More Fun With Penguins

Man, working a full week is exhausting!  After four snow days last week, it was a little bit of a shock to work all week.  :) So, our second week of penguins was extended a little with some valentines activities mixed in.  Last Monday we started the day by playing in shaving cream.  The kids loved it and luckily it cleans up pretty easily because they pretty much had shaving cream everywhere!  

We also painted paper plates to make into penguins.  Each cutie painted a large plate with a V-shaped cutout and a small plate. 

This week we stapled a full paper plate behind the plate with the V-shape cutout and also stapled the small plate to the top.  Then, the kids glued on the penguin's beak, feet, and eyes.  They chose what color ear muffs they'd like and then waited as we attached them with hot glue.  All of that waiting led to things getting real crazy real fast, so we didn't get a picture of the finished product.  

Ms. Mary B. came in for language group this week.  We worked on following directions and position words.  The kids had to identify the big and small icebergs, penguins, and fish and then glue them where Ms. Mary requested. 

During table time on Tuesday we decorated bags for our valentines.  The kids drew pictures, added stickers, and glued on a few paper hearts.  Then, I wrote their name on their bag and added one of their yearbook pictures.  

On Wednesday the morning class assembled these heart penguins.  They did a great job following directions!

For the afternoon class, we taught them how to cut out a heart.  They were able to cut out a large and small heart.  We gave each cutie a piece of paper with words like "I love you" and "Be mine" and encouraged them to make a valentine for someone.  They were so excited that they were able to cut out a heart all by themselves!  Also, this week our Cadet Teacher, Ryleigh, joined our class.  She is a high school student who is interested in becoming a teacher and will be helping us for the rest of the semester.  

Yes, it was exhausting, but it was a fun week!  I'll post pictures of our Valentine's Day party later today.
To see that post, click here.

Thanks for stopping by!

~Beth

Fun with Penguins!

We're having so much fun learning about penguins!  Here's a sneak peek at our project for the week.  Scroll down for the details of their amazing work.  

We started the week by celebrating this cutie's birthday!  We love getting to share in the birthday festivities...and getting birthday treats is always an added bonus!  :)

So, as promised, here's a step-by-step of the adorable penguin project!  I found a few versions of this idea on Pinterest and we combined them to make it our own.  It was such a busy week and it seemed like every day something happened to cut our art time short, so what I intended on being a 2-day project ended up taking the whole week.  But, I couldn't be happier with the way they turned out and the kids loved working on them each day! 

The first day they cut out the eyes, ear muffs, and nose.  Circles (especially small circles) can be quite tricky to cut out, but they're all making such great progress that they didn't need much help!  

 The next day they glued the penguin together.  They also drew the line to connect the ear muffs and added details to the eyes.

Then, we finished by adding the scarf and die cut snowflakes.   

Are these not the cutest penguins?!  The kids are pretty adorable, too.  ;)  Their masterpieces are now proudly displayed in the classroom.  I love seeing them when I walk in the room! 

We read several penguin books this week.  One of the books was Penguins by Liz Pichon.  It is such a funny book, if you haven't read it, I highly recommend checking it out.  A little girl drops her camera into the penguin area at the zoo and the penguins have tons of fun taking pictures of each other.  We also read a non-fiction book about penguins that had some amazing pictures and super interesting facts.  Did you know that penguins have spiky tongues to help them catch fish?

We're continuing our penguin unit next week, so check back to see the fun we have then!  

Thanks for stopping by!

~Beth

Mittens and Hot Cocoa

Happy February!  I didn't get around to posting about last week, so I'm gonna try and catch up on last week and this week today!  Last week we had fun talking about hot cocoa and mittens.  We started the week by coloring mugs of hot cocoa according to the color word under each mug.  

We also practiced cutting and spelling the kids' names.  The cuties cut out marshmallow shapes with the letters in their name and then glued them onto paper with a mug of cocoa.  They are becoming so independent with their work!

Here are a few of the finished products! 

The afternoon class painted a snowman shape a few weeks ago and last week they decorated them. 

We practiced matching patterns of mittens and talked about left and right.  The kids not only had to match the pattern, but make sure it made a pair of mittens.  

If you'd like to see the fun we had this week learning about penguins click here.

Thanks for stopping by!  

~Beth