Snakes in Jelly post

This is too cool:

Snakes in Jelly How To

What a delightful experience except for those of us who are squeamish.

Fun Alert for Petersburg, VA

If you live within quick driving distance of Petersburg, Virginia, there's a lot to see in the Olde Town area.  We were fortunate enough to also catch a the stopover of a 1904 steam locomotive on its round-trip excursion out of Norfolk.  That meant we had to compete for coffee and lunch with some of the 500 passengers enjoying their exploration of the city's Olde Town section.

These may look like chalk paintings but it's real paint.  They were right outside the Dixie Coffee Shop where we started our morning.  I'm partial to Yorkies...

The bateau painting is attached to the side of an old stone building, near the depot.

Bye, Petersburg.

Looking Forward to Mid-June

Oh...spring is here so summer is near, right?

These activities would be excellent for an indoor field day at the end of kindergarten or first grade:

our-last-day-in-pictures

Indoor field day???  You don't know how hot it gets in Central Virginia!

Welcome Spring Cards

First day of Spring!  Let's make some Welcome Spring cards, using words found around the classroom walls and displays.

To get started, grab some scraps of leftover construction paper and stamp some cute little hand stamps which sorta look like tulips.  Add some sweet-smelling oil to the stamp pad if the ink needs refreshing.  Cut a tulip shape around the little hands or just cut around the designs in a circle shape, like we did.

We embellished our card designs with green stems and some stencil tracings.

Time to write!  I modeled writing "Spring-ish" words, using little rectangles so the letters would fit into a small space.  Then, the students drew guide lines and cut out their own little rectangles.

It's tricky getting those tall and long letters to fit within the rectangle.

I didn't realize how "orderly" this student was--such straight columns!  And such lovely prehension!  We'll add the little green stems and more decorations at our next session.

Using Painters' Tape to Create Handwriting Lines

Just saw this on Pinterest, great idea:

Cool Lines with Painters' Tape

Ultimate Clouds

This would be a wonderful project to do over several days:

Making Really Big Clouds

St. Patrick's Day Vocabulary

Where better to practice writing vocabulary words than on your St. Patty's Day card?  We used the teacher's list posted in the classroom to write some descriptive words about the green holiday on our cards.  Eventually, the projects will find their way home but for now they'll be decorating the window alongside the classroom door.

Copy your "Irish" words on paper with highlighted lines.

 Don't just use regular scissors to cut apart the words--grab one of the fun craft scissors to spruce up the edges.

 Remember how leprechauns like to run around the school, playing tricks?  A few of those Irish words can be inscribed on the little toesies of a leprechaun footprint.

 Hang up the finished creations so everyone passing by in the hall can admire them.

Make sure your writing is easy for teachers and other students to read--not upside down or too far sideways.