Christmas Party Day

The only day when we can goof around all day is the day before Christmas vacation.  We had a really fun day! The students K-4 were able to sign up for one of three movies the day before.  In the morning they could go pick up a popcorn and pop before going to their movie. 

At 10:00 the K-4 students split into two groups and traveled by bus to the nursing home and the assisted living facility to bring them a Christmas card and to play Bingo.  That was a lot of fun too! 

When we returned we ate lunch and finished the movie before the parties began.  The party was so fun!  Santa even stopped by for a visit!  The kids played "Pin the nose on the Snowman", played Christmas Bingo, and decorated a gingerbread man with frosting and candy.  They had a yummy lunch including pizza!  Then to top it off they opened their bird puzzle from me and they exchanged gifts from each other.  It was a great day! We dismissed at 2:00 that day for a nice Christmas break.

Christmas Concert

This was the children's first concert and they performed on the stage in front of a large group of people.  They sang Jingle Bells and also jingled some bells.  They were outstanding!  They got a huge applause!  Way to go kids!

Are you getting coal?

This boy's mother teases him that maybe he will get coal in his stocking for Christmas, so I had to laugh when I saw his journal page.  He told me what he wanted to write and I helped him sound it out. The word "reindeer" was on our Christmas word chart, but he must have lost track of how many "e"s he wrote down. 

He said, "Reindeer are pulling coal."

I asked, "Where are they taking it?

He said, "To the dumpster!"



Building Birds

At Center Time today, these two boys built birds and told me all that they knew about them.

A Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

The Cattle Egret

Handprint Art Projects

Here are two art projects that I created using each child's hand prints. They enjoyed these art projects!

Hot Cocoa Party

Due to the very cold weather today, we had our first hot cocoa party!  The kindergarteners were so happy when they came in from recess and saw the hot cocoa and animal crackers at the table. 

Bald Eagles

After I'd sent you the email over the weekend, I'd heard that some of you have taken your children below the dam to see all of the waterfowl, gulls and Bald Eagles.  We had counted 60 Bald Eagles on Saturday and I'm sure that there were more.  Some of those who had went asked me about the dark or different looking Bald Eagles.  Those are the young, immature Bald Eagles.  It takes the young ones five years to reach adult plumage.  Male and female Bald Eagles look the same and I believe that the female is larger than the male as it is with many raptors.  Here are some photos that I took when I was there.  Some of the trees had many Bald Eagles in them.  I think the kids would really enjoy seeing them, if you are interested in a trip.  The dam is only 30 miles from town.  The best place to look is below the dam and there is a road on both sides that you could take.  The two students in class that went were wow-ed by what they saw!  More about Bald Eagles at:
http://sdakotabirds.com/species/bald_eagle_info.htm

What would you give Santa for Christmas?

I would give him a bird card.  I would draw a picture of a Black-capped Chickadee on the card and I would write, “I like Santa Claus!”  - M.M.

I’d give him chocolate chip cookies and milk.  – E.B.

I would give chocolate cookies and milk to Santa.  I would draw him a picture of a Snow Bunting because they live at the North Pole and he must like them!  -J.S.

I would give Santa a pumpkin pie, apple pie and milk. 

–J.B.

I’d give him a dove Christmas cookie and milk.  I’d draw him a picture of a Boreal Chickadee because he might not know about them.  I will write its name on the picture.

–T.W.

I will give Santa a can of orange pop and green, frosted cookies.  I’m going to draw a picture of his reindeer for him and a picture of him giving the presents too.   I will give Santa some milk and his reindeer some carrots.  – S.B.

I will give Santa some milk and gingerbread cookies.  I’d like to give him a teddy bear too!  – J.G.

I would give him the movie “Jack Frost” and the other movie called “Frost”!  I would also give him his own Furby toy.  I’d give him a cake with a real, live snake inside that he could keep!  I’d give him instructions on how to hold a poisonous snake.  First, you walk over really slowly, and then you fastly grab its mouth shut with your fingers.  Then you grab its tail and put it in its cage.  I’d tell him to put some rocks, water and insects in the cage too. That’s it!  - A.H.

An Original DUCKumentary

Here is an interesting video about ducks that your child and you might enjoy.  It has been on PBS lately, but if you missed it you can watch it at this link:

http://video.pbs.org/video/2289741878/

Photo by me

Hand Turkeys

Did you ever make a hand turkey when you were young?  Here are some that the kindergarten students made this month.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Pilgrims Visit the Classroom

Today we had real descendants of the Pilgrims come visit our classroom.  The first and second grade students were also in the attendance.  The couple told us what their voyage was like, what the Pilgrims really wore, and what life was like for them.  It was very interesting and the children did an exceptional job of listening and being a good audience for our guest speakers! 

The Pilgrims left some papers for the students to color and read.  They also left them the ration of five parched corn seeds that the original Pilgrims were given as a part of their daily diet the year after Thanksgiving.  It was a very interesting presentation!  A big thank you to them for taking the time to share with our young students!

Merlin

Last Friday morning on November 22nd, I glanced out the classroom window and noticed a different bird sitting atop a tree on our playground.  After looking through the binoculars, I realized it was a Merlin.  I gathered the students over to the windows and they shared the four pair of new binoculars to see their latest life bird. They were very excited!

