Worm Day!

Okay, so this has been a cra-cra week, but I still want to share about one thing– Worm Day! I'll break it into five points to share on this Five for Friday linky post.

1.  So I had my head on a million things happening this week– kindergarten round-up, which involves prepping a talk and keeping the room neat, etc., assessing for report cards, and the Three Billy Goat Gruff retelling– when SURPRISE! it was Worm Day. Do you know about Worm Day? Well, it's the first day spring-like enough to bring the worms out in droves... swarms... gangs onto the sidewalks. It is usually a wet and balmy day, after a rainy night, and this year was no different, except that it was March first... MARCH first, mind you, not April. Those pesky worms do not bother to text me when their mass exodus from the earth is coming up, so I don't know until I painstakingly tiptoe into school through a worm obstacle course covering the sidewalk. Because this teacher of five year olds simply cannot let worm day pass by and not take advantage of the learning it provides, everything else on the day's agenda got pushed aside.

I knew I made the right decision when the kids came in with nothing but worm talk. We had a brief discussion on the general make up of worms- no bones, very squishy– and how that then dictates how we handle them. And no, no one is going to make anyone pick up or touch a worm, but those of you who want to, can collect some worms in our jar for a couple days of scientific observation. Then we headed out the door gleefully.

So many worms on a balmy March 1

Gently, gently

Here's another one!

Worm tracks

2.  Twenty minutes later we were back inside and I was substituting the planned center, abandoning guided reading, and sitting at a kid table distributing a small tray, wet paper towel, magnifying glass, and worm to each student in the small group. Ah, fifteen minute of observing the worms, keeping them on their paper towel, making the magnifying glasses "work," and terrific conversation– scientific and otherwise.

Carefully looking

Scientists at work

It doesn't seem like they move very fast,
but this one somehow slipped by in stealth mode!

The first time the kids have a worm all to themselves you really need to be ready to simply follow their leads. They are completely engaged, even the kids who proclaim they don't like worms. We observed how they moved, we marveled at how fast they could be, and we found a safe way of flopping the worms back on the paper towel when they strayed off. We talked about all the colors in a worm- quite a few colors considering these are just "boring" old earthworms. And of course we had a lot of discussion on the purpose of worms in the world.  Mostly I wrote down their questions- what do they eat, where are their babies, why are they wet and slimy, why did they come out today, and is that poop? Their questions then guide our fact gathering later in the day as we turn into bookworms immersed in books about worms.

3.  The next day we drew the worms using all the crayon colors we had listed the day before. We watched a couple of kid videos that explained a lot about worms, and we wrote some of the facts we learned about them.

4.  Then on our way to lunch recess we stopped by the school garden with its raised beds and filled up a deep tray with some soil. I told the kids that I would take the soil back to the classroom to warm up a bit– the ground and beds were now covered with snow– this is Michigan after all with daily change of seasons! When the kids got back from lunch we put all of our worms on top of the soil and watched. The worms did not disappoint. It did not take long for all of them to disappear into the soil... well, all but the four that hadn't survived the adventure (actually I think they had already been smushed on the sidewalk before the kids brought them in.) The dead comrades provided further learning, however, as we discussed how worms are even useful after they die.

We went back out to the garden and put the soil and worms back in the bed, tucking them in with extra soil– poor things. I really think that the warm spell of the last week, which ended abruptly, might do more harm to things in nature than good, even as it was nice to abandon snow pants and heavy jackets for a few days. We are right back to winter, but we have a LOT more knowledge about worms. I considered the worm mini-unit an even greater success when I overheard one student, the one who had shrieked at the first worm in the jar, say, "They are kinda cute."

5.  Teacher tips– having done this many years now, I suggest you keep the worms for no more than one or two days. Some worm death might be inevitable, if for no other reason than the worms get stepped on on the sidewalk. It is best to up the chances of survival through their observation period and keep them for only a short time. Or you can set up a proper worm habitat, but unless you are using them for composting, they usually keep well out of sighte way down in the dirt.

I suggest you collect and keep the worms in a jar with just a little bit of the mud found at their collection site. I don't know that they eat overnight, but there is some food in there for them if they get hungry. Then keep a lot of very damp, crumpled paper towel in the jar so they can bury themselves in the creases and folds. This allows them moisture and a place to hide. Paper towel allows the kids to watch the worms more than if you just fill the jar with dirt, where the worms can't be seen. It also will be very obvious in the morning that the worms pooped on the paper towel. Worm poop, or castings, is a big way that worms help us and is a valuable part of the learning, as you'll find when you do some factual reading with the kids. Cover the top of the jar with plastic wrap that has very tiny holes in the top– I use a paperclip wire to punch the holes in. We have never had a worm escape from the jar, but the holes need to be very small, and the plastic wrap basically keeps the paper towel from drying out. Also a tray that is a couple inches deep is ideal for filing with soil so you can watch the worms burrow out of sight.

