The Very Eric Carle Room: Part Four

Spiders Everywhere!

Oh, my!

We had so much fun during our last full week of school with the last of our Eric Carle stories:  The Very Busy Spider.  We did our best to fit some fun activities into our busy schedule because the last week of school is always filled with so many other things.  It becomes very difficult to stick to the lesson plans!  Here's what we did accomplish, though~

The munchkins worked hard one morning to create a mini book of the story. 

It contained patterned text that was easy to read and simple illustrations that made it easy to complete in a short period of time (just what we needed between all the other activities of the week!).

Some of the munchkins even had time to read together.

That wasn't the only book the munchkins made this week.  We were able to fit in another quick little class book. 

Each munchkin colored a page, adding his or her name to complete the sentence: 

________ is caught in God's web!

The cutest part was the spider.  There was no face, so the munchkins had to draw a self-portrait in the little circle.  Some of them were adorable.  I love this one...it's upside-down!

We continued with the "God's web" theme a bit more, creating a cool touch & feel web (just like in Eric Carle's book) made from dried glue on black paper.  Each munchkin made a little cut-paper spider to attach to the web and then wrote a sentence strip to practice some of those words we know.  It said:

"I am a bug in God's web!" 

It was a great lesson on the use of the apostrophe and choosing appropriate punctuation.

They turned out really neat.  The munchkins loved feeling them after they were dry!

Probably the most fun, though, was the spider hat!  I wasn't sure we were going to be able to fit it into the schedule, but the munchkins followed directions really well and were able to complete it in record time one morning!

We even got a surprise visit from Miss D on our last Friday of school.  She helped staple them on the munchkins so they could wear them home from school that day~

They were too cute...so many different looks and styles. 

Some with long straight legs.

Some with curly legs.

And some sort of in between!

The disappointment of the week?

NO RECIPE DAY!

But we did enjoy snow cones with first grade and cookies from the preschool kids, not to mention tons of left over punch and treats from our Bee-Atitude Play.  Who needs a recipe when you have all that?

It was a fun way to end our Eric Carle unit and a very fun way to end our last week of full-day kindergarten!  Only four more 1/2 days left.

Is that a happy thing or a sad thing?

I can't decide.

Until next time...

Giggles,

Mrs. D.

A Lesson in the Beatitudes

Buzby!

After weeks of practice, we finally made it! 

The Bee-atitudes!

"A Lesson in the Beatitudes"

Our munchkins have worked for weeks and weeks learning songs, lines and all eight of the Beatitudes and our final production was a hit.  The munchkins did a fantastic job and they looked absolutely "bee"-utiful!

Our cast:

A huge congratulations goes out to our actors and actresses on a job well done!  What can we say other than...

(in the words of our main character Buzby)

"Way to go!"

Until next time...

Giggles,

Mrs. D.

Field Day Fun

Olympic All-Stars!

A school tradition at its finest...All-School Field Day! 

The munchkins had a fantastic first experience with this grand event!

From the crazy shoe toss, to the hula hoop and frisbee toss, to water balloons and egg relays...the munchkins were at the top of their games!

All the teams had a blast and it was an absolutely beautiful day (which is not always the case!).  We are so blessed to have a school where students from each grade level can play together, enjoying each others friendship in a safe, non-judgemental way.  Our junior high takes such good care of the little ones and everyone feels a part of the team, the school and the family!

What a great way to end the year!

Until next time...

Giggles,

Mrs. D.

The Very Eric Carle Room: Part Three

Everyone Loves a Ladybug!

After learning all about caterpillars and butterflies, we moved on to another favorite Eric Carle story to learn all about ladybugs.  The Grouchy Ladybug is always a fun story to remind us how we should treat each other and explore the tough issue of bullying. 

We began as we usually do with any story: sequencing.  This story, however, gave us a new and unique opportunity to sequence according to time of day.  What a great way to blend math and literature!

To explore the concept of time even further, each munchkin also had the chance to make a little ladybug clock.  Most of our munchkins have mastered telling time to the hour and the 1/2 hour, but many of them also understand how to figure out a time in increments of five minutes.  Amazing math skills for this level!

The munchkins also enjoyed creating a couple of fun little books during this week of activities.  We've discussed the idea of compound words and in these past few weeks we've encountered quite a few.  We used these (like "butterfly" and "ladybug") to make a little compound word booklet. 

The booklet was really cute, formed like a ladybug with movable wings.  Each wing contained a word (which the munchkins illustrated) and when the wings were paired, a compound word was created.  The trick, of course, was to pair two words that create a true compound word.  The most fun, however, was pairing two words that created a nonsense word!  The munchkins had so much fun making silly words like butterbug, grassfly, and ladyhopper!

We also made a fun little counting book that stressed patterned, predictable text and sight words.  The munchkins completed it with almost no instruction, as they could read the text easily on their own, adding the appropriate illustrations based on their own reading! 

They enjoyed gathering with each other to read together too!

One of our most challenging activities was an insect report.  After learning about so many different critters these past few weeks, we completed a classroom Venn Diagram in order to compare and contrast.  The munchkins then used some of this information to complete a report on butterflies and ladybugs. 

They worked very hard recording a similarity and a difference between the two insects, constructing the sentences and spelling the words completely on their own.

As we compared ladybugs with butterflies, the munchkins came to realize that the life cycle of these two insects are the same!  We used little life cycle pieces to sequence and explore the metamorphosis of the bug and reinforce the vocabulary of "larvae" and "pupae".



At one point, we had a day that needed a quick time filler too, so we grabbed the scrap tub and cut some impromptu hearts (which is quite a fine motor task in and of itself!).

And with a little gluing and a few circles...

ta-da!

It's a lovely ladybug!

Then, of course, we ended as we do all things!

Isn't she too cute?

And that's all for our not-so-grouchy-ladybug fun!

Until next time...

Giggles,

Mrs. D.