Wonder Journals

Last Friday I introduced something new in the classroom: Wonder Journals.  I found that every morning when we come in from outside there is some down time while I assist students in taking off their winter gear.  Each morning I will display an image on the screen and when students are done putting away their winter clothing they will go to a table and draw and/or write about what they wonder about the image.  Our image this morning was a group of flamingos. Some wondering from students were:

Why do flamingos stink?
Why are flamingos pink?
Why do flamingos have a long neck?
Why do flamingos stand on one foot?
Why do flamingos always stand in a group?

These wonderings all come from: http://wonderopolis.org.  Each day the site features a 'Wonder of the Day,' with a short video, some images and an answer to the wondering.  After students shared what they wondered we looked at the wondering on the site: http://wonderopolis.org/wonder/pink-flamingos.  

Our book today was Supermarket by Kathleen Krull.  Students were excited to learn more about how food gets to the grocery store and were eager to share what they know about going to the grocery store.

Fiction vs. Non Fiction

To start the day I read one of my favorite books Stellaluna.  Before I even introduced the books students were asking if it was a fiction or a non-fiction book!  I told them that I was going to read it and then we would decide.  There was a little bit of debate as students some students argued that the book was about real animals so it had to be non-fiction while others realized that the birds and bats in this story were talking.  At the end we all agreed it was a made up story so it had to be a fiction book.

After Music we went to the woods were it was much less wet than the playground.  Many students continued to work on structures started by Mr. D's and Mrs. Spinner's classes who go to the woods on Wednesday.

A large part of the afternoon was working on writing.  Many more students chose to work on their first booklet.  Students are writing on a variety of topics that they know a lot about such as volcanoes, their pets, their families and dinosaurs!

Wiggly Worms and Warm Weather!

It was so nice to see the sun shining today.  While it was very wet and muddy this morning, we did get outside this afternoon and took a little walk around the neighborhood before we played on the playground.  During Math this morning we did a fun measuring activity: each student was given a green strip of paper and their job was to make a 'worm.'  After the worms were created we worked together to arrange them on a piece of paper from shortest to longest. A student arranged his worm in a square pattern (cutting it up and taping it together) and this was a great real life example of an object that was BIGGER (took up more space) than the others.   Students were able to explain that while it was bigger it wasn't LONGER when you lined up the endpoints.

Yoga, Volcanoes and New Writing Folders!

After a little bit of outside play this morning, I read the book I am Yoga.  Several students shared that they have taken part of a Yoga/Dance class before or did some Yoga in preschool.  One student thought that it would be an excellent idea to teach the class some moves a way to work on focusing and calming our bodies.  It is always wonderful to see students take initiative and share their interests and skills with others!

In Math we played a partner measuring game, flipping a square with an L for longer and an L for shorter.  Each partner chose a cut straw from a cup and whoever built the longest straw structure won!

In Reader's Workshop I read a non-fiction book An Island Grows by Lola Schaefer and students were very interested in learning how volcanic islands 'grow' which led us to research further!  Students learned that volcanic deep below the ocean erupt and magma flows out which eventually hardens into big rocks that can form islands.

In Writer's Workshop I introduced new booklets to the class.  Students can continue to work in their writing and drawing journal or choose a new 5 page booklet with or without lines to write a continuous stories.  Many students chose a booklet and were excited to write their stories down - several asking for more time when the day was over!

Happy New Year!

Wow - it is hard to believe that it is already January 2017!  It is incredible to observe how much growth kindergarteners have made since September.  We began our morning outside and then had a bit of a longer Morning Meeting reconnecting, sharing one thing we did over the break and introducing a new way to work on self-regulation.  A big part of Kindergarten is learning how to manage yourself both independently and with your peers and sometimes this is hard.  The Alert program compares your body to an engine sometimes the engine is running slow, sometimes it is just right (read to learn!) and sometimes it is running too fast.  We started to generate a list of what we can do to self regulate and get our bodies just right some suggestions today were - take a quiet walk around the classroom if it is hard to sit still, go get a sip of water or do 10 quiet jumps.  Over the week we will create a list of things we can do to make our bodies ready to learn.  This is especially important as Kindergarten begins to take on more learning in the new year!

In Math we started our third module on measurement - a really fun one!  The Unit Launched with emphasizing the importance of lining up what we are measuring on an endpoint in order to compare objects using the words shorter, taller, longer versus bigger or smaller.   As a whole group students chose an object and then we worked to line them up from shortest to longest.  It was a fun activity with lots of questioning and noticing!   

Happy Monday!

Since the start of the New Year Kindergarten has been spending a lot of time working on identifying what makes their engine or body feel 'just right.'  Last week I took suggestions for what Kindergarten might like in a new "Calm and Relaxing Area" (they named it) and thanks to the generous PTO was able to buy some of these items.  The most exciting one being a bean bag chair!  This morning we were able to open up this area where students will be able to go and choose a sensory activity to get their body just right for learning - some ideas from students: drawing, looking at a book, using clay, doing a puzzle and sitting and thinking of something funny or beautiful.  It never ceases to amaze me how students are able to identify what works for them and what doesn't.  We talked about how we can use our 5 senses to get our bodies just right and what might work for you may not work for someone else.  We are all trying really hard to refer to these items as tools vs. toys because tools are something that help us.  This afternoon we all signed a sensory contract emphasizing the importance of these tools helping us to pay attention and calm our bodies versus being a distraction!  I anticipate that some students may share this information with you so wanted to provide some background, as always please reach out if you have any questions!

In Math we continue to work on measurement.  Today students worked in groups of 4 to measure different pieces of tape placed around the classroom with cubes.  Students then switched and checked to see if the group was accurate in measuring the tape with cubes.  A few groups were off by one cube and as a whole group we worked to problem solve.  Then we sorted the lengths from shortest to longest using the number of cubes to help us!

In Reader's Workshop we finished a Non-Fiction book called Ice Bear by Nicola Davies.  We learned some interesting facts about Polar Bears so be sure to ask your child what he or she learned!

Measurement and Non-Fiction Texts!

It was a busy Wednesday in Kindergarten.  This morning Mrs. Guilmette visited for Guidance and read the book The Crayon Box that Talked emphasizing harmony through diversity.  Students were first tasked to draw a picture with only one color (boring) and then a picture with as many colors as they wanted!

After Guidance we brainstormed how we could successfully measure ourselves with a piece of yarn again emphasizing the importance of an endpoint and making sure that we stand straight and tall. Students then lined up from shortest to tallest working together to figure out who is shorter and taller and problem solving when necessary.  We then attached our strings to a cutout of our faces and hung them in the hallway!

This afternoon Reader's Workshop began with looking at non-fiction texts and sharing what we noticed about the different topics of non-fiction.  So often students think that non-fiction texts are only about animals but today we found some non-fiction texts about animals, plants, the seasons and going to the supermarket.  Our Reader's Workshop time was cut a little short due to the excitement (?) of some ants eating some snack that wasn't quite picked up.  This led to an important conversation about the importance of cleaning up after one another.