Gingerbread Men

     It is Gingerbread Man week in our class.  We will be reading many different versions of the story.   We will compare how the stories are alike and different by looking at the story elements - characters, setting, problem and ending.  Yesterday we started with the book by Karen Schmidt.

     After reading the story, we sequenced, drew and labeled the characters on our own papers.

     Today our book was, The Gingerbread Boy by Paul Galdone.  We then compared it with the story from yesterday.  The students were quick to point out that the characters and ending were different from the Schmidt version of the story. 

     We started writing our own books about the gingerbread man.  Students are using the frame, "I can run from a _____".  They are responsible for writing all the words and illustrating the pictures. 

Holidays Around the World

We started our unit, Holidays Around the World, in our own country. The activity pages for this unit were stapled into a file folder. A cardboard handle was added to the top so the file looks like a small suitcase. The students drew red stripes on the handle to make it look like a candy cane.

We began the unit by discussing the traditions our own families honor. It was decided that most of our families put up a Christmas tree, hang our stockings, exchange gifts and have a visit from Santa.

In our "suitcase" we found the United States on a world map and colored it in. On the next page was a map of the United States where we found our state of Colorado and colored it.

We looked at our U.S. flag and talked about how it looked. The students were excited to notice that our flag has a pattern on it. (Since our math unit on patterns, we have been finding patterns every where!)

Today we began talking about the holiday traditions and customs of Germany. On the Promethean board, I used Google Earth to show the children where we were in Colorado. Then we flew across the ocean and landed in Germany. What a great tool to visualize traveling around the world!

Our class learned that the Christmas tree  originated in Germany and is called the tannenbaum. Families gather together and enjoy baking together. One of the favorite cookies to make is gingerbread. Therefore, this week our class will be participating in many gingerbread men and Christmas tree activities.

In our suitcase of activity pages, we found Germany on our world map. Our word this week is compare.  So we compared our country to Germany and noticed that Germany is smaller than the United States. To color in the Germany flag, we had to research on the internet what colors to use because no one knew.

I am surprised and excited about how interested the students are in their maps and flags. One little guy chose to finish coloring his flag instead of going to recess. Now that is something!

In math, we started our new unit on measuring. We traced our shoe and cut out the shoe print. The students then measured how many unifex cubes long their print was. They had to record their answer.  We then exchanged shoe prints, and we measured someone else's print.  Using our word compare again, we compared our prints to see which one was longer, smaller or just the same.

Reindeer & Count Down Chain

      We started off the holiday season by studying about reindeer.  We learned many interesting facts about real reindeer.  On the first page of our book, we cut apart and put back together the sentence, "Reindeer are mammals."  Mammal was a new word for us, so we had to research and find out what the word meant.

      On the second page of our book, the students chose their favorite fact about a reindeer and wrote it, being very careful to sound out each word.  On the last page, we used different shapes to draw reindeer.

 

     Together we labeled the parts of a reindeer.

      

      The students were then given their own paper where they could label the reindeer.

      To make a reindeer, we traced our foot for the face and traced out hands to make the antlers.  We glued these pieces onto a stuffed paper bag and added accordion legs.  These are the cutest reindeer!

       After the students created this cute paper bag reindeer, they wrote a fiction story about their special magic reindeer.

      On the first day of the month, we made a classic Kindergarten holiday tradition - a red and green paper chain.  Twenty-four links are on our chain so we can count down the days until Santa arrives.  The students were very excited and proud of their long, pattern, count down chains.  They all worked very hard to complete all the links.

Pumpkins & Mummies

    

     Our poem for this week was Five Little Pumpkins.  The students love this poem and would break out chanting the poem all on their own at times during the day.  They loved creating their own pumpkins for our fence.

  

   

     We are learning to use our sounds to spell words.  The best place to start with this skill is in labeling.  Here is a picture of our class labeling a pumpkin together.

During our lessons on the life cycle of a pumpkin, our class read the book, Pumpkin Jack. 

     This is a book about a boy who puts his pumpkin out in the garden.  Over the seasons, he watches the pumpkin change.  In the Spring, he finds that Pumpkin Jack has rotted and produced lots of other new pumpkins.

     After reading the story, the students decided that they wanted to observe what our pumpkin would do over time.  We already had a plastic box full of dirt where we had planted seeds.  So we put our Pumpkin Jack in the box and covered it with a lid so it wouldn't stink in our classroom.   We predicted that over time our pumpkin would rot.  We have been recording our observations each day of what Pumpkin Jack looks like.

      This fun science activity came from Mrs. Jump's blog.  Our class also used her ideas for the book, Where's My Mummy?  

