In the spring we would make butterfly puppets. Already we had studied the monarch butterfly and watched a caterpillar make a chrysallis and turn into a butterfly.
To make the puppet you need one piece of 8 1/2" by 11" piece of white typing paper or computer paper. Fold the paper from top to bottom in half. You akso need a pair scissors Along the fold side of the paper draw 1/2 of the butterfly body (like 1/2 a cigar shape). Draw the wing by drawing lines from the body to the upper corner and lower corner of the paper. Remember when you cut out the butterfly from the folded paper it wil make the full form of the of the butterfly. Turn it into a puppet by holding the butterfly closed at the fold line and with the scissors cut two slits about 1/2 inch long. Make one slit on each side of your finger or thumb holding the butterfly body in the middle. This will form a "harness" for your finger to make the flying motions.
Wings can be colored according to the individual. In kindergarten, this gave us the opportunity to talk about real butterfies and what they look like. We discussed symmetry the concept of equal and the only rule we made was that each side of the butterfly had to look exactly alike, exactly equal. We talked about camouflage and some butterflies have big round circles that look like eyes to fool predators into thinking the butterfly is bigger and scarier than he actually is. We looked at actual pictures to see the actual patterns of stripes and figures on real butterflies.
This was a popular activity. We made similar bat puppets out of black construction paper at Halloween.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Whole Wheat Muffins
Despite multiple computer problems, I am determined to post this BLOG. I am sure my ineptness exacerbates things but maybe someday I'll be computer-literate. This week Hailey and I made whole wheat mufins including grinding the wheat kernals into flour. I have never bought whole wheat flour at the store but I suppose it would work.
I like these muffins because even though they are made with whole wheat flour, they don't taste too "healthy".
WHOLE WHEAT MUFFINS
1/2 c. butter or margarine
1 c. brown sugar
1 egg
2 c. whole wheat flour (often I use 1 c. whole wheat and 1 c. white flour)
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. vanilla (I am generous with this amt.)
1 c. milk
1 c. chopped nuts if desired
Cream melted butter and brown sugar. Add egg and vanilla. Alternate adding dry ingredients and stir in nuts. Bake in greased muffin tins at 425 degrees for 12-15 min.
Makes 12 muffins.
Serve with an egg dish like scrambled eggs or with soup. Ralph likes them with honey but since they are already quite sweet, I like them with just butter.
I like these muffins because even though they are made with whole wheat flour, they don't taste too "healthy".
WHOLE WHEAT MUFFINS
1/2 c. butter or margarine
1 c. brown sugar
1 egg
2 c. whole wheat flour (often I use 1 c. whole wheat and 1 c. white flour)
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. vanilla (I am generous with this amt.)
1 c. milk
1 c. chopped nuts if desired
Cream melted butter and brown sugar. Add egg and vanilla. Alternate adding dry ingredients and stir in nuts. Bake in greased muffin tins at 425 degrees for 12-15 min.
Makes 12 muffins.
Serve with an egg dish like scrambled eggs or with soup. Ralph likes them with honey but since they are already quite sweet, I like them with just butter.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Kindergarten Art
Hailey is a young married girl who lives in our basement apartment with her husband and 1 year old son. Ralph has hired her to help me with daily activities that I cannot do anymore. Besides being a great help, she has become a good friend too. Every Wednesday we cook something togethern, or I should say she cooks and I just lay on the couch nearby in case she needs any questions answered.
Hailey was an Art major in college before she got married. On Thursdays we do an Art project together. Since the bulk of my experience is in kindergarten, Hailey puts up with my simple projects but it is good to know what little children can do and how to help them. We have made snowflakes, Bubble prints and a 3-D mouse. (kind of like origami) This week I showed her how to make lettering for a sign or bulletin board. This was shown to me by an older teacher (who taught before die pressed letters were invented), not taught in any teacher training classes. Still it is a handy skill to have.
The letters are made out of construction paper. To start, fold and cut pieces of paper to make equal sized cards or pieces of paper,depending on the size you want your finished letters. This assures that all the letters are the same size and you can make them as small or as big as you want. I've made letters as big as 1/2 piece of 9"x12" contruction paper. You can fold the paper to mark equal sections then cut out equal sized pieces.