The Merlin is a small, fast falcon which catches small birds as they are flying.  They are nicknamed the "pigeon hawk".   Merlins often live in towns and cities because they often eat sparrows and pigeons, which are in abundance there.  I have also seen one at our local lake. 

Now maybe you have learned a new bird!  Here is some more information about the Merlin.  You could also Google it to see if there is any video of this small falcon.

http://sdakotabirds.com/species/merlin_info.htm
Here is a photo that I took of a Merlin at our local lake.

Skype Session with Ohio K-kids

We had our first Skype session with the two kindergarten classes in Ohio.  This was a "meet and greet" day.  We had Elliot, a STEM coordinator, here with us.  He works with both groups.  Their big "Project-based Learning" project deals with weather.  They were asking us about our weather and we will meet again later to compare our weather. 

My students do bird projects and we told them a bit about birds in our area.  They told us that they have deer come to their bird feeders right outside of the school window!  We thought that was cool!  It was interesting talking to them, but we really had to try hard to take turns and be patient while Skype-ing.  They had 50 students compared to our eight, so there was a huge difference!  We could see them on the computer monitor. 

 

 

Turkey Cookbook

Each year I have my students tell me how "they think" the Thanksgiving turkey should be prepared and what "they think" they will eat at that meal.  You may want to have a taste-tester before you serve up these recipes! 

http://www.armour.k12.sd.us/Announcements/Kindergarten%20Turkey%20Cookbook%202013.pdf

Bird Videos

Here are some links to some bird videos that the students have watched and enjoyed.  This first one has a song midway through it that they love to dance to.  It might even get you going!  Enjoy!

The Big Day - 264 species seen in one day!
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBl0zFdRPW8&list=UU5Lz88Rt3GT75YT2ORAmaMQ

How Nature Works: Barrier Island Foraging Strategies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56eU3KLIKZo&list=UU5Lz88Rt3GT75YT2ORAmaMQ

Yellow-billed Loon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyRTu-VJM1Q&list=UU5Lz88Rt3GT75YT2ORAmaMQ

Black-necked Stilts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSBABb3-dQI&list=UU5Lz88Rt3GT75YT2ORAmaMQ

Have you heard these loons?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TS0s2T2s6-s&feature=c4-overview&list=UU5Lz88Rt3GT75YT2ORAmaMQ

The Real Angry Birds - Sharp-tailed Grouse {The boys love this one!}
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHudSNAtR2Q&list=UU5Lz88Rt3GT75YT2ORAmaMQ

Veteran's Day Art

We love America!
Thank you for you service Veterans!

Life Birds

The last few days we have been seeing quite a few birds just north of the school near the creek.  Yesterday we stood in the snow and watched many Dark-eyed Juncos, American Robins and European Starlings.  The Dark-eyed Juncos were life birds for some students.  That means it is the first time they have seen it in their life.  They were pretty happy!  Also some children in our class and older students have reported hearing and seeing the Sandhill Cranes flying over town. 

Today we had quite a treat when we saw Northern Cardinals in that same area.  I saw two males and two females.  It was difficult for the children to see them as they were flitting about in the trees, but it was good practice for them to follow the chipping sound that the cardinals made and try to locate them.  It takes practice.  I will add some photos of mine that I've taken at other times, but not at that moment.

Little Birdies

These little birders have found out about the cute, stuffed birds that are sold at our local seed store.  The bird even plays the real bird song when squeezed.  They love these birds! I've never seen anything quite like it.  I guess that is seven dollars worth of happiness!

The Kindergarten Birders

Leaf Sorting

One of our standards in Science is to sort leaves by shape and color.  This kind of sorting also happens to be a Math standard as well, so we went out on a cold, windy day to gather leaves.  Then we came back and sorted.  They seemed to enjoy it!  It is always good to get kids outdoors to see, hear and feel nature.

Halloween Party

The kindergarteners enjoyed their first school party!  It was a fun time!  They looked so cute in their costumes.

 

The Chickadee Bird Club

The first graders join us every Friday afternoon for 25 minutes to learn more about birds.  They decided to give themselves' a name and they are the "Chickadees".  I start the lesson/meeting with a bird trivia question and then a mystery bird photo.  Then we continue with a slideshow of birds working on bird identification.  We do a lot of comparing and looking for details at this time.  I think this carries over into their other studies as well.  It helps to make them become more observant.  During the lessons we also discuss needs of animals, habitats, migration, geography, weather and many other topics. They are a very inquisitive group of children. I look forward to our meeting all week.  I love it!

The Chickadees

Birthday Fun!

Celebrating my birthday with the kids today was a great way to mark the day! They made me feel very special! We had a nice day!

It is tradition to take my students on a tour of my house and have frosted sugar cookies that I had baked the night before.  Before we went I read, My Teacher Sleeps in School.  They think that is pretty funny!  As we were about to leave, one boy shouted, "Brown Creepers!"  I went to look out the window and sure enough on the tree trunk by the deck there were two tiny Brown Creepers!  I was so surprised!  He was very observant as I rarely see them in my yard.

Time for Birthday Cookies!

A Brown Creeper is a small bird that creeps up trees foraging for food.  

 http://sdakotabirds.com/species/brown_creeper_info.htm

Jack-O-Lantern Carving

Today I taught a lesson about pumpkins and about their life cycle.  Then they helped to clean out the pumpkin, so I could make it into a jack-o-lantern.  It was a fun time!  You all have pumpkin seeds to plant next spring!