Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Open House Rainforest!

Oh. my. SNAPS, Peeps!! Kerri here...
Lindsay and I STILL have 8 more days of school left! We are LITERALLY hanging on by a thread, friends. Like, for reals. And, we both have BUNCHES of stuff left to do! Like testing, report cards, end of the year certificates and what have you, FATHER'S DAY gifts. Seriously....Calgon take me away!


We will be doing a DUAL post tonight, so we can show you pictures from both of our Open Houses. Ours was last Thursday and here are some pictures of the RAINFOREST madness! Most of these projects are from my Rainforest Art and Writing Pack


Check out the rainforest in my room...
Toucans and Fun with WORMS pictures!

Toucans and Leaf-Cutter Ant projects

Sloths,  flowers,  and Monkeys!

This is just a big old rainforest Party right here!!

Rainforest Animal Research Reports and clay snakes


Rainforest Acrostics and Sloth Stories

I just love their sloth drawings! We step-drew them together!

Step-draw Macaws

Jaguar stories

Mini-Me's, jaguars, and red-eyed tree frogs

Rainforest Guide projects and another Rainforest Wall

Layers of the Rainforest

Self-Portraits and Autobiographies

Big, fat, hairy caterpillar (I'll let Lindsay tell you about that one!)


My front door!

Aren't these toucans so fun??
A boy teacher that I work with, who shall remain nameless, but has something in common with a certain LARGE PURPLE SINGING DINOSAUR, told me that one of his kids had an ACTUAL seizure when walking through my room, and the other kids all came out with their eyes going wonky, like they were in a cartoon. 
HARDY HARDY HAR. Doesn't he know that Open House is all about FIERCE and FABULOUSNESS? Whatevs... :)


I know I promised you directions on the Toucan art and I will give it to you for FREE (dimensions and directions!) but not tonight, I am T.I.R.E.D. and Lindsay wants her turn to share! 


Hope you had fun visiting the rainforest!! G'Night, Peeps!

Happy Tuesday friends!  Its MY turn!!

Luckily for me, my Open House was a week and a half ago . . . whew!  The rainforest madness about did me in - but the look of pride on the kiddos faces as they take their parents around the room is ALL worth it!  Our room was jam-packed full of rainforesty goodness!  And there was SO. MUCH. WRITING.  It was actually a wonderful way for me to focu on non-fiction writing with my kidlets.  Ya know, instead of writing about a roller-skating Sloth named Sprinkles . . . my students had to use our anchor chart and think of some facts they knew and could put into sentences about sloths . . . and other rainforest critters! 

Here is a look at the whole room.  Holy Rainforest Batman!



Here are our fabulous step-draw macaws in their 3-D frames.  I was so proud of how well my kidlets did with oil pastels!  

Here are our rainbow fish with . . . yes, a pirahna right in the middle.  

Here are the Mini Me's all dressed for the Rainforest, along with our jaguars and butterflies.



One of my FAVORITE projects is our 3-D ABC art that we do with our Big Buddies. Each student brings in an item (or items) that are used to cover their assigned letter.  Then my kiddos write about things beginning with that letter.  They got SO creative with their letters this year!

Isn't this R adorable??  Covered in ribbons, rocks, rainbows, rubber bands . .



Sloths and monkeys and flowers . . . oh my!

Our Rainforest Guides and layers of the rainforest.  I love, love, LOVE the little animals with each Rainforest Guide.  Isn't that grey gorilla the cutest?  

Sloth stories.  Lots of great writing on this wall!

"Sloths never groom themselves.  Then they grow their algae.  It takes one whole day for a sloth to take him to another tree to another tree."


Wonderful Me writing and our tree-cutter ants and more writing!

This cute idea came from A Cupcake For The Teacher's TPT store here.  We brainstormed a HUGE list of things we had learned this year, and the kids did a great job of writing about one thing each.  This little guy says "This year I learned to write new words.  I sound them out by myself." Sigh.  Insert proud teacher face here.

