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