    Our class is working on naming characters and their characteristics in books.  This was a good book to practice this particular skill.  We focused on Baby Mummy and how he looks, what he does and how he feels.

    
     Together we completed a chart with the frame, "When I'm scared, my mommy _____."  This helped us make connections to complete our own frame on our paper.  The best part was making our own Baby Mummy.

     On Friday we wrote our first book!  We titled our book, I See.  While writing the books, our authors practiced creating text, sounding out words, locating words in the room and copying them for their story, letter formation and illustrations.  They are very proud of their books, and I am proud of the work they accomplished on the first book they authored and illustrated. 

     In math, we are working on ordering numbers.  When given 4 different numbers, the child should be able to put them in order from the smallest to largest number.  

      In class, we played a card game, called Compare or Snap,  which you can easily play at home.  Use number cards 0 through 10.  Shuffle the cards, place them face down.  Each person turns the top card over and compares the numbers on his/her cards to see which number is greater and which number is less.  Whoever has the greater number says, "snap" and gets to have both cards.

     Next week, we will be talking about scarecrows!

Pumpkins

     It's a week about pumpkins!  Our class started the week making a KWL chart about pumpkins.  We listed what we already knew about them (our schema). 

 

     We learned about the life cycle of a pumpkin.  From seed, to vine, to blossom to green pumpkin to orange pumpkin and back to seeds, the cycle goes round and round.  We compared the pumpkin to the life cycle of an apple.

     We measured the circumference of a pumpkin.  First we predicted what we thought the size of his belt might be and cut a piece of yarn that predicted size.  Then we actually tested our yarn to see if it was too short, too long or just the right size for the pumpkin's belt (circumference).  Everyone in our class guessed too short.

 

     We worked on our observation skills using a pumpkin.  Before we cut it open, we had to draw what our pumpkin looked like, predict what it might look like inside, and guesstimate how many seeds we thought might be inside.  There were some interesting guesses.  All the way from five seeds to one thousand seeds were estimated.  We were surprised to find that there were about 300 seeds inside our pumpkin.

     When cutting out the jack-o-lantern, we were sensitive to our five senses.  Our favorite was the sense of touch when we helped scoop out the gooey pulp inside.  

     Hands on activities are the best things in kindergarten!  So what better way to observe the pumpkin life cycle than by planting pumpkin seeds and watching to see if they will grow over the next couple of weeks?

     Our families completed the At Home "Decorate A Pumpkin" Family Project.  Any materials could be used to decorate a paper pumpkin, and a story was to be written about the newly created pumpkin.  We had some terrific projects and stories returned to school.  Thank to all the families for your help!

    

    

Apple Days

     It has been a busy week full of apple activities.  Look at all the fun learning things we have participated in!

     * illustrated the life cycle of an apple

 

     * listened to a story about a little red house with no doors, no windows and had a star inside

     * cut open an apple and found the star inside

     * printed the star

     * read the book, Ten Apples Up On Top and created our own class book

     * drank apple juice, ate apple slices and apple sauce

     * graphed "how do you like your apples?"

     * used our fine motor skills to tear paper to create an apple

 

     * learned how to spell the word "apple"

     * learned poems, chants, and songs about apples

     * created patterns, sorted and counted apples

     * added the mini book, The Apple Tree to our book boxes

See?  It has been a busy week of learning in Kindergarten!

Life Cycle of an Apple

      Today we learned about the life cycle of an apple.  From seeds, to a trees, to blossoms to apples and back to seeds, the cycle is never ending.  Our class illustrated the cycle.

      We are learning how we can use our 5 senses to investigate apples.  We used all our senses today when we ate apple slices.  We looked at the slice very closely with our eyes, felt it, smelled it and of course, tasted it and listened to the crunching noise the apple made as we bit into it.

      Allie Alligator came to class today and brought the letter A.  We learned how to write the letter and learned the two sounds the vowel A makes.  When we used our nursery rhyme, Humpty Dumpty for word work, we were terrific detectives and found all the letter Aa's and highlighted them. 

    

       In math, we had apples with the numbers 0 - 10 on them.  After cutting them out, we put them in order and played a game called, "show me".  Show me the number 8.  Show me the number 3.  When we were finished, we put the numbers in order one more time on our paper and glued them down.

      We are trying very hard to learn our numbers 0 - 10.  Any practice you can give your child at home will help them achieve this target.

