Crayon Resist Owls

Oh.my.word.

I am having SO MUCH FUN with my owl theme!

Yesterday we read this:

and then made these:

Love! 

So much more owl stuff to come!

Persuade the Gingerbread Man!

I just loved the persuasive Gingerbread writing idea on Kim and Megan's KinderGals blog!

The students absolutely LOVED brainstorming different ways to persuade the Gingerbread Man to come to their house. 

Check out their promises (an adorable pictures) below:

Beautiful Faces...

Oh how I love these beautiful faces!

Kindergarten Friends,

I love your self-portraits! 

They are beautiful, creative, and unique... just like each one of you!

I can't wait to continue growing, learning, and laughing with you!

Love,

Mrs. Rider

This free slideshow made with Smilebox Blogging Buddies- This idea came from Ann Marie Corgill's book: (we drew lightly with pencil, then with oil pastels, and filled the white space with watercolor paint) I love, love, love, this book and feel SO LUCKY that I had a chance to hear Ann Marie present. The book celebrates two things I love- Writer's Workshop and children!! It is a MUST READ for primary teachers.

Funny Pumpkins

My kindergarten friends ABSOLUTELY LOVED making these and I can't help but smile each time I walk past this bulletin board.

Kindergarten Friends- can you find your funny pumpkin?

I found this idea on Pinterest- but no credit was given just that the source was flickr.com...

 We just painted the entire surface of a piece of easel paper orange. The next day we cut out pumpkin shapes, then added eyes, a mouth, and teeth with construction paper. 

Such a simple, fun idea... 

I can't wait to make them with my own children tonight! 




Thanks to everyone who has voted for my blog to receive the Top Ten Teacher Blog award through Circle of Moms.
You can vote daily through November 8th!

Paint and Collage Monsters

Check out these creative little monsters:

Another slideshow by Smilebox

Students used two spoonfuls of different colored paint, folded their paper and squished the paint around, and then added collage materials for fun details.
 

So simple and we loved the way they turned out!

Christopher Columbus Drawings

Columbus Day

Today we learned about Christopher Columbus.

We read this book:

and had a really great discussion about this explorer.

Here are some of the Columbus facts we shared with our friends at the end of the day:

Christopher Columbus was a sailor. (Evan)

When Columbus landed in America - he thought that he was in Asia! (a fact that Mariana thought was hysterical!!)

He had to ask for money for his trip. (Vincent)

The Queen finally gave him money, 3 ships, and a crew for his trip. (Sofia)

A crew is a group of helpers on the boat. (Sam)

The three ships were the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria. (several students)

Check out the students' 

Christopher Columbus drawings!

We LOVE Pete the Cat!

WE {LOVE} PETE THE CAT!!!!!

We have had so much fun with Pete the Cat this week.

We read:

and

We watched this:

and this 


We also checked out these great Pete sites:

We made a character map all about Pete:

* idea from: 

We also practiced drawing and watercoloring Pete, just like the book's illustrator James Dean.

Check out our beautiful Pete pictures:

***Cincinnati Parents and Teachers- AWESOME NEWS!!***


The author (Eric Litwin) and illustrator (James Dean) of
 Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes 
and
 Pete the Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes 
will be at Joseph Beth in Rookwood tomorrow night: 
Friday, September 9th @ 5:00 p.m. 


I hope to see you there!