Thursday, March 22, 2018

Quiet Reading

Morning Activities.....
Clay sculptures

 Love to paint

Matching upper and lower case letters.

Morning Meeting....
Reading the morning chart, reading the song chart Apples and Bananas. It is a very funny song we have been singing throughout the year. 

Spring is here!? (Really according to the calendar it is, even though it was only 1 degree when we woke up this morning.) 
Why is it the first day of spring? And there is still all this snow.
Narumi - "It can't go away that fast."
River - "It might melt right away, but the snow can't melt because it's just the first day of spring."
Ethan - "Sometimes its still cold."

Else - "We want to play in the snow."
Sailor - "If it rains it might help melt the snow."
Taber - "We had some really cold days, so it can't melt yet."

Beth showed our globe to the class and explained that the middle of the globe, the equator,  is the warmest and doesn't get snow. Because when the sun shines it hits the middle best, but the northern and southern parts of the world don't get as much sun light. It gets warmer in the summer time. The sun doesn't hit us as strong as other parts of the U.S. 

We've also been doing the "Good morning high five" greeting.  So much respect for each other when we do this. Very cute. Great opportunity for eye contact, and something we can do when we meet our friends or family. Greetings come in many different ways. 

When we review the calendar we do take a look at the structure of a sentence. Where a capital letter goes, how it starts a sentence. What comes at the end of a sentence? Reading words on the chart, but not in order, just random words.

True fact greeting! Everyone has a chance to tell a fact that they know is true!
"Good morning (neighbor you are sitting next to) did you know....."
Beth "did you know that whales breath air."
River "did you know porcupines have quills."
Nora "did you know that 300 plus 300 is 600.
Jack "did you know horses run fast."
Else "Did you know if you cut hair it grows longer."
Ashlyn "Did you now we have a new gym floor."
Ethan "Lice can lay eggs in horses eyes."
Taber "did you know paper comes from trees."
Willow "Did you know that Cats can meow."
Luca "did you know beavers have two teeth and they are long and cut trees."
Zoe "Insects can sting and it really hurts."
Oscar "some porcupines have hooks so it is hard to pull them out."
Stella "100 plus 100 is 200."
Sky "did you know sharks go up to the surface to breath."
Narumi "Plants grow from roots."
Lenora "did you know that 200 plus 100 equals 300."
Baden "did you know that some sharks weigh more than 100 pounds."
Thayer "Did you know that 6 plus 6 equals 12."
Sailor "did you know that 5 plus 5 equals 12."
Connie "did you know that it takes about 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup."

Math....
Number recognition. Each kiddo received a piece of paper. It may have been a dice with dots, hands showing the number, stars, or just the number on a piece of paper. Everyone found a group that matched their number and sat together. 
Tricky fingers! Beth flashes fingers to the class and they guess what the number is! 10 fingers + 10 Fingers is 20! 10 + 2 = 12! We then followed up with white boards and dice. Kids get their dice and roll the two dice. Then they write on their white board the two dice numbers in a number sentence. 
3 +3 = 6
2 + 6 = 8

We have watched a couple 3 min videos about counting by 1's, 2's, 5's and 10's. Dancing and singing in numbers has been sooo much fun. 

Math is going to start to get a bit harder as we transition into our subtraction unit. 

Language Arts....
We have been continuing our stations but added in a memory game with sight words. With a partner the kids play the game, and it's a race! They are so excited to see who might get more matches. Or will it be a tie!?


Quiet Reading....
We started today doing some quiet reading. Everyone could spread out and read their books. Here is where we found them;



















Book Corner....
Nora the Mind Reader  Thank you Nora for bringing in this book to share with the class.
"One day, Nora returns home from kindergarten upset because a boy in her class told her that she has the legs of a flamingo! When her mother gives her a magic wand to read people's minds, a new and fascinating world opens for her. She discovers that people don't always say what they think or think what they say. Fully of generosity and humor, Nora the Mind Reader is a beautifully imaginative book that illustrates the potential divide between thoughts and words in a clear and thoughtful way."

