Ms. Hendsbee's Humming Hive: Two Big Words for Two Big Ideas: Patriotism and Hibernation!

By the time you are reading this (since I haven't posted in a month) yay testing and other life craziness, my kiddos are United States experts! We took four weeks to discuss what and where our country was, how it worked, and what the President is responsible for... and why he's SO COOL. Also, we did some science experiments and discovered how many American symbols there were! Here's a peek at the unit:

United States vocabulary search and find in the sensory table. YES! We got a sensory table! Sensory beads are WASHABLE and from Lakeshore.

I love this map. We use this very simple map (from the Dollar Store) just to see the size of the United States and how it is made of many different states all working together. I think the colors do a great job showing just how many parts work together. For the readers, there are also capitals labeled.. so it is great for everyone! Its also a great model for our state collage below...

A look at the beginning of our KWL

State collage... they are so beautiful when finished.. and mounted on black paper. The kids also never seem to forget that the United States is made of many different parts after this opening project.

On one of the first days of the unit, we always "discover America." We get out the map, share things we notice and question, and then actually count the number of states together. A much different experience then just announcing the number to unexperienced minds.

Next, we create our own American flag. I think it is SO important for the kids to have a strong understanding of the country they are living in, and many of them don't have much background at this age. Much like we did with the states project, this project helps us BUILD our understanding so it makes sense and won't be forgotten.

We first count 13 stripes for 13 original "towns" or colonies. Then, we add the blue rectangle and count out as a class the 50 stars. We know these stars stand for the number of states we have NOW. They place stars, I glue. I end up laminating the final project and hanging it for the remainder of the year!

When we cover the Liberty Bell, we always do the penny experiment to discover how she turned green!

Here's a cute Eagle craft I place out for option at choice time. All you need is 1/3 of a paper towel tube, brown paint, white paper for tracing their hands, google eyes, and small orange triangles.

The last week, we explore what it means to be a president. We start with what we know....

then we discuss holidays and read a poem from The Kindergarten Smorgasbord covering all the responsibilities of a president..

And after reading Duck For President, and of course discussing its meaning and importance in great length, WE VOTE!

On the left, were writing the pros of both candidates (duck and farmer) On the right, the kids flipped over their papers and discussed who they were going to vote for and why with their table mates. I heard some WONDERFUL things this year. Some kids were discussing language barriers (duck...), laziness, experience.. sounded way better than the debates on TV right now!

And we finally... VOTED! We made a BIG deal about setting up four different stations in the classroom and voting silently and independently. We even placed our folded ballot in a ballot box.

At the end, we got an I VOTED sticker and tallied up the results. We discussed how anxious and excited, confident and sad we felt at different times throughout the activity. SO fun!

The very last project of the United States unit is to complete a culture flag at home. We discuss how America is a mix of cultures and languages and how being proud of and knowledgable about your own is important. The kids bring home a large white paper and a template and are asked to make a flag mimicking the design of the American flag but with their culture or families foods, songs, language, and pictures. They were all very excited to share and some even LEARNED their home language for the FIRST TIME. sigh. At least I sparked some interest!

As winter was attempting to wind down, the bees and I discussed hibernation in science. We learned how animals prepare for the winter months, whether they hibernate, migrate, or adapt. We discovered many animals that aren't strictly one or the other and that always sparks great discussion!

Here's our hibernation sensory table!

And another AWESOME science experiment.

We filled one open and one sealed jar with half of a stick of butter each. We discussed how butter stands for the fat within an animal, or the energy they use to survive. The lesson is that if the bear hibernates, it will keep its food store for a longer period, since it does not need it for running, walking, hunting etc. The closed container holds the same amount of food and energy, but this bear does not hibernate. We pass around the jar and shake it, roll it, move it just as the bear would be doing in real life while looking for food, running, and playing. The children notice that the butter melts much faster when it is broken apart, signifying the burnt energy. Last, we discuss how this means that they need to find food and just how scarce that is in winter. Many bears, we decide, will die if they don't hibernate.

As we went through the four week unit, we slowly filled in this velcro chart adding different animals and their hibernation or migration place for the winter. We left this chart up so we could take a look at our progress throughout the unit.

I LOVE flip books. Here we are completing a hibernation flip book about different animals that hibernate.

At the end of the unit we did a compilation writing. We decided how the animals (and us) know when the winter season is approaching. Only if they keep their senses sharp will they be able to prepare!

And we read Bear Snores On. Which is the cutest book about a bear who misses a party held in his OWN DEN because he's hibernating. We use this book to decipher between real and fantasy things and practice our sequencing skills.

Some New Math Centers!

We love BUMP! Here's addition bump, with higher numbers!

Whole group subtraction bingo

Shamrock addition boards (roll, add, and cover) The partner with the most chips covering the board by the end, wins!

I LOVE this. Tricky Teens bingo. So the caller picks a card, deciphers the teen number form either tens blocks representations or an addition sentence, and then everyone covers their boards.

Mustache Measuring !

Beep beep subtraction, start with 8 and subtract the dice roll.

Shamrock number parts fill and record

Leprechaun coin three part addition! Bought the gold coins at Dollar Tree! the addition was very difficult for my bees but the coins helped to keep them on task and accurate!

Flipping Frogs subtraction (with added subtraction cards for recording)

a rainbow of number building... numbers 1-100 are written on clouds and multicolored place value blocks are available. The bees pick a cloud and represent the number in block formation.