Catching that Sneaky Leprechaun!

St. Patrick's Day is one of my favorite holidays! I can not wait for all the fun things we will be doing in class next week. While going through lesson plans and activities, I came across pictures of some of our leprechaun traps from last year. They are SUPER cute! My kinders have such GREAT imaginations. The traps had to be smallish (to keep within bus regulations), they had to have at least one moving part, and since leprechauns are so sneaky, the traps had to be clever enough to trick that mischievous leprechaun into getting caught! Check out some of their great contraptions!

And don't forget... we LOVE to eat green food!! Especially pistachio pudding! YUM!!

Of course, it's not all fun and games. We still need to meet those Common Core Standards! In my classroom, we will be learning about the country of Ireland and the similarities and differences to where we live. We will also learn about potatoes and all the different food you can make with them. Plus, our math and literacy lessons will have an awesome Irish twist! If you need a little help getting that Leprechaun theme in your math and literacy, check out my Ireland and St. Patrick's Day Math, Literacy and Social Studies Unit at my TpT store.

Just click here! Hopefully, that Irish Luck will rub on us all and we will have a great week!

Doing the Science Thing with Landforms

My newest goal is to implement more hands on science in the classroom!  I always feel that we have too many paper and pencil assignments during our science block, so I am going to try my best to have one hands on science activity once a week.  I am very excited because I think the kinders will get SOOOO much out of these activities.  Plus I hope they will have some great memories to look back on in the future.

So I have been on a science experiment hunt.  I've been a pinning maniac and a total blog stalker.  (Which isn't that different from my normal self...)  I stumbled across a great blog at http://www.momto2poshlildivas.com/.  This blog has a TON of science activities, most which can be performed in the classroom.  I would def suggest a little stroll over there to browse for a bit!

Last week, we studied landforms using my Landforms Unit that I recently created for my classroom.  I also have this unit up in my TpT store.

I made this unit to help my younger elementary students learn the different physical characteristics of landforms. It includes a reader, venn diagrams, thinking maps, etc.  If you are interested in taking a closer look at this item, you can view it here.

So what better way to complete a landform unit then to make mini volcanos?!?!  Thanks to the blog momto2poshlildivas I was able to make sure each student in the classroom had their own volcano.

I bought some cheap pans from Walmart and shared them between two students.  This worked great because I could use the lids too.  Each student was given a small clear cup filled to about an inch from the top with vinegar.  Then we added a little bit of food coloring to each cup of vinegar.

Next, I prepared the baking soda.  I gave each student a heaping spoon full.  Since they didn't know what was going to happen, I made sure they all held on to their spoons with both hands until I counted to three.  That way they all dumped the baking soda in to the cups at the same time.

How excited they were when all those volcanos erupted!!  It was pure magic.  :)  I wish I could show you their little faces!

I would really like to continue these types of activities throughout the rest of the year.  I am off to discover more science! 

Penguins and TpT Super Sale!

WHAT a week!!  I am exhausted.  But in a good way.  :)

I sent home a penguin project last week which I discussed in a previous post.  I got the projects back on Thrusday, and BOY did I get some cute penguins!  I love seeing how creative my kids are, and they really enjoyed sharing their creations with the rest of the class.  I took a picture of a couple of penguins to share. 

Aren't they adorable!  I had more come in, but I forgot to take a picture I left for the weekend.  One of the penguins had a bikini made out of green penne pasta.  SO cute!  And- if you're interested - this penguin activity can be found in my Pretty Penguin unit at my TpT store.  Just click here!


I've been trying to plan ahead for the next month or so.  I had most of February ready, then I looked through my plan book and realized I completely missed next week!!  What?!?!!?  How does this happen?  Where did my brain go?  Oh well.  Looks like I am hitting the lesson plan books this weekend!

Speaking of fun weekends lesson planning.....  TpT is holding a huge site wide sale!  Participating stores have up to 28% off their products!  I have got my shopping cart full and ready to go!  Hop on over on Sunday and see some of the great lessons and activities from my creative TpT buddies!  Don't forget to use the promo code: SUPER!!!  Happy shopping!