"Mrs"

DAY 177

Today when the students entered the classroom, instead of having them write in their journals, I gave them a data collection sheet from....Deanna Jump's unit??  Or was it Kim Adsit's?  Or Ms. Pederson's?  I can't remember which because I am using activities from all of them.  ANYWHO....the children were to find out, "Do you like to swim in the pool or the ocean better?"  What you need to know is that the beach is about seven miles from our school!  The children LOVED collecting data, although I did have to stop them midway and tell them to stick with one answer and not change it for each person that asked. 

After the students finished writing names in the graph, they put tally marks in the corresponding boxes, and then wrote about their data.  They are STILL having so much trouble with "How many more?" types of questions.  I have had them stand in two lines and form arm bridges and the ones that are "left over" - nobody to make a bridge with - are the "MORE".  I showed them how they could make those bridges on paper with the two bars on the graph....Some just aren't ready, or I am not doing a good job with it.  Anyone have any other ideas?

One little funny....When the children asked me my preference, instead of writing my whole name, they decided to just call me "Mrs." like Junie B. Jones!  I kind of like that...I'm now, "Mrs."!

And in case you are wondering....13 preferred swimming in the pool, and 6 preferred swimming in the ocean.  Who would've thunk?!  I guess that's what happens when you live close to the beach and take it for granted...


Some of our ocean-themed activities:  A Home for Hermit Crab

Yo Ho, Yo Ho,

We're so cool.

We are pirates,

and we love school!

~ From Pirates Go to School by Corrine Demas

For more, please visit my class blog:

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Check out this video! PALENTOLOGY

The students LOVE this video and song.  They ask for me to play it over and over again!  Dr. Dino came on Friday to do his presentation to the class.  On Monday afternoon when we were going out to recess, one of my students asked if he could take a clipboard outside.  I said "sure" and when we got outside, I noticed him going up to students one at a time and asking them something.  Then he would write.  Eventually he came up to me and asked me, "Mrs. Berry, would you like to be a paleontologist?"  I replied, "I sure would!"  Then I noticed he wrote my name down on his paper.  He was collecting data!!!  I was so impressed!  I shared it with our art teacher - Dr. Dino's wife, and told her to tell her husband that he'd REALLY made an impression. After all, a full weekend had passed since the presentation, AND we'd spent all morning making our pirates which I thought was his favorite topic of all time!  I think he has a new favorite!

For many more photos of our Dr. Dino visit and our paleontology unit, please visit my class blog:  http://mrsberryskindergarten.blogspot.com

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Last week was so much fun studying dinosaurs and paleontologists.  We did a couple of the activities from Deanna Jump's dinosaur unit and the kids especially loved doing the paleontologist and the cookie "dig"!  As soon as I get my photos off my iPhone, I'll post them here.

Next week we will be doing some physical science experiments because the kids LOVE, LOVE, LOVE science and experiments!  On Thursday, Dr. Dino is coming from the zoo to show the children some fossils and talk to them about paleontology!  Whoo hoo!  (It doesn't hurt that his wife is the art teacher at our school and arranged this for us!)

Then during our last week we will be doing a unit about the ocean.  My roommoms are planning an end-of-the-year ocean-themed party.  They are soooo wonderful!  I couldn't do it without them!

My PGP this year (how we are evaluated) focused on non-linguistic representations, so I created some Thinking Maps and graphical organizers for our ocean theme:

Click on picture to download graphical organizer

Click on picture to download graphical organizer

Here's a thumbnail of samples from the 34 page packet:

Ten days until beach time!

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Sight Word Dominoes

Sixteen more school days....

On the one hand, I am EXHAUSTED and am ready for the year to end just because I need to rest. 

On the other hand, I feel like there's so much I still need and want to do with the children. 

BUT, I think the children are 'DONE', 'DONE', 'DONE!' 

We will be starting our ocean theme in another week, so I created this little summer-themed sight-word domino game which contains most of Fry's First 100 Words.  Enjoy!

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The Pond - Any ideas, anyone?

 We are studying the pond for the next week and dinosaurs after that.  Any good ideas for kinders, anyone?  If so, please send them my way!!!
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Insect Math and Science Updated

I've been working through glitches with Tpt this week.  Ugh.  But they've been very helpful.  I was trying to update this unit because I added more activities, but it wouldn't replace the old file.  The tech had to manually do it for me.  Then last night, I kept trying to upload the new file, and I noticed today there multiple copies. This is the latest file!  I hope you like it!

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Finally...My Insect Math and Science Journal Unit...

is now online at Tpt.  It goes along with my Insects Literacy Unit.  I will be posting photos of my students using the activities in the next couple days.  It has taken me a long time to finish it because the keys on my laptop are wearing out on me, I think.  I keep having to go back to retype letters.  UGH.  But this computer is 4-5 years old and has gotten A LOT of use!

I had a lot of fun creating this unit and I could keep on adding...and maybe I will.  If you do purchase a unit, remember you get free upgrades!

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