Readers Theater Stories, Me First
It's nice to just lay back and listen, let the imagination create the pictures to the story. 

The Little White Dove 

Perfect Pet

Tops and Bottoms by Janet Stevens
With roots in European folktales and American slave stories, this tale celebrates the trickster tradition of overcoming hardship by using one's wits. An exciting vertical format takes this funny story to its most entertaining extreme

We can read on our own....
Whoosh!
Mud Walk
Under Water

SNACK ALERT.....
We are in need of snacks, if anyone would be so kind as to bring in some snacks of some kind for our friends who don't always bring in a snack, we would appreciate it. Ideas might be, graham crackers, goldfish, pretzels, crackers, bars, cereal, trail mix, etc. Thank you.  


FREE CHOICE....


 Making a long chain around the whole room with Unifix cubes.

 Boys are taking a break and cheering on Zoe as she advances to the next level on Lexia.

 River took pictures and captured this... Connie colors too!

Baden creating his building with Jenga Blocks.


 Creating our own insects.

 Making Williows hatchamals puzzle.
Mission accomplished.


Thayer's dragon fly creation called  "New your!" (not to be mistaken for New York)

Friday, March 16, 2018

Muscles

Morning Meeting....
We did the usual, counting, calendar, chart. The other day our chart was kinda funny because the question was "how much snow do you think we will get?" Answers, as we thought, would be all over the place! Some answers were 87", 10 feet, 3 feet, 7", etc.  Very cute. Fun to see the minds run wild, or in their world their reality.

Another chart was they had to draw themselves skiing. We have some really good artists!


We also spent some time reviewing our goals. We wrote goals last November/December about things we want to work toward accomplishing by the time we leave Kindergarten. Those goals we have been working on since we put them up in the room. If you write it, it will happen! Sure enough, each of the kids have been working on goals, some have accomplished time, some of us will continue to work on them. It was great to see the faces when their goal was read and they realized they could do it already!
Beth reading our goals and discussing them with each of the kids.


Outside time....
We just can't get enough of this fluff!

It's pretty deep!


 White washes!

 Ethan "Connie, my mom isn't going to believe that I jumped from up here. She's going to ask me if I broke any bones."
Connie "What are you going to tell her Ethan."
Ethan "That I can jump and I broke for a few minutes, but I am ok."

 
Luca "Watch me Connie!"
Luca jumps, stands up and says "Did you see that? Look at my face!"
Connie "Luca, you are so brave! I don't think I could do that."
Luca "You can Connie, your like a kid."
Connie "Luca, you make me smile. Thank you."

Science...
We talked this week about muscles. Today we worked on making our own Arm and using rubber bands and how our arm bends, our muscles lengthen and shorten depending on our movements.
What happens when we flex our muscles?
What happens when we exercise ?  Oscar "Our muscles get bigger and stronger." 

Monday, March 12, 2018

Lungs!

Morning Meeting....
We continue to work on counting and reading the chart. Now-a-days, we have kids writing the chart for the next day. We have been taking time to review the calendar. Looking at the different parts of the calendar and recognizing that we are reading the calendar. Also noticing patterns too. We play games each day. Sometimes we have an individual greeting or sometimes we say "what's the news?"

Math....
Number bonds and number sentences are the name of the game these days. While it isn't always easy, it is a good challenge. Breaking down groups of objects and then separating it create a number bond and/or a number sentence. 6 = 2 + 4, or 4 + 2 = 6.

Language Arts....
We are still doing stations. Reading in small groups. Worksheets. Independent reading as well and some reading games.

Free Choice/Recess....
It's been great to have this snow.






Science....
We have been studying about the human body, Structure and Function. Last week we started to talk about the lungs and the purpose of the lungs, and got to make our own! Check us out.









  

Art...
Kids came back from Art today and were looking very Royal. I couldn't resist a picture of all the Kings, Queens, Knights, Princesses and Princes. Hail to the Primary Color Royal Kindergarten Family.