And last but not least, here is the cover of our A to Z art book.  I didn't get a shot of all of the books on the tables, but I loved their little self-portraits in their hot air balloons floating off to First Grade!

It is SO fun to look back at all of the wonderful work my kiddos accomplished.  They are ready to leave me and become fabulous little firsties! 

I had one mom share the sweetest story with me at Open House.  She said her daughter was in the backseat talking with her little sister (not knowing that mom was listening), and the following conversation took place:

Little sister: Who is your best friend?
Big sister: Does it have to be a kid?
Little sister: Nope.
Big sister:  Good, cuz Mrs. Messner is my bestest friend!

Ay yi yi - how cute is she?  I will miss my lil enchiladas! 

Well friends, that is it for tonight.  I promise to be back with some Father's Day things to share soon!  G'night!




17 comments:

Jessica Ann Stanford said...

Oh my word your room is crazy FUN!!!!!!! Love these pics!
Blessings,

Jessica Stanford
Mrs. Stanford's Class
PS I'm having a linky and would love for you to join!

Miss Nelson said...

I'm loving all of the pics. You guys did a fabulous job! 8 more days? CRAZY~ Hope it goes by real fast.
Miss Nelson's blog

  said...

Sloths, Monkeys, and Toucans, Oh my! I LOVE all of them. That is so cute! I wish I could do something like that for Open House, but it is very hard with 3 different grade level parents coming into your room throughout the night. Plus, trying to display eveyone's work. Oye! I absolutely LOVE it all. Thanks for sharing.

Cara
The Teacher's Backpack

Unknown said...

WOW! Both of your classrooms looked awesome and the activities that you did with the kids on the rainforest are phenominal. I loved them. We are adding a week long unit of the rainforest to next years plans. I can't wait to use some of your ideas.

Thanks for sharing and enjoy the rest of the days with your little ones. The are precious gifts.

Happy Blogging
Ann
@http://mrsgreeneskindergartenkorner.blogspot.com

Lisa R. said...

I am in love!! Your room looks absolutely amazing!! Can you come and decorate my classroom like that next year...pretty please!! :) lol. Hang in there ladies! Summer will be here before you know it!

Lisa
Learning Is Something to Treasure

Unknown said...

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!!

Kimberly
The Learning Tree

The Colorful Apple said...

Looks great! I'd love to hear more about step drawing. My students like to fill only about a quarter of their picture box. The A to Z books came out great too!

Sara :)
Smiling In Second Grade

Wolfelicious said...

I love those monkeys!! Your room looks so good.

APril
Wolfelicious

Jenni Taylor said...

I loved your rain forest! I'd like to learn more about the step drawing as well.

Kristin said...

Girls, your rooms look UH-MAZING!!!!!!!!!!
Way to go!
Love the mini-me's!
Love it all!

Lisa said...

Wow! I love your rooms! I'm sure the parents were amazed! I just found your blog and I'm your newest follower. I look forward to reading more posts! You are invited to visit me at my "new" blog: Teaching Kindergarten Kiddos.

~ Lisa

Jenn Bates said...

WOW!!! A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!! Very impressive ladies!
Jenn
Finally in First

Kindertrips said...

Your displays are amazing. I love the pencil activity.
www.kindertrips.blogspot.com

Amanda Madden said...

Soooo cute!! I'm your newest follower and a brand new blogger. I would love for you to check out my blog.

Amanda
Teaching Maddeness

Cupcake said...

Your room looks awesome!!! And thank you for the shout-out :)
❤Teri
A Cupcake for the Teacher

Mrs. Ibarra said...

Your room is amazing!!!!! Love it all. Just wondering how you make your memory book. Do you just staple construction and then put tape to hold it better?

jdb said...

This is a great example of fun and creative rainforest education. I love the rainforest too. if you would like to test my website on rainforest education, it is a fun, fast-paced online game. Kids love it and it is easy to create alliances in the classroom for children to cooperate or compete.
check out Http://TheRainforestRangers.com

Great job!!
Jan

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