Taking the journey with the monarch butterflies!

As our assignment this week, we were responsible for finding a Monarch butterfly. Not going to lie, I had already given up on finding one right as we were assigned this. With the cooler weather that it has been, I was determined that there was not a Monarch butterfly anywhere near San Antonio. Well low and behold that the next day at the school I am proven wrong as the day begins. One of the teachers had a Monarch butterfly for the students to observe in her classroom. We told her about our assignment and the teacher was eager to help us out with letting us take pictures, plus providing facts that I never knew about the Monarch butterflies. However, we soon realized that the butterfly was sensitive to the flash on our camera. So, we decided that we should just leave her alone! At the end of the day, they let the little girl go and do her mission in her life. Here are a few pictures of her in the classroom that I was able to get!

I later found one in my friend's garden! Maci better get her butt to Mexico!!

I also found some great links about the butterflies!

http://www.kidzone.ws/animals/monarch_butterfly.htm
http://depts.washington.edu/natmap/facts/monarch_k6.html
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/animals/creaturefeature/monarch-butterflies
http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/monarch/jr/KidsJourneyNorth.html

Simple Machines

You never know what you can find till you are actually assigned to look for it! For this assignment we took a look at simple machines in our home. Above are pictures of simple machines that I found around my home. However, you need to first know what a simple machine is exactly. A simple machine is tool that is designed to make work easier and have as few as possible parts moving. Below are the the pictures classified where they go under simple machines!
Pulley-fishing pole
Wheel and Axle-fishing pole, bike, can opener, and doorknob
Inclined plane-Stairs
Levers-can opener, scissors, nail clipper, and tweezers.
Wedges-can opener and scissors
Screw-doorknob and can opener

Reduce-Reuse-Recyle

I reduce what I use,
So I can make the world better for you,
I reuse some of my things,
So I can be Earth-Friendly,
By having my things serve more than one purpose,
I recycle all my waste,
So it does not go to some dumpster place,
Be part of the team,
And join the green team!
Written by: Kristin Coldwell and Anna Benda

Science in the classroom

Come on in and take a peek,
Who knows what you may seek,
Science here,
And science there,
Yes,
Science is everywhere!

Welcome to Kinder!! In the classroom that I am observing, my teacher is all about the children exploring and opening their minds! Even though they are fake she has plants and trees in various places in her classroom. There are many books and magazines on practically anything that they want to explore in science. If not there, then the library is always the answer. There are many games and activities provided for the children during center time! And I think the puppets are a great idea for kinder when you introduce a certain animal with some facts. The weather chart is one of my favorite ideas! The star student goes to the window and informs the class on what the weather looks like for the day. Then, they sing a song about what type of weather it is! There are all types of materials and items for the children to explore as well! What a wonderful classroom for the children to explore science! But when I asked the children what they think science is, well I did not quite get the answers I expected! Jill responded, "You are doing work" when I asked her what she thought science was. Jim told me, " You learn stuff you have never learned before and it makes you smart. But the closest answer to the question that I was expecting was from Julie, she stated, "You learn about outer space, and helps you learn new stuff that you have not learned before." All in all, the kinder students seemed to like the subject of science in school!
Hope you enjoy the tour of my little kinder class! :)

Exploring living organisms at home!

Open your eyes,
And your mind,
Who knows what you just might find,
Here at home,
I list some,
Living organisms around my home,
Cats,
Scorpions,
Trees,
Toads,
Caterpillars,
Dogs,
Spiders,
Deer,
And sunflowers galore,
These are just some,
I spotted at home,
Can you find these,
Plus, more?

Exploring all about Project Wild!

I knew that it was going to be a great day once I hit the pavilion, and I mean literally hit the pavilion. I thought I would be smart and run out of the rain into the pavilion! Great idea until, boom, I hit a water puddle! And flop, I landed on my bootie. "What an entrance", one of our instructors Koy told me, as she helped me up. As we all got a good laugh, I knew I had to do some good with that nice bruise on my bottom, like hopefully show others why not to run when it is raining! But that was only the beginning of the laughs for Project Wild. We started off with going through our AWESOME, AMAZING, NEW books that they gave us. We learned where to find certain things and what certain things meant. After that, we played a little game to see who could find the answers to Matthew's questions the fastest in the books after our "hike through the book". Annie found one of the answers, which she received a token. Later she was able to turn that token in for reusable bag. Yippee! We are always up for free stuff! A scavenger hunt was in store for us too, luckily I had Adrain give me a cherry to have all four items that I needed. After everybody found four items on the list of food, some people were chosen to act out that food. I acted out peanut butter with a pick-up line. Just for participating, I got a free book about all the Texas Critters. I was pretty excited about that! Keeping us busy, it was B-I-N-G-O time! We had to find people to sign the bingo squares if they knew the answer in that box. It was a great way to meet new people and learn new things. Lucky me, I was able to shout, "BINGO"! Project Wild being awesome, I got a free poster for my win! It is perfect for my future classroom.The list of games and activities goes on and on. All full of fun, knowledge of news stuff, and teamwork At the end, each group made a lesson and presented it to the audience. We did "Aqua Charades" in the "Growing Up Wild" book. I am pretty happy with how it turned out! I have no idea what I would do without my great teammates though! They were the best! Sadly, Hermine just could not stand us having all the fun. So, we had to cut Project Wild short. I can hardly wait for the next Project Wild to come. Who knows, I may want to be an instructor one day! Yes, it was that great of an experience!