This Is For The Kids!

In posting to this blog, it's almost always parents who I imagine as the audience.  Blogging is a really effective way I can help parents stay up to date on the goings on in the classroom.  But this post is for the kids!  Building at explore time is a favorite activity of many and these pictures convey the creativity, cooperation, focus and wonder that you would see and feel if you were in the room.  In the last picture the construction material was connecting straws and the children were able to get inside their own structure. Please show it to your kindergartner- they will remember the moment!

A look At Our Winter Workshop

On the last morning before our Winter Break we closed out our month long sharing theme of "handmade" with an epic crafting workshop!  Thanks to the generosity of some super parent volunteers and Mrs. G, every classmate went home with a bag full of projects they had made themselves to either keep, share or give away.  The mood in the room was happy and relaxing, the snack was healthy and delicious and the project bags (stenciled by the children) were filled to the brim.  I hope your kindergartner shared his or her crafts with pride!   I apologize for not having a picture of the calming jars.

Animals in Winter Part Two

    I am very excited to share these photos with you- the children did an incredible job applying what we learned about how animals who stay active in winter, adapt and make themselves shelters to stay warm. Below you will see two modeling clay foxes and one skunk in their cozy dens. In the coming weeks these projects will come home so you can see your child's animal den up close. 

Animals in Winter

In recent newsletters you may have read about our study of animals in winter.  Through books, videos, and exploration in the woods we've been learning about the three ways the animals around us cope with the cold, Vermont winter- they migrate, hibernate or adapt.  We had a great discussion after watching an episode of The Magic School Bus in which Ms. Frizzle's class visits the arctic- we decided that that our jackets, snowpants and mittens are the "insulation" that keeps our body heat in just like a seal's blubber, the walls of a thermos or a goose's feathers!  Here are some photos of us exploring the winter woods, discovering possible animal homes, modeling our own clay animals who stay active during the winter and making a book for our book boxes with all these facts.

A Room Full of Authors and Illustrators

In a previous post I alluded to the idea that in the coming weeks students would be writing their own stories (based on events in their lives) using all we have learned from reading Old Favorites.  I'm very proud of this crew of young writers who over the last two weeks brainstormed ideas in a writer's notebook, discussed those ideas with a partner and listened to feedback, chose an idea and planned the beginning, middle and end, and then wrote and illustrated the story across pages using connecting words such as  "next", "suddenly", and "in the end..." Here are some pictures that show the process.

Visual Phonics Link!

At long last!  Here is the link to the masterful Karin Vogel demonstrating the Visual Phonics cues we use.  Have fun practicing with your Kindergartners!

Visual Phonics Link

Deep Into Stories

A careful look at the previous post let's you in on a story REtelling lesson led by Miss Jess.  After reading the classic, Mrs.Wishy Washy to the class, each student reconstructed the story with pictures and words on a paper strip.  The challenges of placing the story events in order and matching pictures with words are two of the ways we are preparing for writing our own stories based on real life events next week.  Below you can see a different type of retelling activity that goes with the story Harry The Dirty Dog by Gene Zion.  In this "old favorite" we stressed that really great stories, the ones we love to hear again and again and come to know by heart, often have a very recognizable beginning, middle and end.  Hopefully this structure will come through in the our original stories in the weeks to come!

Cooperation!

As I looked back at photos from the week it was clear to me that whether the task was building at Explore Time, retelling a story, or gathering natural items on a scavenger hunt the children were doing a spectacular job working together. Here's little look:

 

Welcome Back!

I'm learning a new trick for posting photos directly from my phone to my blog . This photo is a test taken right before the break.

With Gratitude and Happiness

If you had a chance to read this week's newsletter you might recall the discussion we had about the connection between gratitude and happiness. Turns out, people who regularly take time out to acknowledge the things they are grateful for are happier and healthier! The week before Thanksgiving seemed like the right time to build "being grateful" into our mindfulness practice.  Here is the link to the music video we watched.  ...AND learned some signs to go along!  

PLEASE NOTE THERE IS SOMETIMES AN ADD BEFORE THE VIDEO IF YOU ARE VIEWING WITH YOUR KINDERGARTNER!

gratitude by Empty Hands

And now for a look through our week... you can see a finished weaving taken off the [cardboard] loom, a look at Melissa's Candle Day (all about her love for rainbows), designing paper quilt squares and story writing with some traditional Native American picture symbols.

The Learning Deepens

In my last post I shared how we'd begun learning about differences between the past and present through stories, props, and crafts. This past week our look at how daily life has changed over the last two hundred (or so) years continued to "weave" it's way into our literacy learning and forest exploration. I hope you enjoy this look at the children embroidering during quiet time,learning to weave an over/under pattern on cardboard looms and dipping candles.

 

In this next picture you can see students working as a group to make a list of all the things they could remember the Ox-Cart Man packing up to take to Portsmouth Market.  In this activity we discussed how lists are a useful thing to be able to write and how when we say words slowly we can heard the sounds that different letters make and begin to spell.  Look carefully at the white board in the photo and you will see that the Ox Cart Man's items have been spelled inventively.  They've also been shaped out of modeling clay and loaded onto the carts!

Friday's forest exploration included some terrific teamwork and a bit of a mysterious happening.  Take a look at the children moving a long log in an effort to reinforce the bridge.  And, notice the small vertical hole that in the large tree?  We discovered that if you slip a small object in it the object will come out the hole at the bottom!

Everything Old is New Again

For the month of November several parts of our curriculum will converge around theme of "going back in time".  After reading Donald Hall's classic, The Ox-Cart Man, which tells the story of family life on a New England farm in the 1800's, the children's interest life long ago was sparked. Since then we've begun making candles, added embroidery as an option at quiet time, and created a special space to pretend with some old fashioned props.  Our fifth grade buddies helped us out with paper weaving as well!

 

During Literacy this week we talked about books that are "old favorites"- stories that are so good we want to read them again and again until we know them by heart.  In fact, many of these stories are SO good our parents and grandparents read them and know them too!  Here you can see readers fully engrossed in these stories and in reenacting one of them...The Three Billy Goats Gruff!  After making character puppets we partnered up to make bridges out of blocks so we could practice telling the story with the voices of the characters.

On Friday when we took to the forest, we discovered a partially constructed wooden bridge that spanned a low spot of the forest floor.  Immediately, there was a great team effort to haul more sticks to reinforce and continue the cross pieces.  And before you knew it, it was the perfect place to "trip trop, trip trop, trip trop"- just like in The Three Billy Goats Gruff !

Happy Halloween!

It's my hope in writing for this blog that it can both stand alone and provide a visual for some of the things I write about in the weekly newsletter.  This posting offers a glimpse into a daily routine of ours: the greeting during morning meeting.  Some days we stay seated and send a greeting around the circle and other days we use cards (names, photos, math equations, uppercase/lower case) to determine who greets who with a handshake, eye contact and the words "good morning _____".  

This week we talked about how writers can show what they know by including lots of details.  Labeled pictures, which children are used to seeing in books, are a super way for beginning writers to communicate with an audience.  Before asking the children to create a labeled picture on a topic of their choice, we warmed up by creating labeled pictures about Halloween using a word list.

I'm happy that many of you were able to join us for Friday's festivities.  The children had a great time making hanging bats, spooky spiders and knuckle printed pumpkins.  They enjoyed delicious, healthy foods and loved Halloween Bingo with Miss Jess!  A very heartfelt thank you to everyone who contributed.