To make each letter, fold each way to mark the half-way points. I use my finger or thumb as a guide to keep the thickness of each letter line consistent. For example, to make letter A, using the lengthwise and crosswise folds as guidelines, cut out the outside slanted shape of the A by folding your paper lengthwise and cutting both outside lines. This assures that each side will be symmetrical. Open up the paper and cut the inside to make it look like an A instead of merely a triangle shape.
The crosswise fold mark can be used as a guideline to make the bar that goes across the middle of the A. The paper can be folded in half lengthwise again to cut out the triangle space above the bar. Hopefully by now you have made an A with abou 1/2 in. wide lines.
This probably sounds complicated but a little practice will help. Be sure to use the fold and finger guidelines to help you. Practice with each letter of the alphabet. One of the things I liked about it, besides having nice looking lettering at my disposal, was that I think it improved my visualization skills. Call me if you have questions or troubles.
Hailey was an Art major in college before she got married. On Thursdays we do an Art project together. Since the bulk of my experience is in kindergarten, Hailey puts up with my simple projects but it is good to know what little children can do and how to help them. We have made snowflakes, Bubble prints and a 3-D mouse. (kind of like origami) This week I showed her how to make lettering for a sign or bulletin board. This was shown to me by an older teacher (who taught before die pressed letters were invented), not taught in any teacher training classes. Still it is a handy skill to have.
The letters are made out of construction paper. To start, fold and cut pieces of paper to make equal sized cards or pieces of paper,depending on the size you want your finished letters. This assures that all the letters are the same size and you can make them as small or as big as you want. I've made letters as big as 1/2 piece of 9"x12" contruction paper. You can fold the paper to mark equal sections then cut out equal sized pieces.
To make each letter, fold each way to mark the half-way points. I use my finger or thumb as a guide to keep the thickness of each letter line consistent. For example, to make letter A, using the lengthwise and crosswise folds as guidelines, cut out the outside slanted shape of the A by folding your paper lengthwise and cutting both outside lines. This assures that each side will be symmetrical. Open up the paper and cut the inside to make it look like an A instead of merely a triangle shape.
The crosswise fold mark can be used as a guideline to make the bar that goes across the middle of the A. The paper can be folded in half lengthwise again to cut out the triangle space above the bar. Hopefully by now you have made an A with abou 1/2 in. wide lines.
This probably sounds complicated but a little practice will help. Be sure to use the fold and finger guidelines to help you. Practice with each letter of the alphabet. One of the things I liked about it, besides having nice looking lettering at my disposal, was that I think it improved my visualization skills. Call me if you have questions or troubles.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Thanksgiving in kindergarten
Of all the holidays we celebrated in kindergarten, I think I enjoyed Thanksgiving the most. We spent weeks preparing for it. The following is a list of our activities:
We celebrated for two days. The first day we had an "Indian Feast". We studied about Indians for a number of days. One of the things that has always bothered me is when Thanksgiving Indians are portrayed as the plains Indians are portrayed as the plains Indians such as the Sioux with big feather headresses.
We had pictures of the East Coast Indians around the room and read stories about them. (Scholastic has some excellent books about Indians and pilgrim childen at Plymouth Plantation. I don't remember the title of all of them but one of them is called "Sarah Morton's Day".) We talked about their clothes and how they had to make everything instead of buying it at the store. We talked about how they had to dry their fruits and meat to preserve them for the winter.
I had a real tanned deerskin that I brought in for the children to see and touch. We made Indian vests out of brown paper sacks and paper mats to sit on since the Indians didn't have furniture. We talked about the Indians use of "picture writing" instead of ABC's and students wrote a "picture story" on their mats.
Since Indians couldn't go to the store, they had to use things they found in nature for everything. I brought examples of necklaces made from wood, dried corn, leather and bird feathers. We made died pasta necklaces. Different colors were used to reinforce patterning. (Rigatoni works well. (If rubbing alcohol and food coloring are used in a large plastic zip-lock bag to shake with the pasta, the colors are brighter. Also dipping one end of the yarn in paraffin wax or melted crayons about 3 or 4 in. makes it easier to string. When the wax cools it is stiff, almost like a needle.)
