100 Days of School!

Here they are holding their booklet that they made.

This is what the 100 booklet looked like on the inside.

 We celebrated our 100th day of school on Thursday, February 4th, 2015!  The kindergartners have learned so much since that first day of school!  I am really proud of them!  Today we did many activities revolving around that number 100.  

• counted 100 pennies 
• found other ways to make a dollar using nickels, dimes and quarters
• counted by 1s, 5s, and 10s to 100
• wrote 1-100
• attempted to be quiet for 100 seconds - that was pretty giggly
• wrote a list of 100 things they learned in kindergarten   
• illustrated a booklet and  drew pictures of what we could buy with $100, what they could eat 100 of, what they would want 100 of, etc.
• made a cool headband with the #100 on it

I read several books about the 100th day of school and in the afternoon we had a cupcake to mark this special day!

I didn't think we'd come up with 100 things they'd 
learned, but actually there were more than this!

Cupcakes topped off the day!

They had a great day!

I'm glad the cupcakes weren't any larger!

Silly, silly, silly!

Teacher Has a Visitor to her Yard!

An Eastern Screech-Owl in the nest box, which is located in 
my backyard.  SInce it is right outside my kitchen window, it 
has made cooking and washing the dishes 
a bit more interesting.

You can tell by its feathering that it could be very camouflaged, 
when sitting in a tree.  I showed one of the first grade girls the 
photo and she said, "The white on it would help it blend in with the 
snow on the bark of the tree."  Wow!  That was very insightful!

I have had a large nest box up in my yard for over a year and this is the first time I'd seen an owl in it.  In our area the two most common owls are the Great Horned Owl, which many folks call the hoot owl due to its hooting sound.  That owl is quite large and is a fierce nighttime predator.  

The other owl commonly seen in the area is an Eastern Screech-Owl.  It is a very small owl that is only 6"-9" from head to tail.  It preys on small mammals, birds and invertebrates.  This owl does not hoot, but sounds more like a horse whinnying or it will make a trilling sound.  You can hear its various calls and trills on the "All About Birds" website by clicking here.  To read more about this fascinating night time creature click here.

Penguin Booklet

During this cold and snowy time of year, I focus some of our 
story time on penguins.  The kindergartners were the illustrators 
of this booklet about penguins. I have collected many fiction and 
non-fiction penguin books through the years and the children 
really enjoy them!  Also...the added bonus is that penguins are 
very unusual birds.

A Herd of Snowmen

These snowmen are all so unique - just like the children 
who created them.

Barn Owl?

"Look Teacher!  I'm a Barn Owl!"

Groundhog Day

Today I had the kids make Groundhog puppets for Groundhog Day.  They learned this poem to go with it.  We also discussed other animals that live underground.  They thought that was kind of interesting!

On February 2nd, Phil Groundhog pops out to see,

Just how much winter, there's going to be.

If the day is cloudy, he plays outside,

But if it is sunny, he pops back to hide.

Architects

Kids still love to get out the blocks and build.  Here is a creation by these two boys.  They were very proud!