Leprechaun Laughs

     This week, my kinder kiddos put their best thinking caps on to create the very best traps they could in an attempt to catch a leprechaun to get his beloved pot of gold!

     The traps were an optional family activity. I just LOVE what they come up with!

This one has a very intricate slide. At the bottom is a well with a chunk of gold at the bottom!

What leprechaun wouldn't like, "Free Lucky Charms"?

This trap has a huge rainbow lollipop, a real gold dollar coin and Lucy charms for bait. My kinder friend was awful glad he didn't actually "take" her special lollipop. 

This fancy contraption is that of my future mathmetician and/or engineer. I was shocked that the leprechaun got away from this one!

Ladders, cages, fences and trap doors galore!

Even the camo didn't trick that leprechaun!

Our special leprechaun did leave us a special, yummy kind of gold. (Along with quite a mess!)

What an exciting day it was. Many of us were just sure that the leprechaun was lurking about watching us, trying to trick us when we

left the room.

Tales of gold and leprechauns...

My kiddos had a great time pretending that they caught a leprechaun. i just love kindergrten storytelling. Here are a couple facorites.

Who wouldn't love a pet unicorn you can ride everyday!

She "putted" yellow cereal out to catch the leprechaun. And...

What did she do with her pot of gold, they went to the candy shop and bought "so much candy" and bubble gum! 

In th spirit of the holiday, I was wearing these striped socks, black cropped pants, a green long sleeved shirt and this tiny hat. After lunch, one of my kinder kiddos told me, "You know Mrs. Howard, you really do look like one of those 'weprechaun' thingies!"

Too cute!

Christmas Presents for Students

This year I decided to make my kids dry erase boards out of melmac plates as their Christmas Present.

I had a great time dying the socks. I let them sit over night to get really colorful before cutting the rubber bands and  rinsing them.  Each sock is attached to the plate with ribbon and ties tight. 

Inside the sock is a dry erase marker. 

I used glitter bubble paint to write the names. Be sure to plan ahead for this project. The names take a few days to dry. 

Many kids returned from our long holiday break talking about the dry erase boards. I think they were a real hit!

One suggestion, be sure you are able to drill through the plates BEFORE you spend a lot of time on this project. Thick plates are very tricky!

Thanks Dad!!!!!!!!!

50s Day

We had such a great time on 50s day this year! Of course we dressed to go to a sock hop. (I love to see what everyone comes up with for their kinder sweeties to wear to school.)



This year we made a Venn Diagram about bubble blowing. This year's class is able to look at data and really process it. It was a great way to cater the activity to fit my kiddos this year!

    

They had a blast teaching each other to blow bubbles. A friend in my class shared a cool way to flatten your gum against the roof of your mouth before blowing. It was the magic cure for some of them! It sure was a good time. Of course we all pretended not to see the gum wad that flew out of the mouth and was quickly fetched according to the 10 second rule. Ugh!!!!


Hoola hoop practicing with friends was also a hoot!

Milkshake boogie

The letters we are using to build words are put on paper ice cream scoops. The vowels are all the same "flavor". Three students hold cvc letters in front of the class. We sing this song and blend the word together.

At the end of the song, we shake our whole body and say the blended word.

Umbrella Poem

This is a really cute poem for spring. It also goes along well with the book Disappearing Desmond

My students have made walking umbrellas in two different ways. One year each child water color painted on a large sheet of paper. I traced a large umbrella on the back of each painting after it dried. 

During a year when we had less time due to a schedule change, students traced a large umbrella on a patterned piece of paper.  Then kids cut out their umbrella and cut legs from construction paper and glued them together. They look great as a display in the hallway.

This sample is from patterned paper. I do not have a picture of the painted example.