Students also made headbands to wear. They had to match the number of paper feathers they put on their headband to the number of letters in their name. I could never pass up the chance to reinforce 1-1 correspondence. On the day we had our Indian feast students ate popcorn, raisins (dried fruit), jerky (dried meat), and peanuts (nuts).
The next day (usually the day before Thanksgiving vacation) we had our Pilgrim Feast. We had spent days preparing for this too. We made paper hats, black stovepipe hats with a buckle for the boys and blue and white bonnets for the girls. We also made large white collars to wear.
Students made corn muffins ( a Jiffy brand corn muffin mix with a little added sugar since we would not be using jam or honey. I decided this would not be the time to teach the differences between the taste of our food now compared to culture in the 16oo's.
The day before, students had brought in a vegetable of their choice and we learned to cut them properly (using table knives of course). We all added them to the vegetable stew.
We made home made butter (see recipe at foreverblooming.com) to put on our corn muffins. With our modern day adaptations they tasted kind of like cupcakes with whipped cream on top. I also had a mom bring in a pumpkin pie.
Parents and grandparents were invited to our feast as well. We showed off our accomplishments and sang Thanksgiving songs for them. We had a wonderful celebration with I hope some learning too.
We celebrated for two days. The first day we had an "Indian Feast". We studied about Indians for a number of days. One of the things that has always bothered me is when Thanksgiving Indians are portrayed as the plains Indians are portrayed as the plains Indians such as the Sioux with big feather headresses.
We had pictures of the East Coast Indians around the room and read stories about them. (Scholastic has some excellent books about Indians and pilgrim childen at Plymouth Plantation. I don't remember the title of all of them but one of them is called "Sarah Morton's Day".) We talked about their clothes and how they had to make everything instead of buying it at the store. We talked about how they had to dry their fruits and meat to preserve them for the winter.
I had a real tanned deerskin that I brought in for the children to see and touch. We made Indian vests out of brown paper sacks and paper mats to sit on since the Indians didn't have furniture. We talked about the Indians use of "picture writing" instead of ABC's and students wrote a "picture story" on their mats.
Since Indians couldn't go to the store, they had to use things they found in nature for everything. I brought examples of necklaces made from wood, dried corn, leather and bird feathers. We made died pasta necklaces. Different colors were used to reinforce patterning. (Rigatoni works well. (If rubbing alcohol and food coloring are used in a large plastic zip-lock bag to shake with the pasta, the colors are brighter. Also dipping one end of the yarn in paraffin wax or melted crayons about 3 or 4 in. makes it easier to string. When the wax cools it is stiff, almost like a needle.)
Students also made headbands to wear. They had to match the number of paper feathers they put on their headband to the number of letters in their name. I could never pass up the chance to reinforce 1-1 correspondence. On the day we had our Indian feast students ate popcorn, raisins (dried fruit), jerky (dried meat), and peanuts (nuts).
The next day (usually the day before Thanksgiving vacation) we had our Pilgrim Feast. We had spent days preparing for this too. We made paper hats, black stovepipe hats with a buckle for the boys and blue and white bonnets for the girls. We also made large white collars to wear.
Students made corn muffins ( a Jiffy brand corn muffin mix with a little added sugar since we would not be using jam or honey. I decided this would not be the time to teach the differences between the taste of our food now compared to culture in the 16oo's.
The day before, students had brought in a vegetable of their choice and we learned to cut them properly (using table knives of course). We all added them to the vegetable stew.
We made home made butter (see recipe at foreverblooming.com) to put on our corn muffins. With our modern day adaptations they tasted kind of like cupcakes with whipped cream on top. I also had a mom bring in a pumpkin pie.
Parents and grandparents were invited to our feast as well. We showed off our accomplishments and sang Thanksgiving songs for them. We had a wonderful celebration with I hope some learning too.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Number Poems con't.
