A Morning Snack Field Trip

Because we we were learning about salespeople today in Social Studies, we took a walk up to Hess Gas Station and Dunkin Donuts to purchase our morning snack from REAL salespeople! :-)

The girls did really well staying in line on our walk up the street!

A quick pose in front of Hess...

At Hess, the girls picked out their drinks -  Chocolate milk, strawberry milk, and raspberry lemonade were the beverages of choice!

 

Each girl had a chance to hand the money over to the salesman for their drinks.

 

After Hess, we were on our way to Dunkin Donuts!

Each of the girls picked out their own donuts. Strawberry frosting was definitely a hit! (Probably had something to do with the frosting being PINK!)

Arranging ourselves at Dunkin Donuts and figuring out who had what...

 Everyone definitely enjoyed their SUGARY snack!!

Baking Cookies!

Today the girls and I made caramel stuffed apple cider cookies. The PERFECT cookie for this time of year! 

 Each of the girls had a turn to add one or two ingredients...

 

Once all the ingredients were added, each of the girls had a chance to use the mixer!

While the girls were taking turns adding ingredients, the rest were in the other room playing with toys brought down from the Kindergarten classroom. Most of these toys the girls haven't played with yet, so I thought this would be a good source of entertainment while they waited their turn in the kitchen. Worked out pretty well!

We took a quick break while the girls went outside for recess. When they got back, it was time to roll out the cookie dough and put the caramel squares in the middle! They each had their own cookie sheet, and there was enough dough and caramels for each girl to make 5 cookies. Just the right amount to be enough, but not TOO much :-)

In the afternoon, after the cookies were baked and cooled, we went back downstairs to the kitchen to see them. The girls were soooo ready to sample their cookies!

 Each of the girls ate one cookie, and the rest were put in baggies to give to some of their family members.

If you are curious how the cookies turned out, this may answer your question...

After she ate her cookie, Hope came over to me and said, "Those cookies were awesome!!"

Yep, I would call that a success! :D

My "Alumni" Teacher Helpers - Part 1

This year I decided that I could use some "teacher helpers" in the afternoon during lesson review time. The first students I am having help are some of my "alumni" from Kindergarten years gone by. My first year students are now in 6th grade. So hard to believe! Two of my four students are still in EBA.

On Friday, Emaline was my teacher helper. She did a flashcard review with the girls. Each time they got an answer right, they would get to go down the slide. She also supervised the classroom while I did individual flashcard review with the girls in the next room.

 

Today Jordan was my teacher helper. He did a ABC & 123 Bingo game with the girls. He would show them a flashcard, and they would put a marker on their sheet if they could find that letter/number. The first girl to have 4 in a row was the winner. (Congrats, Sarah!) 

 

 

It is such a blessing to still be able to interact with most of my first year students, and watch them throughout their growing up years! Next year they will be in the youth group. *GULP*. That makes me feel old....

 

I was reminiscing this afternoon by looking at pictures from my first year teaching. I couldn't help posting this picture. Sometimes I forget how little they were in Kindergarten!

Messy Paint Trees!

Fall is a season of colorful leaves! The girls were excited to use paint again today to make colorful fall trees. This time we didn't use paintbrushes...we used our hands, arms, and fingers to paint! {yes, I am crazy...}

First, they placed their hand and arm in brown paint...

 

Then they placed their arm and hand on the paper to form the tree...

 {Insert quick bathroom break to wash brown paint off arms and hands!}

 I let them each pick a color for their tree leaves. Of course, some of the colors picked weren't actually "leaf colors", but I figured we could step "out of the box" a bit today.

Quick smiles....

 

  ...And then the finger painting began!!!

 

The finished products!!

Gotta love how different they all are :-)

Teacher Drawings

Today in Social Studies, we were talking about teachers! My girlies each drew a picture of me, and of course, I couldn't wait to see what I would look like. ;-)

Hope told me that we were in the bus together. :-)

Alyssa told me that we were holding hands!

Painting Fall Leaves

We are getting ready for the fall season just around the corner! Today the girls were SUPER excited when the "messy paint" (their words!) was brought out for the FIRST time. They got to paint some fall leaves for our classroom decorations!

  

This picture was taken at the beginning of our activity when everything still looked so neat and organized {smile}.

Some of the finished products drying on the table!

For Our Pastor

We are learning about our community helpers in Social Studies right now. Today we talked about pastors, and all that they do. We decided to make something for our Pastor to thank him for all he does for us.

It was definitely a group effort! All six girls were needed to make it complete!!

Marble Fun

The marble runs were brought out today! One is magnetic so it was built on our magnetic chalkboard. The other one was built on the floor. The girls had lots of fun rolling the marbles through the passageways they created together!

Don't Spill the Beans!!

Every morning after Numbers class, we play a group game. Today we played "Don't Spill the Beans!" I think this is one of the favorites so far...

Oh no! The beans are going to spill!! Quick...Cover your eyes!!

Our New Class Pet!!

Yesterday a sweet friend of mine gave me a special treat for the Kindergarten classroom - our own beta fish - complete with fish bowl, fancy blue rocks, a little green plant, and fish food!!!! She had no idea that this was always something I wanted for my classroom, but had just never gotten around to it. So it was an extra special treat for me! 

I knew my girls would be SO excited to meet their new class pet today, and I certainly wasn't disappointed!

Let me introduce you to.....

Crowded around my desk...

Of course, feeding him and watching him gobble up his food was quite the highlight!

Mr. Jasper Smiles is definitely more welcome than our other class "pets" - Mr. & Mrs. Buzzy. They are the pesky flies that entered our classroom last week, and refuse to leave! They keep distracting the girls by landing on their hands, papers and desks. Oh the joys of Kindergarten!