Phases of the Moon

In science our class is learning all about the moon. We have been reading books about what the moon looks like, how it orbits the Earth and how it goes through phases. Here is an activity that we did in class using just 3 oreo cookies and one spoon per child.

Narrative Writing

This week in writers workshop we are beginning our study on narrative writing. Our first few sessions will be about developing a character. The following lessons will be about creating a setting by using describing words and eventually creating the text to show sequence.


I always begin my narrative writing unit by creating a class story. Together we develop the main character of the story. As you can see below, we used a bubble map to describe our main character Goofy.




Once we had a good feel for the character we wrote our first draft of the story. Since this was our first true narratice piece I was in control of the pen, but the children gave me all the ideas to put on the paper. The story is pretty basic, but it will be the base for all the other lessons this next two weeks related to narrative writing.





You can read our class story below:


Throughout the next few days we are going to take our story, cut it into pieces and put it back in the correct sequence, which is essential in teaching students that stories must follow a sequence for the readers to understand. After we have a general sequence again, the students will help fill in the gaps by using more describing and action words. Our last step before publication will be to edit for puncuation, capitalization, and spacing. Once the story is complete, we will divide the story into segments and each pair of children will illustrate a page.

New for 2010

We are just now finishing the first half of kindergarten. That's a big hurdle to cross, but it is worth it. During the second half of the year we have more exciting activities and studies coming up. Here are just a few exciting things that will happen in our class in 2010.

Take Home Backpacks
Each backpack has a special theme (Insects, counting, colors, plants, Dr. Seuss, etc). There are a few books that will accompany a few activities. I try to have both literacy and math activities, and some even have science based activities. The activities will depend on the theme. The backpacks will go home on a rotating basis. Each child will have the opportunity to take home at one least backpack once a month. The key to making it a successful program is for all students to turn the backpacks back in to me on each Friday. This allows me to have plenty of time to refill the backpacks with the worksheets that go with each backpack. We will start the backpack rotations in mid-January.

Hands on Center Games
Kids just LOVE games and I have fun making them too. The kids will learn how to use the new games when they come to my small group table. Many of the games are similar to games at the store...except that the game cards are based on what we are learning and the boards are based on the themes we are studying. One of my favorite games that the kids will start using as soon as we get back is our Fishing For Words game. They will be using a real fishing rod to fish for words.

Computer Commanders (brand new this year!!)
Each day as the kids finish on the computer, they can turn in papers they complete. Each paper completed will equal one point. After earning 10 points they can visit the Treasure Box.

Class Garden (for the spring)
Each year my class plants flowers and food plants in our garden. Currently our class garden (the blue pool outside of the morning meeting room) is a real mess! So, if any parents would like to help us bring it back to life that would be great. I will need some help pulling the weeds and filling it again with some healthy soil. We usually start planting in March, so in February we will spend time cleaning up the garden so it will be ready in the spring. In the past we have planted marigolds, sunflowers, parsley, lima beans, grass. I still have not decided what exactly we will plant this year. I'd like some input from the kids first. If you would like to donate either supplies or your time/talent, just let me know by emailing, calling, or writing.

Field Trips
As a grade level we are hoping to go on a field trip this year. Due to the budget situation, we have to be very creative with our limited funds. We try as much as we can to have the student cost be as low as we can get it. Some of the field trips we have done in the past have been visiting Blue Springs, the Sanford Zoo, and going to a Jack Hartmann concert. The trip for this year is still up in the air. As soon as we sit down as a team and figure out the best option for the kids we will send home permission forms. When we go on the field trips we will need some parent chaperones. If you would like to be a chaperone (monitoring a small group of students) you MUST have a cleared volunteer form on file. If you still have not completed a volunteer form, NOW is the time to get that completed. The forms are valid for 5 YEARS! :)

Published Book
For the past 2 years my class has published a book through StudenTreasures. Both years the kids have chosen to write about animals. The children read books about animals, did research on the computer (as a class), and created charts about the animals. After the kids gathered all the information, each child wrote an information page about the animal of their choice. The children also illustrated their work. My work was compiling all the pages and sending it off to be bound in a hard back book. All families will have the opportunity to by copies of the class book for a fee. If you would like the see our past book, just ask and I will let you see one. The quality of the book is great. The best part is seeing how the kids go through the entire writing process. This project is a favorite for the kids and myself.


