Over, Under, Around, and Through

Here is a little ditty to go with our push and pull lessons for kindergarten... sung to London Bridge

Over, under, around, and through
around and through,
around and through.
Over, under, around, and through...
now look behind you.

Looking left and looking right,
left and right
left and right
Looking left and looking right,
now sit down.


Here is a great book that works for our littles as they learn where they are.
How about giving our kiddos a paper carrot that they can place in different locations, sharing the words on the board for them to follow...

Push and Pull Unit: Cars Move

In our conversations during in-service this last week, we as a group of 8 science teachers all have a different feeling toward our kindergartners. So, in order to make it more STEM based or get them actively engaged and still keep us going ourselves, I made this quick lesson that you could use for lesson 3, Cars Move lesson. If you are looking to teach your kiddos a lesson on fast and slow, big and small, motion, graphing and science and don't know what I mean by lesson three here it is for you my new friends. This lesson connects to FOSS balance and motion and FOSS water. 

We are going to be using hot wheel cars to test the size of the slope.

I am going to be using the cars to cut out and make into a graph for them to predict if the low or high slope will make the car go faster.

Push Pull Cars Move

Birds Of A Feather

My colleague, Heather, had a great idea for our first graders when they are learning about birds. I thought I would put together a sheet for our kiddos as they "research" a species. The idea is to give them exposure to looking at non-fiction. Each of our kiddos would get one book about a bird. Our library seemed to have a ton to choose from. I would pick the loon. Summer at the lake, remember?  They would look at its beak and its feet to determine what it may eat and use its feet to do. They can draw a picture of their bird and share the color and even label the parts of the bird for their poster. What a great intro to research. Thanks for sharing!
                                                   

bird research paper

Our firsties are doing a great job "researching" a bird. Using picture clues, reading, and then following directions!

Going On a Bear Hunt

My friends, we are starting a new unit this next week with our kinder"squirmers" that is what one of my science colleagues called them. Cute and so true. How can we make it more STEM based and keep them actively engaged for our half an hour we have with them? How about reading this book to start...

Then with our kiddos, go on your own bear hunt using a box with a stuffed bear in it. I will share my pictures MONDAY. Again, left my camera at school. Inservice got me. Give them our wonderful new direction words like: is it on top of the table? Is it under the chair? Is it Over by the door? Am I getting closer?  Once, you find your bear, have them tell you where the bear is in regards to the box. They love it. Next, hand out one of those cute plastic bears that at least one of your kindergarten teachers should have, if not I will load share my sheet on Monday, it is at school, go figure. I then have them place there bear on their own piece of paper I give them. You can then do a quick check-a-roo to see if they are understanding directions. I so want to use real gummy bears, but food allergy guidelines in our district...dicey. I am working on a STEM lesson for the book 3 Billy Goats Gruff where our littles can build a bridge to help the goats across. Did you hear that? Build as in Engineer! And how about using our yellow and red circles to build a car that can be pushed and pulled. I am on it science friends. I will keep on sharing. My oldest is home from college this weekend...so... I may need to wait until Monday rolls around. Have a great weekend.

          The bears are next to each other!

            The bear is under the paper.

See You Later Alligator

We just finished learning about reptiles and have started our discussion about birds. Only having one hour a week to teach science to my kiddos, I try to read a story, do an activity or experiment, and finish off with a short craft, game, song, or writing activity in our science journals. Just a quick peek of a few things we have done with our animal unit in first grade this last week.

We made quick little gators after reading Gail Gibbons story Alligators and Crocodiles and doing our 5 little monkeys song. The kids love doing songs or chants.

Five little monkeys swinging in the tree
teasing Mr. Alligator can’t catch me….can’t catch me
along came Mr. Alligator quiet as can be
and snapped that monkey out that tree

Four little monkeys swinging in the tree
teasing Mr. Alligator can’t catch me….can’t catch me
along came Mr. Alligator quiet as can be
and snapped that monkey out that tree

Three little monkeys swinging in the tree
teasing Mr. Alligator can’t catch me….can’t catch me
along came Mr. Alligator quiet as can be
and snapped that monkey out that tree

Two little monkeys swinging in the tree
teasing Mr. Alligator can’t catch me….can’t catch me
along came Mr. Alligator quiet as can be
and snapped that monkey out that tree

One little monkeys swinging in the tree
teasing Mr. Alligator can’t catch me….can’t catch me
along came Mr. Alligator quiet as can be
and snapped that monkey out that tree

No more monkeys swinging in the tree!

We started our day with asking what they knew so far about birds. We made a huge list because their teachers have been front loading! Yea! We also made a list of birds that they knew. We know a lot of different birds. We drew our favorite in our science notebook and listed 3 things that made it a bird. Here is our class chart.

We worked with bird songs in the background! I love the loon calls, it reminds me of summer at the lake! Oh, I miss warm weather! We finished our time with a story and review today.

Leaf It To Me

It is sooo cold here in Wisconsin. I had recess duty and yikes was I coooold. I watched the leaves fall from the trees and got kind of sad. So, tonight I thought I would make something my olders in after school class could do to capture what's left of fall.

Leaf Chromatography

I should read this one... I will check to see how sad it is considering my son just pointed out the one leaf hanging from our maple. I think I will use this with my olders... (so I am added my comments after I read the books, oh my what a beautifully illustrated book! Love it. I used this book for both groups. Too beautiful not to!)

and this with my youngers!

Two good choices from our school library. 

Happy Fall Y'all!

5 Senses "Rap" Up

Our cute little kindergarten kiddos are on their final week of learning about their five senses. We sang our song about our five senses sung to bingo, we make a cute chart to go along with learning to write words as a class, and we practiced writing on our own. We finished with our 5 senses book by Aliki.

                                           

We finished with  a little rap...

I see with my eyes and hear with my ears,
I've been using my senses all of my years.
I use my tongue to taste good stuff
My hands can feel things that are soft and rough,
I use my nose to sniff those smells,
I use my five senses as you can tell.

Yo, 5 senses... hear, see, smell, taste and touch,
it's now your turn to use the whole bunch.
Yo, 5 senses.

Okay, friends...remember the song I was telling you about... It goes to the tune of Bingo.

I have five senses yes I do, I use them everyday.

Ears, Eyes, Nose, Mouth, Hands,

Ears, Eyes, Nose, Mouth, Hands

Ears, Eyes, Nose, Mouth, Hands

I use them every day!