Day 14 Caterpillar Update

Royal Reader

Pigeon Presents website

Check out this site for information on Mo Willems and pigeon fun and games! (click the image)

Describing Words About Mo Willem's Pigeon

Which Kind of Hot Dog Do You Like?

After reading The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog by Mo Willems, we used our interactive whiteboard to graph which kinds of hot dogs we like best. Our class likes plain hot dogs best.  We got this idea from this blog.

Kidblog

Today we added our pigeon drawings to our blogs and tried to persuade the bus driver to let the pigeon drive the bus.  Log in to our Kidblog to read what they wrote!  We are trying to learn how to respond to comments ... so make a comment, if you'd like!

Hatching Baby Chicks

Our kindergarten buddy class in Virginia hatched these baby chicks!  They have a live webcam feed set up for the kids to see the chicks.  So cute!  Click here to see the webcam feed.

Pigeon Directed Draw

@educreations @The_Pigeon @KidblogDotOrg pic.twitter.com/6IGJOUkIud

— Mrs.Piltz (@MrsPiltzK) April 29, 2014

Pigeon Directed Draw

We used @educreations to make @The_Pigeon and posted to our blogs today. Can't wait to see what they write tomorrow! pic.twitter.com/MP4HPEo0ZC

— Mrs.Piltz (@MrsPiltzK) April 29, 2014

Day 12 Caterpillar Update

Day 12 #caterpillar update pic.twitter.com/G7M8e7M5QS

— Mrs.Piltz (@MrsPiltzK) April 28, 2014

Sweet Pigeon Tweets

@The_Pigeon I like when the pigeon said "I'll give you five bucks." Mason

— Mrs.Piltz (@MrsPiltzK) April 28, 2014

Sweet Pigeon Tweets

@The_Pigeon I like when the pigeon yelled "LET ME DRIVE THE BUS!" Lane @lancebyler1

— Mrs.Piltz (@MrsPiltzK) April 28, 2014

Sweet Pigeon Tweets

@The_Pigeon I would have let the pigeon drive the bus because I want him to have fun! Brodey

— Mrs.Piltz (@MrsPiltzK) April 28, 2014

Would You Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus?

Today we began an author study on Mo Willems, using his "pigeon" books to guide our learning.  These are some of my absolute favorites!  You can read the story Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! here.  The students graphed whether or not they would let the pigeon drive the bus.

3D Shapes Mimio

Today in math group, we used this great Mimio activity to sort every day objects by their 3D shape.

Student of the Month

Caterpillar Observations

We are observing #caterpillars in our classroom! Here is our journal so far. pic.twitter.com/trqA0bRHE0

— Mrs.Piltz (@MrsPiltzK) April 24, 2014

Kindergarten 2014-15 REGISTER NOW!

There was a meeting held at Beartooth School on Tuesday, April 15th to discuss issues of class size and the movement of some kindergarteners to Bench School for the 2014-2015 school year. Brenda Koch, executive director of school leadership for the East Billings schools, and Sandie Mammenga, Bench principal, were here to answer questions and listen to your concerns.  Since Bench is also a Title 1 school, there is not a concern about limiting services to our students. 

The decision for placement at Beartooth will be a first come first serve basis. Each child must have a birth certificate and a completed shot record.  The “Kindergarten” shot can be done any time after their 4th birthday Once we have 60 students with complete registrations, then the next students would be registered for Bench.

iPad Community

We talked about being learners in an iPad community and what that means.

iPads Day 1 ... we are excited!

iPads Day 1 ... Sweet Tweets

The #ipads are fun! Taylee

— Mrs.Piltz (@MrsPiltzK) April 23, 2014

iPads Day 1 ... Sweet Tweets

We logged in to Raz-Kids and read stories on our #ipads. Jemma

— Mrs.Piltz (@MrsPiltzK) April 23, 2014

iPads Day 1 Wahoo!

