100th Day of School

Today was the 100th day of school and we had a lot of fun. 

At the start of the day, the students got into table groups and made 100 topping pizzas. They were so cute working together in teams to decorate their table pizza. 

We then went onto math centers. The students made 100 day hats, 100 dot painting, 100 snack bags, I can eat 100 ____, and 100 year old portraits. They had a lot of fun doing all of their activities and it was great to hear all of the counting. 

At the end of the day, we had a fashion show. Each student made a 100 day t-shirt at home and showed off their stuff on the runway. 

Here are all the creative shirts:

Holidays

The holidays are a wonderful time of year in TK. There is so much that we do with the arts, social science, and even math. Plus we get to make tons of keep sakes for the families. 

These are need and want stockings. Children believe they need everything, so it is a lesson they all need to be exposed too. I gave the students magazines and had them put needed items on one side and wanted items on the other. 

The main book for this month was "The Gingerbread Man". We made these crayon resist gingerbread men to go along with the story. They turned out so cute. 

This was my favorite project, our elf applications. They students were so cute answering the questions. 

As part of our social science unit, we got a chance to learn about the different holidays that are celebrated in our classroom. It was really wonderful for the students to tell the traditions of their family as well as learn new traditions. 

And of course the students made ordiamets for their families. They did everything all by themselves, including wrapping the presents. 

Winter

This is by far my favorite time of year. Even though winter dosent officialy start for a few more weeks, my class has been diving into snowy fun. 

To start winter off we made these cute winter snowmen. The bottom circle is actually a circle map. The students drew five pictures that represented winter and then decorated their snowmen however they liked. Due to the students getting older, I don't need to give them as much direction as I have done in the past. So each one was completely unique. 

These our one of our many winter trees we make this season. The students drew and cutout their own trees. Then I have them use snow paint ( glue and shaving cream mixed together). When it dries it creates such a unique texture. 

These are our torn snowmen. Ripping paper is such a wonderful fine motor activity for young children. They turned out so cute. 

I also taught the students how to cut snowflakes. They loved it. They were so surprised to see what they looked liked once opened. 

These are our wonderful borox crystal snowflakes. It really was a long process to make all 30 of them but the students loved it. I told them it was magic snow water. They kept looking at them as they were growing their crystals. Waiting to see the magic. Here is a picture of them in process. 

This has to be my favorite thing for the students to experience. It is our snow sensory bin. I purchased the snow from a company called Snow Wonder. It is imitation snow that feels like the real thing. It is even cold. I added some gems to make it even more enticing. It has to be one of the favorite centers right now. 

Community and Transportation

Over the past couple weeks, we have been learning all about community. The students seem to really respond to this unit. They love to discuss all of their favorite place to go outside of school, the different types of vehicles there are, as well as possible career choices. Of course I love it bevcouse we get to do a bunch of cute projects. 

The first thing we did was make a giant community map. The students each made their own house and got to put it up. We then added roads, trees, and a few community buildings as well. 

Then the students got into groups of three and as a team made their own maps. I provided the students will pre drawn community buildings and asked them to fill in the rest. This was the first real project where they got to work in teams. It was so cute watching them all discuss what was going to be on their map and take turn drawing. 

This is one of the finished maps. 

We also touched on transportation. Learning the difference between moving through air, water, and on land. Each child got to choose their own modes of transport and add backgrounds to fit the vehicles. They turned out so cute. 

At the end of the unit we talked about careers. Each child got to choose a hat that went with a career they liked. It was also the week we learned letter H so it fit in perfectly. 

Halloween

For the past two weeks we have been celebrating Halloween. The students had so much fun creating and participating in the many different activities. Sadly, I do not have to many pictures because most contain the students. However there are still a few to share.  

These are two of our wonderful shape monsters. The students got to use their creativity in order to make their imagination come alive. I put random shapes of different sizes and colors on each table. I gave the students no directions or rules. It was so interesting to watch their thought process when creating their monsters. Each one was so different and had its own story. 

This is a different kind of monster the students made. I gave each child apre drawn monster, paint, and q-tips. They had to pinch the q-tips and cover the entire page. This was a great project to work on their fine motor skills and build up their finger strength. 

One of my favorite projects was our character pumpkins. This was a at home project for the students to create with their parents. Each child had to choose a character from their favorite book and then decorate a pumpkin to look like that character. The students did such a great job on the project. They were so proud of these pumpkins and loved sharing with the class. 

This was a fun one also. I bought these sticker scenes from Oriental Trading. I use these to teach prepositions to the students. I would ask them to put a ghost on the tree or a bat under the moon. They loved using the little stickers and had no idea they were learning. 

This is our classroom tree for the month of October. On the bottom the students each created jack-o-lanterns made with paint and paper scrapes. There are also bats that have the number 4 painted on them. We also did a marble painting activity for the leaves that cover the tree. 

There were so many more cute projects and activities we did this past week. I wish I took pictures of everything. 

Fall

My favorite season is here!!! For the past two weeks the students have been learning about fall and all that it encompasses. This is a wonderful unit to teach because it lends itself to hands on activities for the kiddies. 

Marble painting is always fun. The students got a kick out of it. Once there paintings dried, they cut out leaves and we hung them on our class tree. 

We also made individual fall trees. This particular one was made by making dots using q-tips. It was a great fine motor activity. Each one turned out so different. 

The students also made wreaths for fall. This project took some time but was good to build up their endurance. They looked so cute when finished. 

I asked students to bring in different leaves from their neighborhood. They had so much fun sorting and categorizing the different leaves. Plus they liked to see all the different fall colors. 

The students then got to replicate the different colors using water colors. They really were looking hard to match all the different colors in the leaves. 

We also incorporated fall into our academics. This was a lesson on height where they measured a pumpkin using snap cubes. 

Overall, they had so much fun learning about fall. Now we are moving onto more fun for Halloween.