Two Hoots And A Holler: Kindergarten can get MESSY!

Hoot #1

Last week Jamie posted about her student's Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs writing and craft she did with our weather unit.  My (Jodi) class is a week behind doing this activity.  I found a cute cloud craft on Pinterest that I wanted to do, so I revamped it to incorporate their writing and the book Cloudy With A Chance  of Meatballs.  I made a mixture of shaving cream, glue, and blue paint for them to finger paint their cloud.  While that was drying they did their writing.  The next day they colored, cut, and glued their food on their cloud.  The paint didn't turn out as puffy as I wanted, but they had a blast doing this!  They couldn't wait to read and see what food their classmates chose.  Here are some pictures of the activity...

Students are finger painting their cloud. 

These students chose chicken legs and pork chops! 

Here is the finished product!

This one says, "I wish it would rain blue bubblegum because it is so good but it is junk food."

Hoot #2

 This hoot is what Jamie has been waiting to do ALL year!  Her favorite unit on plants and worms!  Today was WORM DAY! She planned a lot of activities for both of our classes to do with worms.  The students got to pick and name their worm, dig dirt for its temporary home, observe their worm, make a worm hat, eat a "worm" snack (with gummy worms, of course!), do a science experiment to make their gummy worm come alive, and finally release their worm back into its habitat.  WHEW!  It was a BUSY day for these kiddos and teachers!! Now, I (Jodi) can't stand to see or touch worms at all!  So, we made a deal that if I did gingerbread houses with her class at Christmas, then she would do worm day with my class.  I am so glad we made that deal because my students got to experience this AWESOME DAY!  So a big shout out to Jamie, Amy (Jamie's assistant), and Amanda (Jodi's assistant) for making this day possible for all of our students!!  

Students eating their "wormy" snack while they fill out a web about worms. 

She is picking out the perfect worm for her have for the day...this is a HUGE decision for kindergarteners! 

These students are observing their worms with a magnifying glass and filling out their observation form. 

After picking and observing their worm, they got to write about their worm. 

He found a worm in his soil that he put in his cup.  He had to release it back into its habitat before he could add his worm to his cup!

He is watching his worm in his cup cultivate the soil. 

He is measuring his worm using cubes and recording them on his observation sheet. 

 Students are releasing worms back into the soil so they can go back to their jobs of helping the soil become rich! 

Goodbye worms!  It was a great, fun-filled day! 

OH!  I almost forgot!  Students are going to plant seeds in their cup of soil that their worm lived in for the day! 

This Week's Holler...

This week's holler goes out to Deanna Jump and DeeDee Wills!  It is hard to holler about one without the other because they have collaborated on so many TPT units together!  When we first ran across their units on TPT, we felt like we had hit the gold mine!  We LOVE the math workshop units, they have been a life saver!   Both of their blogs are FILLED with information and ideas to use in your classroom.  Literally, there is so much information on these two blogs, it would take days to go through it all! Check them out if you haven't already, and be sure to have pen and paper next to you to take notes!  Follow them to be sure you don't miss out! Thank you Deanna and DeeDee for helping out teachers nationwide!