So Good You Can Taste It

We had a 5 Senses Tasting Party:

We had FUN tasting sour, salty, sweet, and bitter things.

Each child got a little piece of wax paper with a pinch of salt, sugar, and unsweetened cocoa on it.

They also got a flat toothpick that had been poked into a lemon.

How It Worked:

First, they tasted the sour taste of the lemon by placing the toothpick on the side of their tongue.  That's where you taste sour things most strongly.

A flat toothpick works best for lifting the grains of salt, sugar, and cocoa,
but a round toothpick works fine too.

Next, they used their wet toothpick to pick up a few grains of salt and taste them.

Then, they used their wet toothpick to pick up a few grains of sugar and taste them.

Last, they used their wet toothpick to pick up a few grains of unsweetened cocoa and taste them.  You should have seen their faces!

We used higher level thinking skills:

We talked about how we could make the cocoa taste better and they decided to mix it with the sugar they had left.  They said it now tasted like a candy bar.  :)

We Integrated Writing:

The students illustrated something they like to eat because they enjoy the taste.  While they drew and colored, I asked each child what they were drawing and we determined which taste (sour, salty, sweet, or bitter) their favorite food had.  Then, they copied the food they liked from my sample and how it tasted.  This was one of the 5 pages in our 5 Senses Packet.

This was my sample.  Students wrote with a pencil.  
They dictated, I wrote on lined paper, and they copied.
For T.K., I wrote with a highlighter and they traced over my printing.  

You can find our 5 Senses Pack by clicking HERE.

Click the image

See you all tomorrow!

Palma :)

Celebrating Green!

Yes, We Celebrate Colors

Each week we focus on a different color.  We learn how to spell the color's name and we write about things that are that same color.  This week was GREEN WEEK.

It's Not Easy Being Green

We colored and painted green things, we read stories about green things, and we wrote about things that are green.  On Friday we all wore green, we tasted green grapes, and we made green paint to take home.

Making Green:

Each child got a sandwich size Zip-lock bag with a squirt of yellow and a squirt of blue tempera in each of the bottom corners.  I had a parent do this and also she also removed the air and made sure to write the children's names on the bags with a Sharpie.

Try to keep the two puddles of paint separated if you can.
This paint in this bag already started to blend.

As my students finish their work with me in small groups, they each got their own bag to squish and mix the colors.  I loved watching their eyes light up when they saw the green appear out of blue and yellow.  

Kids continue to mix until they have lots of green paint.

They dropped their sandwich size bag into a quart size Zip-lock bag that had a green poem, 2 Q-Tips for painting, and a cute note stapled ABOVE the bag's plastic zipper.  We just sealed the quart size bag and hoped that this 2nd bag kept any green paint from finding its way out while on the school bus home.  

The green note says:  Today I mixed a little yellow with a little blue and made green!
It's hard to see the word "yellow".

Here's A Green Song for you:

Sing it to the tune of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat"

G-R-E-E-N, G-R-E-E-N,

I know how to spell green,

 G-R-E-E-N,

Caterpillars are green,

and I have ten,

I know how to spell green, G-R-E-E-N.

Celebrating Other Colors

We will celebrate orange next week by squeezing organic oranges to make our own juice.  

The following week we will celebrate purple by tasting purple grapes and mixing our red and blue Kinetic Sand to create purple sand.  

You Might Like...

Calendar cards to remind students which color we are celebrating.  We like to dress in the celebrated color each Friday and pose for a picture.

Cut these apart and place them in the pockets on your calendar pocket chart.  

Click HERE for the Calendar Color Cards.

Color notes for parents so they know which color their child should wear.   They come in English and Spanish.

Fill in the date and have your students color the crayon to match the color you are celebrating that week.

Click Here for the Color Notes in English and Spanish.

Our Color Pack gives you writing templates and colored class book covers so you can create class books for your classroom library.

Click the image.

Students trace the color name and illustrate something that is red.You can write it on lined paper for them to copy, or for pre-school or T.K. you can write it with a highlighter and they trace over it.