Apples

     October

 

        It is Apple Week in our Kindergarten class!  We learned so much about apples on our first day.  Ask your child to tell you:

                  * how to spell a-p-p-l-e

                  * our apple poem for the week

                  * the story of the little house with no doors, no windows but has a star inside

                  * how to find the star inside the apple

                  * the parts of an apple

       We started our unit by listing our schema (what we already know) about apples.

      I told the story of the little red house with no doors, no windows and has a star inside.  I then took an apple and cut it in half to reveal the star inside the apple.  The children were so excited to see the star!  They had no idea that a star was inside of an apple.

      In our writing journals, we wrote, "I like apples."

      During centers, some of the students used paint to stamp the star on the apple.

Pocket Days

     It was Pocket Day in Kindergarten.  We counted and graphed how many pockets each person was wearing.  Vanessa had nine pockets on her clothes and that was the most.  The students brought something in their pockets to share.  They gave us a clue about the item, and we took several guesses to see if we could figure out what was in the pocket.  We then made a class book titled, Pocket, Pocket, What's in Your Pocket?   

     Our focus letter is P.  The students came up with many words that begin with the sound of P.  We laced up a construction paper pocket and then had to find pictures on a worksheet that began with the letter P and cut them out.  Then they placed the P pictures in their P pictures.

     The students brought home a Petey Penguin project tonight.  Petey only eats foods that begin with a P.  If he eats food that doesn't start with a P, it makes him sneeze.  The children are to find P foods from different media or they can draw pictures and place them on Petey's plate.  The project is to be returned to school tomorrow.  I can't wait to see them.

     Besides are letters and sounds, our class is learning "by heart" words (words that we know on sight).  Our list as of today includes:

         I    name     see     a     yes     no     like

      Any practice you can provide on letters, sounds and by heart words will help your child meet our kindergarten learning targets.

      In math, we are practicing every day on counting.  Today the students were given a counting plate and we practiced counting out a given number of bears to place on our plate.  This is another area that can be easily practiced at home.  Have your child count spoons, hangers in the closet, books, toys, Legos, or whatever is available.  

 

Teddy Bears

     Most of my Kindergarten teaching centers around themes.  I find themes, besides being familiar and fun, provide us with many opportunities for learning.  For the last couple of weeks, our theme has been Teddy Bears.  Using bears, we practiced colors, directional words, patterns and counting.

    The unit was started by reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Bill Martin Jr. We sequenced the characters in the book using magnet pieces.  We cut and colored our own pieces and placed them in a bag to keep so we could retell the story at home.  The most fun was chanting the story frame using the students' names.  "Mary, Mary, who do you see?"  "I see Johnny looking at me."

     Using circles, we learned how to draw a bear.  Drawing builds confidence while improving fine motor muscles.

     We learned our first nursery rhyme of the year - Fuzzy Wuzzy.

     Our color word for the month of September is brown.  We listed things that are brown and learned a song that helps us to spell the word.

     The first letter to come to class was the letter B. Bubba Bear brought the letter.  We worked very hard all week to identify words that started with a B sound.  We practiced writing both the capital and small letters.  When forming our letters, we always start at the top and "dive down".

     We made Bubba Bear out of a capital B.  We made another bear using B items - buttons, beans and bows.  And one more bear we made was a 5 senses bear.  After learning about our sense of sight, hearing, tasting, feeling and smelling, we created this bear.  (Growing Kinders blog)

     We couldn't have a bear theme without reading Goldilocks and The Three Bears.   We read different versions of the story and retold the story using magnets, drawings, and acting.  The concept of big, medium and large was reinforced by cutting and pasting a matrix using chairs, bowls and beds of Papa, Mama and Baby Bear.

     A Kindergarten standard is to distinguish fact from fiction.  We used the bears to help us with this standard.  Discussing the differences from real bears and story book bears was quite interesting.  Our class participated in a Family Project to find three facts about bears, write them down using a source at home and return our findings to school.  

     We concluded our bear theme with a Teddy Bear picnic.  Students brought their bear to school for the day, and the bears participated in many activities during the day with us.  This little bear was so active that she had to visit the nurses office and receive stitches for a torn seam.

     At the end of the day was our picnic.  We started by singing and acting out Dr. Jean's Cool Bear Hunt.  Then we took our bears and went on a honey hunt around the room.  Baggies with Honey Comb cereal were hidden around the room.  The students and their bear had to find their honey and gather together outside for the Teddy Bear picnic.  At the picnic, we had our Honey Comb, teddy grams and glasses of milk.

     Pictures were taken of each student holding their bear.  I will make a class book with the pictures and frame, "I see Jenna with her bear."

     Tomorrow is Pocket Day!

