Bugs!

These past two weeks we have been learning about bugs and insects! The kids of course loved this unit! The first day I introduced the unit by reading the book I Love Bugs!. We then made some bugs out of play dough. Easter pictures were going on this day too. The boys looked so handsome and the girls looked so beautiful! Here are two of the precious kids after getting all dressed up.
The next day we did some puzzles for morning work.
During our lesson we read the book Over in the Garden. I then had them name their favorite bug. During centers I had the students practice tracing their names. They have improved a lot!
During another center they got to play the Cootie Bug Game where they roll a dice and build their own bug.
The next morning we did some bug lacing for morning work.
During lesson we read the book Under One Rock. After we read the book I laid out a variety of plastic bugs on the floor. We then went through the book again and I had each student come up and match the bugs in the book with the plastic bus.
During centers we played a caterpillar game, which the students loved! I made a little caterpillar that had 10 circles connected to make up its back. The students had to draw a card, count the dots on the card, and then put a pom pom on that many dots of their caterpillar. Whoever got 10 dots first was the winner!
  We also had our garden sensory bin again. This time I put a few more bugs in there for them to discover. I also gave them a small magnifying glass to look at their bugs closely. They loved this!
The next day I read the book Ladybug on the Move. This book is very cute. It comes with a little ladybug that you move through the story as you read it. It is flat and the pages have little slits in them so the ladybug can slip though to the next page. The students LOVED this book and pleaded for me to read it again, which of course I did. :)
During centers we played the caterpillar game again.The next week we focused on learning about specific bugs/insects. The first day we read the book Ants and discussed the meaning of an insect. I pulled out all of the fake bugs we had in our garden sensory bin and we counted their legs to figure out which ones were insects.During centers we did a bug sort! The students were given a pile of fake bugs to sort by colors. They had to put the bug in the jar that was the same color. I then asked if they could think of any other way we could sort the bugs. We decided that we could sort them by what type of bug they were. They really enjoyed this sorting activity!
After we had sorted them all, I showed the students how to draw an ant. They did a great job drawing!
The next day we read another book about ants called Two Bad Ants. I loved this book as a child, I remember reading it for the first time in my kindergarten class. During centers the students got to make an ant of their own and tell what they would do if they were an ant. Some of their answers were pretty humorous!
It was also April Fools Day and I just couldn’t let the day pass without pulling a prank on the kids! I brought a remote controlled rat to school and made it crawl out from under our table while they were all on the carpet reading books. There was really only one kid that got really scared. He immediately stood up on a chair and would not come anywhere near the rat, even after I told them it was fake! Later I let them have a go at controlling the rat. They were lovin’ it!
Wednesday before our lesson I read the poem Ladybug to introduce our topic for the day. It was a cute simple poem that the students picked up quickly!
I then read the book The Grouchy Ladybug. After reading it we discussed what aphids were and how ladybugs help keep plants alive. I also posed the question, “Is it worth it to be grouchy?” All of them said “No! They could have just shared!”.
During centers the students made a ladybug out of a paper plate.
Another center was a bug search using tongs.
Thursday we read the classic tale of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. We had a short nutrition discussion after reading. We talked about healthy and unhealthy foods and what happens if you eat too many unhealthy foods. I then gave each of the students a piece of food and they had to come up and sort it under the correct category, healthy or unhealthy.
During centers we made a caterpillar out of a section of an egg carton!
In another center the students go to play the caterpillar game we had played the previous week. Our American Reads Tutor helped out at this center.
Friday was our last day learning about bugs! We read the book Butterflies and discussed the life cycle of a butterfly. The students were very intrigued with the life cycle. They were amazed at how it kept starting over again!
During centers the students colored their own butterfly.
In another center I put all of our fake bugs in a bucket and placed 4 different sized jars in there. A large magnifying glass was placed in there as well. The students were free to put the bugs in the jars and look at them with the magnifying glass.
Our bug/insect unit was a great success and the students really enjoyed learning about these creepy crawlies! 

