Worksheets Don't Grow Dendrites: Chapter 3

      Field Trips. I'll be honest. It is a little bit of a love-hate relationship for me.  It takes a lot of planning and the field trips themselves can be exhausting. I usually only have one parent volunteer or staff person with me. Blah, blah, blah, if you are a teacher, you probably know already. But there is no doubt that field trips engage and immerse students in meaningful learning. Since meaningful learning that excited my kids is what I am all about, I am all about field trips!

     Field trips are most meaningful when we are connecting classroom learning to the real world. I am not a fan of random field trips or field trips for the sake of field trips. Every year, my students take a pumpkin patch field trip. We study pumpkins in the classroom before and after our field trip. 

 

My favorite field trip of all time is a field trip that my students took last year on the last day of school (and my birthday) to the zoo! Our wonderful prayer partners planned and paid for this trip. My kiddos spend about 5 hours at the zoo and the day was complete bliss. We kept the kids entertained with zoo events, instead of just walking around and seeing the animals. We fed sting rays, fed giraffes, went to the sea lion show, had lunch, and saw the Bonobo monkeys (my favorite animal.) 

     This year we have been enjoying in school field trips as well. We learned about police officers and police dogs and connected this experience to our community helpers unit. 

     Each year, our 3rd-8th graders put on a Living History Museum  as a way of celebrating Black History month. My students and I move from classroom to classroom as we tour the museum and speak with the historical figures. This year we studies Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, and George Washington Carver prior to visiting the museum. My students were able to speak to all three of these historical figures during our "field trip." 

      After reading this chapter I want to improve by incorporating virtual field trips in my classroom. Any teachers who have done this before? I would love to hear your ideas and suggestions! 

Five for Friday - Dr. Seuss Books

     This week we celebrated reading with one of my all time favorite authors, Dr. Seuss. On Monday, we dawned our PJs ALL DAY LONG! Nothing beats not having to get ready in the morning. Can I get an amen, ya'll? We read I'm Not Going to Get Up Today! and Sleepy Dog. 

    On Monday we also researched Dr. Seuss as a class. I took the advice from the quote I posted from Worksheets Don't Grow Dendrites and asked my students to create the questions for our author study! I recorded their excellent questions on large chart paper, we researched as a class, and I allowed each student to record the answer to their question on the chart paper themselves. Silly me forgot to snap a pic! My favorite question was: "Was he brave?" We decided the answer was yes after we read that Dr. Seuss submitted his first book, And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street, to 27 different publishers before it was approved! 27 TIMES?!?!?!

     After lunch, we read Mulberry Street as a class, created "imagination scopes," used them to observe our own street, and then wrote a class big book about it! I found this idea for imagination scopes from coffee cups and crayons. I just tweaked it to work for my class. 

     You can't celebrate Dr. Seuss without reading The Cat in the Hat!!! When I saw this idea for think 1 and thing 2 hair on Kinder Kapers, I knew it was perfect for my class! Check it out! 

    I tried to follow the directions from Kinder Kapers, but I was not quite sure on the measurements and I tweaked it a bit. My students wigs were each made from a 36 inch wide, 20 inch long piece of blue bulletin board paper.  I folded it in half length wise and drew a line with black marker 2 and a half  inches from the fold. I accordion folded the paper and drew blue lines along the folds, stopping at each blue line at the black line. (Students were directed to cut on the blue and stop on the black. I had no issues with my K5ers finishing up the wigs themselves!) 

 

We also did these adorable directed drawings from a freebie I found on Forever in First! 

Welcome to Wacky Wednesday! This was my first year using this book and we all loved it. I was inspired by a post I found on Teaching Twos and Threes. 

    Students had to search for all of the many things that were wacky in the classroom. Next year, I may have students find 20 wacky things in our classroom before they are allowed to fix anything that is wacky... this would go along with the book ending and incorporate math! 

 

SNOW DAY!!! 

