Earth Day

My student teacher, Ms. Olson, had some fun activities planned for us today.   Along with Ms. Olson, Fancy Nancy taught us all about being green.  We read Fancy Nancy, Every Day is Earth Day and enjoyed the part about, "Less than mile, bike in style."

Then we went out and littered!  Yes, we littered because it was great for the kids to see what our playground would like if we all just threw our trash on the ground.  No fun!!! YUCK!!!  Who wants to play on a playground that looks like that?

Of course we cleaned it all back up!!!  We know how do take care of our Earth, do you?? :)

"God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him." John 1:3

Becoming a Penguin

Oh my word ...... last week was probably my favorite week of the year so far!!  We learned all about PENGUINS!  Tacky has to my favorite "odd" bird to have around.  We did a little mini-research project about our favorite penguins, made a cute little penguin for the wall, waddled like a penguin with an egg on our feet, became a penguin in icy cold water, and finally made and edible penguin. SUPER FUN!!!

Becoming a Penguin

After talking about how penguins can swim in that super cold water without freezing, we decided to try it out.  On one hand we put a cotton glove (feather & blubber) and a purple latex free glove (the oil on their feathers).  This was our penguin hand.  Ready, set, freeze!!!  It was so fun to feel each hand when we pulled off the gloves.  One hand was warm, and the other one was freezing.  They just giggled and giggled.

Waddling Like a Penguin

Making an Edible Penguin - YUMMY!!

Swiss cake rolls, orange gummy slices, chocolate thin mints, M&Ms, large marshmallow slices, and icing for glue. 

They are going to ask - "How do we get the stuff to stick on?"  I love the look on their faces when I tell them glue.  "EEEEWWW  Mrs. Rucker!  We don't want to eat glue."   What if our glue was made of icing???  "YUM!!!"

What a week, but talk about some real life learning in action!

And God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds-livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds." And it was so.  And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind.  And God saw that it was good.  Genesis 1: 24-25

What does it feel like?

This week we are studying our 5 senses.  I totally love the experiment we do with TOUCH because we get to play with shaving cream!  Yeah!!!!  We start off with a partner describing how things might feel: porcupine  - "poky" (I am still laughing),  rock - "hard," feather - "fluffy."  BUT, then I show them the shaving cream.  "Wow, really Mrs. Rucker!"  Yep, but we have to do a little work first.  Hahahah

I gave them several objects to feel, and then we picked a word to describe it.  We used a cotton ball, button, glitter star, foil, and feather.

Then.........we finally got to play with the shaving cream!  Yeah!  How would you describe it?  - soft, fluffy, creamy, smooth??  They loved it!

"But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it.  The woman realized what had happened to her, so she came, trembling with fear, knelt at his feet, and told him the whole truth.  Jesus said to her, "My daughter, your faith has made you well.  Go in peace, and be healed of your trouble." Mark 5: 32-34

Tornado Alley

We are working on our weather unit right now in science, and today we talked about tornadoes.  Yes, living in Kansas we are right in tornado alley!!

Last week had to practice our school wide tornado drill before school even started.....right during our morning transition time.  Good thing we were prepared and had practiced several times.  The kids knew right what to do and where to go.  Our principal thought we needed to practice during one of our more "crazy" times of the day.  Really?!?!?!?  (He actually had a real tornado warning occur during this time of the day at his previous school.)  Okay.......good idea.......we can not tell the tornado to wait until we get the kids backpacks and stuff put away.  lol :)

After talking about how a tornado forms, what it does, what it looks like, what happens during a tornado, and what we should do during a tornado warning, of course we had to go outside and be a tornado!

When we were finished whirling and swirling around, we picked up 10 things for our tornado art project.  We finger painted black tornados and glued on the items we picked up from out side.  Up in the tornado they went!!

"Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced crops." James 5:18

How Things Move & a Freebie!

