Fun in the Sun

I feel like every minute together in these last two weeks is important but I thought you'd like to see some photos from our beach day last week.  Enjoy! 

Here, There and Everywhere

Maps were a big focus for us this week and one of the first things we did was notice and discuss what we already knew about maps. From there we formulated some questions- what did we wonder about on both the world map and one of the United States? Below you can see us in the hall near the K-Space learning from one another as we read words, symbols, colors, numbers and shapes to make sense of maps.  Later in the week our class walked around the school with in pairs with our fifth grade buddies to label a map of the school for their Kindergarten Memory Books. Thursday shaped up to be sunny enough for Field Day and I wanted to give you a look at us having fun out on the field. Finally, you can see us inside the library organizing a lego robot parade that synthesized all we've been learning about building and programming lego robots.

Catching Up

I've been saying to colleagues and friends that the end of the year seems to wind up rather than wind down.  Posting to the blog over the Memorial Day weekend got away from me so here is a post of three Candle Days one from the week before last and two from last week.  I hope you enjoy a look at three students-  One, sharing her instrument and even playing for us while we danced. Another, explaining cyanotypes (a photo project with sunlight) and indulging us with a favorite family snack that led to a some spontaneous art. And the last explaining all about her love of puppies while we created a puppy craft and tried drinking like a dog!

All in a DAY's work!

I planned this post and the last post together- there just wasn't a way to put everything together this week. Friday was epic and I'd love to take you through it.

We started our day with a visit from Champ at all school morning meeting.

Next was our most challenging lego robotics session yet.  The task was:  working in pairs to design a sign that would warn people of a frog or turtle crossing in the spring time.

Try to imagine how to go on from there?  How bout a Harry Potter themed Candle Day complete with a home made slime potion.  Hearing about a friend's deep love for a book series and its central character can be very motivating.  I suspect you might be asked to read some HP to your child in the coming months!

At this point in the day I was very grateful for our fifth grade buddies.  Each of Mr. Wright's students took their happy and excited end-of-the-week kindergartner under their wing and helped them to create truly special "biopoems" that you will be hearing more about soon.  Have a look.

All in a Week's Work

It happens every year- we end up with so much to do and so little time left.  This feeling comes in large part because the children are so capable and we know each other so well- the opportunities for learning seem limitless!  Here is a look at some of last week's activities that show a range of learning experiences from open exploration to focused discussion.
These friends are building a fairy house in the courtyard.

Here's a look at hands on planting and sequencing the life cycle of a bean plant.

And now for a look at information gathered during Thursday's Math Warm Up- "what do you know about the number 20?"

As the class grows more comfortable with subtraction we are able to have fun with a game in which you know the total and you can see what's left- the question is how many were taken away?

Celebrate, Concentrate, Create!

We may not have done things in that order but it's getting harder and harder to sum up a week in one post.  I'm going to let the pictures do the talking for the most part this week.  Take a look at our paper plane flying celebration- it was our reward for meeting the goal of whole body listening at meeting times.

 

Below you will see the children engaged with books from their "in-school" book packs.  Everyone has books at their current level that they read and record in their book logs.

 

And now have a look at our third sessions of both "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" with our guest teachers from Vermont Common School and Lego Robotics with Paul.  Can you tell how much fun we're having?

More Growing!

 Much of our work this week focused on "growing and going" green!  On Monday the children looked through seed catalogs for pictures of fruits, veggies and flowers that they might like to plant in a garden.  This activity was inspired by the Caldecott winning book, The Gardner by Sarah Stewart.  On Tuesday we had a Farm to School session with Chef Anne and Jenna who used the book Tops and Bottoms to introduce the crew some of the delicious root vegetables we eat. On Thursday we had three young and inspired teachers from Vermont Common School come to lead the first of six lessons on environmental responsibility- the focus was waste: reduce, re-use, recycle! Below you will also see the class recording data on the changes they noticed in the bean seeds we are sprouting.  And just for fun, I included a picture of our session with Mr.Schmidt's third grade class and the games they created using "Blue bots"- just like the "Bee- bots" we have worked with.