     SNOW DAY AGAIN!!! What is going on with the weather? I guess I will be finishing up some Dr. Seuss activities, tackling St. Patrick's Day, and Think Link testing next week! 

March Currently

   Where has the school year gone? Pretty soon I'll be working on graduation and K scrapbooks. I'm linking up once again this month with Farley from Oh Boy Fourth Grade! I love this linky!

 

 

Thinking and Needing....

My to do list is LONG, LONG, LONG! I think I have been over planning. I think I am a chronic overplanner. Do they have help for that? So much is going on with A Neighborhood Kindergarten right now...

- With "reading week" this week, and St. Patrick's Day and Think Link testing next week, I am overwhelmed. 

- I am working really hard to finish some projects for my classroom and TPT that I am SO excited about. (I don't want to give away too much... but if your kids like to laugh then you are going to LOVE it!) 

- I am also yet to get business cards or anything else printed to hand out at the meet up. YIKES!

- I'm stuck trying to decide what gift to take to the blogger meet up. I am supposed to bring a $5-$10 fun and functional teacher tool to swap with another teacher. Would love to hear your ideas!!!

- SPOILER ALERT: A Neighborhood Kindergarten is under construction and a brand new blog design is coming your way soon! I have found an excellent blog designer and I am so excited about what we are working on. But I did not know any blog terms so I had to do lots of research before I could begin describing my vision for my blog. My indecisiveness doesn't help either.

- I was out of town visiting my family last weekend and I'll be out of town visiting my man this weekend!

All of this is leading to a major lack of sleep. I am under 8 hours for the week and it is Wednesday! YIKES!!!

 



Wanting...

    Flashback to my first ever currently post when I wrote about 3 trips and dreaming of attending I Teach K. Several people responded and encouraged me to approach my admin team about it. Well... I took your advice and my super awesome Head of School just submitted my request for funding for this trip! I was shocked and am so excited that we are even talking about this!!! Keep your fingers crossed for me friends... 

 

Spring Break Plans...

MY FIRST EVER BLOGGER MEET UP!!! I am so unbelievably excited to be traveling to French Lick in Indiana to meet with bloggers from all over, rest and relax, and learn from my online teaching friends. I'm staying with three complete strangers and I can't wait to make new friends. After the meet up I'll be spending some time in Nashville with my boyfriend before I go home to Alabama to see my favorite girl ever in concert - Miranda Lambert! It will be my third time seeing her.

Worksheets Don't Grow Dendrites Chapter 1 and 2



     YES! JUST YES! I love this quote that I discovered in Worksheets Don't Grow Dendrites.  This week, I am linking up with Elizabeth from Kickin' It in Kindergarten as we study this book together. So far I am LOVING it! A big shout out to my instructional coach for allowing me to borrow her book. (I think I may be ordering my own copy very soon!)

      

     Seriously, I create Schema and New Learning charts with my students all the time. Of course, the above picture is the only picture I can find that has a Schema Chart in it. Story. Of. My. Life.  Too busy teaching to remember to snap a pic! 

     I try to make sure my Bible lessons focus on the HERO of the Bible instead of simply focusing on the witnesses or the events. I want my students to first know WHO God is and see how all of scripture fits together as the GOSPEL message. GOD and the GOSPEL come first. Bible facts come second. After each Bible lesson I ask students to tell what they have learned about God. I often record their brainstorming on the white board. 

    

  You can read all about how we stopped our day and investigated a spider we found. Just click the picture above! This was one of the most meaningful days in my classroom. A good reminder of just how important student led inquiry and discussion are to learning!  

     Lastly, if you do not know what Whole Brain teaching is or have never tried it in your classroom, then please go check it out! It will change your world. 

     Without a doubt this was my students' favorite center this year. Independent craftivity! 

Yes, I put my dog on my head. My students loved it! 

 If you don't have this book, you can grab in on Amazon! Would love to hear your thoughts and comments on this!