Living and Non-Living

Happy Spring!  Over the last 2 weeks we have been discussing Living vs. Non Living.  At first, I asked them to tell me all they knew about Living Things.  They gave great examples, such as; people, animals, cats, mom and dad, nature, trees, plants.  I was impressed.  Then we talked about non-living things.  They mentioned a chair was non living.  Some other examples were; table, notebook, trashcan. They were right on!  The next question really got them thinking.  I asked them. "How do you know if something is living or not?"  That is when we got into the characteristics of living things.  Here is the list we talked about.

We watched a video that helped explain living vs. non-living and it even talked about once-living.  Ask your child and see if they can tell you what each one means.  We were also able to read a couple books about living and non-living and complete some sorts.

One day last week we decided to make a living and non-living collage to show what we knew.  Together in groups of 9, the kids worked together to look through magazines and find pictures of living things or non-living things, depending on what group they were in.  Then we were able to share what we found.  Here is a picture of their hard work.  They did awesome.

Our Very Hungry Caterpillars

Sorry it has been so long since my last blog! The end of the year is such a crazy time with all sorts of meetings.  I am back and will be updated my blog frequently as promised. Enjoy!


The time has come for all the Kindergarten teachers at Beal to raise caterpillars.  When I became a Kindergarten teacher this year, this butterfly unit was certainly one thing I was super excited about.  Raising caterpillars provides for a very hands-on approach to learning about the life cycle of a butterfly.  As I continue to teach, I continue to learn.  There are many days when my kids ask me a question and I don't know.  That gives me a chance to show kids how to retrieve information from many different sources and that it is OK if they don't know every little thing, because even teachers learn something new everyday.  I am very lucky however because one of my fellow Kindergarten teachers is a butterfly EXPERT.  If my kids have a question that I cannot answer, they have been writing letters to Mrs. Costello, our resident expert.  She loves this and it is great writing practice for my kids.  So we received our painted lady caterpillars.  They were teeny weeny when they first arrive.  From reading many non-fiction books about butterflies, we already knew that the caterpillars have gone through there first stage of life, the egg stage.  They arrived in our classroom in the larvae stage.  As we all know, they ate and ate and ate.  I took 14 caterpillars.  I put 4 on the Holly Hock plant and then left the rest in their food cups.  For two weeks they have been eating and boy are they getting fat! Here are some pictures from our classroom

When I left the caterpillars on Friday, all fourteen were still alive and as plump as could be.  One of them was in their J positions and the others were on their way up to begin to make their button.  I can't wait to see what will be there when I go into school tomorrow. The kids have been making observations this past week in their Butterfly Journals.  I can't wait to see their expression when they see the caterpillars have formed their chrysalis's.  Stay tuned for more pictures on Monday.  I will also be sharing some of our caterpillar and butterfly resources.  Don't forget to comment and also become a follower.

A Look at our Bean Unit

The Zakar's are very busy here in Room 11.  Now that spring has arrived, it has given us a new, fresh boost of energy for our last trimester as Kindergartners.  Report cards went home yesterday and I hope all of the parents are as proud of their son/daughter as I am.  It is evident that the children have taken charge of their own learning and that they really understand why they are in school.

We started our bean unit by talking about living and non-living things.  We did many activities and the kids generated all of the characteristics of a living thing.  We know that they need water, air, food, the ability to change and grow, and the ability to reproduce or make more of itself.  We then decided that a bean seed was a living thing and we talked about the life cycle of a bean.  We began by dissecting a Lima bean.  We became scientists and took the seed coat off first.  The kids thought this was neat but very slimy.  The next part we saw was the bean's food.  We had to split open the bean to see this.  Last we saw the embryo or baby seed.  We took some great observations and shared what we learned. Ask your child to point out each part on this picture.

Through an educational video, we learned that a bean seed will start to sprout with just water. We decided to explore this idea and create our own little experiment.  We took a wet paper towel and put it in a plastic cup. Next we put 4 beans between the paper towel and the cup. Lastly, we watered our beans to make sure they were wet.  So far, some of the children have observed the roots beginning to grow.  As the week goes on, I bet they will be surprised as to what they observe.  This is what some of ours look like right now!