Forces of Motion

This week we continued our unit on forces of motion.  We created a double bubble thinking map to compare things that move fast, things that move slow, and things that can move both fast and slow.  On Friday we conducted our first experiment using the scientific process.  We followed these 3 steps:
1 - Make a hypothesis
2 - Do the experiment
3 - Record your observations
We moved toy cars and marbles in our experiment.  We made a hypothesis about which way it would be fast to move a toy car, by pulling or by pushing.  Pushing was the clear winner.  Then we thought of ways that we could move a toy car or marble in faster ways.  By building low ramps they moved faster than just on flat ground, but when we built higher ramps we saw the toys move much faster!  This experiment was lots of fun, check out our photos!

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Celebrating Jamhuri Day

This week we learned a little bit about the country of Kenya.  On December 12th the people of Kenya celebrate their Independence Day, and the holiday is called Jamhuri Day.  We compared the activities of celebration for Jamhuri Day to those we participate in for the 4th of July using a new thinking map: Double Bubble.

We read Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain by Verna Aardema


We made mosaic flags of Kenya.

We learned a song called Jambo!  Click here to hear see some kindergarteners in Kenya sing this song.

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Scarecrows

As we wrapped up fall season activities we discussed scarecrows, and their purpose of protecting crops for farmers.  We made tree maps to show what scarecrows can, have and are.  The class had fun doing our first glyph and freezing after each direction so that we didn't move ahead and color any pieces the wrong color.  The glyphs also made a great bulletin board.  (See the pictures below.)

Click here for a copy of our Scarecrow Tree Map

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Wrapping Up Fire Safety

Since the end of the quarter assessments interrupted the last week of October, we wrapped up our Fire Safety unit this week.  We discussed making a plan with your family to include a Meeting Place in case there is a fire in your own home.  Then each child made a Fire Exit Map for their family.  We also made a fire truck craft to decorate our bulletin board with.

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Thanksgiving Show

Our Kindergarteners did an AMAZING job performing their Thanksgiving song for the school show this morning!  Below is a picture a mom took for us during practice on Monday.  Of course, I forgot to have someone take pictures during the show since I was busy leading the kids...OOPS!  We adapted the song "We're Thankful" by Moose A. Moose, and our class did a wonderful job learning all of the words and sang beautifully.  We also shared pictures and told what each of us were thankful for.  Our thankfulness included things like: houses, bedrooms, trees, flowers, family, Mommies, and even Ninjas.  I am very proud of how they did in front of such a large audience of friends and family!  Great job!

The past two weeks we have learned about the Thanksgiving holiday.  We learned the history about the first Thanksgiving feast, and how traditions have remained the same, and how some have changed.  We read the non-fiction book: "Thanksgiving" that told us a lot about this holiday throughout the years since it has started. To illustrate a sequencing lesson we discussed the order to follow a turkey from birth (hatching) to our table.

Click here for last week's newsletter

Click here for this week's newsletter

Finishing Quarter 1

Today we reached the end of the first quarter!  I can't believe we have been in school this long already.  This week was full of review, centers, and assessments.  Next week we move right into learning new things for the second quarter.  In Music class this week we began practicing our song for the Thanksgiving program.  Be sure to add that program to your calendar and plan to attend on Wednesday, November 21st at 9:30 a.m.  I am very proud of all the hard work our kinders have shown throughout this quarter, and I know I can expect even more in the second quarter!  Keep it up!

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More Fire Safety

This week we continued our fire safety unit.  We did literacy centers where we wrote words to label fire fighting tools, and letter identification with cute fire fighter frogs on the letter cards.  Two new words were added to our word wall, including: to and my.  To practice sequencing numerals we completed a fire engine puzzle but laying the pieces in number order.  For a craft we made fire fighter hats.  (See the cutie posted below for an example!)  Since next week is the end of our first quarter we also completed some assessments.  It has been a busy week!  Thanks for reading!

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Labeling

We began our Fire Safety theme this week because October is Fire Safety month.  We created another bubble map to list the tools that a firefighter might use while fighting a fire.  To illustrate how to label a picture we labeled our gracious Morah Mandy, this was fun!  Then we continued our labeling lesson by labeling a firefighter.  You can get your own copy of the firefighter labeling worksheet by clicking here.

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Pumpkins & Sequencing

We have used 2 different stories to sequence with the past 2 weeks.  Last week we sequenced the food eaten by the caterpillar in "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle.  This week we are sequencing the non-fiction book "Seed, Sprout, Pumpkin, Pie".  Children cut out pictures of the pumpkin from seed to pumpkin and glued them in order on strips of paper.  The flap on top of the picture labels which stage of growth the pumpkin is in.  We also read the "Pumpkin Pie" emergent reader, and you can get your own free copy of this book by clicking the link below.