Great to go along with the book Mary Wore Her Red Dress.Students write their name at the beginning of line one and illustrate to match the text.This makes a great individual book too as there is a page for each color.

Click HERE for the Color Pack.

See you all tomorrow.

Palma :)

Yes, We Have A Winner!

For 1 FREE Year Of ESGI:

Congratulations to Hilary Bee!  I will forward your email address to ESGI and they will contact you and set you up!  I'm sooooo excited for you!

Everyone Wins:

Everyone can get in on the 60-day FREE trial and then, use my DISCOUNT CODE for $40 off of your 1st year.  Just CLICK HERE to go to ESGI and click on the orange "60 day free trial" icon.
When you check out, use the following code for your discount:

The code is:  

B2174

You may use this code yourself and share it with colleagues and friends.  

See you all tomorrow.

Palma :)

Exiting Ways To Teach All About The Five Senses

Hearing:

We spent the entire morning on this sense, but I integrated so many other subject so we covered a lot of standards and had FUN learning.  Here is how:

This was our culmination activity each day.
My K students dictated, I wrote on lined paper, they copied & illustrated.
My TK students dictated, I wrote with a highlighter on their paper, they traced & illustrated.

We started by listening:

We listened to soft sounds and LOUD sounds by using this Thunder Tube.  

Click the image to see this on Amazon.com

We read about the sense of hearing and how our ears pick up vibrations and send the info to our brains.  

Then, We Went On A Listening Walk:

We listened to The Listening Walk, by Paul Showers.  

Click the image to see the book on Amazon.com

If you are lucky enough to find a cassette tape or audio version of this book, grab it.  It has wonderful sounds in the background.  The link above is for the book only.  

We followed up by taking our own listening walk on the playground.  We heard leaves crunching beneath our feet, cars driving by, birds, a dog, an airplane, and even the air conditioner outside of one of the classrooms.  We even counted how many different things we heard.  :)

We returned to our classroom and I met with small groups of five children.  We started by illustrating one thing that we heard while on our listening walk.  As the students drew and colored, I asked each child what they were drawing and I wrote it for them on lined paper so they could copy it or I used a highlighter and let them trace over it.  It all depended on each child's ability. 

This was our culminating activity each day.
This was my sample.
We always add blue background by using
broken, unwrapped, blue crayons to fill in the background.

This page is part of a 5-page book about out 5 Senses.  Students meet with me each day, experience hands-on activities having to do with one of the 5 senses, and then they write about it in their 5 senses packet.  You can find a similar packet in my TPT store by clicking HERE.  

Then we listened to our hearts:

If the child is holding the stethoscope, make sure they are not standing near a table or anything else the end of the stethoscope can drop onto.

If you are lucky enough to have a stethoscope, be very careful.  If a child has the ear buds in their ears, and they drop the end of the stethoscope on the table, it can hurt their ears.  I ALWAYS hold the end of the stethoscope carefully in my hand.  I tap gently on the end so they can hear how loud a gentle tap sounds.  Then, I carefully hold the end to their chest so they can hear their own heart beating.  I LOVE watching their eyes light up when they hear their own heart beating.  This activity drives home how you can HEAR something that you can't see.

I clean off the stethoscope with a baby wipe before the next child puts the earbuds in their ears.

Then We Matched Sounds:

Each sealed film canister has objects inside for the students to shake and listen to.  I placed the same objects into 2 canisters so every jar has a matching jar.  Students shake the jars and match the two that have the same sound.  

Make sure you number each jar and keep a "cheat sheet"
so you know instantly which 2 jars match.

Shake, shake, shake, and listen for a matching sound.

The following day, we learned about another one of our 5 senses until we finished our entire 5 Senses packet.

This is the cover sheet for the 5 Senses Packet.  Click the image to see the product.

This is what the "hearing" page looks like (minus the logo).Click the image to see the product.

See you all tomorrow for another one of our 5 Senses.

Let me know if you have any FUN ways to learn about the five senses. 