Hope this inspires you to be ready for your impromptu worm day. Taking little bends in the road to incorporate teachable moments and the children's interest is what teaching is all about in my opinion. And it is an awful lot of fun for all involved!

Swing on back to Five for Friday! Thanks, Kasey.

 Thanks for stopping by! And don't forget to Pin so you don't forget!

Little Plant, Big Will

I think all classrooms should have a few green plants, and a Jade is one of the easiest plants to grow, mainly because it has a strong will to live. You can water regularly, or NOT, and still it presses on. If a leaf falls off in the dirt, it will send out root shoots and keep on growing. Not too many plants can be grown from one single leaf! I have a big one in my classroom and a few smaller ones at home, all offshoots of the big one. They truly are almost impossible to kill.

When school let out for summer and I actually started spending time at home, I found one of my little Jades over in the corner suffering from severe lack of water. It was still alive, but several of its leaves were shriveled. As I went to clean it up and pick off the oldies, I found THIS leaf.

New Jade babies growing on a damaged leaf!

It had a hole in it from some earlier accident and much to my surprise, the edge of the hole was growing NEW baby plants! That was a new one on me!

If you are looking for a plant for the classroom I highly recommend a Jade plant. By the end of the year you can have enough little plants growing that each student can take one home.

Do you have plants in your classroom? If you do, what kinds do you have?

Thanks, Christina, for your Wordless Wednesday link up, which gave me the idea to share this little green thumb suggestion. Click below on the WW button to find more great pics and ideas.

Thanks for stopping by!

April's Pick Three Pin Party

Well, can I post twice in one day?? Sure I can. It's been a crazy week with the arrival of a new ELL student who doesn't have any English yet, presenting district PD for K/1 teachers, and being flexible as our building is without guest teachers TOO often- the substitute teacher shortage is really peaking right now and we are all hanging on for the ride as we scramble to cover and lose our planning time. Yikes!

BUT the good news is today starts our spring break!. Bring. It. On!  One of my favorite things to do is write and post and that's how I'm gonna spend today– I even have a third post started but I promise to wait until at least tomorrow to put it up ;)

I'm linking up this post with Pawsitively Teaching and Inspired Owl's Corner's Pick 3 Top Pinterest Picks. I've already tried two of my three Pinterest finds this week at school, so you can gain from my experience.

This one is a Freebie from Kindergarten Smorgasbord.

Greg explains how he uses plastic eggs to make a match-up word game. I didn't use plastic eggs with my version. I colored two sheets of these eggs by hand– imagine! On one sheet I colored just the egg outline, and on the other one I underlined the words. My two sets of eggs give me two center activities– just a little variation and it's a whole new thing for the kidpeople. Then I laminated both pages and cut out all the eggs. I buried a set in a bin of shredded paper and had the kids go digging for egg words. When they found one they used a marker of the matching color to write it on my word list paper. They were to star the words that they could not read by themselves, then figure out what it said with the help of a tablemate. When their list was complete with ten different words, they were to read the whole list to three different tablemates. Each table partner put their initial in a "read three times box" found at the bottom of the list. 

My list paper is available for FREE in my TPT store. I have several versions of list papers in the set. The boxes for starring words and the prompts for reading the list three times are right on the paper itself. I use it all the time for all sorts of activities. At FREE, you really can't go wrong and there are lots of freebies at my TPT store.

Click on the photo below to go to the list paper, and click on the egg paper image above to go to Greg's original post to learn about his activity and grab his freebie while you're there. Thanks Greg!

This one comes from Liz's Early Learning Spot. She calls it Battling for Sight Word Treasures. You'll go to the post by clicking on the Pin photo below.

I saw this and instantly wanted to try it with my kiddos because I fondly remember the old Battleship game from when I was a kid. This version has dropped the war theme and added a reading component. Liz explains how to play on her blog post. I simplified it a bit for my kinders. To assemble the game I ran each copy on different colored paper and laminated with my home laminator to make it sturdier and completely encased in plastic. I hook two game boards together, back to back with paperclips– I found this cut down on cheating because it is a little less likely anyone gets a sneak peek while the boards are being moved around separately. We don't use the coins, but simply add up the number of words found.  I write the word wall words on the bottom grid with a Vis-a-Vis pen before I give the boards to them, changing it up as I see fit. And I give my kiddos an Expo marker to mark their guesses on the upper grid– an X for an empty square, and the correct letter when they guess it right. This means they can erase the board in between rounds while the vis-a-vis words stay put. 

