enjoy this song and it helped them to remember that a verb is an action word. We completed whole group picture sorts on nouns vs. verbs, students independently completed picture sorts and we worked on a variety of word/picture sorts of this concept on the SMART board. 

Blooming into Spring

This month has gone by quick and I have noticed a lot of growth in each and every child. I am very proud of all their hard work! I know at the beginning of the year many parents and teachers who were concerned with the Common Core Standards and the increase in rigor. However these students have risen to the challenge are are accomplishing work that leaves me speechless! Just amazing!

Just a little about what we have been doing. In April Mr. Wells, the art teacher, had students create their own picture using the style of acclaimed children's author Eric Carle. Students were broken into groups in which they had to work together to create their project. Check out some of their work!

In writing we have been working on refining our writing and expanding it by adding more nouns and verbs. To do this students were taught what a noun is and what a verb is. From here we talked about how we could use them in a sentence. As a class we created a four sentence story about a monkey named Oscar. Students contributed to the story of Oscar, telling what he did, where he went, who he was with, and they expanded on each other's ideas! After we did this as a whole group students were paired up with a peer. Together they had to create their own four sentence story and once finished they had to draw an illustration that matched the story. WOW! These kids rocked this activity! I was excited that every story turned out completely different. 

 

The kids also wrote about what they wanted to do during spring break. Most kids wrote two to four sentences. As they were writing I had them double check their work and focus on starting a sentence with a capital letter, using proper punctuation, and putting spaces between words. 

Check back soon to see what's new!