Five for Friday May 1

I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday. Thank you for hosting, Kacey! Happy May!

Every year I look forward to our My Favorite Things lessons.  We bring in our favorite thing to tell and write about.  It's great for opinion writing because we write why it is our favorite thing out of ALL of our things. 

The children love to learn the song- and learn it so quickly, I can never believe it.  All three verses!  You just can't help but be happy.

I use my   My Favorite Things Prezi (You can download it free at my TPT store!) to help introduce the song.  I have pictures to go with the words of the song in the middle of the Prezi that you can click through at your own pace as you sing.  Then, I have different versions of the song all along the edge from Youtube. Now, with the Prezi app for iPads, I can put this Prezi on the iPad for center time and the kids can listen and practice all they want!

Last year, I had the children write books about their favorite things:

Her doll is named Juliet. I loved how she spelled it here.   

I love the illustrations in this one! She gets SO excited to get her ideas down and works as fast as her little characters are moving in the pictures! I love all the movement and expression she adds! 

 Don't you just want to know what happens next? There are lots more pages, but SPOILER ALERT: He ends up in the dryer and didn't want to be there!

 This was a "Favorite Thing Picture Photobomb...

This year, I had the children write about their favorite thing so I could hang it above the lockers.





This is my other idea linked to "My Favorite Things. " I adapted Dr. Jean's fabulous Self Control Lotion idea. I just I covered a bottle of lotion (just Jergens Original Cherry Almond- shhh!     with a picture of "My Favorite Things" taped down on the front, and changed the idea to go along with My Favorite Things, since that is what we are working in now.

When someone needs a few minutes to settle down, relax, or take a little time out, I put a little lotion from this bottle on his/her hands and quietly tell him/her to rub it all in slowly, and to think about some favorite things. The few times I have used this, the reaction has been the same. Since I believe it works, it works- just like most things in Kindergarten! When the teachers says it will make you feel better, it will. (Don't you wish everyone believed in you like that!) After sitting and rubbing the lotion in for a while, the child has come over and just started telling me all about everything that happened WRONG that day at home, on the bus, with a friend... I just think it lets the child know you care and you want him or her to feel better and feel loved. Sometimes, it is just that simple! Sometimes, it isn't- but it is worth a try!

Part two of our My Favorite Things lesson involves the children's favorite books.  Each child brought in a favorite book from home.  We shared these and again told and wrote about why this was a favorite book.  I explained that it could be one of several favorite books, because it seems like every time I sit down with a read aloud, I am saying, "This is another one of my FAVORITE BOOKS." 

I am SO glad I let this one finish his writing before I said anything... because all I saw when I was walking around were the first three words...  and I was curious.   Now I know it is supposed to say, "I like this book because it is so funny."  Phew!

In technology class, the children are making iMovies about their favorite books. 

They are loving it.
We are making very simple iMovies.  The first session, the children are taking pictures of their cover, and a couple pages of the book to show their favorite part and what the book is about.   The second session, we are going to input the pictures and record our book commercial.  The children are going to introduce their book, tell why they like the book and think others would like to read it, and finish with a "Read to find out ..." sentence about their book.  We'll add a little background music and have some fun book commercials.  I will show you some when we're done!  I can't wait.

This is a good tutorial about iMovies.  This one is much more involved than what we're doing, but it sort of shows how easy it is to figure out or at least play around with for fun!



Art for Kids Hub is such a wonderful site!  I am using it  for free choice as one of the centers for the children to choose a couple times a week.  I made blank books for each child.  I have all sorts of pens, pencils, markers, colored pencils, and crayons available.  During free choice,  I play a guided art video for the children to draw along with if they would like.  They just love it.

This one was King Creeper from Minecraft.  Well, it was free choice, after all. The kids get to vote on the drawings. 

One morning we went through the pictures of all the available drawings, and the kids were sooooo excited. 

The fun part is that some children want to draw every single thing.  Some don't.  That is just fine!

I do use some of the guided drawings to go with writing activities, which we all do. For example after we read our books about ducks, the children draw the duck and then write about it. 

Here is a little video of the children drawing Elsa.  This is free choice time- and listen to how quiet it is!  

Next  is sort of a funny fail.  We have been working on adding more details to writing.  One day for our lesson before writing, we played the Detail Game.  Everyone begins standing.  When I say a detail that does not apply, the child sits down.  For example, if I say, "This person is a girl,"  all the boys sit down.  I keep giving more and more specific details until only one person is standing. 

Next, I had the children close their eyes and picture the sentence that I said.  I explained that details in writing help the reader make pictures in their minds instead of having an illustration on paper.  I began with , "I see a dog. "  I asked several students what dog they pictured. I got all sorts- a pug, a bull dog, a poodle.  Then, they closed their eyes again and I said, "I see a little black and white spotted dog sleeping on a furry red rug next to his bone."  When the children opened their eyes, I asked again what they pictured- and most said the dog that I described.  But, the first little girl I asked said, "Well... I actually saw only black. Then some squiggles.  Then they turned into shapes which I turned into a castle." There was really nothing more to say.

Detail Lesson Fail.  

Finally, this is just for a little laugh of the week. We had this game when I was little.  It was my favorite.  I played it every time I had a friend over.  A few years ago, I looked all over for it and no one had any idea what I was talking about.  Well, then... THIS!  Now it's out there, but pretty expen$ive.  Although when I see this video, it seems like it's worth it.  

And one more...  We had a few minutes before specials today after we read our book "Good News/Bad News," so I had the kids draw and share a quick good news on one side and bad news on the other... 

He MEANT to say boo boos, by the way...

Have a happy, healthy weekend. Thank you for stopping by! 