St.Patricks Day/Spring

Spring has FINALLY sprung!!! Thank goodness! This week and a half we celebrated the holiday St. Patrick's Day as well as studied the topic of Spring! We started out by reading There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Clover. We discussed what a clover was before reading and that it was a symbol of St. Patrick's Day. After reading, I had the students retell the story using cut outs that they could put into the old ladies mouth (I glued a picture of her head onto the opening of a tissue box). They loved this! During centers we made our own clover using our hands. They painted their stem first and then I painted their hand green and stamped it four times for the four leaves.

During another center we had a four leaf clover search! I cut out a bunch of three leaf clovers and mixed them with 10 four leaf clovers. They had to search through and find the 10 with four leafs. 

After lunch we made some get well card for our classmate who broke her leg!

The next morning I had the students do some vertical coloring! I flipped the table over and covered it with butcher paper and let the kids at it! 

During our lesson we read the book The Luckiest Leprechaun. This is a precious story about a grumpy leprechaun who doesn't trust anyone and therefore has no friends. One day a dog comes along and tries to become friends with the leprechaun. After the dog saves the leprechaun's gold from being stolen the leprechaun sees that having friends can be a good thing! During centers we made our own pot of gold! 

These kids were decorating their house on the playground! 

We had some mini centers again before nap time. We had coin dropping, putting pipe cleaners through holes of a coffee can, and pom pom sorting. 

The next day was St. Patrick's Day, which was SO much fun! We started the day by making some shamrock hats! The students loved their hats, they wore them all day! 

We then had a special snack, green cupcakes with green milk! 

This girl loves to get messy!

We read the book Green Shamrocks during our lesson. This book is about a rabbit who is growing some green shamrocks for St. Patrick's Day. When he wakes up one morning he finds that his shamrocks have disappeared! He asks all of his friends if they have seen them and finally finds them with his friend goat! During centers we planted some shamrocks of our own! (They were actually just flower seeds, couldn't find any shamrock seeds). 

During another center we had a shamrock dig! The students had to dig for some 4 leaf clovers in a bucket of rice and sand. 

In our other center we had some green play-dough! 

After the students had planted their seeds, we played a game called "End of the Rainbow". The students had to sort 12 M&M's onto the correct color of the rainbow. I then drew a card and whatever color I drew they had to find that color M&M and put it in their pot of gold. Whoever got all of their M&M's in the pot first was the winner! 

After lunch we went back into our room to discover that our planted shamrocks had gone missing! I had the students think about the book we had read earlier and what rabbit had done when he saw his shamrocks were missing. We decided to do what he had done and go ask the teachers if they had seen them! Finally one of the teachers said they thought they had seen them in the laundry room. They were right! We found them with a note on them and a little treat. 

The next day we read the book Ten Lucky Leprechauns. During centers the students got to make a leprechaun face! 

We had another new center this week, a spring sensory bin. I called it our "garden". The students could play around in the soil and plant some flowers!

The next morning I had the students do some cutting practice. 

We learned about the letter U this week as well as the number 14. Here is a picture of our U sound sort we did. 

During our lesson we read the book Seasons. After reading we discussed how it was now spring time and some of the characteristics of spring. We talked about how spring was the time for things to grow, like flowers! I then showed the students the different parts of a flower and let them come up and match the name to the part of the picture. 

During centers we did some flower stamping using the bottom of a coke bottle. They turned out really pretty! 

We also had a tool center and a bead lacing center. 

After lunch we went to check on our shamrocks but no blooming yet! We decided to go on a shamrock hunt! There turned out to be a lot of shamrocks on the side of our building! No one found any with 4 leaves though. 

Since we had begun talking about spring I decided to spruce up our home living center with a nice window with a spring time view. 

The next day we had a guest teacher. They got to make a fun flower craft during centers! 

Friday we read the book Spring and discussed what all happens during this season. We went over the parts of the flower again too. During centers we had some relaxing water coloring. 

We also had our spring sensory bins again.