TACKY!!

This week has been a celebration of all things TACKY!!

We started the week with one of my all time favorite characters--Tacky!  Helen Lester has created lots of stories about this odd bird and we enjoyed almost all of them!

There are a few we haven't tried yet!

Let me know if you and your family read any of these books!  I am always looking for new books to add to my classroom library! 

After first reading about Tacky, we decided that maybe Tacky needed to read some teaching books to help him learn how to do things like the other penguins in the Nice Icy Land.  So we wrote some "how tos" teaching Tacky how to do everything from walking in a straight line to diving in the pool to doing ballet to shooting a target!  

Next we spent a lot of time looking at lots of different Tacky books.  We took time to look at the characters, setting, problem, and solution in each book.  We looked for all the ways the books were the same and different.

After looking at some many of Helen Lester's books, we decided to try be authors just like her.  So, we used our imaginations and one of her silliest characters, Tacky, and created some stories of our own.  (Our tacky attire only served as more inspiration!)

Then we made our own Tacky to go with our stories.

And everyone accepted the challenge to construct Tacky with cubes or pattern blocks!

And while most of the week was dedicated to the imaginary bird Tacky, we also began learning about real penguins.  Did you know that male emperor penguins keep their eggs safe and warm on their feet for almost three months without letting the egg touch the ice?  

We tried our hand--or our feet rather--at keeping keeping our eggs safe on our feet while waddling down the hallway.

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It's not quite as easy as it looks!

We kept track of how far each little penguin waddled, and some of them waddled over 60 inches!

We couldn't end with week without a treat, so we made some chocolate covered marshmallow penguins!

See if your child can tell you about how we used solids, liquids, and reversible changes to create this yummy penguin treat.

Looking for a penguin themed BrainBreak?  Check out the link below!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He5Xu11HBkM

Winter is a Winner in Kindergarten!

Since returning from the break, we have had the opportunity to celebrate a new year and a new season--WINTER!  

First, we talked about some of the things that we already knew--or thought we knew--about winter.  Then we did a little learning with Pebble-Go, and it turns out, there was a lot we didn't know about the coldest season of the year!  Did you know that some places only have warm weather--even in winter?  Did you know that every snowflake has six sides, and if you look in the center you will find a hexagon?  We learned a lot of really cool stuff, but we never could quite figure out why the temperature outside is getting warmer and warmer!  You can read a little more about winter on your own here.  (user name:  colham   password:  ferry)

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Even though the temps around Colham Ferry have been more spring than winter like, we have still managed to have some cold weather fun!  

After learning a little bit more about winter, we started thinking about all the special things that people can do in winter, and at the top of the list was to build a snowman!  After reading several of Caralyn Buehner's books we began to love Snowmen At Night, Snowmen at Christmas, Snowmen At Work, and Snowmen All Year!

    

Caralyn Buehner used her imagination to create stories about all the things snowmen can do, so we tried using our imaginations to write some stories about the things that OUR snowmen like to do!

The list was wide and varied--we had snowmen throwing snowballs, playing soccer, swimming, and we even had one snowmen doing a handstand!  

Next time you are at the library or book store, be on the lookout for Caralyn Buehner's snowmen books They are fun, entertaining, have great rhythm and rhyme, and are perfect for retelling!  If you can't get to the bookstore, try listening to one of her stories here or here or here.

But we didn't stop there!  After reading All You Need for a Snowman by Alice Schertle we decided to make our own snowmen!  

Since there was no snow outside, we made our own snow dough inside!  

Next we used our experiences building snow dough snowmen to help us write how to books that could teach others how to build a snowman.  We practiced putting all our ideas in order and using the words first, next, then, and last to tell just how to build it.  

We also tried a warm winter treat (hot chocolate) and cold winter treat (Snowcream).

It was a close call, but I think most people liked the hot chocolate the best!  I think the whipped cream and marshmallow pushed the hot chocolate into the lead!  

We even had a sight word snowball fight! 

And..I have saved the messiest for last!  We engineered with ice!!

We used different shaped ice cubes, salt, and our snow dough to build towers!  

 

Everyone was really creative, but we had to work fast!  That was some melty business! 

If your family is looking for some winter fun, but the temperature is too warm for snow, try out our snow dough recipe. 

Snow Dough 

3 parts baking soda

1 part conditioner (That's right--plain old hair conidtioner)

**To make it even more authentic, put everything in the freezer first!**

Or if you are looking for some winter treats try our hot chocolate recipe or some Snowcream.