Palma :)

You Can Win 1 Year of ESGI, The BEST Online Testing Program EVER

Have You Heard of ESGI?

Click the image to get the FREE 60 day trial and more info about ESGI.

I have been using it for about 6 years now and I'm still loving it!  Let me tell you why:

It's easy to use.  They even have quick videos to get you started.

I can use their stock tests or I can easily create my own tests.

I can test students quickly on a desktop computer, a laptop, an iPad, or even on my smart phone.

My students beg to be tested.  I'm serious, they really do!

I can get soooooo much data from ESGI.  They tell me which students have mastered each skill and which students have not. 

I can print out flashcards for each individual student.   I can use these for in-class intervention and I can send a set home for parents to work on with their child.

I can print out parent letters telling them specifically which skills their child has mastered and which skills they need to practice and the letters come in English and Spanish.

I can make my administrator very happy by providing data from the beginning of the year and each trimester so we can record growth and areas of need.

I can go on and on, but why don't you take a look at their web site and check out their short videos by clicking right HERE.

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Can't wait?  Try their FREE 60-day trial and use my code (B2174) for $40 off of your 1st year.

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Good luck.

Check out my:

FaCeBoOk:  Click Here to see my Facebook. (Tons of FREE ideas.)

PiNtErEsT:  Click Here to see my Pinterest Boards.  (Oh, the ideas on these boards!)

TeAcHeRs PaY tEaChErS:  Click Here to see my TPT Store (Did you say, "15 freebies?!")

See you all tomorrow.

Palma :)

A Name On EVERY Paper Guaranteed

How do I get EVERY child to write their name on their paper?

These are tropical fruit scents.

It's easy.  I use scented lip gloss.  Well, not on lips.  This is how it works:

You, or an aide or volunteer, walks around the classroom with scented lip gloss.

If you see a student's name written neatly on the line (no flying letters allowed), you rub a tine dot of scented lip gloss on the back of their hand.  We call it a "smelly spot" and you get one if you have a name on your paper by a certain time.  

I also love how it goes great with our 5 Senses unit.  The kids love it and will hurry to their tables and write their names just to get a smelly spot.  You can find them at the Dollar Store and I even saw some cute crayon-shaped ones at the Target Dollar Spot.  Have fun with this one.  

Check out my:

FaCeBoOk:  Click Here to see my Facebook. (Tons of FREE ideas.)

PiNtErEsT:  Click Here to see my Pinterest Boards.  (Oh, the ideas on these boards!)

TeAcHeRs PaY tEaChErS:  Click Here to see my TPT Store (Did you say, "15 freebies?!")

And you might like my 5 Senses Writing Pack:

Click the image to see the writing pack.

See you all tomorrow.

Palma :)

Appreciate Your Office Staff With This Gift

Your Office Staff Will Love it:

So easy to make too.

This is quick and easy to make for any school office.  Here's how:

1.  Buy a frame and remove the back.

2.  Buy a can of black chalkboard paint and some chalk.

3.  Cut a piece of cardboard to fit inside the frame (or use the back of the frame) and, in a well-ventilated area, spray it with chalkboard paint.  Allow it to completely dry and apply a 2nd coat of paint.  Allow it to dry again and apply a 3rd coat of paint.  (See the can for complete details.)

4.  Once it is completely dry (at least overnight) use a piece of white chalk to write your message.  You can write your school's name or something like "Welcome" on it.  

5.  Carefully re-assemble the frame making sure not to smudge the paint.  

That's it!  You're all done.  It's ready to give to your office.

You might want to pin this one on Pinterest by clicking on the red "Pin" button.  

Check out my:

FaCeBoOk:  Click Here to see my Facebook. (Tons of FREE ideas.)

PiNtErEsT:  Click Here to see my Pinterest Boards.  (Oh, the ideas on these boards!)

TeAcHeRs PaY tEaChErS:  Click Here to see my TPT Store (Did you say, "15 freebies?!")

See you all tomorrow.

Palma :)