2016 JHES Graduates

Thursday our graduating seniors came back for a walk down the halls of their elementary school one last time.  We wanted to do this as an inspiration to our littles.  We want them to see these BIG kids are so excited to graduate and to return to JHES in their caps and gowns. We want them to return to the same spot they took their first day of kindergarten picture. Not a dry eye. We are so proud of our kids!

              

Congratulations to our 2016 JHES graduates!

Underwater Experts FREEBIE

This freebie is very generic and can be used for researching any ocean animals you choose. Just pick an animal, do the research, or hunt it down on a great internet site like National Geographic for Kids, or Sea World. Then print as many pages as you want your students to have. Give them a cover page and back page. Now they have instant information they will love to collect, read, and reread to a friend. This is a great way to practice researching and writing to create their own informational text. 

Click here to get this FREEBIE.

Clumsy Crab - Book Extention

We had a blast learning about Crabs today.  We read so many different books that the students couldn't help but fall in love with crabs.  Clumsy Crab by Ruth Galloway was one of our favorites.  If you are looking for some fishy fun, or crabby comprehension, read this book and try our activities to go with it. We are both beach and ocean animal lovers, so we spend the month of May doing an in depth study of these animals. The kids love it because the animals are so fascinating and unique. This story pairs well with Clumsy Duck for some compare and contrast activities. We included writing, comprehension activities, alphabetical order, and some crab facts to print and post. Also, if you reduce the size of some of the pages to 80-85% , they work great in an interactive notebooks. Click below to be redirected to our store, then click on the preview to see what we do with our kids to use this book in different ways. 

Click here to get this extension.

Swim with The Dolphins

This is a cute little game to go along with an ocean unit, or to use anytime of the year. It works like a cake walk. As the children listen to music (preferably the sound of whales from YouTube), they walk around the room and stop on a number when the music stops. It's a great way to work on listening skills and have fun at the same time. It is also good for the little ones to practice recognizing numbers to 24. There are no cakes to win, but as each person gets out, we give them a package of goldfish crackers, or gummy sharks, so it makes losing a lot less painful. The winner, or last one standing, gets a snack and a sticker. You could also make them the winner if their number is called and they WIN a yummy snack. Your choice. Have FUN! 

You can get it here!

Whale Walk

This is a another version of our musical chairs game with a twist. It's a fun game to go along with an ocean unit, or to use anytime of the year, especially on a rainy spring day.  It works like a cake walk. As the children listen to music (preferably the sound of whales from YouTube or music from Finding Nemo), they walk around the room, swimming like a whale might move, and stop on a number when the music stops. It's a great way to work on listening skills! 

You can get it here!

Crab Walk

This is a cute little game to go along with an ocean unit, or to use anytime of the year. It works like a cake walk. As the children listen to music (preferably a little reggae music, Bob Marley, Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry Be Happy"), they walk around the room like a crab might walk, and stop on a number when the music stops. It's a great way to work on listening skills and have fun at the same time. It is also good for the little ones to practice recognizing numbers to 24. There are no cakes to win, but as each person gets out, we give them a package of goldfish crackers, or gummy sharks, so it makes losing a lot less painful. The winner, or last one standing, gets a snack and a sticker. You could also make them the winner if their number is called and they WIN a yummy snack. Your choice. Have FUN!

You can get it here!

Take Me Out to The OCEAN!

We couldn't wait for May to get here so we could start our Beach unit!!  The first week is all about sun, sand, waves, and sandcastles!  The students bring in beach towels so that we can go outside to read.  They each get a bucket of sand (paper cup) and are rewarded with shells throughout the theme. When you get caught being good you get a shell in your bucket. This packet gets us started, then we get into our Ocean Creatures unit. 

This 42 page beach themed packet will get your kids excited about going to the beach, whether it is in person, or in your classroom. Plus, we included many printables that may be used for review, assessments, or centers, and some fun stuff too. It provides practice for skills taught in first grade in May! Check it out. 

You can get it here!

The following weeks, we dive in and learn about the creatures of the sea!  Each day we discover a new ocean animal!  Our whole day is centered around one animal.  We read all kinds of books, fiction and non-fiction.  We watch clips on the internet giving us a peek into the animals habitat and showing us how the animal moves.  We do all kinds of activities throughout the day with a focus on this animal! At the end of the day, we create the animal!!  And they write what they have learned about the animals in their booklet.

You can get it here!

Here is a freebie from our Ocean Creatures packet!  It is very generic and can be used for researching any ocean animals you choose. Just pick an animal, do the research, or hunt it down on a great internet site like National Geographic for Kids, or Sea World. Then print as many pages as you want your students to have. Give them a cover page and back page. Now they have instant information they will love to collect, read, and reread to a friend. This is a great way to practice researching and writing to create their own informational text. 

Click here for the FREEBIE

Ocean Creatures Bingo

As we get to May each year, we start thinking VACATION, and we here in Alabama start planning trips to the Gulf Coast, as do many of our students. To get us in the spirit of beaching, we always do a unit on ocean animals. This year we updated our ocean packets on TPT, and created some fun stuff too to get us through these crazy last weeks, like this cute little game.  It works like Bingo with a twist, and with much cuter graphics than the old version. This would make a great center activity for the end of the year, or during a unit on ocean animals. 
Your kids will love it.

You can get it here.