Fat old five has a hat on top
Go down and around
And see what you've found
Note: Some writing styles instruct you to put the "hat" on top last which is the way I learned it. This was awkward at first but with some practice it became easier.
Six:
Roll a hoop and make a loop
Across the sky
And down from heaven
That's the way to make a seven.
Make an "S"
But do not wait,
Go back up and make an eight.
Make a ball
And then a line
That's the way to make a nine.
Note: The ball must be started and stopped in the correct position to have the line in the right place.
Make a one
And a zero again.
That's the way to make a ten.
Some children rely on these poems when writing numbers for some time. Giving stuents a way to remember things is importent, whatever that way is. When I would teach alphabet letters, I would also teach and we would practice the american hand sign for each letter. I would not test them to see if they remembered the sign but I would notice that the kinesthetic learners would put their hand behind their back and make the hand sign to help them when they were being tested on alphabet letters.
Go down and around
And see what you've found
Note: Some writing styles instruct you to put the "hat" on top last which is the way I learned it. This was awkward at first but with some practice it became easier.
Six:
Roll a hoop and make a loop
Across the sky
And down from heaven
That's the way to make a seven.
Make an "S"
But do not wait,
Go back up and make an eight.
Make a ball
And then a line
That's the way to make a nine.
Note: The ball must be started and stopped in the correct position to have the line in the right place.
Make a one
And a zero again.
That's the way to make a ten.
Some children rely on these poems when writing numbers for some time. Giving stuents a way to remember things is importent, whatever that way is. When I would teach alphabet letters, I would also teach and we would practice the american hand sign for each letter. I would not test them to see if they remembered the sign but I would notice that the kinesthetic learners would put their hand behind their back and make the hand sign to help them when they were being tested on alphabet letters.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Writing Practice
Students usually love to write but school is generally their first experience with persistent writing exercises. Girls usually are more adept because they have built up the fine motor muscles in their hand by being more inclined to write daily. Boys would rather throw a ball or stick so they have built up their large muscles.
I would do art projects with all children using paper punches to build up muscles in the hand. (See the art technique called "pointillism")
We would learn how to write each letter of the alphabet as we leaned letter recognition and letter sounds. One thing I learned was that you don't have to use up the whole tree resource providing lots of paper and practice for students. I found that about 5 times was sufficient. Otherwise they would make a mistake and practice it over and over again until the mistake became a habit.
We learned about numbers too. One of the misconceptions that beginning students have is the difference between letters and numbers. In kindergarten we had poems that went with each to help students remember how to make them. We made books with a page for each number. After learning to write the number students would draw p ictures to illustrate the quantity or number concept. (e.g. six balls or 9 candy canes)
Below is the poem for each number:
1. One is fun!
2. Around and back on a railroad track. ( Care has to be taken here to explain the position. Most beginning students want to draw the "railroad track", the bottom or base of the two, directly under the right side of the curved beginning. We would check to make sure that an object dropped from the two's 'nose" ( the beginning of the curved line on top) would fall directly on its "toes' ( the beginning of the straight line at the bottom). We would practice dropping a clothespin from our nose and watch its vertical drop to our toes.
3. Around like me
Around like me
That's the way to make a three.
(We would talk about how the top and bottom should be equal so it has a "waist" ) .
4. Go down and over
And duwn some more
That's the way to make a four.
I would do art projects with all children using paper punches to build up muscles in the hand. (See the art technique called "pointillism")
We would learn how to write each letter of the alphabet as we leaned letter recognition and letter sounds. One thing I learned was that you don't have to use up the whole tree resource providing lots of paper and practice for students. I found that about 5 times was sufficient. Otherwise they would make a mistake and practice it over and over again until the mistake became a habit.
