Let's Go Fly a Kite!

Today's simple art project was coloring a kite picture to put on our classroom bulletin board. I was actually keeping it simple (ie: no messy paint involved!). Well, apparently that was just too boring for my girls. :-) They took the leftover paper from their kite project, and decided to make actual kites! All that was required of me was to assist with the taping and string. At first they were just playing with them in the classroom, but that didn't satisfy them too long.

Today just happened to be a rather WINDY spring day, and what better weather needed in order to fly a kite?! So we ventured outside and the girls had some fun with their kites. The tape wasn't extremely strong, so there were a few occasions when the strong wind would whip their kites across the playground and they would have to chase them, but for the most part it was a huge success! Perhaps next time we'll attempt REAL kites...maybe :-)

The kite pictures, which inspired this afternoon's activity, are now decorating our spring bulletin board in the classroom!

Spring Painting

Today was  "winter removal" in the Kindergarten classroom. I was sooo ready to put away the snowflakes and snowmen, and get out the flowers, butterflies, and birds!! :-)

This afternoon I enlisted the help of my girls to get the spring decorations moving along. They each painted 2 flowers, 2 butterflies, and a bird. Once these are dry and cut out, I will put them around the room to add to the spring-like atmosphere!

Whenever the paint is out, the girls thoroughly enjoy themselves! I let them pick whatever colors they wanted, so needless to say, by the end of the painting experience, the colors were rather blended together in dark hues of blue, maroon, or brown on their plates. I didn't want to just throw all that excess paint away! Well, we still had about 20 minutes left of the day, so I decided to get out a roll of white paper from the art closet, some small sponges (cut into a variety of shapes) and let them have fun up in the lunchroom.

It made the last few minutes of the day rather crazy as we were trying to scrub paint off hands and arms, gather folders, coats and backpacks in a matter of 5 minutes...but hey, it was Friday. Might as well end the week with a bang!! :-)

Happy First Day of Spring!

What do we all do around here on the first day of spring? Get a free Rita's Italian ice, of course! Today the 6th graders and I headed to Rita's for a special "field trip" just for them. Their teacher was originally going to be the one taking them, but something came up so I was asked to do it.

A free Rita's ice??? Hmmm...well...if I HAVE to go :-)

It was actually a surprise for these 4 students, so when they found out, they were quite excited that they were the only ones getting to go on this special adventure. 

We had a blast! Something about getting out of school early, getting to hang with your friends, plus getting a sweet sugary treat, made these 4 kiddos rather ummm...energetic? hyper? cRaZy?!! A few times I thought I actually had my Kindergarten girls with me instead. :-)

Out of the Mouth of Babes

My girls say cute, random things every week, but sometimes there are just events that stand out more than the rest! Here are two that happened this past week....

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On Monday, the girls were coming in from recess. For security purposes, all the doors around the school are locked, so the children have to wait at the security door until the ladies in the church office let them in. Well, apparently, the ladies in the office were watching Cally through the security camera. She was having fun, splashing in the puddles around the door and looking in no hurry to come inside. The recess teacher was busy gathering up the rest of the students, but the ladies in the office were not aware of this. They thought Cally was the last one outside. One of the ladies in the office decided to turn on the intercom, and speak to Cally through that.

"Cally, the door is open. It is time to come inside!"

They told me later that Cally's head jerked up and her eyes got wide as she stared at the door.

This is where I came in....

I am in the classroom, hearing all the students come back from recess, when suddenly I hear Cally shouting, "Miss Follett!!!!!!!!!!"

I go rushing out into the hallway. There is Cally at the top of the steps, her eyes as wide as saucers.

"Miss Follett!!!! The door TALKED to me!!!"

{Needless to say, the ladies in the office, and countless others have gotten quite a kick out of this story :-)}

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Yesterday, the little sea creature toys were being played with at the table. Sarah was finishing up her one paper, when suddenly she asks me...

"What do sea creatures do to help the world?"

My mind swirling, trying to come up with possible replies, I simply say, "Hmmmm....good question, Sarah!"

Without a moment's hesitation, she then declares, "Maybe a paleontologist would know!!!"

