The students practiced thinking like scientists on Monday. They added their data (favorite apple color) from Friday's apple tasting to a graph. The students had to use our Math vocabulary to tell me about the graph and I wrote down the information the students gathered. They were then able to draw a conclusion based on our evidence.
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The children had a great day today. The Pride Program for good behavior in the month of September will be held on Friday Oct. 3rd. The children will be going to a dance party in the Gym Friday afternoon and they are really looking forward to it.
Today we began a new unit in reading about a story called Tug of War. The children learned what it means to be clever. They practiced rhymes, letters and syllables as well. In Math we practiced counting sets of 8 and 9. Tomorrow children will learn to write these numbers. In Science we reviewed our data from our Johnny Appleseed Apple Tasting. We place our data on a graph and after reviewing it, we found Golden Delicious apples were the class favorite. Children learned the words data, graph and conclusion today. We also began a study of the four seasons with the story The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall. Finally, Art was a big hit with the children even if it was a bit messy. They really enjoyed sponge painting with Mrs. Bosak. Have a great night! Today we wrapped up our volcano investigation. The children practiced labeling pictures and reviewed their observations. After reviewing the three different ways to combine our substances, the children concluded that vinegar and baking soda were the two substances in our mixture that were necessary for a reaction, our "lava eruption." We were very excited to finish off our investigation with some real pictures of a volcano in Hawaii provided by one of our students, Christopher. The children thought one of the lava flows looked like a big foot and later, during dismissal, they were very excited to see the same kind of flow in a Reading Rainbow video about the book Hill on Fire. Thank you to Christopher and his family for providing some real life examples for our study!
Tomorrow we will do some very special activities related to Johnny Appleseed, apples and our sense of taste, of course. That will conclude our study of the five senses in Science. We will move on to a study of the seasons in both Social Studies and Science next week. Naturally, we will focus heavily on Fall. Finally, we continued our work with the Country Mouse and the Town Mouse. The students focused on making comparisons and finding similarities and differences between the two mice and their homes. We also did a listening activity in which the children needed to listen very closely to see if pairs of words were the same or different. We began a new Topic in Math and will learn more about the numbers 6-10 while reviewing the concepts of more and fewer. Ever since we first discussed land forms, the students have been begging to learn more about volcanoes. Okay, they didn't have to beg because I was just as excited as they were. Today was the day! The students investigated different ways to construct their volcanoes. Once we discovered a good plan, everyone built a model volcano. The students then tested three different ways to combine substances in order to cause a reaction and make their volcanoes "erupt". They practiced science safety and wore safety goggles. They used the Science process skills of observation and communication. They also practiced their best scientific drawings and recorded their observations. Tomorrow we will review the data and the students will have a chance to reflect on what they learned today. Check back soon to hear their thoughts.
This morning, the children decided to tell you about our week so far.
Ashley liked when it was her birthday. She liked her Rapunzel birthday book. We sang and watched cartoon mice playing Happy Birthday to her on a piano. We were learning about land forms and Avery likes volcanoes best. Shay likes valleys between mountains. Madison likes when volcanoes blow lava. Shay knows that volcanoes can start underwater and form islands. Charlotte liked doing the Mrs. D'Obilda song in Library yesterday. RJ, Aaliyah, Christopher, Jason, and Alyssa liked getting new Library books. Mitchell remembered watching a video story called Little Blue and Little Yellow by Leo Lionni. The colors mixed and made green. Yesterday morning Mrs. Prestileo, a Reading Specialist, worked with us in our classroom. The students liked working on ABC and rhyming activites in small groups and Cayden was excited to see her later in the hall. This week in Reading class we have been doing a lot of work with rhymes and syllables. The children have been doing both active learning activities and a few activity sheets to reinforce these skills. We will continue listening for sounds in words and will gradually work up to hearing each individual sounds. We have already begun listening for sounds in words as we write together in class. The students did their first individual writing assignment after reading The Elves and the Shoemaker. They designed shoes and then described them. We also wrote a thank you letter together. In Social Studies I planned on wrapping up landforms with a slide show of real photos of different landforms. They were so excited to see the photos and had so much to share about them that we may extend our study of landforms just a bit longer. The students already had some good background knowledge to share on different landforms and shared some good vacation stories. Shay was enthusiastic and shared many great facts about volcanoes and the Artic. All of the children were especially interested in glaciers and volcanoes today. Although the introduction to landforms in Kindergarten is meant to be very brief, we may just have to take some time to make volcanoes of our own. Stay tuned...
After learning about different landforms in Social Studies, the children tried making models themselves. Working in pairs, the children used sand an water to figure out what different landforms might look like. They made plains, mountains, volcanoes, beaches, islands and even added rivers and lakes.
Thank you so much to all who were able to come to our Back to School Night last night. I hope you now have a better idea of what your child is learning this year and a good sense of what their day is like. The students and I were very excited to share our work with you. If you have any follow up questions or, if you were not able to attend, please feel free to email me or send me a message in your child's folder. Have a wonderful weekend!
Today we had a few extra minutes and the children decided they'd like to tell you all about RECESS!!!
Every week we visit both the Bus Circle and Second Grade playground which Avery calls the big children's playground. On the second grade playground, I often notice children collecting leaves, acorns, and pine cones. Charlotte likes this playground, especially when we see her friend Keyannah there. Ashely likes to draw with chalk there and play with all her friends. On the bus circle playground Peyton likes jumping on the bridge. Cayden loves pretending to be a firefighter as he slides down the twisty fire fighter pole. Both Shay and Sam say they love to run around and play with friends. RJ and Chase agree. Madison said she likes the slides on both playgrounds. Not everyone felt like sharing for today's blog but I think the whole class agrees that recess is the BEST!!! , Another week is finished and the class really is ready to work! The students accomplished some amazing things this week and you'll get to see it all next Thursday at Back to School Night. I hope you can all make it!
In Math class, the students learned how to use their calendar folders during our opening routine. They have created Math notebooks in which we will record their learning throughout the year. They have even begun working in small groups on some extra practice and enrichment activities. We are continuing our preschool review during our Language Arts block and the students seem to be enjoying our Happily Ever After Stories. We have begun working in small groups on Literacy skills in the afternoon as well. I love getting to know all of my students better in these groups. The students were so excited to use their iPads to practice identifying letters. Every afternoon we also do either Science or Social Studies. The students have just begun adding to their science notebooks as we learn about the Five Senses that scientists use to learn about the world around them. We have been learning in Social Studies how people get along with each other at home and at school. We will begin a unit called A Big Wide World next week. In conjunction with this unit, we will begin our Post Card Pals program. Our class will be sending post cards to and receiving post cards from elementary classes all around the USA. We really are off to a great start and I can't wait to share even more with you next Thursday night. Have a great weekend!! |
Mrs. BubnisKindergarten teacher at John S Clarke Elementary. Categories |