Five for Friday ~ February 3rd

It's February! January went by in a flash! Not that I'm complaining ~ I prefer warm summer weather to cold winter weather. But, I really can't complain about the weather because we've had a mild winter here in Indiana. It's been cold, but we've had so little snow that it's felt weird talking about polar bears & penguins. But, since it is winter we have gone ahead with our snowy themed units. If you live where you don't have snow & cold, what is it like teaching about chilly topics?

We spent last week learning all about hibernation. I love it when we get to spend time talking about animals. (The kids do, too!) I was impressed by how much they retained ~ the kids were able to tell these fact for me to record!

After reading lots of books about hibernating animals & watching some really good videos on You Tube my darlings were able to do some nonfiction writing. I was pretty happy with their work.

 "Bears sleep in winter because food is scarce."

 "The groundhogs go to sleep in winter and wake up on spring."

 "Groundhogs are mammals. The groundhog sees a predator." The label says "whistle."

You may be done with your hibernation studies, but you may want to check out my Hibernation mini unit. It contains lots of materials for you to use when learning about hibernating animals. 

Check it out HERE.

One thing I love about kindergarten is the love my little students share with me. I spend more waking hours with these little children than their own parents during the week & I feel it is important that they grow to trust & love me as much as I love them. One of my little cuties made this cute picture for me. (I'm not exactly sure what animal it is supposed to be, but I really like it!)

I joined up with a bunch of teachers to participate in a Valentine exchange. We needed to create valentine cards to send to our pals all around the country. My kiddos created these darling heart trees with Q-tips & paint. I hope our pals like them! 

We haven't had much snow (I don't think there was any measurable snow in January), but it's been pretty cold so we've build a number of cozy fires in our fireplace. Hubby & I enjoy sitting by the fire to play Scrabble while sipping on glasses of wine. (Riesling is my favorite.) Even though I prefer warm temperatures, I do enjoy sitting by the fire. If you follow me on Instagram you will have seen many pics of my fireplace ~ most likely with a glass of wine and/or with my little dog Macie. (Not a follower? Check me out @kinder_doodles on Instagram.)

Groundhog Day! On February first we made these cute little "weather predictors." The kids loved their groundhog puppets and paper plate burrows. We made them on Wednesday so they could look for shadows on Thursday morning. Of course, February 2 was bright & sunny! January was nothing but gray (seriously ~ the most dreary gray cloudy month of all time). The one day we needed no sunshine it was bright, so of course the kids saw shadows. Oh, well ~ this is Northwest Indiana, so I really don't expect spring to come early groundhog or no groundhog. 

Thanks for spending some time with me! Now, hop over to Doodle Bugs Teaching to visit some more awesome blogs.