Friday, November 30, 2012

Peaceable Kingdom = Fabulous Cooperative Games!

We made a 'sad' discovery in my classroom this afternoon- we lost an owl to one of our favorite games, Hoot Owl Hoot by Peaceable Kingdom.  My first thought was that I was going to have to figure out a way to design a small circle piece with one of these owls on it as a replacement..... hmmm.  Second thought, I do not have a mental capacity for this on a Friday.  

At some point (during lunch) I got the idea to look up the website for Peaceable Kingdom.  A quick call to customer service and the very friendly associate said that it wouldn't be a problem at all to get a replacement owl.  

I was an instant fan of this company after purchasing my first game about a year and a half ago.  Two games (and a wish list full of many others) later I am not only impressed with the game concepts, recycle-friendly materials and adorable graphics but the customer service.  This company absolutely gets my (invisible) seal of approval!


The other Peaceable Kingdom game currently on my game shelf is Stone Soup.  Games consuming my wish list are the following: Count Your Chickens, Snug as a Bug in a Rug, Lost Puppies, and Seeds for the Birds. 


Happy Shopping!

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Double Bulletin Boards

Apparently this school year has been way busier than I thought- two months without a post! Here's a double to make up for it.

In my Kinder class we have monthly home projects.  The projects are given out with each monthly newsletter and include very specific directions.  Each project is designed to require a minimal amount supplies needed to complete it. When the projects are returned to school students take turns sharing their work, after which it is added to the hallway bulletin board.

October's home project and bulletin board:
In an effort to avoid the Halloween-fest that is all things October, my monthly home project was to write/draw about a Fall tradition in your family.  With specific instructions not to turn the pumpkin paper into a jack-o-lantern, families decorated with crayons, markers, photos and a few even glued on some leaves from the back yard!  The traditions ranged from apple and pumpkin picking to jumping in piles of leaves.

The bulletin board title reads: "Check out our Fall fun as it hangs on the vine. All our hard work just looks so fine!" The vine was assembled by twisting strips of green butcher paper and attaching the pumpkins right under.  I cut out a leaf for each pumpkin and attached a typed out version of what each child said about their traditions.


November's home project and bulletin board:
In November we spent a large amount of time talking about being thankful (of course).  We talked about harvesting crops and how the Pilgrims and Native Americans worked together for the first Thanksgiving.  For our home project each child was given a vegetable outline and asked to use magazine cutouts, photos, illustrations and words to describe things they were thankful for.  I was impressed with my little Kinders and their creativity with things they were thankful for.  While every other Writer's Workshop story is about Legos or a video game system, these home projects were full of things such as family and friends.

This bulletin board is not what was originally planned.  I wanted to make a large cornucopia out of butcher paper.  It turns out, I don't actually know how to make a cornucopia out of paper.  Next plan, make a basket.  Let's just say that when I use this display next year I will have some adjustments in place to make the basket look more like a basket and less like the bottom of the Mayflower...


Thanks for reading!