What's the Biggest Excavator?

Today we began our science unit about forces:  the pushes, pulls, and other actions that we do whenever we do work. In our first lesson we learned that before we had machines, we had to do lots of work by hand. We talked about how machines are not magical; rather they just seem that way because there are often moving parts hidden inside.  Students brainstormed different machines they would like to have to help with tasks they do not enjoy some ideas where: a tooth brushing machine or a room cleaning machine.  We saw the difference between how much dirt 3 digs of a shovel would scoop up versus 3 scoops of an excavator.  There was a really big difference!  We also had a chance to imagine that we were digging a swimming pool.


Sharing during Writer's Workshop continues to be popular, especially since it can be seen on the big screen!  Here is a video from a share today, lots of laughs :)

This morning students were excited to work on their writing.  We looked at a "proof reading" checklist and students checked that their books had a title and their name on the cover.  We had three students share today using the document camera to show their work.  We heard books about a trip to the beach, the pool and about minecraft.

In math today we used rice and a variety of different sized containers to explore capacity.  We discussed how one math word for how much something holds is capacity. We wondered if the capacity of one container was more than or less than the capacity of another.  We also watched a silly Sesame Street video to introduce this concept.

Happy 100th Day of Kindergarten!

Today marks 100 days of school and this morning we talked about what life will be like when we are 100 years old!  Some students said that they will be driving cars, playing legos all day or be able to travel through time in a time machine.  We also took some fun pictures with an app, aging booth, that makes you look like a little old man or woman.  Here is a sneak peak at few...

Sunny Monday

We have been busy, busy in Kindergarten.  Last Friday we enjoyed the snow and did some sledding.  It was a lot of fun!  Some third graders have been coming to read us "Who am I?" books that they wrote and will continue throughout the week.  Today I read the book Pierre the Penguin the true  story of a penguin who needed some help.

In Math we continue talking about weight using balance scales.  Today we tried to make one ball of clay into two balanced balls.  Once this was achieved I then flattened one into a pancake and wondered if it would still be balanced.  Some students thought that the flattened clay would be the same as the ball because no clay was added or taken away.  Others thought that the flattened clay would weigh more because it appeared to be bigger.  We learned that the since no clay was added or taken away it did not matter the shape of the clay.  

At our last Community Meeting we talked about being kind.  Today I read the book What Does it Mean to Be Kind? and tried our first compliment circle thinking of kind things we can say to our classmates.  I read two more books about Owls and we learned that owls have soft feathers so that they are quiet when they fly.

This afternoon, we talked more about weight and one of our math stations was using pennies to measure classroom objects on a balance scale.  We worked on filling out a table: _____ is as heavy as ____ pennies.

Heavier or Lighter...?

Today we moved on from measuring things for length to measuring for weight.  Students had the chance to use two different scales as well as blocks to build their own balance scales.  There was lots of excitement and buzzing around making both sides "even" or "balanced."  We also watched a silly Sesame Street Video and listened to the book Balancing Act by Ellen Stoll.

Happy February!

Happy first day of February.  While it was pretty icy in the woods, the temperature wasn't so frigid!  After the woods we began our non-fiction study.  For the next few weeks we will be reading non-fiction and fiction books and today we started learning about Owls.  We watched a short video on owls
and read a nonfiction ebook.  Some facts we learned today:

• Owls usually do not make their own nest but will move into old bird nests. 
• Baby owls are called owlets. 
• Owls are oviparous which means they lay eggs. 
• Owls can lay up to 13 eggs but usually only lay 3 or 4!

We made (adorable) Owl Masks and it was cargo net day in PE!