Roar, Roar, Dinosaur!

We had a "Roar-in" good time last week learning about dinosaurs. Here are a few activities we enjoyed...

How many of our footprints could fit inside of a T-Rex footprint?  39! (We ran out of shoes, so I had to give one up to fill the remaining space.)

Before adding our shoes, we wrote estimates on a piece of chart paper.

Dinosaur Glyphs

I start by showing them two glyphs that I made. (I say that one is my husband's to see if they can interpret them.)

Then we make our own!

I have Mrs. Lee's Kindergarten to thank for many of these wonderful dinosaur activities. Check out her post HERE.

Dinosaur Fossils

I've done these fossils in previous years. I would save used coffee grounds for a few days prior, dry them, and mix up a fossil recipe to cover mini plastic dinos. I would bake them on low heat to harden into "rocks" and then hide them outside for my students to find .We would then take our paleontologist tools (aka: popsicle sticks and paintbrushes) to dig out our fossils.

Model Magic Fossils

This year, I went with "no-prep" fossils. After talking about fossils and how they give paleontologists clues about dinosaurs....

Cool leaf fossil a parent donated to our classroom!

...we made some of our own with Model Magic!

So easy! Roll ball, flatten, press and remove plastic dinosaur. (Let dry a few days. You can even watercolor them for an added touch.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dinosaur Bones Diggers Word Game

My class had enjoyed playing this game so much, they asked for it during free choice time. *teacher dance*

I used the four letter words to challenge my students. (I chose pom-poms since they are much easier to clean up than sand or rice.)

Click on the picture to see Marsha's post at A Differentiated Kindergarten with the corresponding FREEBIE

Good Reads

I don't have a picture of the cute easy dinosaur reader my students used to learn the sight words does and may. You can download it free from Hubbard's Cupboard. There are so many other great printable mini books on this site!

Cute opposites book!

Stegosaurus Patterning

We created spike patterns and recorded the "core" pattern.

Big and small,

God made them all!

Thanks for visiting!

Five for Friday!

Thanks Kacey at Doodle Bugs Teaching for hosting the perfect linky party to end the school week!

 

This week was for the boys...the boys who know every name of every dinosaur. I'm always amazed at how much information they know about these creatures of long ago. It's like they have a special section of their brain set aside for all things dinosaur. To be honest... when I first started teaching, those kiddos intimidated me with their dino knowledge. I knew a little about the T-Rex, triceratops... uhhh....long necks.....Ducky?... (Yes, I watched Little Foot as a kid.)

Here is a unit where my littles get the chance to teach me.

I do get points for integrating reading and math with our dinosaur theme.

We created stegosaurus patterns and recorded the "core" pattern.

This was a favorite - making our own fossils with Model Magic!

 To see more dinosaur themed activities check out my Roar, Roar Dinosaur! post here.

I had big plans to make these ADORABLE Earth Day cookies...

That is until I came home from work exhausted and took a nap instead. Oh well! Kids need a well rested, happy teacher more than they need more sugar. Right? Savin' the idea for next year.

We read Help the Environment Reusing and Recycling. After we sorted pictures of things that are helpful and harmful to the environment.

One of my favorite songs to teach at the beginning of the year is He's Got the Whole World in His Hands. We did the age-old coffee filter + marker + water in a spray bottle Earth art.

When I individually helped them add their hands to their Earth, I let them create their own verse of the song to sing. "He's got _(student's name)'s_  family in His hands...." or "He's got _(school name)_ in His hands."

Math curriculum? Done.

Now we are reviewing, reviewing, reviewing!

I saw THE Shari Sloane present at a kindergarten conference last weekend and was AMAZED! If you haven't heard of her - check out her website here.

My favorite session of hers was on Math Games. I printed off several for my students to play as we revisit and cement the concepts we've learned so far. Her resources are free and ready to print with little to no prep involved! Click here to check them out. Your welcome!

Teacher Appreciation Week at Barnes and Nobel happened...

I couldn't help myself! 25% off!

Yes, I spent more money on these books than I did on gas this week.  I am not ashamed.   

I love it when an unplanned learning moment happens. This week, as my students did their usual caterpillar observation, one students said "One of them lost his tail!" This lead into a little spur of the moment research to discover that caterpillars shed their "skin" just like reptiles do as they grow. This is called "molting".

Our caterpillars are on their way to becoming beautiful butterflies! Now we watch and wait....

Happy Friday!