Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Surprise!



My new friends that have a Guatamalan connection surprised my students and I with some gifts!  We received a beautiful oil painting of the Resplendent Quetzal and each child received their very own small quetzal toy.  They were thrilled!  We went to the smart board to do a little research on this bird. Here is a link for you to check out.  It is very beautiful!  ARKive-Resplendent Quetzal
This beautiful, long-tailed bird is the national
bird of Guatemala.  It is on their flag and
currency.

The kids were enthralled with this bird.




At play time, one of the boys drew the bird!
Very nice!

Monday, November 21, 2016

The Kindergarten Turkey Cookbook


The Kindergarten Class would like to give you a few pointers on how to prepare your Thanksgiving turkey, although you may want to double check with you cookbook too.  They also had some ideas of some other foods they would like to eat at their feast.  Enjoy!

”My dad will get the turkey at the forest.  He will hunt it and then he will take the skin off and put it in a big bucket.  He will bring it home and Mom puts the turkey in a pan and she puts pepper, salt, and salsa. Then she puts it in the oven at 3 degrees.  It will cook for a few minutes. 

We will eat it with apples, mashed potatoes, stuffing, broccoli and for dessert we will have mint chocolate ice cream.”

C. B.


“My dad will hunt for a Wild Turkey in the Black Hills.  He takes the feathers out for me and then he takes the meat out of it.  Then we skin it and put it in pan.  Mom puts salt and dressing on it.  Then she puts some vegetables on it.  She cooks it for an hour and then we eat it.  We eat it with peas, tomatoes, muskmelon, and for dessert we will eat chocolate chip cookies!”

By B.F.
 



“My daddy hunts for the turkey and when he brings it home he takes the feathers off and then he cuts up.  Then he takes it to my mommy and she puts seasoning, pepper and salt on it.   She will put it in the oven for 20 minutes.  When the timer beeps, it is done!

We will eat it with mashed potatoes, broccoli, and grapes.  For dessert we will have pumpkin pie and chocolate cake.”

By L.N.

“My daddy has to soften the turkey first and then he gets ready.  He puts pepper, salt, ketchup and jerky season on top.  He covers it with a towel and he puts it in the oven for an hour. 

We will eat it with mashed potatoes and gravy.  We will also have tomatoes, broccoli, salsa, and for dessert we will have pumpkin pie and apple pie.  When we are done eating we will go birding! ”

By M.O.F.


“My dad will get the turkey from Krull’s Market.  It will cost $5.50.  He takes the wrapper off, he takes the skin off, and he puts it in a pan.  He puts water on it.  Then he puts on pepper, yellow cheese, and ketchup too.  He puts it in the oven for 40 seconds.
We will also eat apples, vegetables – especially broccoli!  We would have eggs, carrots, and for dessert we will eat chocolate ice cream!”
By G.P.
“I will get a Wild Turkey with a sharp bow and arrow in the Black Hills.  We will bring it home and Garrison will carve the turkey and put it in pan.  He will put butter, cheese, eggs, crackers and butterscotch on top of it.   Then he will put it in the oven for 16 minutes.
For Thanksgiving dinner, I would also like to eat pepperoni pizza, broccoli, pears, and carrots.  For dessert we will have chocolate hot-cake and hot chocolate with it too.”
By C.P.

“My dad will buy a turkey at the store for $50.00 and he will take it home and put it in a pan.  He will put salt on it and put it in the oven for 50 minutes.
For Thanksgiving we will eat spaghetti, Ramen noodles, and pears.  We will eat chocolate chip cookies for dessert.”
By A.K.

“Mom will buy the turkey at the store and it will weigh six pounds.  She will put salt, pepper, garlic salt, and she will sprinkle cheese on it. 
We will eat it with eggs, hamburgers, chicken soup and for dessert chocolate cake!”
By W.S.


”Grandpa will get the turkey from the barn.  Grandma will make the turkey.  She will put sprinkles, ketchup, hot sauce and pepper on it.  Then she will put it in the stove for 29 minutes.
We will eat our turkey with chicken nuggets, cheeseburgers, and French fries.  For dessert we will have apples!”
By T.O.

 “My dad will go hunting for a turkey in the field.  When he gets one he will pull the feathers off and wash it off with water.  Mom will put honey, ketchup, water and milk on it.  Then she will put it in the oven for 5 minutes.  When it beeps, it is done! 
We will eat bread, hot dogs, corn, and oranges.  For dessert we will have apple pie!”

By B.M.M.



 “My dad, James and I will go hunting for a turkey at the woods.  When we get it we will peel the feathers off of it.  Then we will clean it with water.  Mom will put salt and pepper on it.  She puts ranch on it and then she puts in the oven for 20 minutes.
We will eat it with stuffing, salad, pickles, peppers, and for dessert we will have chocolate cake.”
By J.B.

