Meet our Fish!

My classroom has an ocean theme so I start the year off mostly talking about ocean animals and fish.  We read The Rainbow Fish and each made our own fish using a construction paper cut out of a fish and different colored tissue paper.  My class behavior chart has each student starting out on "Ready to Learn Rainbow Fish" then the students either move up or down based on their behavior. So entering our third week of school I decided to bring in the fish...he has been at home all summer. I got him 3 years ago and finally upgraded his "house" thanks to a grant from www.petsintheclassroom.org . I got a coupon for materials from Pet Smart and I bought a new tank, gravel, a few plants and a Cat in the Hat figurine. The kids love it and think he is reading to "Rainbow". We came up with 3 potential names for him and of course Rainbow won! "smurf" was a close second.  We made a graph based on our votes and it is hanging in the room.

Green Apple Playdough

I just made a batch of Green Apple playdough. I got the inspiration from recipes I found on Pinterest. I stopped at the grocery store on my way home from work to buy some apples for us to make applesauce tomorrow and stumbled upon this Jolly Rancher jello! It smells delicious.  It will go great with our playdough mats I made last year.

2 cups of Flour

2 cups of warm water

1 cup of salt

1 package of jello (can use any flavor...I can't wait to try the candy cane flavor during the winter!)

4 tbs of cream of tartar 

4 tbs of vegetable oil

Mix ingredients together then pour into sauce pan over medium heat. Stir until a dough forms. Be careful not to burn it! Then let it cool in a glass bowl then knead together and store in a zip lock bag.

Apple time

Today I brought in 3 apples. One red, one yellow and one green.  During snack time I cut them up and had each student taste all 3 then pick which one they liked the best. We then created a graph to see which one had the most "likes". I introduced the word "prediction" during a read aloud yesterday so we used this activity as a great way to make some more predictions. The class ended up being right, we like RED apples the best.

Happy Fall!

Fall has officially arrived! I just wrote up this poem and added fake leaves from a craft store to it.  I have an extra set of leaves for the students to use when they "read" the poem on their own.

Diving into another School Year!

The 2013-2014 school year began yesterday! We have been busy the past two days learning our classroom expectations and meeting new friends. This is my third year teaching PreK at SPA and I am so excited to see what this year brings! I was very happy to see some of my former students this morning and am very proud of them :) 

We have big plans this year in room 105. I will keep you all updated with our learning throughout the year so....DIVE IN!