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. 

Click here for a copy of our class newsletter.

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.