Click here to get your own copy of "Pumpkin Pie"

Click here to get a copy of our class newsletter

Thinking Maps

This week we learned how to make a new thinking map: Tree Maps.  We had already used a Venn Diagram to compare/contrast Miss Nelson's class (from the read aloud: Miss Nelson is Missing) with our own class.  This week we used a tree map to list observations about lemons using our 5 senses.  Next week we will introduce the Bubble Map. 

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Fall Patterns

The kids were excited that the Fall season finally began last weekend!  We have been talking about what happens to the trees and leaves, which results in us being able to rake the leaves and jump in the piles.  Since we began learning about AB and ABC patterns we colored leaves in patterns and labeled them.  They seem really eager to make longer and longer patterns, so next week we will try new patterns. 

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More Apple Fun

This week we continued our unit learning about Apples.  We create a stained glass apple window by using contac paper and tissue paper.  We also identified what apple trees look like during each of the 4 seasons, and used tissue paper, paper hole punches, bingo dotters, and cotton balls to decorate a tree for each season.  Check out the pic below to see how our work turned out! 

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Kindergarten Common Core

As our school begins the process of adopting the new Common Core State Standards, we will evaluate the tools and resources that we use to identify which ones align with the new standards, and which ones we will no longer use.  A fellow teacher blogger posted this resource on her blog, and I immediately went to check it out.  What a great resource to help teachers to cover the Common Core Standards!  What I like the most is the variety of activities that are inlcuded.  It contains ideas/resources that can be used as a whole group, for small groups, and even for individual independent work.  The best part is that for 2 more days this resource is free to Kindergarten teachers who will post about it on their blog.  After that the resource will cost $39.99, not a bad deal for over 600 activities!  I hope that this will point some other fellow Kindergarten teachers to this resource while it is still FREE!




Click here to view the Kindergarten Common Core Workbook

All About Apples

This week our class took our annual Apple Picking Field Trip to Lynd's Fruit Farm.  We have been learning about apples in preparation for the Rosh Hashana holiday.  At the fruit farm we were able to view a slide show of pictures to see apple trees in the different seasons, how they are pollinated by bees, and how the trees are cared for throughout the year.  Then we went to see how the apples are sorted in the warehouse, if they are going to be sold at their fruit stand.  Next we saw a museum of older equipment that was used for apple picking, sorting and selling.  Last we got to pick a bag of our own apples to take home.  This week we picked Pixie Crunch apples, yum!  If your family would like to visit the farm you can click the link below to view a picking schedule on the Lynd's Fruit Farm website.

Click here to see Lynd's Fruit Farm Picking Schedule. 

In class we were able to connect apples to so many learning topics.  We made observations about the apples using our five senses.  The clip art symbols for the 5 senses are a download from the following website, feel free to download a copy for yourself to review with your child at home!

Click here for the 5 senses flashcard download.

We sorted ourselves by our favorite color apples to eat.

We learned about our new alphafriend Andy Apple.

Nex week we will learn more about how the apple tree changes during each season.  Check out our pictures below to see how much fun we had at the Fruit Farm!

Click here to view a copy of our class newsletter for this week.

5 Senses

This week we began learning about our five senses.  Together we made a list of the senses and the body parts we use for each sense.  The beginning of the list was easy for us, we listed eyes for seeing, noses for smelling, ears for hearing, mouths for tasting, then we got stuck.  I gave the clue that we usually use our hands or fingers for the last one we needed to complete the list.  One boy raised his hand, waving it wildly, making "ooo, ooo, ooo" sounds at me.  Usually I like to call on students who are sitting quietly, waiting their turn, but this boy was sooo excited to share the answer with us, that I had to call on him.  He immediately shouted out "Tickling!"  While we had a good laugh at this, we decided to add touching as the last item on our list.  I love how we can have a good time while learning in Kindergarten!  Check out the picture of students showing their five senses by pointing to their body parts for each sense.    Below is also a copy of our newsletter for week 3.  Thanks for reading!

Click here for a copy of our newsletter.

A Colorful Second Week

We had a great week learning about colors!  To practice our names we stamped the letters in rainbow colors with bingo dotters.  Using scraps of construction paper we glued the colors in order to make rainbows.  Many of us have learned to read some of the color words by sight already!  Our class listened to lots of books about colors, including: My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin, Jr., and A Color of His Own by Leo Lioni.  Check out the picture to see our art work displayed on the bulletin board. 

Click here to view a copy of this week's class newsletter.

Welcome Back!

We had a wonderful first week of Kindergarten last week!  Each cutie that walked into our doors on Monday morning is going to be a great addition to our class this year.  I can't wait to see how much they all grow by June! 

For parents, below is a link to our first class newsletter.  This came home in your child's FROGS folder on Friday, and was put in the plastic sleeve.  We will keep all of the newsletters for the quarter in this sleeve, and then at the end of the quarter you can remove them and use the "What We Learned This Week" section to help your child review for assessments.  This will be repeated for each of the 4 quarters.

Let me know if there is anything specific you (parents or followers) would like to see featured on our blog this year.  Thanks for reading!

Click here to download our newsletter.