This week we kicked off our Fairy Tale unit! We spent the whole week reading all different versions of The Three Little Pigs. Before we started reading, we gathered our background knowledge of fairy tales and learned about the story elements of a fairytale: After reading each story, we went over the characters, setting, problem, solution, and ending. We then compared all the different versions and talked about what was the same and different. Each day, I challenged the students to work in a group to complete a different pig house; sticks, straws, and then bricks. This led to great exploration and conversation about the difference between 2D and 3D shapes, as well as sturdy vs. flimsy materials. It also was a great lesson in perseverance. This knowledge of materials will come in handy next week when the students plan and build a house that will withstand the Big Bad Wolf :) On Thursday we celebrated Dr. Seuss Day! We kicked off our morning with some very special mystery readers... our siblings! They all came in and read to a small group. We also did some fun Dr. Seuss activities with our buddies and on their Chromebooks. After, we read Cat in the Hat, did a directed drawing, and wrote about what we would do if the Cat in the Hat came to our house. It was a fun day! Next week we will diver deeper into The Three Little Pigs as well as shapes.
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It was a crazy fun week in Kindergarten! Monday was our 100th Day of School! We started off the morning making Froot Loop necklaces with 100 Froot Loops. We then had our 100 themed center which included building with 100 cups, creating with 100 marshmallows, eating 100 snacks, and making a 100's crown. Thank you to Heather, Heather, Ashley, and Claire for helping. We had so much fun! The party continued Tuesday with Valentine's Day! The students started the day making a map of their heart and writing/drawing in it all the things they love. We then had our party and passed out Valentine's. The kids had THE BEST time! Thank you Meghan, Arin, Heather, Diana, and Margaret for organizing such a wonderful party! The rest of the week we switched our focus to Polar Bears. The students shared what they already knew about Polar Bears, and what they wanted to learn. We did a lot of research together on what they eat, where they live, and parts of their body. We read books, watched videos, and used PebbleGo and Brain Pop to help us. Then, the students completed 3 different centers focusing on each of the areas (habitat, body, food). For habitat, the students explored ice, water, and shaving cream in the sensory table to simulate ice bergs and snow. They then wrote a reflection on what the Arctic was like (cold!) For food, the students created what a polar bear eats (fish, seals, walruses) out of play dough. For body, the students drew a diagram of a polar bear, labeling the different parts, and then recorded it on Seesaw. Next week we will continue with Polar Bears and stat learning about Penguins.
This week we wrapped up our animal research unit and started exploring our next focus... polar bears! We started off the week with a special math task with Mrs. Belkind surrounding the book Cookie Fiasco by Mo Willems. We presented the students with the problem, "There are 5 people and 4 cookies. How do you share them evenly?" They had to work in a group to figure out a way to split them up evenly. There were a lot of great math conversations happening! We did our last animal research project this week which was studying, planning, and creating a habitat for either an elephant, chimpanzee, or platypus. The students used Pebble GO, Youtube videos, and books to research what was needed in their animal's habitat. They then made a blueprint and created it either out of building materials, or painting and drawing. They worked so hard and were so creative! We did another math task this week to introduce polar bears and also standard vs. non-standard measurement. After reading Actual Size by Steve Jenkins. I presented the students with this problem: They then worked with a partner to measure either a polar bear or grizzly bear paw using their choice of measurement tools: ruler, unifix cubes, pattern blocks, dominoes, and Legos. The students recorded their results and after meeting as a whole group, we quickly realized everyone's answers were different! Next week, we will dive into why everyone got different answers when measuring the same footprints, and how standard and non-standard measurement works.
We also have a lot of celebrating to do next week with 100's Day and Valentine's Day... it will be a fun one! This week we dug into becoming animal researchers. We started off with learning about what a researcher is, what makes a good researcher, and about some famous researchers. We read a book and watched a video about Jane Goodall. We then learned about an author who loves science and animals, Steve Jenkins. We read many of his books this week including What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? We focused on 3 animals we learned about from his books: elephants, platypuses, and chimpanzees. We used PebbleGo, National Geographic Kids, and Youtube videos to learn more about these animals. The students then picked which animal they wanted to research about the rest of the week. In addition to researching animals, we also learned about non-fiction text features. So far, we have talked about diagrams, labels, and captions. The students made diagrams of the animals of their choosing by labeling the important parts of the body. Next, they drew themselves with their animal's important feature (an elephant trunk, a platypus bill, or chimpanzee feet) showing what they would do with the feature. They then wrote a caption explaining it. They were so creative! On Tuesday, Violet's mom, Heather, came and did our fine arts presentation about Andy Warhol. The students loved learning about him and creating Mickey Mouse art! And last but not least, Wednesday we participated in Global School Play Day! We had a whole day of unstructured play time inside and outside. The students said it was the "best day ever!" :)
It was a fun week in Kindergarten exploring winter! Here are some of the highlights... We started off our week with a whole-school science assembly! We then had ALO with Mrs. Belkind. We presented the students with the question, "How many feet are underneath the table?" The students had to work together to figure out how many feet there were under the table, and then explain how they got their answer. The students used paper and unifix cubes to help show their work. Once they solved that problem, we then asked them "How many fingers are at the table?" This was great practice working with 10. It was amazing to watch the students collaborate and solve the problems. The rest of our week centered around answering the student's winter-related questions such as "how is snow made in the clouds?" and "how are igloos made?". We learned about these topics through books, videos, and inquiry. To investigate igloos, we watched this video on Inuits building an igloo: I then put the students into teams and challenged them to make an igloo out of sugar cubes. They had to work together, make it circular, and then measure the width and height. Our other big math task this week involved our study of teen numbers. The students each made a white paper chain with 10 links on it. Then, they worked in a group to turn those chains of 10 into 11-19 by adding on with blue paper. For example, 13 would be 10 white links with 3 blue links added. We exteded and elaborated on our centers from last week and they were so much fun! They included: 1. building a winter setting in the block corner and then writing labels with post-it notes 2. exploring igloos by making structures out of sugar cubes and mini marshmallows 3. making symmetrical snowflakes and snowmen with loose parts, and then counting the parts 4. building a snowman with play-doh, and then explaining "how to" on Seesaw 5. Exploring ice in the sensory table, and sorting/patterning the objects frozen inside the ice Next week, we will become researchers and start learning about animals in preparation for our polar bears and penguins unit! The students are already so excited :)
