A Cupid Comes to Play!

This month you have probably been hearing about the little Cupid that has come to visit our classroom this month. We named him Icing Twinkle Toes and he looks like a pink dragon.Though most kids think he resembles a hippo! Our Cupid also is pink and has glittery wings.

On our first day with our Cupid we learned through a note he left us, that he came from Cupid land and that if we are nice, kind, respectful, and loving to one another he will get magic to move at night! The only rule is that you cannot touch the little Cupid otherwise he will loose his magic. Our Cupid was on top of the SMART board, projector, on top of the lights, hanging from the ceiling, on top of the computer, and today he was on top of the world! Literally we found him on top of our class globe!!

We also took our own Cupid pictures (adorable) and found out our own Cupid names! Some of the names were just too funny! I posted pictures of all this on the class photo site.

Along with our names students got to practice how to be a cupid by dressing up as one. The pictures of each child dressed up were very cute. I will post individual student pictures on the class photo site but here is one of our hallway display.

PAWS Program

We were very excited to have the PAWS program come to Wilbur Elementary on February 4th. The PAWS for Reading program allows children to read aloud to a therapy dog in order to improve reading and communication skills. The dog that came to visit us was named Teddy and he was a golden retriever  With the size of the kindergarten student population at Wilbur we had to have the PAWS program do a large group reading of a story instead of a one-on-one reading with a child and the dog. The book that was read was titled If You Give A Dog A Donut by Laura Numeroff. Even though the activity was done in a whole group setting the students didn't seem to mind. They were excited to learn about something new, specifically therapy dogs.





Groundhogs Day and the Superbowl: predicting outcomes

On January 31st we completed a project on Groundhogs Day. We first read a book about groundhogs from which we learned that groundhogs eat fruits and vegetables, they whistle when they are scared, and that they are similar to squirrels. This book was created by the blog Growing Kinders at http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/The-Groundhog-Book.

After learning about groundhogs and the history of Groundhogs Day we made our own predictions about whether we thought the groundhog would see his shadow or not. It was exciting for students to see what their classmates thought and it opened the class up to a great discussion on making predictions. Once everyone made their predictions we looked at the chart we had created and we recorded that data onto a small graph. From there we compared the results and concluded that most students in the class thought that the groundhog would not see his shadow.

We all thought it was funny that a groundhog could whistle. This lead to students wondering who could whistle and who could not. So the last thing we did was graph this. It was great! Everyone answered with a yes or no, and some who said yes proved they could whistle. The best part for me was when I asked one of the boys if he could whistle and he replied "well...once every five years I can". Oh, the mind of a five year old! This was one of the highlights of this groundhog activity and it was a wonderful way to end the day!

To go along with our lessons on making predictions each student was able to make their own prediction about the outcome of the Superbowl. Unfortunately most students felt that the 49ers would win (sad face) but it was great to hear why each student thought their chosen team would win. Most student said they just liked the color of the uniform the best. It was also exciting to see how much progress each student has made in regards to writing! Here is a picture of our Superbowl predictions in the form of football players!



Martin Luther King Project

For Martin Luther King Jr. Day we made our own pictures of Martin Luther King. In addition we also talked about the importance of friendship and equality. The students had a lot of fun with the activity and it was interesting to see how each child's picture came out!