Cookie Islands

This afternoon we made "cookie islands" in class! We have been learning about geographic features in social studies, so we used what we have learned, and our creative imaginations, to construct an island out of a cookie and lots of sweets.

Here are some pictures of the kids eating their cookie creation. On Monday we will become topographers, and make maps of these new found lands! :)

Everyone's cookie islands!

Cool Websites

Here are some cool websites that we have been using in class to learn more about animals.

Enjoy!

This has a list of all the "creatures".
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/Animals/CreatureFeature/

This has lots of animal videos. Click on the topics on the left to get to the videos you want.
http://video.kids.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/kids/

This is the cool blue whale tracking and tagging game you played.
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/content/kingdom-of-the-blue-whale-3302/tagging-tracking-interactive/

Have Fun!

Christmas Poems and Recipes

This week we have been working on a special projects for our parents. For part of it, the kids had to write a Christmas poem. Below are some of the ones that I thought were REALLY good! I didn't help them very much on these.

Christmas is fun every year!
Singing out for all to hear.
It is very easy,
But I smile very cheesy.

By Andrew

Christmas is fun,
And I don't want it to be done.
Christmas is here!
It's the best time of the year!

By Ryker

On Christmas Eve, you go to sleep,
You might hear Santa's reindeer leap.
The Christmas music and candles are pleasant.
In the morning you'll see your presents!

By Abby

On Christmas Eve, you hear the clock.
It's time for bed, it went tick-tock.
When I woke up, I was not forlorn.
All the presents were here on Christmas morn.

By Lauren

On Christmas Eve, we go to sleep,
In my bed I'm counting sheep.
On Christmas morning,
My mom and dad are still snoring.
I try to wake them up
But they make me shut up!

By Evan

Christmas is almost here,
So give a big cheer!
People are so spinny,
The hear something coming down the chimney.
Candles are light.
The sun is bright.
Someone is coming,
With lots of loving.
Hanukkah has past,
Christmas is last.
Everyone cheers,
For the big year.

By Samantha

On Christmas Eve we go to sleep,
In my bed I hear a peep.
I hurry to see, what it could be,
But there was nothing to see.

By Hannah

Also to go along with our project, we made up recipes for a Merry Christmas. Here are a few. :)

1 cute puppy
6 cousins
6 presents
1 baby Jesus
a best mom and dad
2 cool sisters

Mix with love and share the joy. Have a happy holiday.

By Marie

1 nice sister
1 cute dog
2 super cool parents
1 sparkle Christmas tree
5 super cousins
2 cute and funny movies
1 fun family
1 cool new pair of PJs

Mix them together. Make joy, love, and fun.

By Olivia

1 family
20 presents
1 golf cart
3 cookies
5 cousins
1 tree
2 parents
1 sled
1 choo choo train going around the tree

Mix it up and enjoy the fun.

By Luke

3 little dogs
2 loving parents
7 big presents
1 funny movie
5 fun cousins
1 baby Jesus
2 big brothers
1 bright star

Mix it up in one jolly holiday.

By Grant

There's more to come!

Here are my sweet kids infront of our tree in the classroom. I hope to work on updating the blog over break! :)

Science Web Sites

Today we worked on food chains and webs, and the jobs of producers, consumers and decomposers. To reinforce these science concepts, the students went to various web sites that helped them put their knowledge into action. Everyone really enjoyed all the activities, so I told them that I would put the sites on the blog for them to do at home.

Enjoy!


Science Chapter 2 Sites - All About Animals

Drag, drop and sort animals into the 5 animal types. There are 5 games to do in different habitats. AWESOME game!

(Under Animal Classification Section)

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/gamesforkids.htm

Cool! Seek and find animals in different habitats. They are not as obvious as you would think!

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/seekandfind/indexseekandfind.htm

Carnivore, herbivore, Omnivore sort

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/games/animaldietgame.htm

Science Chapter 3 Sites - How Plants and Animals Live Together

Fill out the food chain and sort the animals.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/science/living_things/food_chains/play_popup.shtml

Picture example of a food chain vs. a food web

http://www.sciencebob.com/questions/q-food_chain_web2.php

Chain Reaction – build food chains and test them out

http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/eco_info/topics/frogs/chain_reaction/play_chainreaction.cfm

Pond, arctic, and meadow food chains – simple and easy

http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/food/food_menu.html

Food chain drag and drop that gets harder and harder. Shows the food chain in action and adds decomposers.

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/games/foodchaingame.htm

Producer and consumer game

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/games/producersconsumersgame.htm

Our Class Book

Here are some of the pictures we took today. During this short week, we are going to work on making a book about our school and class. When it is finished, we are going to send it, with our letters, to Robert Munsch.

We all hope that he will like it, and write us back! It would also be cool if he included some of the pictures on his website!

Germs! Germs! Germs!

How have you been feeling? Here at NPE, a lot of kids (and some teachers) have not been feeling so great lately. Because of this, we took some time this morning to thoroughly disinfect our classroom with Clorox wipes and Lysol. We also read the book Germs! Germs! Germs! together and discussed how to keep germs away. After wards, we made "NOT WANTED" posters and "germs" that we hung in the hallway to remind kids what they need to do to keep from getting sick from germs.

I hope everyone gets to feeling better, and is able to return to class soon! :)

Larry Batson's Wildlife Program

This morning we had the Larry Batson Wildlife Program. His programs are always really good and very informative. He said that this is his 31st year coming to NPE! Wow! That's a LONG time! He also told us some VERY sad news. His baboon, named Dolly, that he always brings, passed away around Christmas time last year. She was like a child to Mr. Batson and his wife. There is good news though, they decided to adopt another Baboon, and they were able to do so at the first of the year. The new baboon's name is Elizabeth, and she is 9 months old now. We were SO lucky, because he brought the baby baboon with them today! She was SO cute! She was also VERY wild and CRAZY! She jumped ALL OVER THE PLACE! We all enjoyed the program!

Here are some pictures from this morning.

Mr. Batson has a new website that he told us about, it is http://www.larrytheanimalguy.com. Check it out! :)

Robert Munsch Read Aloud

To go along with our Robert Munsch author study, we have been working on reading various Munsch books with lots of expression and fluency. This week, we put our reading into practice by reading to 3 kindergarten classes. Below are pictures of the kids reading to the kindergartners, and them with the books they read aloud.

Fire Safety Program

This morning we were lucky enough to not only have the Sugar Creek Firefighters come and talk to us about fire safety, but we also were able to walk in and look inside a real fire truck!