Candy Cane Olympics

 Today we had SO much fun having Candy Cane Olympics!  We started out singing some Christmas Carols with Miss Dobson and then we let the games begin!   One thing we have noticed this year is that some of our friends are having a hard time winning and losing gracefully.  We are trying to give them more experiences with winning and losing to help build some resiliency in that area.  We also had to practice patience today because not everyone got to play every game.  Some friends got called to play the first game and then didn't get called again and some friends were called at the VERY END, for the very last game.  The kids did a great job waiting for their turn and cheering on their friends.  Most of them did a great job winning and losing gracefully. 

Each class made a class flag today.  Since I was in uniform, the kids called me Elf Amber today. Naturally, our class flag had the cutest strand of Christmas lights on it!

Students were chosen at random for each game.  They all had a blast and cheered each other on!  

Candy cane fishing was a little tricky!  They persevered though and everyone caught at least one Candy Cane!

 

We worked on fine motor control when we stacked peppermints! Some friends were a little frustrated when their tower fell right at the last second!

Students worked in pairs to make a Santa hat tower! They had to alternate cotton balls and solo cups.  It was a little tricky at first, but they got the hang of it!

They also worked in pairs to build the tallest cup tower in minute!  They were only allowed to have one cup in their hand at a time.  Mrs. Laue's class won this round!  Great job kiddos!

We had marshmallow tossing where they tried to get their marshmallows in all six cups that were on the floor and candy cane stacking as well.  Candy cane stacking was a little wonky, but they had fun none the less!

Marshmallow toss was probably their favorite! First students sat on the floor with a cup on their head and the teachers tried to toss mini marshmallows into their cups.  Then the teachers sat on the floor and the kids got to toss marshmallows. 

We ended our candy cane Olympics with some gingerbread cookies!  We have been reading The Gingerbread Man in class!

We had so much fun!  We will continue our candy cane fun with some candy cane science over the next 4 days! 

 

Special Delivery!

 There is nothing more magical than little kids at Christmas time!  My third or fourth year teaching I had a little friend that kept calling me an elf because I am little.  Over the years that has turned into me telling the kiddos that I am a giant elf sent by Santa to help him with the naughty and nice list.  We have so much fun each year with it.  Today we had a special delivery from Santa when we were at the high school practicing for our concert tonight.  

We came back to magical North Pole snow on each of the tables and two packages for Elf Amber.  Santa delivered my official elf uniform and a pillow of my with pointy ears.  Santa used his magic to make my ears look like everyone else's because he was worried that kids on the naughty list might make fun of me.  He also delivered minty Christmas M&M's for each of the kids.  Some friends liked the minty M&M's and some friends did not like them very much.  

We were in the Christmas spirit all day!  We made cards to deliver to some of our favorite people at Clark.  Each student got to pick one or two adults to make a Christmas card for and deliver it.  

Tomorrow, I will be in my official elf uniform all day and we will have the Christmas Olympics tomorrow afternoon with all of our kindergarten friends in other classes.  

Glow Day!

Today the kids walked in to the best surprise ever!!

GLOW DAY!

Our classroom was lit with black lights and all of our learning was black 

light reactive today!  They started with a Glow Day coloring sheet that they got to color with neon crayons!

After their coloring sheet we did some literacy learning centers!  

Write the room was a lot of fun.  There were glowing words all over our classroom that they had to find and then write on their paper!

They also got to sound out and rainbow write some CVC words!

Another station was a fine motor activity where they got to paint using Q-tips!

We had a glowing sensory bin that had letters that could be used to make words!

They also used pony beads to make words, which works on fine motor, visual/spatial awareness and reading words!

We read the story Creepy Pair of Underwear which is a fun book to read, but is even more awesome in the black lights!  The kids got to make their very own pair of creepy underwear!  SO many giggles!

After lunch we did some math centers!  The kids had so much fun!

They rolled dice and colored the numbers. Some friends rolled one dice and worked on subitizing to 6 and some friends rolled two dice and practiced adding to 12.  

Students worked on fine motor skills by putting small rubber bands around popsicle sticks painted black!

They used playfoam to practice making numbers and counting!

Cup Stacking was a fan favorite today!  They were able to work together to get their towers SOOO high!

We ended the day with some free play/art time and VOLCANOES!

We had a special helper today... My mom!  

The kids had a great time today and I am so thankful that you all share your kiddos with me every day!

I look forward to many more fun learning days with your kiddo throughout the year!

October Fun!

 Today we celebrated Halloween in our classroom and I realized I haven't updated our class blog all year!  It is not that we haven't been having a blast learning new things.... that is exactly why!  We have been having so much fun learning and playing that it has completely slipped my mind!  

In October I have spent a lot of time focusing on building our stamina and our little hand muscles.  We have been getting tired easily when working.  I found some fun centers that work on building fine motor and visual/spatial awareness!

We have also done some arts and crafts in our classroom.  We did a directed drawing of a bat that will come home next week with your kiddo!  They worked so hard on them.  We also painted some pumpkins, those will stay hanging in our hallways for a little bit longer!

Today Clark School Celebrated Halloween.  The kids all looked GREAT!  They were very respectful and well behaved during the parade.  I was so proud of them.  That is a long walk for their little legs!

We did get some pictures before we got a little wet in the parade!

The Kindergarten Teachers dressed up like frosted animal crackers.

I didn't think that was too scary... until they started asking for them for a snack!

SHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!   ON MONDAY OUR CLASS WILL HAVE GLOW DAY!  Please do not tell your student.  It is such a fun surprise when they walk up to the classroom and see the awesome-ness that is glow day!  Your child should wear any clothes that would typically glow under a black light.  Usually the color white glows or any clothes that have a neon or glow in the dark.  If they come and they don't glow we will hook them up with some neon stickers and glow bracelets!