Spring Units

What a weird winter we had this year. I began talking about the signs of spring at the beginning of March since the weather had been spring like all winter. Yes, we had a snow storm on Leap Day this year and a Snow day on March 1st but not long after the snow melted and quickly the weather turn warm, sunny and beautiful. Since Spring came so early I began my spring unit a little earlier then normal. What are your favorite spring units? Do you focus on weather, plants, animal babies, rainbows, or a mixture of both?

This year, I was tired of all my same units and activities  that I went in search of new activities. I found some great flower activities, rain activities, rainbows,  and St. Patrick’s day, but my favorite addition to my spring unit was a study of animals that hatch. We focused on duckling, chicks and eaglets. All this last week, we have been keeping an eye on three different  Eagle cams watching eaglets that have just hatched, watching the eggs to see them hatch,  and learning about the nest. I might have enjoyed it more then my kids.

I choose four books to go along with this unit to help introduce each animals (Make Way for Ducklings, Five little Ducks, I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Chick, and Horton Hatches an Egg.) Since I don’t have a good book on Eagles I created  a power point with silly facts and real fact about eagles and we came up with an action for if they thought the fact was silly or if it was real. They get so into trying to figure out what the answer is. I also put our art projects out in the hall with the word HATCHED  for all to see.

Next week we will focus on Frogs and Turtles. I am tempted to purchase turtles and frogs for my classroom.

101st Day of School

Opps!!! A little late in writing this one. On March 8th, my class celebrated our 101st day of school.  We did everything black and white and to go along with 101 Dalmatians. We had so much fun counting to 101, doing 101 exercises, taking 101 steps and drawing picture, counting teachers and students wearing black and white, eating a black and white ice cream cake, and watching 101 Dalmatians.  We also took photos with the Dalmatians and either Minnie Mouse or Donald Duck (all of which I have from my days working at the Disney Store)

 

 

Already thinking of ways to tweak this for next year. I liked what I added this year and I am looking forward to finding more black and white activities.

100th Day or 101st Day

What day do you celebrate in your classroom; the 100th day or the 101st day? I started teaching I had only heard about celebrating the 100th day, but throughout the years I have heard other teachers celebrating both the 100th and the 101st day. The first time I heard this I was working part time at the Disney Store as well as teaching full time and it got my brain thinking. I had always celebrated the 100th day of school which when teaching older grades was a lot easier then Pre-Kindergarten. My first year teaching Pre-Kindergarten I attempted a 100th day celebration by having my students bring in 100 items of food to share to make trail mix, made 100 day towers with 100 items around the classroom, and probably a few other 100 day activities. After my first year doing this with Pre-Kindergarten, I knew I needed to find a new twist on the day. That’s when I really considered doing a 101st day celebration instead. For the past three school years we have celebrated the 101st day of school by dressing in Black and White for the day, counting teachers and students dressed in black and white, eating a black and white ice cream cake, and doing various black and white activities. This year I as our 101st day of school approaches I am looking for new ideas to spice up the day. What do you do for your 100th or 101st day activities?

Dr. Seuss Week

Last week, my students and I celebrated the life of Dr. Seuss and reading in the classroom. Although it was an exhausting week, it is always my favorite. During this week, I sort of take a break from teaching and just enjoy my kids. About three weeks before the week began I sent home to parents a list of time to come in and read to the class. I keep one day completely open so my assistant and I could read our favorite books but all the other days were set aside for parents. I found some great coloring pages and activities on www.seussville.com to incorporate into my classroom during the week. In my dramatic play center I place different items so they could dress like different Dr. Seuss characters. To end the week, we celebrated Dr. Seuss’s birthday in style with students and teachers dressed as Dr. Seuss characters, ate Dr. Seuss foods, and had a Seuss Parade through the school building. I have decided to make a few changes to this week for next year because this year’s class seemed to need more structure then years past.

Here are a few shots from the week:

student dressed as the Pants with nobody inside them.

Students dressed as Horton

Cat in the Hat Pancakes