This week was all about winter and snow! Before we could start our week, the students brainstormed what they already knew about winter, and what they wanted to learn. This helps us frame what we are going to do and learn in the next few weeks. Our literacy activities were centered around the book Snowmen at Night by Carolyn Buehner. We read/listened to the story 3 times this week so we could practice retelling the story. We identified the beginning, middle, and end, and also sequenced the events. Then, we wrote about what we would do if we were snowmen at night, and made q-tip snowman paintings. Additionally, this week the students took a big step in owning their writing by making their own lines and starting their writing independently. When we write in our journals, we count how many words we are writing. For example, "I went to eat pizza" (5). Usually I help the students count and make the lines, this week they all tried it on their own and rocked it! We also learned one new blend in Jolly Phonics- oa. Our centers were the highlight of the week! The centers revolved around the concept of winter and snow. The 5 centers were: 1. building a winter setting in the block corner 2. retelling our Snowmen at Night story by sequencing the events and acting it out 3. creating a winter scene with oil pastels and water colors 4. using loose parts and pattern blocks to make snowflakes 5. making fake snow in the sensory bin with baking soda and shaving cream! The students visited each center throughout the week and had so much fun collaborating and creating! The students worked really hard in math this week. We started by composing teen numbers using this video: We then dug deeper into our first teen numbers, 11 and 12. I asked the students to make 11 using their 10 frame boards. We then talked about what the best way to identify 11 was, and we decided it was having 10 be in one color, and the "extras" be in another. We then recorded all the ways we know how to make 11. We repeated the process with 12, and will continue this with all teen numbers next week. Lastly, we practiced our number writing with a "snowball fight" you can see more about this on Seesaw! Next week we will continue learning about snow!
This week, we wrapped up our unit on traditions by learning about wish and tooth traditions! We started the week reading the Wish Traditions book, that took us all over the world to learn about the different traditions they celebrate- such as throwing a coin in the Trevi Fountain in Italy. We used the beautiful illustrations to inspire us to retell our favorite wish tradition through it's setting. The students had to build, draw, or paint the setting, and then tell about. The final products were so cool! We also started our own tradition, a wish jar! The students wrote down a wish they had, and we all took turns placing them in the jar. We read a poem about the wish jar, and sealed it up tight. It will proudly sit in our room the rest of the year. After wish traditions, we moved on to tooth traditions. We read a book called Throw Your Tooth on the Roof, and learned about what children all over the world do when they lose a tooth. After practicing turning and talking to a partner, we learned that our class has a shared tradition of the tooth fairy coming when we lose a tooth. We also learned that some families have unique traditions, such as what they put the tooth in. Again, we picked out favorite traditions, drew it, and wrote about why we liked it. Ask your child which was their favorite... there were many interesting ones to choose from! Additionally, this week in literacy we learned our first diagraph in Jolly Phonics, ai, and also the letter j. The students are working so hard on hearing sounds and blending to make words. Lastly, we learned a little about Martin Luther King Jr. by reading Martin's Big Words by Doreen Rappaport. We then wrote our "dream"- something we could do to make the world happier. In math this week, we talked about 10's and practiced our number writing. We sang this song and practiced counting by 10's : We also used Handwriting Without Tears to learn how to write numbers 4-6. The students then played a dice game to practice their number writing 1-6. Next week, we're diving deep into teen numbers, and SNOW! Maybe will get some real snow to go along with our theme :)
We are getting back into the swing of things in Kindergarten. Tuesday we were so excited to be back! We talked about what we did over break and then journaled about it. We also ready Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats and painted beautiful snowy landscapes with crayons and watercolors. We ended the day with centers... the perfect day back! On Wednesday we learned B in Jolly Phonics and Handwriting. We also began learning about traditions. We started by reading a non-fiction book about New Year's Day, and the traditions people do to celebrate. The students participated in the tradition of writing a new year's resolution. They did a great job thinking of thoughtful and sweet goals for themselves. Additionally, we started talking about our own family traditions, and what makes them special. On Thursday, we took our own family traditions and drew them on the iPads using Seesaw. The students then recorded themselves talking about their tradition. We also reviewed the letters L, F, and B with a sound sort and played math games with our 3rd grade buddies. Last but not least, the students completed a group math task. We talked about how we have been in school for 73 days, and I asked the students to work in groups to represent 73 using unifix cubes. They did a great job being creative, and learned the best way to complete the task was to work together! This also led to a great discussion about 10's- and we ended up making 7 groups of 10 with 3 extras. This leads perfectly into teen numbers and groups of 10, which we will be working on for the next few weeks. Friday we learned a new math game, "tens baseball". The students played with a partner, and they took turns rolling a dice with 0, 10, 20, etc. on it, saying the number and indentifying it on their score sheet. More practice with our tens! We then finished up our Seesaw tradition drawings, had Art, and ended with centers.