“Dad will get the turkey from the farm.  He takes off all of the feathers and rinses it with water.  Mom will put gravy and salt on it.  Then she will put it in the oven.
We will eat it with stuffing, vanilla cake and blueberry cake!”
By J.M.

“Mommy buys the turkey at the store and it costs $8.00.  She cuts it into pieces and she puts it in a pan.  Then she puts water on it and sprinkles too.  She cooks it on the stove for 8 minutes.
We will also eat chicken, deer, and chocolate ice cream!”
By M.F.

“My mommy will buy a turkey at the store for $6.00.  She off-wraps it and puts it in a big pan.  She sprinkles on some chocolate chips and sprinkles.  Next, she will put white frosting on it too.  Then she will carve it into chunks.
We will eat it with eggs, sausage, and strawberries.  For dessert we will maybe have chocolate birthday cake for my brother Daylin!”
By B.K.
Happy Thanksgiving Everybody!

Monday, November 14, 2016

Our November Nature Hike


I heard that colder weather is fast approaching, so I took advantage of the warm weather today and walked to the lake with the kids to try out the new binoculars.  Sadly we only saw four European Starlings.  Migration is underway and many of our resident birds have moved on, while others that would be expected were not around or...we scared them away.  The word kindergartners is not synonymous with stealthy.  Ha-ha!



Thursday, November 10, 2016

Binoculars All Around!

The generosity of others to my birding program never ceases to amaze me! Today a friend who chatted with Mr. Terry of Vortex, received a box in the mail for our classroom. It contained six pair of brand new 8x28 Vortex binoculars! Now I have enough binoculars for all of the students to use when we go birding and for older kids to use when we go birding. 

What a gift for us!  Binoculars bring the world of nature in closer and make it even more magnificent! Thank you to Vortex, Shamus Terry, and Lea for contacting them. Vortex and Fairway Seeds had each donated the same type of binoculars last week, so this was a huge surprise! Last spring generous birders donated their used field guides and two donors set me up with 40 birding field guides to distribute to the kindergarten - 4th grade Chickadee bird club members, so that they would all have a guides of their very own. Wow! All I can say is...WOW!

Veteran's Day Art

Thank you Veterans!

November Art


Calendar Math


There is so much math that can be done with a calendar.  We do it in school to start the day, but you can do it at home as well.  You can ask questions like these.

"Let's count to 30 on the calendar."
"Point to all of the Mondays?"  "How many Mondays are there?" "Are there more Mondays or more Saturdays?"
Point to a number and ask, "Which numbers are greater than this number?"  "Which numbers are less/fewer than this number?"
Point to two numbers and ask, "What numbers are between these two numbers?
Point to 16 and ask, "How many tens and ones are in 16?"
"Today is the 9th.  What equations make 9?"  {4+5, 6+3, 8+1, 3+3+3, 10-1, etc.}  Once they begin to understand how to do that, they really enjoy it.  I start out using counters to demonstrate equations.

Check out all of those sunny days!


Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Leaf Sorting


Yesterday we searched for different leaves and then we came back to the classroom to sort them.  First, they sorted them by color and then by shape.  They decided that sorting leaves by their shape proved to be more difficult.  It was a fun time and a great way to integrate science and math skills together.

Thursday, November 3, 2016

Owls Drawings

I had the kids do a step-by-step drawing
lesson and I thought that they did a great job!

Christmas in November?


A huge thank you goes out to our local Fairway Seeds for supporting the kindergarten birding program They have donated two brand new pair of "real" binoculars and six new books!  Wow!  Another thank you goes to Vortex for donating a pair of brand new binoculars to the classroom along with the ones that Fairway Seeds donated.  Now we have 10 pair of binoculars for outings.  How awesome!  THANK YOU!
Here are the happy kindergartners!

T-rex visited our classroom today!


To Teacher's House For a Birthday Cookie!



Here they are checking out
my animal collection.

Birthday cookies all around!

We stopped along the way to play in the leaves.

Kids love to play in the leaves!

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Owl Pellets

To wrap up my owl unit, the little scientist investigated owl pellets today.  Its true...owl pellets look gross, but they are interesting.  When owls and some other birds eat a small animal whole, they are unable to digest the bones and fur, so they cough it up.  When scientist look through the bones they are able to see what animals the owl had eaten.  These were pellets from a Short-eared Owl out west.  They had been kept in the freezer for months.  

It was so quiet in the room and the kindergartners were so intent in finding bones in their pellet.  They compared the bones to the ones on the pellet chart.  Most of the bones were of rodents.  Of course they were not happy with me when I said that they had to throw the bones away, so I let them glue the bones to their paper.  That is why you have received a paper full of bones and skulls!  Ha-ha!    

There was a lot of discussion and comparison going on.  
I've never seen the kindergartners so studious!

I offered to help some of them and they did 
not want any help.  They enjoyed this!

The kids thought that the long, pointy teeth 
were really cool!

He asked me several times, "Are you sure this isn't poop?  
Are you really sure?"