Fe! Fi! Fo! Fum!

Fe! Fi! Fo! Fum! We kicked off our plants unit by reading Jack and the Beanstalk and some great informational texts about plants. Today, we read "Roots" by Vijaya Khisty Bodach and "What Does a Garden Need?" by Judy Nayer. I showed them two blank anchor charts on the board ( Plants: Have/Need/Give) and the diagram of Parts of a Plant. Their instructions were to listen to me read the text and raise their hand each time they heard a part of the text that could be reported onto one of our anchor charts. They enthusiastically shared their knowledge.

This student is labeling our plant diagram.

Each day, we will read more informational texts about plants and we will add to this anchor chart. I can't wait to see what it looks like when it is finished!

After studying and charting about plants, we wrote in our journals using our new "By Heart" word "they".

I LOVE that she wrote "Did you know...".

Look at his awesome roots and labeling!

On his own, he decided to label his picture!

This student learned that plants need roots because it helps to hold up the plant and drink up the water.

Here is a little poem that we memorized and acted out today! 

We re-enacted Jack and the Beanstalk by making our own pop up books.

Of course we needed to plant our own "magical beans".

More Pictures From the Butterfly Release!

They were ready to FLY!

Some of our friends were very excited!

Mrs. Meager brought some oranges to squeeze some juice on our fingers so that the butterflies would suck the juice off of our fingers! So neat!

It TICKLES!

And they're off!

Sneak Peek of the Butterfly Release

There will be more pictures but here is one to start with (the rest are on my camera from the picture).

Jordan has one of the butterflies on his finger!

I hope you are all having a wonderful and relaxing break! 

Visual Thinking

After taking a workshop on Joni Chancer's visual thinking strategies, I decided to give it a try with my Kindergarteners. What better piece of art to study, than a little boy reaching out for a butterfly?

Boy and Butterfly by Don Potter

The goal of using "Visual Thinking Strategies" is to spark conversation and engage students in a piece of art. There is no "right" or "wrong" answer. This is safe space to make observations and share. I was feverishly taking notes while they shared. At first, we simply stated what observations we had when we studied this art. Here is what they said:
"His hair is different colors." - Jaden
"He is trying to touch the butterfly. This is not good for the butterfly since their wings are too light. The wings will come off if they are touched." - Proshanto
"His shirt is blue and white."- Scarlett
"His skin has two colors."- Autumn
"He has a little blue dot on his hand. I wonder if that's an egg!"- Jillian
"The background is peach and brown."- Matteo
"The butterfly is black and yellow."- Jax
"The artist made a shadow around the butterfly."- Arabella

Don't you just love their observations? The beauty of this exercise is that each student sees something different and by sharing out loud, it draws their attention to new details.

Next, I asked them, "What do you think the boy is thinking?"
"He is thinking it will land on his hand." - Hayven
"He wants to catch it for a pet."- Jillian

Then, I asked them, "What is the butterfly thinking?" Ooooh, now that was an interesting question!
"I am going to fly away from you!"- Scarlett
"I want to fly toward you!"- Arabella
"The butterfly thinks the boy's hand is a flower."- Jillian
"The butterfly is trying to fool the boy and make him think he will catch him, but then he is going to fly away."- Hayven

After our discussion, the students created their own butterfly art. I gave them no structured guidelines other than to draw themselves with a butterfly. I love how they interpreted the art.

She added multiple colors in her hair just like the artist did in the painting.

Yes. This was done by a Kindergartner. I know. It's incredible.

Simply adorable

I love his expression!

I adore how she created a "close up" just like the original art.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Isn't it amazing what a student can take from a story? Today we re-read the childhood, cherished story "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle. After acting out the story, we began a discussion about the types of food that the caterpillar ate in the story. We discovered that the caterpillar ate some foods that were healthy and some foods that were unhealthy. Next, we sorted foods on our SMART board into categories. This sorting activity stirred up a great debate among the students as to why certain foods should be considered healthy or unhealthy. Some students were mimicking what their parents have taught them or possibly what they overheard their parents saying at the dinner table. The health status of cheese caused quite the deliberation. We concluded that it was "ok" as long as you don't eat too much or you are not vegan!

After our discussion, we were inspired to write our opinions in our journals. 

"A watermelon is a healthy food because it is a fruit." How adorable is his spelling of fruit?

"A lollipop is unhealthy because it has sugar." The way she spelled "sugar" is amazing. That's a tricky one!!!

"A lollipop is unhealthy because it is tasty." This reasoning is hysterical, and partially true! She made a gorgeous drawing too!

Eric carle

As promised, we wrote a letter to Eric Carle on Wednesday. The students did NOT forget that we were going to write to the author of "The Grouchy Ladybug". Here are a few of the letters. Their reasoning is hysterical. Keep your fingers crossed that he writes back!

"...I think it's a girl because it makes good choices." And yes, she did that drawing COMPLETELY on her own.

How cute is this little guy's ladybug?

Hilarious... (and written by a boy).

Another FABULOUS example of phonetic spelling!!!!! "Is the Friendly ladybug a boy or a girl? I think it is a girl because friendlies are usually a girl."