We had a fun week all about pumpkins! 

On Monday we did our weekend journals and practiced writing a sentence to go with our pictures. We talked a lot about beginning sounds, and tried writing what we heard. We also took this week to review all of our letters and sounds we have learned so far. We started out pumpkin week off by talking about what a pumpkin looks like, and describing it's attributes. Then, we estimated how many lines we thought were on it, and counting to see if we were close. 

On Tuesday we got excited about the Cubs starting the World Series! We also continued to sing "Go Cubs Go" as our clean-up song all week. Our pumpkin investigation continued with centers and measurement. Our pumpkin centers this week included making pumpkin dough out of canned pumpkin, corn starch, and cinnamon. It smelled great and was wonderfully mushy and messy! Additionally, we took a closer look at all different types of pumpkins and gourds, and painted what we saw. We also snuck in some Jolly Phonics practice by building with Legos objects that started with our letters/sounds. Then, we talked about how we can measure a pumpkin. We measured the length with unifix cubes, and the circumference with links. We then graphed our results.  We were surprised when the shortest pumpkin pumpkin was the widest! 

On Wednesday we continued with our pumpkin investigation centers, and did a pumpkin experiment. Would a pumpkin sink or float? We voted and tallied our predictions, and then tried it out. We couldn't believe a pumpkin could float! We also played a math game using dice, and practicing writing the numbers 1, 2, and 3 with a partner. 

On Thursday we continued our Jolly Phonics review by doing an A vs. E sort. We then had time for choice centers including building, patterning and counting with beads, play dough, and witche's brew in the Dramatic Play center. Lastly, we read and watched The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything, by Linda Williams. We practiced as a class going over the different parts of the story, and drawing it out. We will continue this by retelling with a partner. 

Friday included centers, playing outside, and a math witche's brew. I had a "cauldron" full of different "ingredients", and the students had to estimate how many of each ingredient I had in my potion bottles (spiders, eyeballs, teeth, etc.). Once we estimated, we counted and recorded the results. 

This week we will celebrate Halloween, wrap up our pumpkin investigation, and start our mini election unit. We will be focusing on what it means to be a community leader, and picking a book character president: No David, Pete the Cat, or Lily from Lily's Purple Plastic Purse. It will be very age-appropriate and not involve talk of our current candidates! 

Looking forward to celebrating Halloween as a class :) 

On Tuesday we wondered if leaves changed colors and why. We went outside and collected all different types of leaves... and enjoyed some time playing in them :) We then broke into groups and sorted the leaves. We sorted by color, shape, size, and talked about texture. We discovered that leaves can turn MANY different colors. 

Lastly, we played a shape memory game with our third grade buddies. It was our first time playing the game, and a great review of shapes. 

On Thursday Mrs. Jacobs came and did a lesson about sorting our names based on if they had an a or an e in them... or neither. The students did great cutting, sorting, and gluing. 

We then did our leaf/fall themed centers again. We used our sorted leaves to think about the different colors, and then students mixed paint to create their own fall color. The students also played a new math game called "Clockonimoes", where the students need to count and add the pips on the domino, and then place it on the right number on the clock. They did GREAT with this! We also read Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Elhert, and discussed the changes and life cycle of a leaf/tree. We talked about the many changes it goes through (the tree growing, the leaves growing, changing colors, falling, and then dying). ​

Additionally this week, we learned ck, e, and h in Jolly Phonics/Handwriting. We also blended words for the first time! I was blown away by how well the students did writing, blending, and reading the words. We also discussed the difference between fiction vs. non-fiction books, and read our first non-fiction books. 

Next week... pumpkins! ​

It's been a crazy 2 weeks. I am looking forward to having a full week next week! Here is what we have been up to in Kindergarten... 

​We started off our week (10/4) with journaling, and a name sorting lessons with our reading teacher, Mrs. Jacobs. We sorted by the first letter of our names, and then by the last letter of names on a different day. 

On Wednesday we built Highland Park out of recycled materials and blocks. The students built their favorite place, and then we used Google Maps to place it on our map we built. They were SO creative, and collaborated together so well. On Thursday, the students then used our town to play police. They applied what we had been playing the previous week (having police, law breakers, and rule followers) and did it in the town we had built with the play people and cars. They continued to write the tickets and reports as well. 

