Dogs, Snakes, and Donkeys, OH MY!

We have had many animals visit our school in the last weeks.
Mrs. Kornuta (our wonderful principal) shared a presentation with us of her newest family member. Mrs. Kornuta adopted a dog from the Animal Shelter- Toby. She shared with us how he was dirty and sad, but now he's clean, healthy, and very happy.
I explained to my kids that Sampson, my dog- who they have only seen pictures of, but have never met- came from the same place. But since he's too big, he couldn't come to school... (or could he??? :)




Ms. Riddle (our neighbor K teacher), brought her dog Sophie Belle to visit our class. Sophie is queen of Ms. Riddle's house :) and came to show us her tricks. She was so cute and fluffy. We loved her!

We also met Toby (Mrs. Kornuta's dog). He's working on his tricks and getting pretty good! Especially when he saw Sophie get treats for what she did! :)

One of our K students in another class brought his pet corn snake and tortoise. His dad told us all about them- and was very knowledgeable! What a great experience!

By the way, this corn snake will grow up to 5 feet!

THEN... one of our teachers met a lady who owns a baby donkey. She wanted to bring him to meet our students. Of course we were excited! His name is Speical and he rides in her car! We loved him... and he made some funny noises!

And of course! Mrs. Lindsey came to get a kiss! :)

SO! After a DONKEY came to school, I decided Sampson could visit as well- he is just about the size of that donkey! We met outside (my sweet husband brought him) and Sampson showed off his tricks. I was pretty impressed that he performed in front of 100 kids! I think they liked him.
High 5!

High 10!

"Steady" (put a treat on his nose and he waits until you say "take it!")

and the kids all time favorite- "BANG" and he plays dead :)

Oh how he loved the attention!

Thanks Mr. Kyle!

And this impressed me! Brock was so into the "bang" command. He came up to Sampson shouting, "Bang, bang, bang!" and Sampson actually went down! :) Good boy!

I'm a tad proud of him, we've worked hard. And all compliments to Petsmart training! :)
And thanks to Mrs. Kornuta for letting all these wonderful animals visit, education, and give us great experiences!

Our Classroom Bear

This year I did something I've always wanted to do. When I was student teaching, the class had a bear that went home each weekend with a different student. They completed a few pages of a book with pictures and writings of their weekend. I bought our class bear in Page, Arizona on a trip to the Grand Canyon. Since he came from so far away, Page (who got his name from his "birthplace" :) is pretty special to me. I was honestly a little nervous about sending him home and something happening to him. I was pleasantly surprised! My kids thought the world of him and took such great care of him! I loved the stories written in the book, and from hearing stories from parents of the weekends. I love this book! Great job!!! (parents especially! :)

Here are a few pages from our year with Page!

How to make home-made play dough

Last week we made our own play dough. We learned about recipes and ingredients and used measuring tools to make sure we got it right! Here are the steps, and you can make your own!

1 cup of flour

1/2 cup salt

2 tablespoons baking soda (the recipe calls for 2 tsp cream of tartar, but we substituted since I didn't have any- I think it worked great!)

1 cup water

1 tablespoon cooking oil (1 tsp if using cream of tartar)

Stir it up!
Add some color!!!

Pour it in a pan on medium heat and bring to a boil. Since I was using this skillet, I had no idea what medium heat was. It started turning as soon as it hit the heat. Just turn it over and over like you're scrambling eggs :)

Wait just a little while before handing it off to those eager kids. It's hot!

We learned the word "knead" and had a great time playing with our own play dough!

Spring Showcase

Spring Showcase was so much fun! We watched a wonderful performance and then toured the school to see all the AMAZING artwork displayed in the hallways and classrooms. Thanks to all the families who came to visit!

Their very own art portfolios- I thought they turned out pretty cute :)

I made each child a picture book with pictures of their friends, dressed up for Mommy and Me Picnic, our zoo visit, a class picture, and a picture with me, of course! :) I hope it's a fun keepsake.

Favorite Animal Watercolors

Favorite Insect Mosaics

Stained Glass Easter Eggs (Thanks Mrs. Paula!)

LA Project Display

I had this slide on the big screen during the showcase. I LOVE these pictures!

Self Portraits: My all time favorite!!!

Cool Hands and Warm Hearts
(done in art class. I love these different mediums!)

So, our hallway is under major construction as we are adding on a new pre-k building. YES! Our school is two years old, and we're adding on! They are extending our hallway, so we have a lovely piece of plywood since they took out our wall and window. Mrs. Foster took care of the eye-sore! I love her class' LA artwork! :)

One of my student's sisters was the hostess for the show. So cute!!!

So proud of Cole! His artwork won out of all of Kindergarten! It will hang in our school hallway!