Veteran's Day 2012

Veteran's Day is never to be forgotten and it is never too early to talk about it with children.  Friday we spent the entire day playing patriotic music and talking about what people who serve or have served our country.  My favorite comment of the day was from sweet "M".  At the end of the day he said, "WOW Mrs. Karen, we would be in a lot of trouble if we didn't have veterans!".  No more words are needed, I'll just show you how our class honored veterans on Friday.

Everyone had their photo taken holding our flag and the little poem reads -

History

I read of patriots long ago
Who fought to buy the peace I know.
They gave all that they had
So that I could be glad,
Living in a country free
Enjoy peace and prosperity.

Men and women once like me,
Wanted their country to be free.
They fought hard, they fought long,
Some gave their lives to conquer wrong.
That we might live in liberty,
Enjoying peace and prosperity.

Thank you to our veterans who have 

served our country!

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream!

Ice cream makes me happy!  I don't think it is just me - everyone likes ice cream.  This week's letter was the letter "I" so we made a yummy looking ice cream cone.  I guess you can tell by the picture that the ice cream is our hand print, BUT look closer . . . the children actually cut out the cones themselves and added detailing with a ruler!!!

These were a great way to practice our fine motor skills and we had so much fun using scissors & rulers!  The "sprinkles" were tiny shapes and everyone loved picking out their favorites to go on top their cones.  Now, please excuse me because I just had to share this next picture . . .

Look at his "sprinkles" on top, he said they were "Christmas tree" sprinkles!  FUN!!!

Positively Perfect P Week

I know, I know, I say this all the time - this was my favorite week!  We managed to have so much fun packed into 5 short day!  Let's just jump right into our week -

On Monday we decided to introduced the letter "P" by making our Pink and Purple Penguin with Polka-dots.  (OH MY, that is a mouthful for sure.)  These were such a fun way to work on our imagination and fine motor skills.  

These two were macaroni penguins and I hope you can see that the penguin on the left has a fish in her mouth.  I love that!  What an imagination!  Of course we spent the entire day waddling like penguins and giggling because we could not fly.

Tuesday was spend making our very own personalized pumpkins.  Everyone had their choice of colors.  They were very interesting to say the least.  I cut out a variety of different size pumpkins.  Some were tall and thin, some were short and fat, and others were tall and fat.  Everyone got a choice (NOTE: I always cut out way too many of each type.  That way everyone never has to settle for what is left-over.).  Next, deciding on a color.  For some it was very difficult "thinking outside the box".  "Pumpkins are orange" I was told several different times.  Finally, my message was received - it is YOUR pumpkin, what color do YOU want it to be.  AHHHHHH success!

I also had different size stems.  Everyone choose their stems and painted them their own special color.  The pumpkin leaves were our hand prints in (of course) any color they wanted.  Now, here comes the sad part . . .  I forgot to take a picture of our final product.  But trust me - you really need to do this.  It was a lot of fun and everyone had a great time taking their imagination to a new level.

No really fun "P" week would be complete without a Pajama Party!  And what a Pajama Party we had!!!  Everyone came to school dressed in their P.J.'s and brought their pillows.  We ate popcorn and watch a movie (Mary Poppins, of course!).

What fun!

Now, FINALLY the most PERFECT day arrived!!! POLICEMAN DAY!  My sweet, sweet son, Officer Jay arrived to talk to us about being and police officer.  In his honor we made a police car out of shapes.

Forgive me please while I act like a proud mom and share some of the pictures from our Police Day 2012.

Yes, I'm really that proud!

Officer Jay!

Looking at Officer Jay's handcuffs.

Explaining his uniform.

Yes, he has a real gun!

GLOVES!

His bullet proof vest.

Two really great guys!

Yes, "P" week was PERFECT!

Friends!

"Friendship isn't a big thing – it’s a million little things."  I think this is one of the most true sayings I have ever read.  I am very thankful to work with a wonderful group of ladies each and everyday.  During the last few weeks I have had to rely on my friends a little more than usual.  So, to all my friends. . . THANKS!  I LOVE YOU ALL!

