BLOTTER BUGS

Boy, have I been busy.  I have hardly found time to post about all the fun things that we have done so far.  Between school and raising an almost 11 month old...there is no free time.  Anyway, here is something I did manage to get a pic of.  Our fabulous blotter bugs.  The project took the whole week, but it turned out cute and the kiddos learned how to make orange, green, and purple.

 

If you like the recording sheet, click here.

Please keep Texas in your thoughts and prayers...

Many wildfires have been raging through Texas.  One was even about a mile away from my house.  Please pray for families that have lost everything, for the fire fighters trying to contain these fires, and for everyone else these fires are affecting. 

This is the view from my backyard.  I believe this to be the fire in Bastrop, TX

Click here to help those in need.  Many in Bastrop have lost everything.  25,000 acres have been burned and 500 homes destroyed. 

Dear God,
Please send rain soon.
Sincerely,
Texas

Colors continued...

So, our big color project is unfinished because my kiddos got sooooo excited about Pete the Cat.  I think we may have read it everyday last week.   We read the story, talked about colors, mixed colors, made Pete, talked about our favorite color, and found and made rainbows.

Here is our "Blotter Bugs" project.  It is not finished yet.  We still need to add legs and googly eyes to our bugs.  Students mixed the primary colors to make green, purple, and orange.

On Friday, we talked all about rainbows.  We even had a rainbow snack.  We were so busy I didn't snap as many pictures as I wanted to.

Here is our color splash experiment.  We poured milk in a pie plate, added drops of food coloring, then drops of dish washing soap.  The colors moved right before our eyes.   We recorded our information on our data sheet and added it to our science notebook. 

More ideas and pics coming soon!

COLORS!

We are working on colors this week.  Today was primary color day!  I made play dough last night and today we got to mix it to see what happens.  Last year, I had them make a rainbow out of their play dough and we put it on a paper plate... it turned out super cute.  This year I just let them explore it.  I didn't take a pic though, wish I did. :(

I just found a post on Chalk Talk about science notebooks (journals) and it links to a totally fun mini lesson on mixing colors.  I am thinking about trying it tomorrow.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Ladybug drops of glue and cutting practice

At the beginning of the year, we like to start off with lessons on how to conserve glue and how to use scissors safely and correctly.  Mostly because we get a lot of friends that have never used these things before, but it also serves as a good review and good fine motor practice for other friends in class.

Ladybug drops of glue:

 The  ladybugs are made with red paint and the drops are made with clear glue mixed with black paint.  It's another fun way to practice making little dots of glue.  The "Little Dot of Glue" song is also glued on the page to help them remember a little dot holds a lot.

Cutting Practice:

For this project I drew 3 different lines on a sheet of construction paper.  One was straight, the other curvy, and the last zig zag.  They had to cut on the lines and then glue them on a another paper.  We talked about how to hold scissors and that they were kind of like a car and the line was the road.  We said that we need to go slow so that we could cut nicely just like a car needs to go slow on the road to stay in their lines (lanes).

The day is almost here...

I can't believe the first day of school is only a few days away.  We had Meet the Teacher last Thursday and I got to meet my new group of kiddos.  They are super sweet.  The few days before I had been feeling a little "off".  Well, after Meet the Teacher I went home to discover that I had a fever.  YIKES!!  I crawled into bed and slept until Friday morning.  I woke up and felt so much better --fever gone!  I think all the work and craziness of the week finally caught up with me and my body was saying that I need some rest. 

Here are some more pics of my classroom.

Notice that number 10 is missing?  It fell behind my white board.  :(

To avoid big glue messes...

Why not practice making little drops of glue.  After all, a little dot of glue holds a lot.

At the beginning of the year we teach the kiddos a song and show them how to conserve glue by just making little dots.  I just redid the glue practice sheet.  Click on the picture to get yours.  Each child practices placing one little dot on each circle they see.  It is good fine motor practice as well.

 

 Once they learn the song, don't be surprised if when you are working on another gluing activity someone will start it and they will all sing along.  Click on the pic for the song.

 

A little dot of glue holds a lot!!

We also have another activity called ladybug drops of glue.  More on that one later when we get the kids.  They don't start till next week.  I was just redoing some first week activities.

**OH - Just found these TOP SECRET GLUING TECHNIQUES ON TPT!!!  IT'S FREE!!!!

 

Click here