{Let's just say I was thankful I had my tablet nearby so I could look up the definition to 'paleontologist'!}

Telling Time & Number Test with Marc

Today, Marc was my teacher helper. He reviewed telling time with the girls and also number word flashcards. During the numbers test, he was available to help the girls if they had a question on anything. After he graded the papers, he did a great job giving the girls positive feedback and assistance if they got anything wrong. :-)

Puppy in the Classroom

My girls love puppies. Hope has been bringing her birthday stuffed puppy to school every day, and all the girls have been having fun fighting playing with it during play time {smile}. Well, imagine their excitement when a REAL puppy entered the classroom today!!!

Zoey is an adorable little cockapoo. She was "slightly" intimidated by all these girls hovering over her, but I think she enjoyed visiting with the other puppy in the classroom. :-)

A Fun Afternoon Experiment: Making Goop

This afternoon I knew we were going to have some time on our hands, and I really didn't want the girls to completely destroy the classroom {smile}, so I tried to think of something fun we could do. We had just done a quick project using the big container of liquid glue in the art closet. I knew there was some sort of "goop" that could be made with liquid glue, food coloring, and liquid starch, but I couldn't remember the exact measurements. Well, I wasn't going to let that stop me! I got each of the girls a bowl and spoon, poured a little glue in the bowls, and then they picked the color they wanted their "goop" to be. After the glue was the color they wanted, we added some liquid starch to the glue. After some tweaking - adding a little glue and a little more starch here and there - the "goop" was finally the consistency it should be.

For the rest of the afternoon, the girls were completely entertained. They LOVED the texture of the slimy goop {which they ended up calling "gooby" instead}! It could stretch, pull, and mold into whatever they wanted it to be. It is amazing what can be done with just liquid glue, starch and food coloring!!!  

 

So Hope had been working on making a "snake" with her goop, but just as I was about to snap the picture, it broke. Hence, I decided it would be better to take a video. :-) The noise of the classroom will hopefully give you a glimpse of what a typical day is like for me. It is hard to capture it in pictures sometimes! Oh yes, never - I repeat - NEVER is there a quiet moment with these girls!

 

Box Tops Ice Cream Party

As a school, we have been collecting these since the beginning of the school year...

Competition always makes things more exciting so the elementary students were split into 2 teams. My girls were teamed up with the 6th graders, and did a great job keeping the competition going strong! Our team of just 10 students won the competition by bringing in 1,262 boxtops!

Yesterday, the students reaped the reward for winning the competition - an ice cream party! It still amazes me how exciting it can be to get to eat ice cream. :-) I used it to my advantage, I must admit. ("You must complete all your papers before you can eat ice cream!")

Posing with the toppings before they got their ice cream...

Letting Mrs. Follett know which toppings they wanted on their ice cream...

Enjoying every last bite!

My girls holding up the certificates they earned for winning the competition!

Birthday Girl Hope

Hope celebrated her 6th birthday today! It was the first time we could celebrate a birthday on the actual day so it was rather exciting. :-)

On her last paper of the day, Hope decided she wanted to write this on her paper....she just squeezed it in! :-)

Fishing Fun

 

Blue material + carpet squares + paint stirrers + string + magnets + orange paper  = Deep sea fishing in the Kindergarten classroom ocean :-)

Afternoon Art

It is amazing what little girls can create in one afternoon with white paper, markers and "do-a-dot" paint!

We were glad that I took this picture of Sarah's "modern art" before it was accidentally ruined by some spilled water a few minutes later! She had worked so hard on it and was so sad when she realized her masterpiece was ruined. {Hence why taking pictures right away is so important! :-)}

I liked where Hope was going with her "Think Spring" painting. Oh how I am ready for flowers and green grass! :-)

Movie Stars!!!

We had a missions banquet at our church tonight. A video was shown to express how multiplication in missions really works. My girls were actually the "stars" for about the first minute of the movie!! Aren't they adorable?! They thought it was pretty cool to have special lights and a camera in their classroom. I was just relieved that they actually cooperated for the event! (My girls are rather unpredictable {smile})

Feel free to watch the whole movie and have your mind blown away by how quickly this world can be reached with the Gospel! The rest of the video features some of the high school students at our school.

Multiplication in Missions from Lehigh Valley Baptist Church on Vimeo.