Spring has Sprung!

Although it has felt like Spring has been here already for a month or longer, Tuesday was the first official day of Spring! 

The children and I have been talking all week about the changes that this season brings for us, plants, and animals. 

I found this Spring Hat craft on Making Learning Fun and we did have fun making these and sporting them around for the rest of the day! 

First, you've got to cut the grass.  Then, add the flowers and the words: "Hip Hip Hooray! It is Spring today!"

Spring is probably one of my favorite seasons- minus the pollen!  What is yours?

Sort It Out

Sorting was a math unit that we were engaged in way back in the beginning of our kindergarten year together.  I studied this summer and implemented a Guided Math philosophy during my math time and it has gone extremely well this year. 

This new way of teaching inspired me to utilize one of my favorite websites for acquiring new materials: Donor's Choose.  The staff at Donor's Choose basically does all the work for me.  I have to post a project and request materials that I need for my students.  They advertise and seek out donor's to support each project financially.  I also try to spread the word by letting everyone I know about my most recent requests! 

I submitted a request for a set of math manipulatives and sorting trays.  And, although this project didn't get funded in time for our unit, we got the materials nonetheless and quickly put them to use! 

One of the greatest things about teaching math through Guided Math groups is that I always have the opportunity for independent and review groups to engage my students in.  So, the week we got the materials, I put these materials at a table and told the students to "Sort It Out!" 

Jack, Chloë, and Jennifer work with bears and a sorting tray to sort by color!

Audrey, Abby, and Mario sort ocean animals by color, too!

There are so many ways to practice sorting at home.  Think about all the different items you have sitting around- you could even make cleaning up a game by practicing sorting!  Sorting by color is the "go to" sort for many students at first.  Challenge them to think of other ways.  I love it when they surprise me by sorting items in a way I would have never thought of!  

Pumpkin Centers

Our wonderful intern from Winthrop, Mrs. Miskelly, was required to teach a few lessons based on unit of her choice.  After talking, we decided it would fit best for her to do Pumpkins!  You've seen other posts from activities and food tastings we did in this unit.  The children have experienced a lot already and have learned about the life cycle of the pumpkin. 

Mrs. Miskelly allowed the children to experience a pumpkin to the fullest by carving one up!  She decided to do this under our document camera so that all the children could see what was inside. 

She encouraged them to predict and draw first what they thought the pumpkin would look like inside and just how many seeds there might be. 

Then, Mrs. Miskelly opened up the pumpkin and the crowd went WILD!

She instructed them to come up and take out a seed.  It was funny to hear how they described what the inside of the pumpkin felt like.  The funniest was, "It feels like throw-up!"

Mrs. Miskelly had also organized some great pumpkin Math Centers!  The children used the rest of our collection of pumpkins and the seeds from this one to measure and compare.

Mrs. Misenheimer helped the children cut a string for how long they thought the circumference of the pumpkin would be.  The children had to say if their string was too long, too short, or just right.



Mrs. Miskelly led a group that predicted which type of pumpkin would weight the most and the least. She numbered each pumpkin and challenged the children the predict with one would weigh the most and least.

She used the big book Pumpkin Pumpkin to further review the life cycle of the pumpkin and to help children see that the life of a pumpkin begins with a seed, and in this case, on a farm!

The children then got to work with the pictures she created on the pocket chart to put the life cycle in order.



One last lesson that tied in many important Social Studies standards was a lesson about producers and consumers.  Mrs. Miskelly really wanted the children to understand that pumpkin pie and pumpkins don't just suddenly appear at the grocery store for us to buy.  There are many other steps and people involved before that!

She got the children up and pretending to be farmers growing pumpkins!  She gave other students some money to "purchase" the pumpkins from the farmers.



With all this new understanding of producers and consumers, Mrs. Miskelly encourage the children to talk about other places that we purchase products such as cars from a dealership or clothes from the mall.  She then gave each child a matching game.  They had to match the product with the place.

 

This turned out to be a great, integrated unit!  The children not only learned about pumpkins but were engaged in math, literacy, science and social studies at the same time!