Trouper, the Blind Raccoon Ambassador

My parents just returned from a trip to Florida.  While they were eating outside one day at Fisherman's Wharf, they noticed a baby carriage nearby.  They peeked in expecting to see... a baby...  OR maybe a little dog, since they've seen some little dogs in carriages before. Much to their surprise, it was a raccoon!  Luckily, my parents are friendly and like to talk to people. They started a conversation, learned about this special raccoon, and shared the story with me, which led to a fabulous day in my class!



Trouper is a very special raccoon. He is a survivor of animal cruelty- a real "trouper."  When he was eight weeks old, he was beaten by a golf club  and left for dead on a golf course in North Carolina. But God had other plans for this little raccoon!  Someone knew the perfect person to call, and this is how he came to be cared for by Miss Dot.  She has now been Trouper's "mom" for six years.  He is blind. He can't feed himself, smell, climb, use his hands, or defend himself, but that hasn't stopped him OR Dot! He CAN hear, eat when he is hand fed, walk, stand on his back legs, and feel with his feet,whiskers, and body.

Miss Dot even moved to Florida so that she would be able to keep and care for Trouper.  I would say SHE is quite a trouper!

Trouper is also now a service animal who  helps teach both adults and children how to care for and be kind to animals.



Miss Dot wanted others to know of and learn from Trouper's story.  She found the perfect person to share her story,  a wonderful author  named Kyle Miller.  Kyle  is writing a series of books about Trouper's life.



My mother bought this book for my class and found just the raccoon puppet to go along with it.

We had such a wonderful day learning with Trouper.  It was perfect for Earth Day, too!



After we read the book, we first talked about never, ever approaching a wild animal of any kind because that isn't safe.  Trouper is now a pet that lives with Miss Dot and a safe animal for people to touch. The book has a great lesson about being safe around wild animals and what to do if you see one.

Next, we shared questions that we wondered about Trouper and wanted to ask Miss Dot.  Each child wrote a note to Miss Dot thanking her for saving Trouper and asking a question (or two). 

Then, I found a fabulous site with guided drawing online called Art for Kids Hub. The video was just the right speed for the children to follow along, and they absolutely loved it.   The kids were really proud of themselves for following directions and drawing a great raccoon! Here it is if you'd like to try it with your class.  They have lots of different guided drawing videos.



You can also print out a paper copy for the children to draw, but the video was so much fun.
                       
I found some great videos about Trouper on Youtube that I also shared with the class.  They loved them.  These videos are also at Trooper's website!



This one was great for showing how he listens and feels his way to where he wants to go.



We had to finish up with some "Fuzziest Home Videos"... 10 Funniest Raccoon Videos!  If you want to hear some serious LAUGHTER from five year olds, this will do the trick! (My favorite is the one where the raccoon takes handfuls of cat food from the cat and walks away with it.)



Teaching children to love, care for, and treat animals gently and kindly is so important.  Some children never hear that lesson.  Here is a poem that I found from May Days, Macmillan Seasonal Activity Packs, 1985. I just loved it.

.....................Little children, never give

.....................Pain to things that feel or live.

.....................Let the gentle robin find

.....................All the crumbs you leave behind.

.....................Feed your dog and let him run

.....................Bounce and play and bark in fun.

.....................Pet the kitten soft and small;

.....................She'll come to you when you call.

.....................Let the bunny hop and play

.....................On the lawn at close of day.

.....................Watch the chipmunk or the mouse

.....................Peep out of her little house.

.....................Let these creatures run along

.....................And do not do them any wrong.

I wrote a simple little poem and made a little freebie "Be Kind to Animals" paper (featuring Trouper) if you would like it.

Just click on the picture below!

 

I explained to the children that sometimes being kind to an animal means leaving it alone, and not going near it- like with wild animals- or even with your friends in line when I keep saying, "Keep your hands to yourself!" (But that's another lesson...)

Teaching children to be kind to animals is such an important lesson that many don't hear enough. We talk about being kind friends to each other a lot, but often don't transfer that lesson to animals.  

I shared this lesson with teachers at my school.  Feel free to share with your teacher friends. It's a great lesson for this time of year. It can be one lesson or expanded over a couple of days. Everything you need for the lesson is right here except the book, that you can purchase here if you'd like.  

If you would like more information about Trooper you can find it at  his very own website. 

Here are some other books that I love to use to expand this lesson:

I absolutely LOVE How to Heal a Broken Wing.  The illustrations and the message are just the sweetest. Look at these precious illustrations.  I love how he uses the illumination to highlight what he wants the reader to focus on in the picture.  

Here's more about it from Amazon:

"No one saw the bird fall."

In a city full of hurried people, only young Will notices the bird lying hurt on the ground. With the help of his sympathetic mother, he gently wraps the injured bird and takes it home. In classic Bob Graham style, the beauty is in the details: the careful ministrations with an eyedropper, the bedroom filled with animal memorabilia, the saving of the single feather as a good-luck charm for the bird's return to the sky. Wistful and uplifting, here is a tale of possibility — and of the souls who never doubt its power.

I found some sweet pictures to go with this lesson to share with you.  Our class made posters to hang up around the school that said , "Be Kind to Animals," in honor of Trouper and Miss Dot.

Here are some of the posters we hung up around the school.



Thank you to Miss Dot and to Kyle Miller for sharing his story with the world, so that everyone can be more aware of the importance of loving all animals. 

UPDATE!

Sweet, sweet Miss Dot wrote a hand written letter back to each of my students.  They were THRILLED!  

First of all, they could not get past the raccoon footprints all over the envelope that meant that Trouper, himself, had seen their letters and helped get this package together.

They read and reread the letters, then shared them with their friends. 

Next, my sweet mother (who introduced us to Trouper in the first place) had a surprise for the kids! She had the restaurant down the street (Gigi's Place) make raccoon cookies!  They were a HUGE HIT!