On Friday we did our I P N sort, to practice our newest letter sounds. 
For math, we talked about what shapes and which ones we already knew. The students then used pattern blocks to make something out of the shapes and then identify them.

On Thursday (10/13) we journaled about our extra long weekends. We talked about labeling our pictures, and I really encouraged all the students to write a sentence using any sounds/letters they knew.

We then started our fall exploration unit! A few weeks ago, we recorded what we wondered about fall. The students had a lot of questions about leaves, so we are going to focus on leaves next week. To start, we needed to build our background knowledge about the seasons and how they change. We identified all 4 seasons, and talked about what we might see in them. We then did a mini-lesson about our 5 senses. We put our sight and hearing senses to work on a nature walk, looking for signs of fall. 

Lastly, we did a sound hunt around our classroom for words that start with i, p, and n. The students had to find it, and then record what they found. This was a great way to review our most recent Jolly Phonics sounds. 

Friday started with reading Little Tree by Loren Long, about a tree who is too afraid to let go of it's leaves at the end of the fall. He goes through many seasons without growing or letting go of his leaves, until he finally is brave enough to. He then grows and gets beautiful new leaves! It was a great visual for all 4 seasons, as well as  conversation about being scared, but trying anyways. We then did centers, the main one being painting little trees to represent all 4 seasons. The other centers included sorting shapes and creepy crawlers in the sensory bin, making bracelets to work on patterning and counting, and building. We ended our day playing outside and with another fun read aloud. We read the third book in a series called We Found a Hat by Jon Klassen. In this book, the pictures tell a different story than the words. We learned how to "turn and talk" to a partner, and share our predictions and thoughts with them throughout the story. The students did great sharing and listening to their partner. 

Next week we will learn 3 new sounds and letters, and dive into fall and leaves! 

Our community unit continued this week and we started our first Experiential center. We had so much fun! 

On Monday the students "set the stage" for our police station. They created badges and police hats, built a station and a jail, and started writing tickets and reports. We talked a lot before we started playing about how we are just pretending, and that no one is really being a law breaker or going to jail. We also talked about playing safe. The community law breakers can break the law by speeding, running a red light, or taking money from the cash register. We also discussed how police officers watch for positive behavior, so our officers can give out Tiger Stripes when they see people following the rules. They like that the best! 

On Tuesday we practiced "paying a fine". If someone breaks the law, they must pay the corresponding fine. The fines are between 5-20 unifix cubes. We practiced counting out each amount and filling out the sheet. The students then had time to play our police station center and had roles such as officer, law breaker or rule follower, front desk (who fills out the incident reports), or builder. Filling out the tickets and reports, paying the fine, and building add elements of literacy, math, and science to our center through play. 

We also had ALO with Mrs. Belkind. We did a 3-act math task called "Dotty". The students watched a video that showed 6 dots with an accompanying beep. The screen then goes black, and you hear 4 more beeps. They had to ask questions and figure out how many more dots there would be, and what pattern they would be in. This was the first complex math task we have done this year, and they did great! It was so cool to watch their thinking and have them explain their reasoning. We will be doing many more of these with Mrs. Belkind. 

Lastly, we did a STEM challenge with our 3rd grade buddies. The students had to build a tower that was as tall as a yardstick that could support an apple. They had so much fun collaborating and trying different strategies! 

On Wednesday, Mrs. Jacobs, our reading teacher, led a lesson on sorting our names. We are going to continue with this next week by sorting it in different ways, and collecting our friend's signatures. 

​We talked about patterning and all the different types (AB, ABC, ABCD, etc.) We did an activity where the students started a pattern, and then we rotated and they had to solve and finish someone else's pattern. 

We finished off our day playing our experiential center! We will be continuing with the police station this week, tweaking it slightly based on how the students want to play. 

The students were so intrigued and excited to make something of their own out of boxes. We had so much fun working together and being creative. ​

Friday we talked about Environmental print, and how each student is already a reader! We took turns picking a label (thank you for sending those in!) and reading them. 

The students then had center free time, and we learned how to use Raz Kids on the iPads for math. 

Next week we will build Highland Park, continue with our police station, and talk about shapes.