Book Buddies
Our Book Buddies will continue to visit us every few weeks. So far this year our book buddies have come to read with is, helped us with our Pumpkin day, and even spent some time with us during Writer's Workshop.

End of the Year Bash
I know it may seem really early to start thinking about it, but its never too early. As a kindergarten team we all sit down and plan a special day for the kids. Last year we had a water day and it was a real hit with the kids. The key to making the day a success is by having parents help out by sending in supplies and food, and by having lots of parent volunteers.

Summer Birthday celebration
We have several students who have summer birthdays. I will collaborate with those families to work out the details of how to make the last birthday celebration of all the summer birthdays a fun experience. We will plan the event sometime during the last two weeks of school.

Solid Shapes

Today the kids had a real blast building cubes with toothpicks and mini-marshmallows. This hands on activity helped the students really understand the difference between a flat square and a solid cube. Total cost for the lesson:

$1.00 for the marshmallows

$1.30 for the toothpicks

Service Project

The students and I will be making Christmas cards to give to the homeless folks that my home church has been housing on the very cold nights. The children are learning that sometimes just by sending warm thoughts to others can help brighten some one elses day. The children are also learning that serving others is something good to do. I am really impressed at the kind hearts that my students have.

Pulling It All Together

I really enjoy utlizing all of the 5 senses in all our curriculum and pulling together varied sources of literature to make a well rounded learning experience for the children.

We are currently working on the following skills and themes in our class:
Reading-Our theme is Food with our focus on sequencing of events
Math- 3D solid shapes
Social Studies-Holiday customes around the world and now/then
Science-Motion of objects and reviewing changes in matter
Writing-Writing steps and directions

That's a lot of stuff going on, so combining things a little and having some creativity, all subject areas can be taught.

For science and math this week the kids are going to taste the difference between jam and jelly. After the taste test the kids will vote for their favorite and create a chart of the results. We will also make butter the old fashioned way with cream and salt. This lesson teaches the kids that you can change cream (a liquid) and salt into butter (a solid) by shaking vigorously and refrigerating it. The butter activity is also a great way to teach the kids how people made butter long ago versus buying it at the store like we do now.

In math we are using solid shapes (cones, cubes, cylinders and spheres) to build something. The children will use flat graham crackers, sugar cones, and various candies to make their own "gingerbread villages." Each structure must have at least one cube, one cone, one cylinder, and one sphere. That should be no problem at all, because there are many varieties of candy or food that fall into each category. This lesson teaches the kids that you can find examples of solid shapes in everyday objects and you can use simple shapes to construct more complex structures.

In social studies, we have been reading various books about the different foods that people cook for the different holiday traditions from around the world. For example, today we watched Too Many Tomales and discussed the Mexican traditions during the holiday season.

In writing I am bringing in all kinds of literature about food as inspiration for the students at Writer's Workshop. Tonight I bought a Food Network Magazine to illustrate to the kids that another purpose for writing is to give information and one form is a magazine. There are many pictures and recipes for the children to look at. Some of the other literature pieces include: If You Give a Cat a Cupcake, Pizza Party, Hold the Anchovies, Eating the Alphabet, Bunny Cakes, and many more.

Our next writing project will be to write a simple recipe, such as how to make a peanut butter sandwich or pizza. The children will first write simple sentences using the words first, next, and last. Then they will illustrate and bind the pages to create a "step by step" book.

Thanksgiving

Thank you to all my parents, you have been a tremendous support to our class this year. The play was a great success! I hope that many of you could capture the moments on camera to cherish forever. The luncheon was fun as well. Thanks for helping make the lunch possible by bringing in the food and helping serve the food to the children. We (Miss Maldonado and I) hope to plan a play for sometime in the spring since today's events were such a success.

I also wish all my students and the families a safe, happy, and fun filled Thanksgiving. Take this time to cherish loved ones.

See you all back in class on Monday!