The #ipads are different colors and they all have numbers so we know which one is ours. Mason

— Mrs.Piltz (@MrsPiltzK) April 23, 2014

Sweet Tweets About Being Good Citizens!

I will go on the slide feet first. Kingston #goodcitizen

— Mrs.Piltz (@MrsPiltzK) April 22, 2014

Sweet Tweets About Being Good Citizens!

If someone lost a jelly bean, I would find it for them. Brodey #goodcitizen

— Mrs.Piltz (@MrsPiltzK) April 22, 2014

Royal Readers

Tweets About How to Help Earth

We can reuse things like shoes, clothes, toys. Mason #reuse #EarthDay

— Mrs.Piltz (@MrsPiltzK) April 22, 2014

Tweets About How to Help Earth

Don't leave water on while you brush your teeth. #reduce #EarthDay Morgan

— Mrs.Piltz (@MrsPiltzK) April 22, 2014

Happy Earth Day!

iPad Song

Jelly Bean Graphing

Thanks to everyone who brought in eggs and jelly beans!  We had fun sorting, tallying and graphing jelly beans.  At recess, the "Easter bunny" hid eggs around the room for us to find!  Happy Easter!  (NO SCHOOL FRIDAY & MONDAY.)

The Easter Bunny's Assistant

Thanks to a great activity from The First Grade Parade, we made these cute bunny and skunk comprehension hats after reading "The Easter Bunny's Assistant" by Jan Thomas.

Also, our practicum student, Mrs. Hagen, had her last day today.  She brought treats for the kids and we gave her a book that we all signed.  We will miss her!

Royal Readers

NASA Tweet

#skype with @NASA We learned the moon has a north & south pole & they found water on the moon. Emilee

— Mrs.Piltz (@MrsPiltzK) April 11, 2014

Craters Experiment

Cool experiment from The First Grade Parade.  We made a hypothesis about how moon craters are formed, then conducted an experiment using cocoa, flour and rocks!  Thanks to the moms who sent in some cocoa and flour!!  :)

NASA Tweet

#skype with @NASA I liked when Wall-E touched the screen and it broke. He showed us pictures of the moon, satellites & Mars.

— Mrs.Piltz (@MrsPiltzK) April 11, 2014

NASA Tweet

#skype with @NASA I learned the moon is very tiny compared to the sun. Mason

— Mrs.Piltz (@MrsPiltzK) April 11, 2014

Skype with NASA

Our Skype with NASA & Wall-E was so cool!  The kids really enjoyed learning about the moon. Check Twitter for some of our NASA Tweets. 

Reading Help

At student-led conferences, a few of you had questions about how to help your child with reading at home.  There is a great article and some strategies here, at the Reading Rockets website.  However, the best thing you can do is spend time reading each night (reading to them and letting them read to you.)  Using books or any of the great e-book sites we have access to.  Thank you for your support at home!

iPad Song/Poem

Great song I found at What the Teacher Wants blog.  Will use it when we introduce our new iPad minis.  :)

Parent Feedback from Student Led Conferences ... Most Proud Of:

NASA

We could not connect for our Skype with NASA & Wall-E this morning.  :( We will reconnect with NASA once the technical issues are worked out.  In the meantime, we spent time exploring this cool NASA Kids site, and found these awesome videos with Elmo visiting NASA!  Enjoy!

Student-led Conferences

Customize a free slideshow design

Apps for our 1:1 iPads

Many of you asked about the apps that we use on our iPads when you were in our room for student led conferences.  I put together this Symbaloo with all of the apps that will be on our new 1:1 iPad minis.  (Yay!)  If you have questions about what we use any of them for, please let me know.  All of the links go to the iTunes store.  If you have an Android device, you will need to search for it in the Android store (sorry!)  Click the image below to be taken to the Symbaloo mix of our iPad apps.

There is also a link under "Parent Resources" on our blog.

Solar System Popplets

Today we wrote some questions about the solar system and made some Popplets to get ready for our Skype with NASA tomorrow!