This is my sweet friend, Tiffany!  For our "T" week she came to school dressed in a teal shirt, tiara, tennis shoes, a tutu and brought her baton so she could twirl for us!!!!  The look on the children's faces were absolutely priceless.  She is really good too AND she let everyone take a turn twirling!  TONS OF FUN!

 

Next, my dear friend Lauren dropped by our classroom to play her tuba and her trombone!  This girl can play tons of instruments!  She even let us all have a turn pushing the buttons while she blew the notes!   Seriously, how cool is this!  Of course, the rest of day was spent with us making "ummmppaa" sounds!

My final thank-you goes to my true "partner-in-crime", my sweet friend Mrs. Christie!  You see, I did the dumbest thing two weeks ago.  I stepped out of my kitchen and twisted my ankle.  After a trip to emergency room and a set of crutches later, I decided that being at school was not a good idea.  For the first time in my teaching career, I missed an entire week of school!  It was okay, I knew my class was in good hands.  So, thanks Christie - you are the best!

"L" Week is Lovely!

When I think of all the different activities we do, I am pretty sure that "L" week is one of my favorites!  I know I say that a lot, but we always seem to have so much fun.  Let me show you some of the highlights of our week . . .

Our friend, Larry the Leaping Lizard, was a huge hit!  Besides being fun to put together, we used our fingerprints to make the little purple dots on his body.  The best part was getting to leap like a lizard all day long.

Another fun surprise for the week was our lollipops!  There are just too many "L's" in lollipops, so we had to make very large lollipops.  We started with a large round circle and added some paint.  Next, we cover the paint with some clear plastic wrap.  Now, here comes the fun part . . . squishing it!

As you can tell, there is no wrong way to squish paint!  

Some like to use one finger, 

while others enjoy squishing and slapping the paper.

After they dried we wrapped them in clear plastic wrap and added a stick!!!  

Everyone also went home with a special, sweet treat too - lollipops, of course!

 Cutting with scissors is always fun!  This week we practiced our scissor skills by making a lion!  First, we cut his mane.

Then we added some cute little eyes, a couple of ears, a nose and a mouth.

Isn't he adorable???  Of course, there was a lot of rooooaaarrring all day long.

Lots and lots of tissue paper helped make our next "L" project extra fun!  Everyone picked out their favorite color tissue paper and laid them on some very sticky clear contact paper.

Then we covered it with more contact paper.  

Now, let the fun begin!  Everyone was asked to bring a flashlight to school so we turned off the lights and ahhhhhhh . . . .

Our room came alive!  Everything looked so different with only our flashlights on.  No one wanted the lights to come back on so we laid on our backs and used our flashlights to make different shapes and letters on the ceiling.  We even tried reading a book -

Remember the tissue paper we stuck onto the contact paper???  Well, we borrowed my friend, Mrs. Tiffany's light box and ahhhhhhhh (again!)! -

 Now, see why I love "L" week?  Thanks for visiting with us, I hope you come back again soon!

Ring My Bell!

I love when I find something lights a "spark" with my class!  Last year while carefully dissecting the newest items at my local Dollar Store (a.k.a. a teacher's best friend!), I came across a little desk bell.

OK, this is NOT the actual bell!  

There are NO flowers laying around in my classroom :0)

It came in handy last year when the noise level got a bit too loud in our room.  Towards the end of the year, all I had to do was give it a tiny "ding" and my class would come to a sudden stop and look to see what was next.  But alias, that was last year and this year's class is not quite ready for that YET (we will be soon).   ANYWAY. . . . . the other day while we were all in "circle time" playing "The Color Game", one of our favorites, a child found our "color of the day" way to quickly so I said, "what shape is it?".  When he told me the shape I made my famous, or maybe I should have said infamous, "ding-ding-ding" sound and an idea was born!  I jumped up, grabbed the little bell and brought it to our circle.  Suddenly, the same 'ole circle time game had a new twist.  When the child found the color AND could tell us the shape of the object, they got to "ring the bell"!  Now, EVERYONE wants to participate and ring the bell!  Of course, I have the the old disco song, Ring My Bell stuck in my head!

Facebook Time!

I guess it was time, our school is now on Facebook!  If you get a chance, please find us and hit the "like" button.  THANKS!