Ending on a High Note

 There were so many fun moments of friendship, happiness and closure in the last week that I just can't resist posting one more time. This was a challenging year- there is no denying. But this group of children rose to that challenge and managed to support each other right up through the very last minutes of the day. In non-COVID times children have opportunities to mingle with kids in other classes- in the lunch room, on the playground, on field trips, and when classes get together for learning opportunities.  But this year WE WERE A POD.  And we stuck together without co-mingling for everyone's health and safety.  Maybe it fostered even more of a "family feeling"...take a look and you'll see what I mean.

In the final days we created life-sized portraits to see just how much we'd grown.

We had a blast doing SILLY things like cleaning tables with shaving cream...

and calm things like word searches and just being together.

On Wednesday of the last week we really enjoyed Kindergarten Fun Day!  The weather was perfect for outdoor games.

On Thursday we did an annual event in my classroom that I like to call "unroll the scroll".  This means that we took our continuous paper off of the scrolling calendar that had been showing us only a week at a time all year. and we unrolled it to literally walk back in time and remember all of our days together. Here you can see us remembering the way our year started and then children finding a day that was particularly memorable to them.

On the last day, we went out to the track to cheer as the graduating fifth graders walked a loop around the track.  It was fun to get a glimpse into the future as we saw some siblings, neighbors, and bus friends celebrating their time at Orchard. (And, we got freeze pops!)

Thanks for a wonderful year everyone!  

I look forward to seeing you in the fall.

 We did it yet again!  We earned 100 apple cores on our chart and this time we celebrated with a Stuffie Day.  Here you can see how our furry friends were with us throughout the day: for Movement Break, for Math, for Explore time, and even for reading and relaxing at Quiet Time.

Our last Social Studies Unit is on mapping and we've had lots of fun challenging ourselves to make maps of our classroom and Orchard School.  Here you can see the children mapping the major formations of the playground.  What concentration!

It's also the time of year when we celebrate all that we've learned and the fun we've had together.  Here are two classmates who chose to share how they progressed with their instruments over the course of the year.  In one you will see Lisa, who interprets in ASL in our classroom.  I just want to take a minute to celebrate her as well.  I have personally learned so much about signing and supporting all students from Lisa and I know the children have too!

Visual Learning

 As I looked over recent pictures for this post I noticed a common theme. Whether the picture was taken during math while we were getting to know the special set of seven shapes called Tangrams, during Explore time with open ended materials, or outdoors when we played a color game for ASL practice, a common thread was visual learning.  In fact our final social studies unit of the year is mapping- another great example of how we can learn by looking.

Have a look at us making the animals that were featured in Grandfather Tang's Story out of Tangrams.  This work takes concentration, patience, and spatial awareness. 

Building with blocks is a staple at Explore time...

And sometimes designing on a smaller scale is fun too!

Lastly, our study of maps seems to have rekindled an interest in a puzzle I haven't see out in a while.  Great teamwork!

Visual communication is what ASL is all about.  We've been practicing our color signs for a while now an it was really fun to run and switch places with a friend who was wearing a matching color.  Our whole game was played without speaking- just watching and understanding name and color signs!