Note where I put paperclips
at the bottom sides and at the top

All my kids love playing the game– so much so that one of my parents asked for the link to the game because her little guy talked about it nonstop. My better readers do a better job of playing, but even my lower readers enjoy guessing letters, though they find fewer words. I was most surprised when after just a few lessons with an adult they all got the hang of the grids and how they worked. When I got it out yesterday it was to a chorus of "Yaaay!" I recommend you give it a try. Oh, and did I mention it's free? Yep. Whoot! Click on the first image above. Thanks Liz!

My number three is one I'll do when I get back the week after next. In April I focus on taking care of the earth, which always includes the water cycle. I thought this evaporation activity would tie in nicely.

This little science observation comes from E is for Explore. You outline a puddle on the sidewalk with chalk. Then you come back later to see if the puddle has changed any. Where did the water go? Simple, yet powerful, I think. And unlike the experiments where you watch a glass of water over several days or weeks, you get pretty fast results if you make a puddle on the sidewalk on a sunny day. You can read the original post by clicking on the Pin photo above.

Well, that wraps it up for me. If you'd like to see what other goodies are on my Pinterest Boards you can click right on this Pinterest Profile button. You'll find lots of goodies and might even consider following. I like to follow teachers who follow me.

Now scroll on down to see lots more favorite teacher pins in the link-up below. And link your post, too. Hope you enjoy!

An InLinkz Link-up

Spring in My Step and Party Freebie on My Blog!

Ohhh, I am SO happy to be posting today! I am celebrating Spring with some blogging buddies in a link-up, giveaway, milestone celebrating, freebie giving, spring resource share! I want to thank Marissa at Inspired Owl's Corner for her work at putting this together.

Now lookee, lookee at all the fun stuff here, there, and everywhere!

First off, Kidpeople Classroom has some celebrating to do. I'm at the 250 follower milestone with bloglovin', google and email fans! And I hit 100 followers on Pinterest! I am so very happy to have this audience of teachers and friends for my little thirteen month old blog. As I sit writing away it is encouraging to know that somebody out there occasionally hears my voice. Blogging has been an incredible growing experience, as any blogger will tell you, and if you ever want to start one yourself and begin the journey, just send an email my way and I'd be happy to help. 

Just saying thank you to my steady readers is not enough, though. I want to share some goodies at this little party, so...

I'm having a sale on my Spring cross-curricular activity resource on TPT. 

My newly revised, April Showers Bring What? pack features a new twist on the old saying, April showers bring Mayflowers... and pilgrims. In my version April showers ultimately bring June bugs. 

You'll get a copy of the poem to use in a pocket chart, several to use in poetry journals or as center activities, and a color or black and white bookmark. Directions and printed materials are also included to make a class manipulative that flips from being an umbrella to a flower, and then reveals a June bug– kids love making this and parents love when it comes home. 

For a science connection, or for a bug unit specifically, there is a nonfiction reading passage and two brand new close reading sheets. I use close reading sheets in whole or small group with my kindergarten students, but they would provide individual response sheets for first or second graders. 

All this for just one dollar! That's 66% OFF. And it's just in time to use as we turn over the calendar. Bon't delay as the sale is only TODAY through April 2!  And don't forget to let me know how all the activities go over with your kiddos! Click on the cute June bug image above to see it.

And. one. last. little. gift.  My kidpeople are into rearranging words to make sentences, and I am so happy about that. What good word practice they're getting. I give them words and they work and rearrange so the words make sense in a sentence. This time in the school year is just right for practicing this skill. It's also the perfect time to grab a set of those plastic take apart eggs that are on sale for cheap everywhere to make a new activity. I put together three sets of color coded sentences, at three varying levels of difficulty, and a recording sheet. Just laminate the sentences, cut the words apart and put them in the eggs. Kids choose an egg and are off! 

Click on the photo of the egg search below to download the freebie activity. I'm hoping to raise my Bloglovin' numbers and would love it if you'd follow me that way, but you don't have to. I appreciate you being here today! 

A little heads up while I have you here, though– I'm working on another resource to share with folks. Bloglovin' followers won't miss it... Just sayin' :)

And there's MORE! More GREAT things today! You can, right now, enter to win a $100 Amazon gift card, and $75 or $50 TPT gift certificates! Not too shabby. I could use those in a blink.  Just follow the directions and enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway below, and I hope I see you added to my Bloglovin' list. Good luck to all!

