Five for Friday and Funny Kid Friday

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

  

This is the last one with my sweet class this year.  The kids still have two days left, and I go until next Friday.  We are hanging in there...

Today is our Kindergarten Reception.  We didn't have a graduation, because the Pre-K classes have a graduation. But, we wanted to do something fun with the kids.  We are having some outside activities, with juice and cookies for the children and parents.  

Last Friday was our Outside Field Day for our school.  This day is like a child's dream. Here are some of the highlights...

Two big bouncy houses

Water Relays and Tug of War

(We skipped reading, writing, and math this year to focus on tug of war.  It paid off.)

Face Painting

(I tried to get a picture of all the face paintings.  I took an individual picture of each child's painted face and printed it out, because I knew the paint would come off on the water slide later in the day.  This way, they had the picture to remember their painting.)

And... the WATER SLIDE!

I am pretty sure guardian angels were working overtime at the water slide.  I was just watching little arms and legs flying all over the place going down that hill- attached to the happiest faces ever!

We read several books about houses and designed our own houses!  I always love reading House for Hermit Crab at the end of the year to my class, and talking about how Hermit Crab is nervous about leaving his comfortable home, but ready for a new and exciting adventure- just likethey are for first grade. 

I also love We Were Tired of Living in a House.  I had this book when I was little and always loved it.

                                  

The illustrations are so much fun to study.  The children were tired of living in their house, and tried lots of different places to live (a tree, the ocean, a cave).  Something happened at each place to chase them off to the next spot.  They gathered something special to keep from each place they tried to make their home. It's a great book for retelling and sequencing. Look at those great illustrations.  

Finally...

  

We talked about what we would like to have in our house if we could make a house just the way we wanted it.  The kids had so much fun talking about slides instead of stairs, a room full of Legos, a room with everything for kittens, etc.  Nothing was off limits!  Then, they got to spread out and design (and label) their own house on big paper.  This was so simple- and such a great activity.  Those kind of activities are my favorites.  We shared our houses after we drew them.  The conversations as they drew were wonderful to hear.  I didn't say anything- just listened.  

We had a great time reading Log Hotel and looking for our own log hotels on the trails behind our school.  I wrote a post about it HERE.

This week, one of my little sweethearts brought in a bean from his beanstalk!

One of my other little guys said, "I have had 3 beans so far!" This made my day!

We had our end of the year puzzle party day this week. I have the children make EVERY puzzle that we have to be sure all of the pieces are with each puzzle and are all there.  We actually found a few in the wrong boxes.  The kids love having jobs and love figuring out missing piece mysteries even more! Here are some of my very proud workers. 

Finally, my sweet friend Kathleen, from Kidpeople Classroom is starting a linky party of funny kid stories.  I am joining her linky today, too!  Two in one!  Stop over and link up one of your funny stories with her. I can't wait to read them.  

Anyway, one of my all time favorite stories was when one sweet, sweet, little boy walked over to me v-e-r-y slowly (turning himself in),  and said, "What I MEANT to say was, 'Will you be my friend?'  But what I ACCIDENTALLY said was, 'I want to punch you in the face.' "  

I will never forget that.  Ever.  In fact, there are times when I can totally relate to that story, and I am afraid I might just make that same mistake.  

Have a wonderful weekend!

Eric Carle's House for Hermit Crab

I always like to read Eric Carle's House for Hermit Crab near the end of the year, as my children get ready to move on to their new "home" in first grade. 

We have great talks about making new friends and learning new things in first grade, but always knowing that our kindergarten friends are there for  us all the time. 

I also have two boys moving at the end of this year, so they were able to share all about that with the class as well.

The other thing my children pick up on in this book is that it follows the hermit crab through the months of the year.  My class loves the  Macarena Months song, so we sang this after we read the book. 

I show the class some video clips of actual hermit crabs.   I put several (as well as Macarena Months, or course!)  on my Eric Carle Prezi.  One of the favorites is this one where the hermit crab decides he wants to live in a Lego shell! 

I found an adorable hermit crab craft at Tippytoe Crafts!  I love the handprint idea and the eyes on the pipe cleaners! I am going to do this next year! 

 

 

We didn't have time for much of a craft, but during free choice time, I made some shells and had lots of sea stickers and blue paper to cut like water, so the children got creative!

 

 

 

 Our favorite activity was our Hermit Crab Game. The children sat in a circle on the rug. I chose one name stick to be the child who closed his/her eyes in our back section of the room (behind a book shelf).  I chose another  name stick to be the crab and hide in the shell. We practiced this game before we actually played.  I had one child peek- so he knew who was under the "shell," and we saw how it really took the fun away from the game.  I also had the children practice being completely quiet and not giving away any hints about who was the crab.  They got very good at this, and were actually annoyed if anyone made a peep! (I LOVED this game.  :)  One child was the "clue giver," if the child guessing needed a hint.  This was great practice for noticing details about friends and describing each other. (For example, "It is a girl."  "This person has red hair." "This person's name starts with a B."  "This person wears glasses.")  Here, the boy in the green was "clue giver" while the one in the orange shirt was guessing!  (The funny thing I just noticed is that these are both my boys who are moving this year!) 

Sometimes I divide the name sticks in half, and we play one round where half get to guess and half get to be the crab, then later, we switch, so that everyone has a chance to do both.

When the crab was under the "shell" and we were ready for our guesser to come out, we all sang, "The crab is in the shell. The crab is in the shell. Hi ho the derry-o, the crab is in the shell."  That just happened.  Not planned.  But so precious!

This is a very versatile game.  We also like to play it  around Christmas- when the person under the blanket is the present, and we say, "The present is wrapped!"

The first time we played it, I got under the blanket as the last child guessed.  The kids said, "This is a HUGE present."   Well... I wasn't thrilled to be HUGE, but it was funny!


This is one of my favorite creations of the year that I use all the time. I just hot glued one plastic cup inside a larger clear plastic cup. 



After I draw a name stick, I put the used name sticks on the outside part, so I know that name has been called.  Cheap, easy, and really useful!

Thank you for visiting!
Happy Teaching,
Carolyn