Ralph S. Mouse

     This month our school has participated in the "One School, One Book" project. We have enjoyed sharing the book "The Mouse and the Motorcycle" by Beverly Cleary with friends and family. This evening, families finished the last chapter. (My own fifth grader was sad when the book was over.)
     My kinder kiddos will be enjoying a special snack tomorrow for sharing the entire story with their families.
     I know they will be excited when they see these!

Ralph S. Mouse cupcakes.

Truffula Trees

This week we will be celebrating Dr. Seuss.

I decided to make Truffula Trees from the The Lorax to put on the student tables this week.

Here are my finished trees. (still in my kitchen since it is Sunday evening and I am not at school yet for the week.)

I looked on sites for ideas then combined the best of several different posts to make them my way.

First start with a $1 toilet plunger  from the Dollar Tree. ( I am quite certain these plungers would be ill equipped to handle the job they were equipped to do, but they work great for this!)

Supplies for one tree:
One plunger
Duct tape
10 pieces of coordinating tissue paper
Electrical tape
A scrap from a plastic party table cloth large enough to cover your plunger end double thickness
Twist ties (two extra long ones or several regular sized)

Cover the plunger handles with duct tape.

Then split a long piece of contrasting duct tape in half lengthwise. Twist it around the covered handle for the stripe.

Cut a large circle from two thicknesses of the plastic table cloth. (14" circles worked best for the plungers I had)

Pull the plastic up around the plunger end. And secure with an XL twist tie. (Or twist more than one together end to end  to make an extra long one.)

Then cut off any extra long pieces sticking up. Wrap duct tape over the exposed edges.

Next make the tissue paper tops like you would any tissue paper flower except start with square pieces of tissue paper. (These do not have to be exact.) I jut piled up the 10 pieces of coordinating tissue as evenly as possible. I then cut them all at once into the largest squares possible from the pieces.

 Accordian fold the pieces all together. I then rounded off the ends and cut about 2" off each end. Secure with another XL twist tie. 

Being very careful, separate each half in half again and pull apart as much as possible. 

Then begin separating each piece very carefully.

One completed half looks like this. Continue with the other half.

Then I seperated the flower and used electrical tape ( red in this picture) to secure the pompon to the top of the stick and wrapped duct tape around the electrical tape and twist tie. 

 Fluff up the pompon again and you are good to go!!!

Finished Truffula Trees

In my classroom. Waiting for my kinders to arrive.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Great books

Here is another cute but simple new book I discovered at the library today. I love books by Audrey and Don Woods. And "Blue Sky" does not disappoint. It would be great for talking about adjectives, introducing how to brainstorm, or just using your imagination.

Great new books

I love to go to our local public library to look at books (I know this is no surprise to any of you who know me.) We have a wonderful children's librarian named Mary Anne. When the library gets a new children's book, there is a yellow sticker affixed to the corner to let us know it is new. It then gets a place of honor on top of the children's book shelves. It is great fun to find a comfy chair in which to sit and read these new treasures. Today I found these new gems.

In this story, the little girl wants a dog for a pet. Instead her mom gets her a cat. She soon falls in love with her new pet ... Until the messes begin. The tiny kitty is blamed for messes that get bigger and bigger and harrier and harrier. As it turns out, we as the reader know that it is not the kitten making the messes...

This would be a really cute book for a writing activity. Students could choose a zoo animal to live at their house and tell of the issues this would cause. They could also be challenged to think of one positive scenario to having this pet, as the book Naughty Kitty does at the end.

Poor Shoe Dog finally gets a forever home complete with belly scratches and kisses. But he cannot revisit the temptation new shoes bring. Despite his owners best attempt to hide the new shoes, Shoe Dog finds them and the chewing begins. This is a great story of love and forgiveness and living with differences. The title page is listed below because the cover does not have the author and illustrator listed on it.

This book addresses the meaning of  "zero" in a numerous, playful way. 

Great books for Math concepts.

Technology has a mind of its own! Today at my session, the technology would not cooperate. I shared some favorite books that connect to math curriculum. I am listing pictures of many of them here in case you were unable to get the information dawn and or couldn't see well.

Gobble, gobble Crash a barnyard counting bash.

This is a great counting book. Chaos is instigated by the turkeys. When the ruckus continues to wake up the farmer . . . Look out!

Hugless Douglas has several books now. I love how the sheep stick to him.

It would be great to use with beginning addition and subtraction or counting. Look for a future post with a Math work mat of Hugless Douglas.

The concept of "one more".

This book calls into questions what kids think they know.  It is a wonderful conversation starter. 

This is a wonderful book in the Click Clack Moo series. In this book the animals are preparing to go somewhere together. There is a great twist at the end! I won't spoil it for you. You will have to read it yourself!!!!

Garage sale find

I am excited to use this cool, glow in the dark tepee in my classroom this year. I found it for a steal at a local garage sale. It will make a great Reading Spot. Since we are going to Daily 5 this year, it will be a perfect place to read. My niece Elliot tried it out this weekend with her brother and my children. If their response is any indication, it will be a hit at school!

Sprinkles to Kindergarten  is a super blog that is helping me to gear up for beginning daily 5 this fall. Follow this link to a fabulous blog. It also has many other fabulous ideas for a kindergarten classroom.

Pete the Cat

I love when my mailman toots her horn because I have a package and the package is for me.
Today I got the new Pete the Cat book that was released this week.

Pete the Cat The Wheels on the Bus

Click on the title above to get to a video of the book on you tube.

Creative Cornerstones

The room for Creative Cornerstones 2013 continued

Extending great books

Some of the great books we shared

Graphing Seuss

Creative Cornerstones

Here is a glimps of the room ready for my presentation in 2013.

Winter Centers

Interactive writing

Valentine's Day, Dental health and more

State and national symbols, Math and Dr. Seuss

Down on the farm, Eggs and other Spring ideas

Book extensions

Great books

On silly sock day we also shared this book that was not by Dr. Seuss. It is a great book by Bob Shea. The kids love it. You could use it any time of year!

I had the opportunity to meet Bob Shea last year at the Dublin Literacy Conference. He put this great autograph in my book:

Click here to go to Bob Shea's website. Check out his other books too.

and

Click here to view a cool you tube video to go with the book

This book is about this adorable bird who gets new socks. He has such fun enjoying in all the things he can do in his new socks!

Here is the book our class created. First is the cover:

And the student pages:

It is a perfect way to review color words and concentrate on blends since many of the color words begin with blends.

Great Books

http://www.studiojjk.com/I had the pleasure of meeting a great author at the "Dublin Literacy Conference."  Jarrett J. Krosoczka  is a wonderful person who succeeded in reaching his dreams of being an author and illustrator despite the difficulties he experienced in his life.  Here are some of his wonderful books.

My mind is racing with great ideas to use with these books with my kinder kiddos. Stay tuned!

Pete the Cat

Pete the Cat I Love My White Shoes

Click on the title to go to the official Pete the Cat site. You can download the song free. There are some awesome resources as well.

My kiddos LOVED the Pete the Cat book I Love My White Shoes.  I made this file folder type retelling prop. to use with them.  I did find that it works much better when I used a large piece of construction paper instead of a file folder. The paper is folded not quite in half to create the folder.  The shoes are cut out before laminating. Then it is laminated open flat. Sides are taped with wide clear tape.  Details are added to shoes at the end. White, red, blue, brown and damp looking white paper is added to the formed pocket. As the story is told, remove each sheet of paper which changes to shoe color.