We learned about numbers too. One of the misconceptions that beginning students have is the difference between letters and numbers. In kindergarten we had poems that went with each to help students remember how to make them. We made books with a page for each number. After learning to write the number students would draw p ictures to illustrate the quantity or number concept. (e.g. six balls or 9 candy canes)
Below is the poem for each number:
1. One is fun!
2. Around and back on a railroad track. ( Care has to be taken here to explain the position. Most beginning students want to draw the "railroad track", the bottom or base of the two, directly under the right side of the curved beginning. We would check to make sure that an object dropped from the two's 'nose" ( the beginning of the curved line on top) would fall directly on its "toes' ( the beginning of the straight line at the bottom). We would practice dropping a clothespin from our nose and watch its vertical drop to our toes.
3. Around like me
Around like me
That's the way to make a three.
(We would talk about how the top and bottom should be equal so it has a "waist" ) .
4. Go down and over
And duwn some more
That's the way to make a four.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Love
I probably should have posted this a long time ago, near Valentine's Day but I didn't and Ralph had to give a lesson on Charity so it's been on my mind recently.
Shortly before Valentines' Day in kindrgarten the students would make an inter-active bulletin board. We had already talked about love beyond the "boyfriend/girlfriend" stuff and learned songs etc. about love and being kind.
I explained to the students that we would be working as partners on the bulletin board project. Immediately they moved toward their friend and started to all talk at once. "I want so-and-so to be my partner." Then I would explain the "partnering" process. I would choose someone who could then choose a partner. We also discussed how someone would feel if the partner they chose made negative comments or showed negative body language. We even did a little role-playing for emphasis.
When it came time for partner choosing, I would have all the "loser" kids do the choosing. Inevitably they would choose the most advanved partners, both academically and socially. It was interesting to watch these top performing, popular kids say, "I'd love to be your partner", even though they would have made a different choice.
It became an exercise in further kindness and tolerance after I explained the next part. Each set of partners was to agree on two identical hearts I had dittoed off. Some were plain. Some had vertical lines, horizontal lines, or large polka dots marked on them. Partners had to color them exactly alike. That meant that if a student colored badly the partner would have to work to make his/her heart match exactly. It took effort for both partners. The less capable students tried to do their best work and the more advanced students tried to be kind and understanding. I think it was a good learning experience for all.
When students thought they had two matching hearts, we put them on the bulletin board in random order. I had already stapled large red hearts all over the bulletin board to frame the smaller, student-created hearts. Students could choose the placement of their hearts to make the matching game 'tricky". Anyone who came into our schoolroom could play the game by trying to find the matching hearts and all students were proud of their creation.
What I learned: All students want to show love. To some it comes naturally. Others have to practice. Showing love is not only in what you do but in how you make others feel.
Shortly before Valentines' Day in kindrgarten the students would make an inter-active bulletin board. We had already talked about love beyond the "boyfriend/girlfriend" stuff and learned songs etc. about love and being kind.
I explained to the students that we would be working as partners on the bulletin board project. Immediately they moved toward their friend and started to all talk at once. "I want so-and-so to be my partner." Then I would explain the "partnering" process. I would choose someone who could then choose a partner. We also discussed how someone would feel if the partner they chose made negative comments or showed negative body language. We even did a little role-playing for emphasis.
When it came time for partner choosing, I would have all the "loser" kids do the choosing. Inevitably they would choose the most advanved partners, both academically and socially. It was interesting to watch these top performing, popular kids say, "I'd love to be your partner", even though they would have made a different choice.
It became an exercise in further kindness and tolerance after I explained the next part. Each set of partners was to agree on two identical hearts I had dittoed off. Some were plain. Some had vertical lines, horizontal lines, or large polka dots marked on them. Partners had to color them exactly alike. That meant that if a student colored badly the partner would have to work to make his/her heart match exactly. It took effort for both partners. The less capable students tried to do their best work and the more advanced students tried to be kind and understanding. I think it was a good learning experience for all.
When students thought they had two matching hearts, we put them on the bulletin board in random order. I had already stapled large red hearts all over the bulletin board to frame the smaller, student-created hearts. Students could choose the placement of their hearts to make the matching game 'tricky". Anyone who came into our schoolroom could play the game by trying to find the matching hearts and all students were proud of their creation.
What I learned: All students want to show love. To some it comes naturally. Others have to practice. Showing love is not only in what you do but in how you make others feel.
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