We just finished our "How Things Move" unit in science.  The kids had a blast.  We pushed and pulled, rolled, went back and forth, spun in circles, and went up and down for a week!  Whoooo,  I was a little tired by the end of the week. :o)

 I really do love this unit because we get up and moving.  I introduced force, and we were off.  We got to go outside and swing (back and forth movement), play with hula hoops and ribbons (circular movement), and blow bubbles.   Yes, we had to talk about why somethings go up and stay up, and why somethings go up and come down - gravity.  :o) We named "gravity" - Mr. Gravity - because I said it was like a little man pushing back down on your head.  We have already done our Earth and Space unit, so they knew that once something got high enough, it would stay up there and float.  They loved it because I picked them up and let them "run" in space.  heheheheh

Then we talked about how different things can change how something moves.  We went out side and experimented with a wall.  What would happen if we rolled the ball straight to the wall?  What would happen if we rolled the ball at an angle to wall?  Well, one of my little girls knew exactly where she needed to roll the ball to make it hit the wall and go to her partner!!  Yeah!!  The other kids were soooooo impressed.

Finally, we talked about how things move on different surfaces.  The boys where hooping and hollering when I got the cars out! For our experiment we rolled a car down a ramp and onto three different surfaces.  Which surface would it roll the furthest on?  Oh, this is so much fun to watch!!  I have them record their "drawings" on a record sheet.  (We draw where the car stopped.)

If you would like to download this fun little freebie, Exploring Different Surfaces, click on the picture below.  Of course I had to make it cute before I gave it away.  The paper you see in the pictures above was the one I used last year.  My kiddos had so much fun with this, so I wanted to share.

If you liked this little freebie, please remember to follow my blog or Facebook page. I hope your kids have fun too!

"You don't have enough faith," Jesus told them.  "I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it would move. Nothing would be impossible." Matthew 17:20

 

Penguin Fun

Last week was a week of penguin fun!  We learned a lot, did an awesome science experiment to experience life as a penguin, played a great little game, and everyone loved Tacky.

We started the week off by meeting Tacky.   Yeah!  If you have not read any of the Tacky books, you have to check them out!   There are several books in the series, and Tacky will always give you a good laugh.  "Tacky is an odd bird, but a very nice bird to have around." 

After reading one of our non-fiction books about penguins, we completed a compare and contrast diagram with penguins and birds.  The kids did great with this.  They were coming up with so many things: swim, fly, beak, eat fish, webbed feet, wings, etc.   Then they told me, "Mrs. Rucker, I think you need to put more lines on the diagram for the kids next year."  lol  Way to go kindergarten! Click here to download this freebie diagram:  Compare and Contrast: Penguin & Bird

But, how can you understand what it's like to be a penguin, without trying it out.  So, we did! We belted pillows on our bellies (of course black and white) and put a little "egg" on our feet.   Then I had the kids waddle down around a cone and come back.  This was hilarious! When their egged rolled off,  they sure had a tough time getting it back on their feet with all that blubber in the way!  My para told me that she thought everyone should try this so they could experience life being pregnant!

To end the week, I wanted them to experience the "cold" life of a penguin. So, I posed a question:  "How are the penguins able to swim in that really cold water?"  Eeeeek!  We had to put on our "Serious Scientist Faces!"  After drawing our equipment and making predictions about why, we were ready to go.  This was incredible.  They could actually explain why:  the blubber, the feathers, the oil, and they could actually experience it.

We stared by feeling the water with the "icebergs"......just to make sure it was cold.  Then we talked about a penguin's blubber and feathers:  our green cotton glove.   Oh yes, our hands were warm, but what would happen if we put them in the water?????   BURRR - wet and cold!  

Then came the oil discussion:  our purple (latex-free) glove that we got from the nurse.  Would this help?  Yep, it did the job.  One hand was freezing and one hand was warm and dry!  This glove represented the oil on the penguin's feathers, and the kids totally got it!

 

What an incredible week!

"An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge."  Proverbs 18:15

Make It Grow & A Kansas Sunflower Story

We have been working on our living and non-living unit.  Right now we are talking about plants and plant parts.  We talk about what these living things need, about how they will grow and change, and finally we get the chance to watch a plant grow.   Once the kids understood that if we planted our seeds in soil, we would not see the roots grow, they took off!  First we investigated our seeds, then we soaked them in water, and finally we put them on a paper towel (our pretend dirt) to watch them grow.  I asked them what they thought would be the first thing to grow on our seeds, and boy were they happy when their prediction was correct.....the roots!!  Five days later we had roots, a stem and leaves.

    

Day 1                      Day 5

In the book we read Gus Grows a Plant, Gus plants a sunflower.  Well, here in Kansas, we have sunflowers everywhere right now.  Gus grows a very big sunflower! 

 I told the kids that I had a sunflower at my house that was bigger than me.  They couldn't believe it.  So what did any good teacher do, I brought it in.  They loved it.