Two Hoots and A Holler: 100 Days and Still Learning!

Hoot #1

We finally celebrated the 100th day of school! We managed to squeeze it in right before our "snow day". For our 100th Day Celebration, we allowed our students to rotate through different stations. The following pictures are some of the stations that the students did throughout the day.

The students counted and sorted their snacks! Yes, it was a hot mess, but they loved every minute of it!

 We counted out fruit loops and made a necklace using yarn. We always tape one end to the table.  This helps to keep the cereal from falling off the other end.

 Mason is busy making his 100 Day puzzle.  Kamille is looking at her check list to see what station she wants to go to next.

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We built a tower using 100 cups! Great Job!

 

 We made our 100 Day Class Snack! We did not have enough doughnuts.  Being the "problem solvers" that we are, we came up with another solution! Two Cheeto Puffs make a zero!! The Jitterbugs loved creating it and ate every bite! 

Of course, a celebration isn't complete without a hat!  Our kiddos LOVED making and wearing these fun, adorable 100 day hats! 
 

We are 100 days smarter...that makes us "smarties"!  Students made their Smartie craft and wrote what they can do now that makes them a "smartie".  

Last but not least, check out this what this little cutie wore on the 100th day!! This was too cute!!!

Hoot #2

We believe that kids learn through play, and learning can be fun!  We hate to see that play is being taken out of a lot of the kindergarten classrooms across the nation.  We still find ways to incorporate free play and structured play into our class.  Our students NEED this!  They are only 5 and 6 years old, for goodness sakes!  Jodi stumbled across an idea on Pinterest where a teacher (sorry, she couldn't find the original pin) used famous structures and buildings around the world for students to recreate at the block center.  What an excellent idea!  We created this book to use in our classroom.  Our students LOVE making these buildings and structures from the book.  Students have to use problem solving skills, math skills, social skills, and geography skills to build these structures.  It peaks their curiosity when they see the picture, and they begin to ask a lot of questions!  Watching students build these buildings and structures is AMAZING!  Their creativity and imagination is allowed to run WILD, and it is absolutely beautiful!  

Click HERE or on the picture below to hop on over to our TPT store to grab a free copy of this book to use in your classroom!  

This Week's Holler...

This week's holler goes out to Hilary Gard at Primary Planet! Hilary lives in Indiana and teaches 2nd grade.  Just like Jamie, she is lucky enough to only live 2 minutes from her school!! We absolutely love her text to text connections that she has done with her class.  Jamie already wants some huge eye to put above her writing board! Check out her blog and find out how she uses these huge eyes! She has some wonderful ideas for everything you could imagine!  Click on the image below to hop on over...

Two Hoots and A Holler: In With the Fun, Out with the Snow

Hoot # 1

Well this news just came to us this evening...we will have our FIRST OFFICIAL SNOW DAY TOMORROW!! In the south, when the word "snow" is used by the weather man you either laugh because you think it will never happen, OR you panic and run to the grocery store! Earlier this week "blizzard like conditions" were predicted in our area for tomorrow.  Blizzard and Mississippi do not go together in the same sentence, but it must be true because school is cancelled for tomorrow!  It is hard to believe that we will have snow when just a few weeks ago it was flip flop and shorts weather.  The weather down here in the south can never make up its mind, but we sure are thankful for our 3 day weekend!  

Hoot #2
 Over the past couple of weeks, I have been looking around my classroom at things that I hardly use.  I bought one of the "Find It" games that has the alphabet letters and objects inside.  It was one of those things that when I saw it, I just HAD to have it! (I am sure you can relate to this feeling of just "having to have" something for your class.)  It has been sitting on my shelf all year long, and this "thing" that I just HAD to HAVE hasn't found its purpose in my class.  Then a light bulb went off!  I had an idea on how to incorporate it into my differentiated centers.  Since I have students who still struggle with letters, this would be a wonderful activity for them to learn while having fun!  The recording sheet and instructions are FREE on our TPT store.  Go over and grab it!  My students love this!  I will definitely start next year off with this activity during center time!  The best part about this is....you could totally make your own "Find It" game using beads and a water bottle.  It would be a lot cheaper and super easy to make!  Click on the picture below or click HERE to go grab this freebie! 

This Week's Holler...

This week's holler goes out to Abbie Jinnings at Tales From the First Grade!  She is a first grade teacher from Indiana with tons of cute ideas.  We really love her "Carpet Mark-It" idea! Looks like we will be buying some sharpies and large Velcro in the near future!! Also, if you click under her label "books to read", you will see tons of cute activities that go along with so many books! Be sure to check out her blog!!

Two Hoots and A Holler: Our Start to the New Year

Hoot#1
We are back!! Boy, we had a wonderful Christmas Break! We spent some time with family and friends,and we spent a lot of time laughing and making memories! 
We hope yours was just as enjoyable!
Last week, our letter of focus was the letter C. On Fun Friday, we read "If You Give a Cat a Cupcake." 
Then we followed our reading with this cute activity!

 The frosting is made of shaving cream, glue, and food coloring.  The students got to choose the topping that they wanted on their cupcake.

   

We also made caterpillar's from the letter C.  

The children had a blast make these crafts! 

Hoot #2 
It has been all about Winter here in the Delta! Believe it or not, we have had the weirdest weather this season! We actually wore flip flops over Christmas break! This was the first week that students needed to wear winter coats! So we set off to explore anything that had to do with snow!

Mrs. Jamie's class did a little writing with their tear art snowmen.

Ms. Jodi's class did these cute kids catching snowflakes on their tongues. Check out that hair!!!!

Mrs. Jodi's class did a directed drawing of this cute snowman.
They did a really good job on these drawings, and they were so proud to see them hanging in the hallway for all to see.  

 

This Week's Holler...

This week's holler goes out to Ciera Harris at Adventures of Room 129. Ciera is a Reading Specialist who we got to meet at the Nashville Teacher Meetup this past summer. We love that she is a looping teacher.  We have looped in the past, and we thought that it was one of the best learning experiences as educators ever!  This really gave us an insight to all the needs of 1st grade.  It definitely made us stronger Kinder teachers.  We also love the her idea for her (almost) paperless reading circles.  
Check out her blog and read all about it!