Little Miss Muffet and other Random Stuff

I am linking up with Kacey over at Doodle Bugs Teaching with my five!

 I am also linking up with Stephanie over at Forever in Fifth Grade with my four!

I knew I had seen Shape Turkeys somewhere, so I searched the internet high and low for it.  Several days and hours passed and still I found nothing.  Finally, I gave up and decided to do something like it myself.  Of course, I found it a week later.  The original can be found here: Wild about Firsties

I have never done anything with food in my classroom.  Mostly because I am a disaster cook and I find it intimidating.  Then I found this nonthreatening Spookley Snack on line and I knew I could handle it no problem.  I used graham crackers, frosting, marshmallows, decorating gel, and AirHeads Soft filled Bites candy.  We used yellow and red food coloring to make the frosting orange.  I asked the children to predict what color red and yellow would make.  I was dismayed at how many strange colors I was given.  We frosted our graham crackers, placed two marshmallows for eyes, used the black decorating gel to draw details to the eyes and a mouth, and lastly added a green colored candy stem. 

We have been studying Little Miss Muffet.  I made the picture (below) of little Miss Muffet with her meal set in a park. There is no spider.  First we recite the poem as written and I add the spider. Then we repeat the poem until we get to the part, "Along came a..." At this point I change the characters (available below) and we discuss how this changes the ending. 

Finally, the children choose their own character and tell me the new ending.  These students are TK and are not writing more than there names yet, so I take dictation. The results are pictured above.

(Free) Miss Muffet Setting 
Laminate for multiple use.

(Free) New Characters for Miss Muffet

Laminate and cut out characters.  Use tape to add and remove characters.

Left over Halloween pics!  I love the balloons.  These are colored balloons that we drew faces on with a sharpie.  But the fun part was the candy inside.  I must warn you.  It is not easy getting items inside the balloons.  I found that the long cylinder shape of some smarties went in easily. I think tootsie rolls would probably work too. When playing with the balloon is over, you pop it, and out lands the candy!

This was my son's first vex competition. He only made 8th place out of 33. Still, I was really proud of his effort and excitement. 

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Five for Friday: October Activities

It's time for Five for Friday, the weekly link up party!

Here are my five...

1

I love how these turned out!  The children traced shapes, cut them out, and made the faces themselves choosing the color paper they desired.

2

These Humpty Dumpty projects were inspired by Toddler Approved.

I had the kids trace rectangular blocks to create the wall.

3

It is Red Ribbon week and although we weren't asked to decorate our door, I decided let the children create an owl and write about something they would do to keep healthy. This is on a wall, not a door!

4

We have been talking about the three little pigs this week. We created each pigs house in groups.

This is the little pig's house made from bricks.

This is the little pig's house made from sticks.

This is the little pig's house made from straw.

5

After we read Spookley the Square Pumpkin, we used these shapes from Tot Schooling to make a unique pumpkin headband.

Five for Friday: Stem Tower

I am linking up with Kacey over at Doodle Bugs Teaching with my five!

1

This stem challenge allowed the children to experiment with different materials and decide which makes the best tower.

Each group rotated through all the areas so they could experiment with each material.  Before they moved on, I asked them for their thoughts and wrote them down.  The child drew a picture and circled the happy or sad face indicating whether or not they judged the materials as effective for a tall tower. Here is a copy of the worksheet I used.

Tower Materials Worksheet

Here the child is working with Magna-Tiles.

This child is trying out the blocks.

This little girl is using Jumbo Building Blocks.

2

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

All the King's horses and all

the King's men,

Couldn't put Humpty together again.

Printables for reinacting Humpty Dumpty are from Sparklebox.

3

My alternate version of the "Chicka, Chicka Boom, Boom" name activity. Everything was painted, except the coconuts and names. I was too lazy to cut leaves or trunks!

4

This week we have been holding parent conferences on a minimum day schedule.  It is amazing how exhausting this is even with kids leaving early for the day.

5

Happy Friday!

Five for Friday: Freebie and Back to School??

              

I am linking up with Kacey this week with my five.

It's been awhile since I've been on the blogging scene.  I have been very busy taking an online classes for my early childhood certificate. I have 3 classes to go!

SCHOOL CLOSED!

We started school Monday of last week and we have not yet been able complete a full week. First school was closed for two days due to the "Pilot Fire" and this week school is closed again due to the "Blue Cut Fire."  Between the evacuations and poor air quality, schools just haven't been able to run. This is the view from my window on the first night the second fire started.  You can see the smoke cloud covering the sky and making the sun appear red. 

       

I used CraftyPammy's "The Cat in the Shoe" after reading the book Rocking in My School Shoes by James Dean and Eric Litwin to create my first bulletin board display.   You can get the templates here:  Pete the Cat Craft                                                                                                                                                 

My classroom has had a serious make-over!  You can see that there are several different areas for the children to play.  Pictured are the kitchen area, blocks, dress up center, math area, and where you see the children, the Stem corner.  I also have a puppet area, science station, and I've brought back the sandbox and quiet area. These are not pictured.  This beautiful room is the result of a supportive principal who was willing to invest money making our TK program developmentally appropriate.

Here are some of my new little darlings!  As soon as the saw the camera, they wanted their pictures taken!

These are finally available in my TpT store!

Number Chat Booklets

Here is a small freebie for you!

Freebie





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