Next week, we will learn about tooth traditions, tens, and teen numbers! We had so much fun wrapping up our gingerbread unit this week! On Monday, we started off our week working on our special holiday presents... lots of writing and hard work went into it! We also finished our alphabet books with Mrs. Belkind in ALO. Tuesday, we made a gingerbread village out of recycled materials. The students first made a bluprint, and then tried to make a house (or boat, or building) that had... 1. a roof 2. a door 3. a window 4. measured 12 inches tall 5. our gingerbread man toy could fit inside. Many students decided to work with a partner, which was great to see their collaboration and teamwork. Additionally, this week in math we played "domino war". The students had a lot of fun with that and worked on their counting, one-to-one correspodence, and introduced them to greater than and less than. Wednesday, Mrs. Jacobs came and taught us a lesson in stretching out a word and counting how many sounds they hear. This will be a great strategy to help with reading and writing. After, we finished our gingerbread houses, and retold a gingerbread story inside of our creations. Some students even made up their own versions. Thursday we warmed up by the "fireplace" and then made our very own gingerbread sugar cookies! We had so much fun. After, we did one final gingerbread STEM challenge. The students had to work in a team to make a bridge out of toothpicks and marshmallows for the gingerbread man to cross. This was a GREAT lesson in working with a team, making mistakes, and also snuck in some fine motor practice. And every group was successful in the end! Olaf came for one more week! He hid in some crazy spots too. I am so proud of everyone's behavior and kindess these past weeks :) Last but not least, we enjoyed pajama day on Friday. We played and saw the sweet first grade winter concert. It was the perfect way to end our week and kick off Winter Break!
Looking forward to more adventures and fun in 2017! This week in KD was all about GINGERBREAD! We kicked off our 2-week Gingerbread Man unit on Monday by reading Gingerbread Man by Karen Schmidt. This story is the classic gingerbread man tale, making it a great starting point. We identified the characters, setting, and introduced problem and solution. We also talked about repeating phrases and how the story ended. Additionally, in ALO with Mrs. Belkind we read The Z Was Zapped by Chris Van Allsburg. The students then brainstormed what could happen to different letters that start with that same letter, such as "The F was flying". Next week, the students will make their own book. Tuesday, we re-read and watched Gingerbread Man. The students then worked independently to identify and order all the characters based on the order they appeared in the story. They then drew the setting, and retold the story with a partner. The repeating phrases and multiple characters made it such a fun retell! Tuesday we also recieved our Osmos for the iPad thanks to the PTO. Osmo turns the iPad into hands on play with many educational games. This week we have done coding, phonics, number practice, geometry tangarams, and art with it! Thank you PTO for this AWESOME new resource! On Wednesday, we read our second Gingerbread book, Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett. The students had to be really good listeners and detectives during this book, as much of the story is told through details in the pictures. After identifying all our story elements (characters, setting, problem, solution, repeating phrase, and ending), the students tried using a venn diagram for the first time. We used hola-hoops to cerat a giant venn diagram and compare the characters from our 2 stories. This was a great way to easily see which characters were the same and different. After reading, the students made their own Gingerbread person. The catch was they had to use exactly 10 pieces to make it. This was a great math task in making 10. Thursday started with learning L in Jolly Phonics and Handwriting. Then, our 3rd grade buddies taught us to code as a part of Hour of Code (https://code.org/learn). It was so exciting to get to use the Chromebooks. We then read Gingerbread Cowboy by Janet Squires. Again, we talked about all story elements and compared characters. We also had time for free choice centers including tower building, patterning, and more Osmo. Friday we read our final Gingerbread book, Gingerbread Girl by Lisa Campell. We talked about how different all 4 books were from each other, and what they had in common. We then voted on which was our favorite... Gingerbread Girl won by 1 vote! To wrap up, the students wrote about what they would do if the Gingerbread Man popped out of their oven. Last but not least, Olaf enjoyed his first week in Kinder! He chose 2 students a day who were being safe, respectful, and responsible. He will be back next week too :)
Next week, we will be creating our own Gingerbread village, our own gingerbread stories, and our own cookies! |
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