S is for Seasons

Seasons might be one of the hardest concepts to explain in a Florida Kindergarten classroom. They understand summer.. but the other 3 are something they barely experience. Thankfully, it has been cool this week. By cool- I mean 70 in the morning and 86 by recess but nevertheless, it was a good time to learn about seasons and fall. One lesson this week was based on one of my favorite childhood stories. I remember checking this book out of my school library over and over again. It is The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton. I loved this little house. She had so much personality and had to endure many changes as time passed! I always was so relived when they finally moved her out of the big city back to the country on a spot on a hill. This book is a great tool to explain changes over time. This little house watches as roads are made and the city eventually takes over the countryside. Modes of transportation change throughout the book starting with horseless carriages ending with a subway. It would be fun to make a timeline with older children as you read this book. We focused on the changing seasons and how the little house and the scenery around her looked as time passed and the seasons changed. I copied 4 houses for each child and instructed them to color them all the same. They they glued their houses on construction paper and labeled each season. Last, they added details to the house and countryside depicting each season. This ended up being a 2 day project and I love all of the results. To top off the lesson we enjoyed watching The Little House come alive on youtube.

Have a great weekend! Enjoy this fall weather!

A is for Apple

We have been have fun learning about Apples! Here are some of the activities we have enjoyed.

Making Hand print and Fingerprint Apple Trees - here is the poem we added.

We also made apple patterns with a partner.

And to end the unit today I read the story: The Little Red House With The Star Inside and we made apple star prints with paint.

A is for Apple

This week starts our study on Apples. I LOVE this theme... for a few moments I can pretend that the air is getting crisp, the leaves are changing colors, and I need an extra blanket on the bed. Of course reality hits at recess when it's 87 degrees and standing at car duty feels like 187 degrees!

We read Pick Me An APPLE! From Seed to Tree. We compared a grove to an orchard and talked about yellow, green, and red apples. We talked about the parts of an apple and labeled and colored this worksheet and we learned the song Follow Me to The Apple Tree by Jack Hartman.

Don't you just love when good ideas collide into something wonderful??!!

This summer I was doing some planning and I came across an idea of using a "story stick" to retell or sequence a story. I loved the idea and sent out a call to parents for donations. Luckily one of my parents works for Sherman -Williams and was able to provide paint stirrers!

Well... in math we are learning about patterns... and I was eager to use those paint stirrers so during my planning time I came up with this:

I had enough sticky back Velcro to make four stirrers. I am crazy with excitement at all of the possibilities! Alphabet, numbers, sequencing, schedules, writing webs, patterns..........

I just need to get more Velcro and then I will be attaching Velcro to EVERYTHING!