My Article on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services Blog

A birder friend of mine from Ohio had the chief editor for the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Bill O'Brian, read my blog post about the Lake Andes National Wildlife Refuge.  He must have found it interesting because he contacted me and asked me to write what the refuge means to my students and me for their "Open Spaces" blog.  I was told that my post will go live on Tuesday, October 17th.  I never thought I'd ever author a post for the USFWS! 

You can view it here:  "The Value of a Refuge - To my Students and Me"

Fire Safety Videos

We have been talking a lot about fire safety this month in kindergarten and today I showed two videos that the kids loved!  Be sure to check your smoke alarms and take a moment to choose a family meeting spot outside - away from the house.  There should be two ways out of each bedroom, so teach your child how to do that too.  It all sounds a bit scary, but it is better to have a plan just in case!  Tomorrow the local fire department will visit the school.  They can hardly wait!  

Stop, Drop and Roll by Margery Cuyler

911 Rap

Looks Like Fall!

Painting seems to be a kindergarten favorite!  They are so quiet and focused as they are painting.  For this art project, they took what they've learned about plants {trees} and the seasons to create a fall tree.  They used tempera paints, paint brushes and sponges to create a masterpiece!

A New Total

One of the fun things that my kindergartners like to do is to see how many birds they can identify - as a group.  They already know 108, but actually they probably know more than that because I realized that there were some that I didn't put on the slideshow.  Many of these young children have amazing memories!

Pumpkin Art

Here are the very creative jack-o-lantern faces that the 
kids created to make our room look a little spooky!

Seed Dispersion

Along with the plant unit I teach, I like to expand on it by teaching as much about nature as I can.  I explained how the dandelion seeds fly through the air to eventually land and grow, but also we talked about the cattails and how they can be carried by wind or water.

Hitting the cattail against the building 
caused the seeds to fly in the wind.  It almost
looked like snow!

The young scientist could hardly believe that that
fluff was really a lot of seeds.

Homecoming Week

These two children were selected by 
the high school student council to 
help with coronation on Tuesday evening.  
They are often called the "small fry".

The burning of the "A" on coronation night 
is a long-standing tradition for our school.

The kindergartners got the balloon 
bouquet on the day after coronation.  They loved it!

This is the back of our float!  The kids made the 
Ninja Turtle faces with paint on paper plates.

Here are the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!

These turtle shells made from painted turkey pans 
were very creative!  Thanks for all who helped with that!

We all loved riding on the float together!

Everyone got into character!

It was a really fun time!