Then, click around on all the other Blog buttons in the link-up to see what Spring treats they have in store for you at their blogs. It really is a Happy Spring! Whoot!

  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

An InLinkz Link-up

February Pick Three Pins Linky

Happy February! Time for Pawsitively Teaching and Inspired Owl's Corner Pick 3 Linky!  Here are my top three pins that I'll use in the classroom this month.

I guess number one needs to be this video of snowflake making. It is particularly good for early elementary. It shows many snowflake photographs, explains how snowflakes are made and shows them being formed in the lab, and introduces Dr. Libbrecht, a physicist at Caltech and leading expert on snowflakes. It's a must for any discussion or unit on snow. It is one of my most repinned pins, too.

Be sure to check out my Science Video Pin Board. There are all sorts of goodies on there for every kind of science unit. Click on pic to go.

This simple idea lets kids use bingo markers to their heart's content. The pin shows a snowman that is highlighted, but the dot covered paper could be used as a background for art projects or writing pieces. Think how pretty a poem would look mounted on this handmade paper. Keeping this one in my tip bag.

You'll find lots of general art and craft ideas on my Pin Board. I think it is so important to bring arts into our daily life in kindergarten, as well as all the grades. And I can and do find ways to tie it to curriculum and appease the time use monsters, too. Find it by clicking on it.

And last but certainly not least, I found a great use for this editing page. The latest wave in education is the idea of keeping students informed of their learning goals– which ones they mastered and what their next ones are. This sheet will work beautifully for that.

I am going to give each student the page and go through their writing pieces using the checklist to help us focus. When we see evidence that they've met an objective, they will get to draw a smiley face in that checkbox. I know all of my students will get at least one smiley at this point in the year and most will get several more. Then we'll decide together what writing skill they'll focus on next. To remember the chosen target they'll color in that checkbox with a yellow highlighter. They will keep their goal sheets in their notebooks and when we see that they have reached their next target, I'll let them put a smiley face in the highlighted box. Then we'll choose the next one they'll work toward.

For my purposes I am going to white out "Editing" and put "Goal" at the top of the page. It will be important when I first give out the sheet that the kids realize the list is for kindergarten AND first grade, so it is okay if they don't reach all the goals this year. I think it is going to be a very handy list. And did I tell you that it's FREE! Yep. There are lots of other useful pages in the editing pack, too. It comes from Nancy at First Grade W.O.W. Absolutely check it out.

I go to my Writing Pin Board on a regular basis. It is loaded with good ideas to do things in new ways and spice things up. Click on it to go there.

THANKS to Lisa and Marissa for the Pick 3 Pins Linky... they could have made this a Pick 12 Pins Linky, and I'd still be making hard choices. TeeHee Hopefully you clicked on my pin boards, too, to see the other stuff I've come across lately.

That's all for now. I'm off to check out everybody else's top three Pin Picks. Yippee. You can click below to do the same.

An InLinkz Link-up

Build It! A Great Science Book

Thanks to Deanna Jump at Mrs. Jump's Class for this week's great Let's Talk About Books Linky!
It is one of my favorite linky parties to peruse... I always make new discoveries there. Hope my choice is new to you, too.

Build It! Structures, Systems and You by Adrienne Mason and Claudia Davila is a great book addition to any physical science construction unit in kindergarten.

A  terrific addition to your constructions unit

With clear definitions of what structures are, this book is oh so useful in expanding a young child's thinking around structures around only buildings. This book explores structures of all sorts, manmade and those found in nature. It also talks about materials and how parts are connected, and includes some really good suggestions for simple hands-on activities and experiments to demonstrate the concepts to kindergartners. My kidpeople love testing the strength of structures built different ways, and making a simple moving part bird puppet.  The book itself is also a great example of the non-fiction genre, with clear illustrations and organization. I couldn't teach our construction unit without this book.

There are quite a few other books in this series by Mason and Davila, and I'm betting they are equally as good. Check out your school and public library, or favorite book buying venue and you'll find them.

While on the subject of construction, I have several science videos to round out this science unit that you can find on my Pinterest Science Video Board. Clicking on the cartoon me below will take you there.

My Science Video board on Pinterest has lots of good science videos on a variety of topics

Do you know Build It!? Do you like it in other ways? Be sure to leave a comment and share.

Now hop on over to Deanna's Linky by clicking below and you'll find all sorts of other great books... that's what I'm about to do!

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