A look at my week...penguins, shapes and I {LOVE} LABELS!

My first week back after the holiday break and...well...I'm glad the weekend is here!  It's been one L-O-N-G week!

We started our penguin unit this week.  This is my first time teaching penguins and let me tell, you, I love it!  I'm really into it!  I've actually learned a whole lot about penguins I never knew before.

We started the unit by doing Babbling Abby's Mystery Box - can I tell you how exciting this was for my kinders!  I hid a small stuffed penguin in it.  The answers were hilarious!  The kids came to school the next day and wanted to do it all over again...and, of course, wanted the penguin to be inside!

I created this large penguin to record our knowledge as we continue learning about penguins.  I got this idea from Babbling Abby and Deanna Jump.

Next, we did Deanna Jump's science experiment with the blubber glove, from her Penguin Unit.  Let me tell you that I actually dislike science A LOT but ever since I have been using Deanna's ideas this year, I can't get enough!  My kiddies loved placing their hand in ice cold water and then in the glove in the water....we did this write up afterwards.

Since we just started our penguin unit, we will be continuing next week.

The Kindergarten students began learning about 2D shapes this week too.  This was actually a little easy for my class as they remember a lot of it from last year.  At one centre, I put out these fantastic shape rubbing plates I got through Scholastic.  So easy and the kids were independent (which I LOVE!)

We worked on how shapes are constructed (i.e. how many corners and sides) and the students had to use popsicle sticks to create a picture.  They had to copy the picture on the paper using the same colours.  I got this idea from Julie Lee but I modified it for my class.

Ohhh, I was sooo happy when I received a little package this week from Mabel's Labels.  If you haven't heard of Mabel's Labels, you HAVE TO check them out!  Really!  I started using Mabel's Labels last year when my daughter went to a preschool program at the community centre and everything, EVERYTHING, needed to be labelled.  These labels stick to just about everything and don't wash away (plus they are microwavable!).  Then I discovered their teacher labels - so, ahem, I went ahead this week and began to label all of my personal things at school.  Yes, I do have to admit, these labels look much better than what I used to do - permanent marker or tape to write my name on things! 

Mabel's Labels ships internationally (free shipping in Canada and really low cost shipping elsewhere) so check them out by clicking on the pink button found on the top right hand side of my blog.

Next week, we are going to get started on graphing...here's a little preview of what's to come...keeping it simple for the first day as a review (especially for those kiddies that need a little more support). 

You can find this activity in my Winter Wonderland unit on TpT.

Enjoy the weekend!