                                  



  

Rosie's Walk

     Last week, the children enjoyed the story, Rosie's Walk.  Ask your child who was in the story, what happened and what was their favorite part.  We practiced directional words by cutting out animals and gluing them in a specific, given location on a barnyard scene.

                             

          We read, Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten by Joseph Slate.  We discussed what the students did to get ready to come to school.  They wrote their first stories in Kindergarten (using drawings) to tell what they did. 

         We learned our first by heart words, I and name.  These are sight words that we know "by heart" when we see them.  

      In Math we are working in small centers, exploring with the math manipulatives.   We are not only learning how to use the manipulatives in the appropriate way, but we are learning how to work and share with each other.

        Thursday night is Back to School night at 6:30.  I hope to see you then!

Welcome to a New Year of Kindergarten!

     I welcome 19 new friends to our 2010-2011 Kindergarten  class.

     This year is the foundation for the students' future in school.  They will be learning so many things this year.  The students will learn the names and sounds of each letter, learn to recognize numbers 0 - 100, and learn fine motor skills like writing, coloring and cutting.  The crafts the students bring home will have academic value.  They will be learning gross motor skills such as skipping, hopping, running and jumping.  Working together with other children and cooperating in a group setting are important social skills.  This year is as important to the child's social development as it is for the academic development.

     We began our first week of school reading, The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn.  After reading the book, our class participated in the following activities:

                    * Shared Reading of pocket chart and mini book, Chester Loves School.

                    * Traced hand and placed heart sticker in the middle

                    * Made a Chester raccoon sack puppet

                    * Learned sign language for "I love you."

Last Day of School

     Friday was the last day of school.  It is always difficult to say good-bye to a class that has grown so much academically, socially and emotionally.  After 12 years of teaching, it does not get any easier.

      We started our last day together by doing the calendar one last time.  We read the book, Goodnight Moon, and then gathered into our Sharing circle.  With yarn, we made our goodbye spider web.  Each person took the ball of yarn, wrapped the yarn around their hand a couple of times and didn't let go.  The child said goodbye to one thing in the room.  Still hanging on to the yarn, the student threw the ball of yarn to another person in the circle who repeated the procedure.  When all the students had shared, a beautiful web connected everyone in our class together. 


     The spider web was used several times throughout the year.  On Thanksgiving, it was used to share things we were thankful for and on Valentine's Day, we shared things that we loved.


     After the web, we returned to our seats to draw and label 4 things we wanted to say goodbye to.  When completed, the students shared their paper with 3 other students.

     For story time, we read the book, Miss Bindergarten Celebrates the Last Day of Kindergarten.

     Earlier in the week, we made a Kindergarten Memory Book.  Today we finished the last thing in the book.  We collected our classmates autographs.  The children love this!  I had to convince one little guy that he was to write his name in all the books and not the name of the student seeking his autograph.  Autographs were a new concept for us!

     To end our morning, I had a give away.  I put all the posters, interactive writing pieces, class books and any other things I don't want any longer in the middle of the circle.  I pulled student's names and they could choose one item to keep.  I am always amazed at how excited they are to be able to keep these things, and I'm always surprised at what they choose.

    After cleaning the room, it was time to say goodbye to my little friends and close the room for another year.

     Summer!  Yes!  Here I come!

     Continuing today with The Very Hungry Caterpillar, we began writing our own book, The Hungry Five (or Six) Year Old.   On each page of the book, the students are writing and illustrating what they eat on a particular day.

                        On Monday, I ate a pickle.

                        On Tuesday, I ate a watermelon.

                         On Wednesday, I ate ice cream!

      We watched a DVD of Eric Carle sharing how he makes the illustrations for his books.  He uses a collage method which means gluing on a collection of different materials. 

       The students used the collage method to decorate a butterfly.  They were given a cut-out construction paper butterfly, and they cut out different colors and shapes from paper scraps to glue onto the butterfly.  We also learned that a butterfly is symmetrical so the scraps had to be glued on to maintain the symmetry.  This was a simple lesson to practice collage and symmetry.

     

Frogs & Eric Carle

 

 These are the activities we did last week during our frog unit.  

*We started our study of frogs with a KWL chart.  We read numerous non-fiction books to learn as many facts as we could about frogs.

* Learned about the life cycle of a frog and participated in a cut & paste activity sequencing the life cycle  (eggs, tadpole, froglet and frog).

* Focused on reading and writing words from the -og word family (dog, log, hog, frog, etc.).


* Wrote  fiction or non-fiction stories about frogs in our journals. 

