Penguins, Letters and Snowmen...Oh my!

 This week we did a multi-media art project with Snowmen.  We painted our snowmen with tempera paint, then we went outside and gathered sticks for the arms of our snowmen...the kids absolutely LOVED going on a stick hunt.

It actually tied in really nicely with math too as they had to measure their sticks to make sure they were the right size. I suggested that the stick be about the same size as their hand.
They then embellished their snowman.  They cut hats and scarves out of felt and fabric, they glued on the sticks for arms and buttons down the front of the snowmen, they drew on the carrot noses and cut squares of black sparkly ribbon for eyes and the mouth.  I think they turned out pretty cute!

We also started our Penguins unit.  The kids have been having a blast learning about the cute little creatures.  We started the unit off with a Mystery box which the kids loved!  They recorded their predictions on what they thought was in the box after 4 clues had been read to them.

We also learned about where they live, the climate in the Antarctic, we labelled a penguin , we learned about the adaptations that help the penguin survive in that climate, and we learned a cute little penguin poem.  All of these came from my Penguins unit.  You can click on the picture to go to my store if you would like to take a look at it!

With our big buddy class, the students used digital cameras to take pictures of themselves making the first letter in their names.  They had a blast doing it!  Next week we will be uploading them onto Kidblog and writing sentences about other words that start with that letter.

What are you teaching in your classrooms right now?
Hope you have a wonderful week!
Terra

Technology in the Classroom

So, as I type the post title, I'm thinking to myself:  I really have to get better at remembering to take photos of the kids doing all of our great activities...hmmmm.....I guess I have a ways to go with technology in the classroom!
Our school (until 2 years ago) has been in the dark ages when it comes to technology.  We only had one smartboard in the entire school, no IPads, a computer lab that worked only sometimes and only 1 or 2 computers in each classroom...SAD!!
Now, because of our WONDERFUL, AMAZING parent advisory council, in the past two years we have managed to get a smartboard in every classroom, have purchased a class set of cameras and 5 Ipads....Not bad considering the PAC had to pay for every single piece (and installation) themselves!

So it is all a bit new to me, but this is what we are doing:

Each morning I do learning stations: (basically math and language arts centers)  Sometimes we use the smartboard for one of the stations.  Last week kids had to sort pictures by initial sound.  They LOVED it.  I love when they can work independently and be successful at it!  Gotta love self-correcting activities!

We have also started taking photos with our big buddy class and uploading them onto the site Kidblog.  Do you know about that site...it is fabulous!  Talk about writing for an authentic purpose....real people read their blogs and make comments on it....the kids are amazed!  The big buddies helped my Kindies upload their pictures.  Then the little buddies dictated sentences to the big buddies about their photos.  Everyone was so engaged and both groups were learning.

There were so many great photos taken.

"Our ice castle is very pretty. The  sparkles are so pretty too. The ice castle has so many different colours. I like the colour pink with sparkles the best."

"Elyssa's Masterpiece: A green leafy hill.  There are yellow, orange and red leaves on the trees."

"I like the rock because there is a lot of moss on it and the rock is huge!"

This was our first attempt at it, and I think it went pretty well. Kidblog is free...you should totally check it out!  www.kidblog.org
That is just a couple of  ways we are using technology in the classroom.  What ways are you finding to use it in the classroom?  I would love to hear!
Terra