Dinosaurs, Cavemen, and Underpants............. Oh My!!!

Dinosaurs Love Underpants

Last week we read a very entertaining story titled "Dinosaurs Love Underpants." The students absolutely loved this story. The book tell us of a very unique and funny theory for why all of the dinosaurs became extinct millions of years ago. 

If you have not read this great story I suggest you pick up a copy for your Dinosaur Unit!

 

After reading the story my Kinders we could not resist making our own Dinos in Underpants!

 

I drew up two different dinos, a T-rex and Triceratops, and let the students choose between the two. I will be uploading the template soon as a freebie! 

After the students decorated their dinos they had the challenge of cutting them out. This helped them practice some fine motor skills. Next, they had four different types of underpants to choose from that I found on the internet and enlarged. I can not begin to tell you how much fun they had decorating and creating these.

The final product was hilarious and we displayed them proudly in the hall!

Last, we talked about the story setting, characters, and conflict and wrote a few simple sentences. My class voted and gave this story 5 starts!!!!

Watercolor Flowers

With the bright weather and beautiful flowers springing forth it seems like we are getting outside more and more. The garden has been looking so beautiful it only seemed fitting that we took our first shot at watercolors this year! First the Kinder Klowns learned about some famous watercolor artists and then some basic watercolor techniques. To keep things clean we opted for the watercolor pencils that you add water to after (worked like a charm).

Next we went outside with our art paper, folders, and art supplies and picked a spot to relax in and draw. Each student picked an area they were comfortable in to sit with a view that inspired their artwork. Here are some snap shots of the kiddos hard at work enjoying the air and drawing their pictures. 

We came inside and got straight to work adding the water. At first I was worried the students would get upset as the colors started to run together because some of my kiddos love their work to be perfectly neat. There are a few than remind me of myself because watercolor always scared me because it can be a little unpredictable when you add the water. Luckily I was wrong! They all loved seeing the effect the water had and watching the color spread around!!!

I am still thrilled with how these turned out. They really used their artistic talents and took their time perfecting their work.

We proudly displayed our final products in the hall!

Here is a better look at four of my students' finished products!

A Day in the Garden

Today the school librarian and helper decided it was that time of the year to start weeding out the garden. Our school is very lucky to have a beautiful outside courtyard in the middle of school that is full of areas to plant . The Kinders all brought in gloves from home and were all ready to go when it was time for our library special. 

 

When we got outside they were each handed a bag to collect dandelions in. They got straight to work ridding the gardens of the weeds. 

Here are a few snapshots of our time outside. It was such a beautiful day!

Dandelion Art

In the afternoon we picked out a piece of colored construction paper, dumped out our dandelions, and created an original piece of artwork. Once again, the students got very creative with this.

 

Some students chose to make a landscape picture while others created giant flowers out of their dandelions. One boy made a beautiful heart for his mother since Mother's Day is just around the corner!

 Some kiddos ended early so I showed them how to make flower head bands. This allowed for them to get some extra fine motor skill practice. They even helped me make one (those things can get tricky).

 We gathered around for a group shot with our new dandelion art work and jewelry before displaying it in the hall.

Dinosaur Descriptive Writing and Fossil Find!!!

I do not even know where to begin with how much fun this day was! I surprised the students by bringing in an entire bag of assorted dinosaurs. One by one I pulled them out of the bag and our class described them in detail. After all of the dinosaurs were set out on the table I allowed each one to come up and pick (they were chosen in order from their ranking in behavior cards). 

After selecting their dinosaur, the students sat down and examined them closely! 

Next we learned about the different parts of the dinosaur. I drew a dinosaur model on the board and labeled each part one by one. After we named the part each student found that part on their very own dinosaur (or observed that their dinosaur did not have that trait).

 The students learned about sloppy copies. They all went right to work drafting their couple sentences to tell about their dinosaurs. Some students stuck to simple describing sentences while others challenged themselves and went more in detail.

After students wrote their sloppy copy and had it checked and corrected by me they were given a new sheet to write their sentences on. Students took their time and wrote as neatly as possible! Their final task was to illustrate their picture.

 

The kiddos took their time making every detail perfect. They really enjoyed drawing their own dinosaur and got really creative with it. Many of their chose to label their dinosaur and used the board for some extra help. The final product was amazing and they were all very proud of theirs when we got to take them out and display them in the hall!!!

  

In the afternoon things got even more fun. I told the kiddos that if they worked hard I would have a surprise for them in the afternoon. They clearly deserved it after their amazing writing. I busted out my hardhat and told them all we were going to become certified paleontologists (can you tell I cant hide my own excitement for this project) and dig for dinosaur fossils. But before we could start we had to talk about how we would do this, and safety of course!

First, I passed out a paper towel and chocolate chip cookie to each student. They figured out that they were going to have to get the chocolate chips out of the cookie. I asked them how they were going to do this without damaging the "fossil."

They figured out that they would need some sort of tools. We talked about what tools real paleontologists might use and what tools we could use instead. Next, they got out magnifying glasses and inspected the "rocks" they would be digging into. This is were it really got fun!

We got to learn all about magnifying glasses and how they worked. Students explored and experimented by getting up close with the rocks they would be chipping into as well as other objects around the room. One student figured out how it would make their eye bigger! 

 Before you knew it the whole class was figuring out new and creative things to do with it. This was one of those moments that I just had to go with and opened a whole new lesson I was not expecting. They LOVED it!

I could not resist either!!!

Then it was off to work. Each student used their toothpick and magnifying glass to carefully dig into their cookie. Students soon realized how much of a challenge it was to excavate the chocolate chips with just a toothpick. They were not allowed to use their hands to pick up the cookie because we discussed how it would be impossible to hold up a giant rock in real life. 

While we worked on slowly getting the chocolate chip cookies the kiddos started to realize what "being patient" meant. Many of the kiddos told me they knew they did NOT ever want to dig up dinosaur bones because it took way too much time. I could barely stifle a laugh when they said this considering they had only been working for about 10 minutes! Some of the students however found this activity very calming and spent a great amount of time and detail getting every speck of cookie off. 

 This little paleontologist spent a great deal of time making sure every one of her "bones" was perfectly cleared. 

This kiddo kept her work area nice and neat!

At the end of the day these little "paleontologists" filled out a sheet recording how many "fossils" or "bones" they found in all. It was one fun and exciting day for everyone in my room and one of my favorite days so far this year!!!