* Completed another fact writing activity by completing the frames:

        Frogs like to eat _______.
        Frogs can ________.
        Frogs live in _________.
        Frogs are __________.

* Created construction paper frogs and wrote one fact about frogs on it.

Today we started our author study on Eric Carle.  We discussed the collage method that Eric Carle uses in his illustrations and later this week we will create our own collages.  We looked at his web site, and watched a video of Mr. Carle reading, The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Together we read, The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  The book led to a discussion on the days of the weeks and healthy vs. non-healthy foods.  We created a class book with each student completing a page about what they eat when they are hungry.

Frogs

     It is Frog Week in our Kindergarten class.  We started the week learning about the life cycle of a frog.  


                     eggs to tadpole to froglet to frog




      We practiced drawing frogs.  I love to teach the children how to draw because of the confidence it gives them to create many other things.  And children just love to draw!  


     In math, we guesstimated how many frogs were in a jar.  We wrote our guesses on sticky notes and posted them on the white board.  When all the guesses were in, we counted the frogs to find the actual number.  There were 16 frogs in the jar, and Carli guessed the exact amount.  We also performed addition and subtraction story problems with frogs.  I gave them a sentence like, "There were 3 frogs at the pond.  One more came along and joined them.  How many frogs are at the pond now?"  The children drew the picture and wrote the math sentence that goes along with it.


     The word family -og joined the neighborhood.  We listed all the words that live in the -og house.


                        fog   frog   dog   hog   jog   log    blog

       We are anxiously awaiting Fun and Fitness Day on Friday.

Bunnies and Eggs

     It is a fun week of bunnies and eggs.  On Monday we read Jan Brett's, The Easter Egg.

      In the book, Hoppi, a little bunny, tries to design the best Easter egg so he can help the Easter bunny deliver the eggs on Easter morning.  After reading the book, the students were so excited to write their own books about the different kinds of eggs their friends and families decorated.


      
                    Mommy has a big red egg.
                    My sister has a little striped egg.
                    Taryn has a bunny egg.
                     I made a gold egg.


     The children love sharing the books they write.  I continue to be amazed and proud of their writing skills.

     In math, we used jelly beans to estimate, sort, count, graph, add and subtract. 

     During the week, we have been playing, "Crack Open an Egg."  The students choose a plastic egg out of a basket and break it open.  Inside is a sentence directing them to complete a skill we have learned during the year.

                        Tell us what an author and illustrator does.
                         Draw a worm and tell us the body parts.
                         Count backwards from 10.
                         On the whiteboard, draw 1 circle and 2 triangles.
                         Find something in the room that is a cylinder.

     For Sharing, the children prepared a "surprise egg".  I gave them a plastic egg to take home.  They had to place something inside the egg and write 3 clues about the item inside.  At Sharing time, they had to read their clues and the class guessed what was inside the egg. The students had to be detectives and use the three clues to make reasonable guesses.  This can be a difficult skill for many kindergarten kids.



      We made this cute bunny.  (This is a picture of Ava's bunny.)

      The students were given two cut-out egg shapes.  The first egg was decorated by drawing different lines (straight, zig zag, curly, etc.)  After decorating, we folded it in 1/2 and cut on the fold line.  They drew a bunny face on the second egg shape.  We used brads to attach the egg parts to the top of the oval to create bunny ears.


     

      This is an bunny bag made out of a white paper lunch bag.  The opening was cut into bunny ears and the students decorated the front with a bunny face.  When they returned from specials at the end of the day, they found a couple of pieces of goodies in their bunny bag.

     This is a simple art project.  The body of the chick is a circle.  The wings were made by tracing our hand.  We added Goggly eyes, a beak, legs and grass.

 

      I have always loved duck/bunny.  One side is decorated like a bunny.  Flip it over and the other side is decorated like a duck.
  

Peter Rabbit & Snails

     We started the week reading Beatrix Potter's, The Tale of Peter Rabbit.  This is the story of a naughty rabbit whose choices almost have dreadful consequences for him.  After reading the story, we had a good discussion about how some of our own choices led to unfavorable consequences.  The students made many connections with this theme!  After our talk, the children wrote in their journals about their choices and consequences.  

     I shared with the students the Peter Rabbit web site.  You can go here with your child to find activities and information about Peter Rabbit.

     After studying fish and worms, we moved on this week to our next animal, snails.  What interesting animals!  Imagine how excited Kindergarten kids are over an animal that uses a cool belly foot to move along very slowly on a trail of slime!  We are learning the body parts of a snail, its needs and how it is different from the other animals we have studied.  Water snails are available for us to observe.