Dinosaurs...Part 2

We completed our dinosaur unit this week. It was a blast! Here are some of the highlights:

Pterodactyl Craft

This is very easy. Take a pterodactyl template and fold in half. Cut it out. (I did it for the kids.)

Have students color a clothespin and the template. 

Glue the Wings inside the clothespin (hot glue works best.)

Have the handle of the clothespin be the open mouth and glue on some eyes. Fun and easy!

The anatomy of a triceratops. This was made with butcher paper and toilet/paper towel tubes. 

T-Rex bone puzzle by Scholastic. 

Baking soda dino eggs.

These are super easy to make. 

Put a whole box of baking soda in a bowl and add water until you get a clay consistency. 

Scoop some in your hand and add a mini plastic dino to the egg. Fold dough around the dino to form an egg.  Let dry overnight.

 We studied Paleontologists and the tools that they use on a dino dig. Then I have them their own tools.

 1. Paleontologist Hat

2. Pick (toothpick or popsicle stick)

3. Brush (paintbrush)

4. Magnifying glass

 Some students really took their time and others cracked that egg as fast as they could!

 After they were done, they got to play with the "dough".

 Stegosaurus Fun Food

Dino week is always a good time. Thanks to all the parents who gave me the toilet paper tubes! :)

Dinosaurs Part 1

Hello parents, students, followers and other amazing people who love Kindergarten!

This week we began to delve into the world of dinosaurs. Because it was my window for progress report assessments, I didn't get to do all of my cool dinosaur lessons! It's always something, right? So this week, for sure, dinosaurs will be on!

In addition to some tests, some amazing learning on letters and sounds, sight words and math concepts, we discussed the world of the dinosaur. Specifically we did:
1. The dinosaur habitat
2. Carnivores and Herbivores
3. The Volcano!

Everyone loves a good baking soda volcano and ours was something to behold!

We began with a paper cup taped to a paper plate. I covered the whole thing in foil and punched a hole for the top of the cup. We had our volcano.

 I was terrified for my carpet, so I used a tray inside a box. Haha!

Inside the volcano I had put red food coloring (the real deal from Smart & Final) and a half a cup of vinegar.

The picture is super awful because I was in the moment, excited, and we are lucky I got a picture at all. Haha! I put 3/4 cup of baking soda in the volcano and let the magic happen. 

We also discussed how a baking soda volcano differs from a real volcano. That they are not really alike at all, but baking soda volcanoes are super fun. 

We did watch how a real volcano erupts, including a lava floe in Hawaii. 

 We learned that dinosaurs had to live in a very harsh environment and it was a little scary. To make it less scary we made a volcano Fun Food. This was an ice cream cone (upside down) with the top cut off. We had licorice coming out of the top like lava. And gummy dinos to have a little fun with. 

We learned about habitat and what a dinosaur needed to survive. 

1. Food

2. Water

3. Shelter

4. Air

We also discussed our thoughts on why dinos are not alive today. Perhaps it was a change in their habitat. Discussing issues in which Kinders can give logical arguments is excellent practice for them as they grow in their education. We need to be able to prove our opinions and explaining why we thought dinosaurs went extinct, using our prior knowledge, is exactly what makes learning so exciting!

Our team tables worked on dino habitats.

 We put in the land.

 We added water (blue crystals that look like water) and plants.

We added the dinosaurs; one plant eater and one meat eater. (It's the circle of life...)

They are not only educational, but super adorable. 

We also did dino number order this week. While it may seem simple, this activity is challenging for little ones. They have several steps in this process:

1. Identifying the numbers

2. Cutting

3. Beginning to glue on the left side of the paper.

4. Paying attention to order.

This week we will delve a lot more into dinos and make some exciting projects!

We Are READING!

So cool!

Community

Hi everyone. We have had a wonderful week in K. We learned about community helpers this week. I am currently working on a community helper unit for TpT. It should be coming out soon. Because we could literally do community helpers for a month solid, we didn't do everything. Instead, we focused on some of the main community helpers in our local area. We live in a small town (although it is getting bigger by the day) and I tried to teach the helpers my students come into contact with most often. We are currently building a new elementary school, which we are WAY excited about, and got to watch some builders in action this week. It was very exciting.

 We visited the builders and saw them using their tools. Then we came back and made our own tool box.

 We learned about bakers and chefs. Our chef's hat was made from a band of white poster board and white butcher paper, folded over and stapled around the band. The cookies are made of paper. Aren't they cute?

 We learned about the job of a grocer. Several of my students have parents that work at the local supermarket, so this was very exciting for them. Our activity for the grocer was extra fun, as well. I found this great fruits and veggies coloring page.

I colored one sheet, cut them apart, and taped them around the room. The kids had their sheets on clipboards (because they LOVE clipboards) and went around the room trying to find their fruits and veggies. When they found one, they colored it the color it was in the picture. We talked about how grocers have to make sure they have enough of everything to keep the customer happy. If there was not a lot of healthy choices, people might not shop there. The kids did this for about 20 minutes and had the BEST time. It was great.  

 We learned about maps and how we can see a whole town by looking at a map. Students made their own maps on a large piece of drawing paper. 

 Our fun food this week was, you guessed it, a big yellow bus. Our shape was rectangle, our color word was yellow, and we were learning about our community. Perfect fun food! The bus is a graham cracker with yellow icing. The wheels are Lifesaver Gummies and the windows are Cinnamon Cereal. Yum!

The culminating activity for Community was very exciting. Each student in my class chose a hat at random with one of the community helpers we learned about. They colored it and cut it out. I stapled it together. Then we met with the other Kindergarten classes, who had different jobs than us, and we told each other about our jobs. It was great for listening and speaking. And the whole conversation took 5 minutes! Success!