Great Minds Think Alike or at Least...

Dress Alike

Remember this post where we said we keep wearing coordinating outfits?  Well, it happened again this past week.  We walked in to work the other morning and said "you wore the pants!"  We started laughing because this just keeps happening.   People tell us all the time that we sound the same and now it looks like they will be telling us we dress alike too.

Details:

Polka Dot Top, Marshalls (similar)

Skinny Jeans, Blank Jeans via TJ Maxx

Boots, Forever 21(similar)

Necklace, Forever 21(similar)

Sunglasses, Aviators by RayBan

Details:

  Top, Ross (similar)

Skinny Jeans, H&M

  Loafers, BCBG via Ross

Necklace, Target

Chain Bracelet, Alloy

Sunglasses, Coach

Heart Writing with Techonology

Just came across this great technology blog: http://www.technologyrocksseriously.com/

She has some great ideas for Valentine's Day and I especially love her "Heart Writing Fun" ideas to do in the computer lab with our students. 

Both sites allows you to create a heart by typing in words. 

First we would have the kids write down words or sentences that remind them of Valentine's Day: love, my, mine, heart, mom, dad, I Love You! etc. Then the students will take their writing down to the computer lab and type in what they wrote. For this first heart, in order to get a large heart, most of the text box needs to be filled in. After students type in one line of text, just "copy, paste" it over and over again until the text box is full.

Here is an example:

http://www.festisite.com/text-layout/

The second site allows you to change the color of font,

 the font, the background color, and use your own 

words to populate a heart. This heart does not have a text box that needs to be filled in like the one in the top. It just repeats over and over again whatever words are typed in.

The kids can actually watch as the words they typed start to fill in the heart!

http://www.neoformix.com/Projects/WordHearts/

http://www.neoformix.com/Projects/WordHearts/

The Mitten

Winter is well underway and we have been having fun with the story The Mitten by Jan Brett.

As usual we read the story and sequenced the story several times with different activities. To add something extra we decided to integrate art and literature by doing a lesson on Ukrainian designs in knitting. 

We started with this Smart Board Notebook file and briefly discussed how knitting is done and showing examples of clothing that is knitted.
The Notebook file is available at TPT for free.

Then we showed the students some examples of Ukrainian designs and had them describe what they saw: lines, shapes, colors, etc.

The last step was for the students to create their own Ukrainian design mitten.

Each student received a large mitten pre-traced onto a piece of white construction that had been folded in half. Using oil pastels, students drew their own Ukrainian design. The only rule was that they had to start at the top and go all the way to the bottom of the mitten with their patterns. After the students finished drawing, they used water colors to paint over the entire mitten (oil resist). After the mittens were dry the students cut them out. The students were really focused during this art lesson and each mitten is unique and beautiful!

Hot Chocolate Addition

Who doesn't love a cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows on a cold winter day? We found this fun hot chocolate addition activity on Pinterest from Mrs. Wood's Kindergarten Class Blog.

The dimensions are as follows:

Blue background paper 9" x 12"

Cups in white, light green & light blue approximately 3 1/2" x 5 1/2"

Cup handles in the same colors as above 2" x 3"

Cocoa 1 1/2" x 3 1/2"

The kids loved using marshmallows for their addition sentences. They each had to come up with their own and were allowed to eat a few when their work was completed!

This blackline is available for free at TPT

Happy New Year!

  We have set many goals for ourselves this new year.  Some have to do with our classroom, some with the blog, some with our families and others have to do with our Passion for Fashion.   As you can see here, one of our fashion goals this year is to wear more color.  Have you set any fashion goals this year?

Details:

Striped Top, Old Navy

Sweater, Express via Marshalls

Skinny Jeans, Blank Jeans via TJ Maxx

Gold Loafers, Rampage via Ross

Necklace, Forever 21

Sunglasses, Aviators by RayBan

Details:

Striped Top, Loft

Vest, Ann Taylor (gift from student)

Velvet Pants, Velvet Heart via Ross

Boots, Target

Necklace, J.Crew Factory (gift from student)

Ring, Hello Fab

Groundhog Day Theme Book

Well, winter vacation is over and it's time to get back to business!
We hope you enjoyed spending time with your families like we did!

Here is a new theme book we just created to use with our classes: Hello Mr. Groundhog! What is it about Punxsutawney Phil that kids love so much? They will love making this book as they learn about predicting the weather, shadows and this fun yearly tradition.

Also be sure to visit this previous post for a great Groundhog Day activity: http://kinderlearninggarden.blogspot.com/2012/01/shadows.html

Hello Mr. Groundhog Theme Book available at TPT

Instructions

Front Cover Blackline

Groundhog Blackline