Sometimes we read books to be entertained; however, today we were reading a non-fiction book titled, Penguins, to learn more information about penguins.

We added the new information to our chart.

Here is some of our new information. 

 *Penguins play with sticks to practice nest building.

 *They hide from predators.

 *Mother penguins give the fathers the egg to protect while they hunt for food.

 *Papa penguins hold the egg on their feet.

 *Penguins dive in a group into the water to distract predators.

 *Baby penguins tap on the mama's beak when they are hungry.

 *The largest penguin is the Emperor Penguin.

 *Penguins can live in warm weather, not just cold.

 *Some penguins make a burrow to hold their eggs.

 *Some of their predators are whales, seals, and skua (a bird that eats penguin eggs).

 *Penguins keep their flippers close to their body to stay warm.

We also moved the "They are odd." post-it to Misconceptions since this is an opinion, not a fact.

We practiced taking care of penguin eggs and walking around our classroom with them.  This was very tricky!

We had some friends missing today since they were sick.  We sang our "Wish You Well" Song, so hopefully they will feel better and can return tomorrow!

Penguins

Today we started a non-fiction study about Penguins.  First, we listed our Penguin Schema (what we know, or think we know) about penguins.  Here is the chart we made to keep track of our Penguin Schema.  We will also add the new information we learned as the week continues.  

Next, we watched a penguin video and followed step by step instructions to draw a penguin and label  parts.  We will be putting together our own non-fiction penguin book.

Tacky the Penguin

This week we read Tacky the Penguin.  We celebrated this book by making Tacky...he (or she) is very unique!

Then I asked the darlings what made them unique.

Here is what they said...

"I am funny." (SC)

"I am good at gymnastics." (MW)

"I am really hyper." (DS)

"I always fall on the floor when my sister and I are having races." (HR)

"My brother has short hair and I have long hair." (LV)

"I look different than everyone else." (AK)

"I am good at gymnastics." (LW)

"I am happy." (AK)

"I wear glasses." (SC)

"I have brown hair." (DD)

"My parents love me." (HH)

"My mom and dad think I am cute." (TR)

"My dreams came true." (BF)

"I don't have a baby in my family." (KT)

When is the 1,000,000th Day of School?

So, this is what happened in the first five minutes of our day...

 One kiddo says, "When is our 1,000,000th Day of School?"  I explained that is a lot of days and we won't have that many, in fact, you won't have that many days in school....EVER! But we did figure by the time we graduate from high school we will have approximately 2,340 days.  Then college is more!  This started,  "How many days if I want to be a cop?"  Then one darling said, "What about a doctor?"  I told her that was even more.  She just buried her shaking head in the hand and said, "Ugh....I guess I will just be a teacher."

Still laughing....funny thing, both of her parents are teachers!  Do you know who you are??

Happy 100th Day!!!

I can't believe we are already to the 100th Day of Kindergarten, can you?! While uploading their pictures from today, I couldn't resist looking back at day one!  It just makes me smile to think how much they have grown in these 100 days.  Sure, Kindergarten is certainly about learning to read, write, count....but we've also learned more about speaking kindly, encouraging one another, and being a good friend!  I am so proud of them!  

Here are a few pictures from today!

We do look older, don't we?!

Here are a few more snapshots.  With a short day, we worked through our Daily Five rotations, then made crowns, and did an art project.  We will finish that up tomorrow with our 100 Year Bucket List.

This picture I just could not resist.  So sweet to see her helping a friend with pearls!

Happy 100th Day!

Apples

Last week we learned about apples!  We started out by learning the life cycle of an apple and the parts of an apple. Then we labeled the parts.  Our art project helped us remember new vocabulary: stem, leaf, seeds, flesh, core, and skin.

Our class listened to this story.

They loved it.  Do you remember Amelia Bedelia?  She always says such funny things!  We used this story to discuss setting, characters, and problems in stories.

On Friday we sampled Granny Smith, Red Delicious, and Honey Crisp apples.  Students voted on their favorite and we created a pictograph.  The Granny Smith had the most votes.

Finally, we celebrated with homemade applesauce!  Yum!  I already had the apples cooking in the crock pot and kids took turns mashing them.