Eggs, Eggs, and More Eggs

Hello Everyone!
Springtime is a great time to study life cycles and we are doing just that!  We are learning so much about chickens, frogs and fish. You know I love to integrate, so I had to bring the egg ideas into writing and math.  Here are a couple of things we've done!  I posted earlier that we are working on prepositions.  We loved learning about them through Rosie's Walk. Well, we also brought egg propositions into some mini writing lessons this week.  We brainstormed all the different places we would find eggs. Some kids were thinking more science and some have Easter on the brain!  All responses were fine!

The kids then had the opportunity to create their own written piece. They could use some of the ideas from our anchor or come up with more of their own.  They glued that to a large egg shaped piece of construction paper decorated with tissue paper. ( I cut some circles from tissue and the kids brushed them onto the paper with liquid starch.) The kids loved this process, and they turned out so pretty.  We couldn't wait to hang them up! 

If you want a copy of this quick writing treasure,CLICK HERE! :)

Now on to math!  We are working on comparing and ordering numbers to 120. Earlier this week, I created some quick eggs with random numbers ranging from 20 to 120.  I passed one out to each kiddo.  The objective was to see if they could put themselves in number order from least to greatest by comparing their eggs with those of their friends. They had to remember that not all the numbers were included in the order. 

I loved the math talk I heard while they were figuring out where each kiddo had to stand with their egg numbers. 

We did the ordering several different times, each time challenging ourselves to see how quickly we could get the order set. Our best time was 20 seconds!!! Great job kiddos!!

We extended the math talk a bit more by using Chatter Kids on the i Pads.  If you don't have this app yet, you have to get it! It's easy and really promotes the talk we want to hear!

This time I had the kids pick 2 egg numbers. Take a pic and have one of the numbers explain the comparison between the two numbers. Oh And I let them put a few little additions on the eggs! :)

I am attempting to include a little video of one of the chatter projects. Hope it works for you, because it is so cool!!

I hope it plays for you!  If not, my little cutie told about the place value of her numbered egg (the one with the lips) and then compared it to the other numbered egg. Talking Eggs at its best!! :) We will do some more of this for sure!!!

Anyway, if you would like a printable of the eggs...

CLICK HERE! :)

We will def. use these eggs for other order and comparing activities, so stay tuned!!!

I hope you are having just as good a week as we are!! Is it already Wednesday?? 

Till next time, thanks for taking a peek through our little window!!

Talk to you soon!!

Joyfully!

Nancy 

Rainbow Floats, Prepositions, and Chicken Life Cycle

Hello Everyone!
And Hello, Saturday! What a crazy, busy, fun week of learning!  I can't believe how tired I was...and very thankful to have this morning of peace and time...except for the cleaning, the yard work, the  laundry, the grocery shopping, you know, all the "stuff" you don't have time to during the week when you work full+ time.  But...I wouldn't have it any other way!
Anyway, I wanted to show you some fun word work we did this week. We were working hard on oa and ow words, so it was the perfect time for our Rainbow Float unit!

As a special memorable treat on Friday, we made Rainbow Floats!! 

(please note--these have not been edited)

Of course we had to write about our treat!  I don't think the kids will forget about oa and ow!!

Here's the link to the OA OW unit if you want it!

We also worked hard on prepositions this week.  I shared my preposition unit already, but I wanted to show you the end products for using Rosie's Walk as a mentor text.

Our cute little preposition anchor 

What? An interactive anchor? 

Here's a link to our preposition unit! CLICK!

Oh! I also wanted to share with you the hand to head and heart visual we made to culminate our study of the life cycle of a chicken. This was def. a feat of organization, and perseverance. The kids did it all except for the eyes.  I finally got some of those circle punches!  They are on sale this week at Hobby Lobby! Hooray! If you want to do this, make sure you have a hefty chunk of time!  

As you can tell, I almost always have a hands on visual component to any unit of study! Some may think this is just fluff, but I will tell you that this hand to head "fluff" is incredibly beneficial on so many levels. The activities not only help cement the objective to be learned, whether it be science, social studies, math, reading, or writing, but they are also lessons in listening, following directions, problem solving, organization, creativity, sequencing, fine motor development, visualization, differentiation, etc., etc., etc.  Yes, for many of the visuals, there is a lot of guidance, and teacher direction, but sometimes kids need that component to help build confidence.  Please know that I give my kids plenty of free creative development opportunities as well.  The key is to strike a balance. 

Anyway, off my soapbox...If you would like the chicken life cycle unit and didn't grab it a few posts ago...You can get it HERE!

Til next time, have a great weekend! I'm off to get all that fun weekend stuff done! Thank you so much for stopping by for a peek through our Window!

Joyfully!

Nancy

It's the Little Things...shamrocks, leprechauns, and prepositions!!

Hello Everyone!
I hope your week is going well! My last post suggested that it had been a few years since we've gotten to enjoy St. Patrick's Day at school. Well, that changed this week!  Finally we got to enjoy some shamrock, leprechaun, and rainbow fun...and believe me, there was a ton of learning going on!! Take a look!

Morning Work---ABC Order

Math Notebook- All in Green! :)

Our Number Operator Page looks awesome in green!

Graphing in Math! Lucky!!

Math Tub...More Graphing!

What is all this green for?

Practicing Fractions!! 1/4!

4/4 = one whole!

Leprechaun puppet play reading!

Practicing ai words on a rainbow!

Finding gold!

And creating something out of the wrapper!

Rainbow Shape and Color poem

"Living under a rainbow" writing

We had fun learning through all the colors!!  Thanks for letting us share!
If you would like to try some these, maybe next year...CLICK HERE!!!

Next week we will try to introduce kids to prepositions. This is a tricky concept for our young learners.  We will also begin learning about life cycles, specifically chickens...so...Rosie is coming back for a visit!  You know from Rosie's Walk, by Pat Hutchins!!!  I love using this book to explore position and direction words, so it is also perfect for prepositions.  I put together a mini unit on prepositions with Rosie as our focus.  Here are some pics of what is included.

The hands on visual retelling preposition book's pattern is included in the unit.

If you are looking for a simple way to help kids make connections with prepositions... For your copy of the mini unit, CLICK HERE!

Phew, I didn't mean for this post to be so long, but I couldn't wait to share this little peek into our world of wonder!!  Sometimes we forget that the little things, even leprechauns and shamrocks can...and do... engage kids into learning. Connecting hands to heads and hearts is what I love about being a teacher!

Have a great rest of the week! Stay tuned for more!

Joyfully!

Nancy